The value of setting marketing objectives, common objectives such as sales volume, sales value, market share and brand loyalty, the internal and external influences on them, and how they support corporate objectives.

What this dot point is asking

AQA wants you to explain the value of setting marketing objectives, describe common objectives, identify the influences on them, and show how marketing objectives support the wider corporate objectives. The market-share calculation appears regularly.

Why marketing objectives matter

Marketing objectives turn broad corporate aims into specific, measurable targets for the marketing function. They give the team direction, allow success to be measured against a clear benchmark, motivate the marketing staff, and ensure the marketing budget is focused on agreed priorities rather than spread thinly. Without them, marketing activity drifts and cannot be evaluated. They work best when SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound), for example raising market share from 20 to 25 percent within two years.

Common marketing objectives

Market share and market size

Influences on marketing objectives

Internal influences include the corporate objectives, the finance available, operational capacity (there is no point targeting sales the firm cannot produce) and the firm's existing reputation. External influences include the level of competition, market growth, consumer tastes, technology and the economic climate. Objectives must be realistic given these: an ambitious sales target is unrealistic in a shrinking market or a deep recession.

How marketing objectives support corporate objectives

Marketing objectives sit one level below the corporate objectives in the firm's hierarchy of goals, so they must be derived from and consistent with them. If the corporate objective is rapid growth, marketing might target a rise in market share and the entry of new segments; if the corporate objective is survival in a downturn, marketing might instead protect the existing customer base and defend share rather than spend heavily chasing new sales. When the two levels align, the marketing budget is spent on the priorities that matter most to the whole business, and progress against the marketing objective directly signals progress toward the corporate aim.

The link also runs the other way: marketing objectives shape what the other functions must do. A target to grow sales volume by 20 percent sets a production target for operations, a funding requirement for finance and a recruitment need for HR. This is why marketing objectives cannot be set in isolation; they commit the rest of the firm and so must be agreed against what operations and finance can realistically deliver. A marketing target that outruns the firm's capacity to produce or fund it is worse than useless, because it raises customer expectations the business then fails to meet.