Marketing Mix

10 Key excerpts on "Marketing Mix"

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  eBook - PDF

  Marketing of Hospitality Services

  • Abhishek Singh(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Society Publishing

    (Publisher)

  The Marketing Mix is a set of appropriate factors and solutions that enable the business to meet the universal need of the customers while achieving their core objectives. It is a set of solution variables that a company or business designs and sets aside to enable the business to sell all their products and services. Before coming up with the right market plan, the marketing manager collects information about the market. This information is useful in assessing the market. The manager segments the market and uses each market segment to establish unique features of the market. The features of every market help the manager in setting the objectives of marketing and the needs and wants of every market segment. The manager formulates a marketing program that will cater to the needs of the customers. Ultimately, a Marketing Mix can be defined as a set of all activities and methods, incorporated into a marketing program to meet all the goals of marketing through the satisfaction of consumer wants. The following are the major elements of a Marketing Mix: - Decisions on the product or services - Decisions on the price of the product or service - A decision on the promotion - The decision on the distribution of goods and services to the consumers’ place Some of the most cited proponents of maketing include Professor. N.H. Barden from Harvard Business School of America and Mr. Jerome McCarthy. According to Barden, Marketing Mix has a deeper meaning and is made up of two things; a list of forces having a bearing on the operations of the market, and a list of all important elements or ingredients that make up the marketing program. A marketing program is made up of four main ingredients; place mix, price mix, promotion mix, and product mix. The ingredients are mainly derived from the decisions the producer makes in an attempt to satisfy all the needs of the customer, which includes creating all forms of utility if possible (Gronholm, 2012).

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  Marketing the e-Business

  • Charles Dennis, Lisa Harris(Authors)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  This chapter considers tools and techniques for marketing the e-Business – the ‘Marketing Mix’. The idea of the Marketing Mix has been around for many years – well before an ‘e-’ came in front of Marketing or anything else. As far back as the first half of the twentieth century, the job of the marketer was described as a ‘mixer of ingredients’ (Culliton 1948). Marketers devise strategies and tactics aimed at providing satisfaction and adding value for customers. The various elements are blended into a ‘Marketing Mix’ – a phrase first coined by Neil Borden (1964) of Harvard Business School.

  The Marketing Mix can be defined as the blend of tools and techniques that marketers use to provide value for customers. It is most widely known as E. Jerome McCarthy’s (1960) ‘4Ps’: Place, Product, Price and Promotion. ‘Place’ is not quite self-explanatory, but refers to the routes organizations take to get the benefits of the product or service to the intended customers – channels of distribution. ‘Product’ means both tangible product and also ‘service’ and all the ways in which an organization adds value. ‘Price’ means not just the price charged, but also all aspects of pricing policy, including, for example, distributor margins. ‘Promotion’ is not just the more specialized ‘sales promotion’, but also every way in which a product is promoted to customers – from print advertising to Web sites.

  The 4Ps are used as an approach to marketing planning that, according to later editions of McCarthy’s still-popular Basic Marketing , has worked for millions of students and teachers. The prominence of the 4Ps derives largely from Kotler’s and colleagues’ (e.g. 2003, 2001) focus on these as central to marketing strategy (Marketing Management and Principles of Marketing texts – the early US editions of which were widely accepted as the basis of marketing teaching).

  In recent decades, there have been numerous attempts to update and revise the Marketing Mix. For example, Jefkins (1993: 37) pointed out that the concept of 4Ps is no more than a simplifying convention that ‘loses sight of the chronological sequence’. He devised a more realistic twenty-element mix that attempted to describe the marketing process sequentially, starting from conception, through pricing, product, distribution and sales to maintaining customer interest and loyalty.

  Some marketers assert that there are ‘5Ps’ of marketing, with the fifth being ‘People’. ‘People’ has two meanings in this context. First, customers are people, often buying according to emotion and whim. Without these fickle customers, we have no business. Second, people make it happen. Without people to put marketing plans into operation, nothing happens.

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  Deep Data Analytics for New Product Development

  • Walter R. Paczkowski(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  5

  Launch I

  What is the Marketing Mix?

