Audit

• In marketing, an audit is an assessment of the company's current situation. It is intended to uncover future options and possibilities. An audit determines the company's market share, competitors' market share and the market's overall value. Companies use audit information to set sales and production goals for the next year. The main goal of auditing is simply to obtain accurate information and to use this information to set realistic goals.
  
  

Research

• Market research determines public demand for a company's products and services by compiling customers' preferences. Market research helps marketers set prices and decide where products will be offered. Some market research is used to decide whether a business should break into a given market. Other market research is used to determine to which demographic an existing product should be marketed. Regardless of the specific purpose, market research is designed to give businesses the information they need to move forward with customers.
  
  

Pricing

• Setting prices is one of the most important functions of marketing. When setting prices, marketers consider who is going to buy the product and how much they're going to buy, while also considering the economic fundamentals of how much profit can come off the product given 'x' production costs. The aim of pricing is to increase the company's profit margin as well as its total profits, so the calculation can be quite a delicate balancing act. Thus, pricing is found at the intersection point of marketing and economics.
  
  

Promoting

• While marketing and advertising are not the same, a strong relationship exists between the two. Marketers coordinate advertising and other sales strategies to ensure that potential customers know about products on the market. Marketing executives work closely with ad agencies to ensure that advertising is targeted at the right demographics and covers all necessary information about the products. The aim of this is to ensure that the product has the highest visibility it possibly can have.