As indicated on the slide, these activities are continuous and decisions made in the past in one area can have implications on the other areas as well. Planning is required because marketing managers must seek attractive new opportunities. Customers needs and wants change. Marketing managers must anticipate such changes and plan how the firm will move to meet them with satisfying products. Implementation is the process of putting marketing plans into action.
Control deals with assessing and evaluating marketing performance.
Marketing managers are responsible for seeing to it that an implemented strategy is working. Goals and objectives are typically set and one or more measures of progress are taken to assess performance. When performance falls short of expectations, it is up to the marketing manager to take corrective action.