  The Marketing Mix concept is an old one both in the marketing literature and in practice. It originated in the 1960s to systematize thinking about how marketing should operate and therefore succeed in its mission to motivate customers and sell a product.1 Traditionally, the mix consists of what is known as the Four P s, although the number has increased as academic researchers put their mark on this approach.2 Whatever the count, I will stick with the traditional four: Product , Price , Place , and Promotion . This whole book is about the first, Product, so nothing more will be said about it here. This chapter is concerned with the Promotion, Price, and Place components.

  This chapter is divided into five sections. I will first discuss Promotion followed by Price and the Place. The promotion of a product, especially a new product, involves an optimal message and claim about it. The message is what you want a customer to hear or read that will motivate a product purchase. This message is not simple or straightforward, but complex because it actually has to appeal to a customer’s intelligence, reasoning, and emotion about the product. Claims are what you want a customer to believe, statements that describe the product as being superior to other products. I normally view messages and claims as the same so I use the terms interchangeably.

  Message delivery can be by traditional print media, TV ads, radio spots, and, increasingly, through digital channels. The last offers great opportunity for message delivery since messages can be quickly changed (almost instantly, in fact) if a message is not resonating with customers and motivating them to buy the product. Several messages can be tested at once to discover which is the best because of this adjustment speed and the way they are displayed. One group of online shoppers could be shown one message and another group shown another message with the results statistically compared for their effectiveness in converting an online shopper to an online buyer. Testing messages this way is termed A/B Testing

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  Marketing for Managers

  • Institute of Leadership & Management(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Marketing Mix . (And, actually, the petrol is the least important part of the Marketing Mix for petrol companies: their marketing people regard the petrol station as the product, not the fuel sold there.)

  These differences are crucial in enabling the rivals to compete. They cannot truthfully say things like ‘Buy Octopus petrol because it makes your car go faster’, but they can say ‘Buy Octopus petrol because our service is better’, or ‘because our stations are cleaner and more modern’ or ‘because we share your particular lifestyle’.

  2 The elements of the Marketing Mix

  The Marketing Mix is the sum total of all the things that an organization does that have some impact on customers’ attitudes to its product – the total ‘offer’ that an organization makes to its market. Broadly, the elements are:

  • product;
  • price;
  • place;
  • promotion.

  An organization that gets all these elements right may not sweep the market, but it will be able to compete; one that doesn’t won’t even be in the running. This applies to non-commercial organizations as well as those whose main objective is to make profits. So what does each of these elements consist of?

  2.1 Defining the ‘four Ps’

  • Product
  • A product, whether it is a physical item or service, is made up of a number of elements that can include:

  • its features;
  • its design;
  • its quality;
  • the way it’s packaged;
  • an accompanying guarantee and/or statement of conditions for its return;
  • back-up services.

  Take the example of a personal computer. The PC’s features may include the amount of RAM memory, the size of the hard drive, the monitor, speakers, sound card, keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, zip drive, CD writer, DVD/CD drive, modem, one or more software packages, and so on. The design of the casing for the various components could be in tower form or flat, and in one or more of a range of colours. The quality will depend on how reliable the components are and how carefully they are assembled together. The computer may come with a one to three-year guarantee; with a promise of a free visit from an engineer within 24 hours of being called out and repairs on site – or a service that involves taking the computer away. There may be a helpline to connect the customer to a technical adviser. If so, how long is the average wait in the queuing system? Finally, the computer and the accompanying peripherals will arrive in packaging that hopefully will be good enough to have prevented anything being damaged during transit.

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  Selling Science

  How to Use Business Skills to Win Support for Scientific Research

  • Steven Judge, Richard Lucas(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • WSPC (EUROPE)

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 4

  Deciding the Actions to Take

  In this chapter: •Tools for communication with your stakeholders •How to decide prices to charge •How to make it easy for your stakeholders to work with you •Dealing with intellectual property issues •The types of product you could offer

  4.1The Marketing Mix

  Having gathered information on the market and worked your way through some analysis exercises, the next phase is to work out what your organization will actually do. To be effective, the diverse actions will need to work in harmony.

