Controls
There is no planning without control, the process of monitoring a proposed plan as it proceeds
and adjusting it when necessary. Every business needs someone to take responsibility for
pushing things along. A good schedule and budget should make it easy to monitor progress, but
when things fall behind schedule or there are cost overruns, you must be ready to do something
about it and adapt the plan accordingly. From time to time, the owner must step back and ask
whether the plan is working. What can you learn from mistakes, and how can you use what you
know to make a better marketing plan for the future?
In addition to setting a schedule and measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of marketing
activities, a marketing plan needs to say how it will be controlled. Although there are many
approaches to control, the small business owner will likely look to activities such as sales
analysis (monthly and annual revenue), expense analysis (monthly and annual expenses),
feedback from customer satisfaction surveys, and the observation of competitor activities in
response to the marketing plan (marketing research).
