All those activities which have been planned out by the marketing department must be tried out in the market several times in order to be able to conclude if such activities are worthwhile or not. Such activities may be repeated several times over a period say six months or a year in order to be able to decide whether to stick to them or replace them with other better alternatives. Monitoring and controlling the marketing activities entails keeping proper records of the various activities and tracking them time and again particularly when it comes to the media, when to promote the product, cost factor, reach or the number of persons towards whom the promotions have been targeted, responses generated, sales generation and return on sales

The annual plan control is one of the four types of marketing control system. Annual plan control is essential in order to determine whether all the marketing efforts undertaken by the organisation has been really worthwhile or not. It aims to achieve sales volume,profits and all those objectives which have been set up in the beginning of the year. In an organisation,the top management and middle level management are responsible for the annual plan control. They have to keep a check on the activities undertaken to implement the plans.

Profitability control is a mechanism of monitoring the sales made, profits earned and expenditure incurred by a company. The relative profit earning capacity of a firm’s products and consumer groups can be determined via profitability control. Sometimes surpisingly, it may be found out by companies how a small proportion of their products and even customers actually account for a significant percentage of the company’s profits. This can be achieved through profitability control. At times when the companies earn surplus profits, then such profits may even be ploughed back or reinvested. This also forms part of profitability control.

Online marketing is the exchange of products and services between the buyers and sellers on the internet.It is also known as e-marketing or internet marketing or online advertising. It may take the form of : 

a.B2C where the products are sold directly to the customers. 

b.B2B where trading networks or auction sites maybe used to reach out to the new customers and serve the existing one

c.C2C where one customer may further sell the product to another customer.

Examples of online marketing may include banner ads, blogs, social network advertisement.

In direct marketing, there is a direct interaction of the customers with the seller without any intermediaries. Here, the role of the intermediaries is nil. The medium used is more direct using telephone, mail, internet where the seller can directly reach out to the consumer. Examples of such marketing include telemarketing, email, voicemail marketing, door-to-door selling etc. This kind of marketing is more time saving as the problem of distance which may otherwise exist between the buyer and seller is eliminated and is also cost effective as it minimizes commuting costs.

Public relations includes promotional activities that work to create a strong public image of the company. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products. Public relations if done right can reach a large audience without the expensive cost of traditional advertising and marketing.

We can say that sales promotion is a cost effective technique by which an organisation can achieve its sales volume or the marketing objectives by providing value added product and not just an ordinary product to the end user or even the intermediaries. It is short term by nature and is suitable enough for generating sales within a short span of time. Sales promotion techniques are being increasingly used by retailing organisations some of which include advertising, providing discounts and allowances or a 'buy one get one free offer' etc.

a.Direct interaction with customers: The retailer acts as the final link between the organisation and its customer. The retailer knows his customer better than anyone. He even suggests the customer what to purchase and allows him credit facilities to encourage frequent buying behaviour in the customer.

b.Small purchases: The customer purchases goods in small lots from the retail stores. So there are frequent visits to the retail store by the customer.

c.Instrument of marketing communication: via which information about the product is disseminated to the needy customers