  Marketing professionals refer to the ‘Marketing Mix’; a summary of the most important factors to consider. It suffers from the awful description of ‘4Ps and an S’ as no one has come with a better acronym. In essence, to build a consistent plan you have to consider five different elements:

  (1)Promotion (communication with the customer) (2)Price (the cost to the customer) (3)Place (how convenient it is for the customer to work with you) (4)Product (what benefits will the customer get) (5)Service (what back-up services you offer) We’ll look at each of these elements of the Marketing Mix in turn, with a focus on ‘Promotion’ and ‘Product’ as these are the most likely aspects that a scientist will be drawn into.

  4.2Promotion: Communicating with Your Customers

  All the analysis has really been leading up to this: devising a plan to communicate with your customers. You may be trying to win business or you may be trying to persuade other organizations to adopt your ideas — whatever the reason, the communication will be much more effective if you take the time and trouble to plan communications with your customer. Taking part in an industrial exhibition will showcase your products, but sending potential customers an email ahead of the exhibition with the benefits of your new instrument, writing an article for a trade journal, then taking part in the exhibition and having a plan to follow-up afterwards is much more likely to have the desired effect.

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  Applied Marketing

  • Daniel Padgett, Andrew Loos(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Their marketing decisions have to fit together to increase customers’ perceived value. In this chapter, we revisit the concept of the Marketing Mix, describing how a company, like Proto Inc., can apply the Marketing Mix in a way that considers the customer’s perspective. See Industry Expert Video David Nussbaum— CEO/Founder and Owen Phillips—Head of Media Proto Inc. 7.1 The Applied Marketing Mix: From 4 Ps to Four Cs 147 7.1 The Applied Marketing Mix: From 4 Ps to Four Cs LEARNING OBJECTIVE Explain how applying the customer perspective to the 4 Ps yields 4 Cs. As you learned in Chapter 2, the traditional Marketing Mix includes 4 Ps: product, place, price, and promotion. The 4 Ps framework is typically represented as a target with the cus- tomer in the center, the “bull’s eye.” The four decision areas surround the customer, as seen in Figure 7.1. Rather than being part of the Marketing Mix, the customer is the target of marketing decisions, or the “target market” as we’ve described throughout the text. While targeting customers is a useful metaphor for marketing, it also suggests an opportunity to improve upon the 4 Ps framework. Notice that the 4 Ps are all producer-controlled variables. The marketer con- trols which features are included in the product, how it is packaged, and the brand (product). The marketer decides when and where to make the product available to the customer (place). The marketer decides how much to charge in the exchange and what terms will be offered (price). The marketer also deter- mines how the product will be promoted and what messages customers will see (promotion). However, to be successful, the marketer needs to understand how these activities are viewed by the customer. So for each of the 4 Ps decision areas, we ask what the customer cares about. In other words, we would like to better understand the “customer mix” that represents the customer’s perspective of the exchange.

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  Launching New Products

  • John Westman, Paul Sowyrda(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Business Expert Press

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 3 Marketing Mix: The 4 P’s Introduction

  This chapter covers the 4P marketing framework which is a useful ­organizing tool to ensure that you are complete and systematic in your new product launch. Additional fundamental concepts to consider include lifetime customer value, the Rogers adoption curve, and an ­analysis based on The Tipping Point . Other critical components of a new product launch include direct selling and a customer service mindset.

  Marketing Mix

  The product introduction team needs to ensure that all Marketing Mix options are considered. The traditional 4P—product, price, promotion, and place—framework continues to be an effective and easily understood framework that ensures consideration of activities that can help the product launch.

