1.Is a company that forecasts future sales, and develops a budget on the basis of these forecasts, conducting marketing planning?

Marketing planning contains more than forecasting future sales and developing a budget on these forecasts. Forecasting future sales is one of the key factors resulting from the internal marketing audit. First of all the company should develop a core strategy based on an analysis of the marketing objectives, the market segmentation, the competitive advantage of the products, the core competences, the positioning and the portfolio. This internal marketing audit should support the forecasts of future sales.

2.Explain how each stage of the marketing planning process links with the fundamental planning questions identified on slide 4 of the session

The business mission links with the question ‘where are we now’. It is important to understand where the company stands for and what the ambitions are. The business mission must be translated in relevant and real goals in order to fulfill the mission. The marketing audit and the SWOT analysis clears out where we are now and how we got there. It is a reality check on your business today. From the marketing audit and the SWOT analysis you can formulate ambitions for the future and learn lessons from the past. The marketing objectives clear out where we want to be. It completes the mission with a vision towards the future. In order to be able to realize the objectives, it is important to develop a core strategy. The core strategy links with the question ‘how do we get there’. The core strategy must be translated in concrete actions for the organization so the strategy can be implemented. These actions should contain indicators you can measure on the road to check if the plan is on course. In other words, control is linked with the question ‘are we on course?’.

3.Why is a clear business