  Product Decisions

  All elements of the product need careful consideration so that when taken in their entirety, they compel customers to purchase. “A company aims to make the product or offering different and better in some way that will cause the target market to favor it and even pay a premium price” ­(Kotler 1999, 97). The product introduction team needs to create the most attractive and profitable mix of product quality, variety, design, features, brand name, packaging, sizes, services, warranties, returns, life cycle ­management, product portfolio, standard costs and variances, and ­security of supply chain. This Table 3.1

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  Marketing Communication

  A Critical Introduction

  • Richard Varey(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Credit termsCostInterest-free period payment Place mix ChannelsConvenience and statusRespected outlets CoverageAvailabilityStocked by prominent stores AssortmentsChoiceRange of colours, etc. LocationsConvenience and statusHigh-street stockist InventoryAvailabilityAlways in stock TransportAvailabilityPrompt home delivery People Service staffCompetenceConfident, attentive checkout Physical environment AmbienceComfortTasteful decor Process TransactionImpressionPrompt attention Making the offer AdvertisingIdentityClearly stated valuation PublicityExpertiseComment on social issue Sales promotionValueBuy 2, get 1 free offer Direct marketingPersonalized offerFollow-up offer Personal sellingAttention and concernProblem resolved

  Note : a This list of mix elements is based on Kotler, 2000; and Dibb et al ., 1999

  Table 7.5 The Marketing Mix as a communication system

  	Marketer's intention	How consumers might ‘read’ this
  Product	Positioning on benefits that creates attractiveness and preferences	A solution to a problem or way of satisfying a need
  Price	Enhance intention to buy by creating attractive value for customers	The cost of acquiring the solution or satisfaction
  Place	Adequate availability and service to facilitate purchase	Convenience
  Promotion	Create awareness of product and its benefits	Connection

  The limits of the Marketing Mix approach

  Arising from mass-market consumer goods marketing management, the 4P Marketing Mix approach was suitable for managing in growing markets and exchange did not require considerable interaction between consumer and producer. Transaction marketing was productive, and still is – in some situations. However, as markets have matured, as competition has increased, and as both have moved to a global environment, the attraction of exchangers (customers) has ceased to be adequate.

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  Applied Marketing

  • Daniel Padgett, Andrew Loos(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  131 Applying the Marketing Mix CHAPTER 7 Introduction Zee Ali is certainly a salesperson. Having at one time or another sold everything from uniforms to women’s underwear to individual cigarettes, he learned a thing or two about sales and marketing. Perhaps the most significant thing he learned was that one approach does not typically work as well as multiple approaches. To be successful, you have to try just about anything and everything, measure the results, and adjust your marketing to keep improving the value you provide customers. Zee Group, based in Chicago, does just that. It uses a wide range of tools in its Marketing Mix to add value for its customers though merchandising solutions. Zee answers customer calls on Sunday evenings. The company offers over a million products. He suggests that Zee Group will do just about anything for its customers. In other words, he uses his Marketing Mix to provide customers a posi- tive experience that will increase the likelihood that a customer will be loyal and more profitable in the long run. In this chapter we revisit the concept of the Marketing Mix, describing how a company, like Zee Group, can apply the Marketing Mix in a way that considers the customer’s perspective. 7.1 The Applied Marketing Mix: From 4 Ps to Four Cs As you learned in Chapter 2, the traditional Marketing Mix includes 4 Ps: product, place, price, and promotion. The 4 Ps framework is typically represented as a target with the customer in See Industry Expert Video Zee Ali – Founder, Zee Group Listen to Author Podcast CHAPTER OUTLINE LEARNING OBJECTIVES When you finish this chapter, you should be able to: 7.1 The Applied Marketing Mix: From 4 Ps to 4 Cs Product Affects Customer Benefits Place Affects Convenience Price Affects Cost Promotion Affects Communication 7.1 Explain how applying the customer perspective to the 4 Ps yields four Cs.

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  Marketing and the Customer Value Chain

  Integrating Marketing and Supply Chain Management

  • Thomas Fotiadis, Dimitris Folinas, Konstantinos Vasileiou, Aggeliki Konstantoglou(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  3 Marketing Mix elements: (P)romotion: Delimitation and integrative approach with SCM

  DOI: 10.4324/9780429684883-3

  Introduction

  The present chapter describes the interaction between businesses/organizations and their supply chains, in relation to decisions concerning Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). These decisions play a major role in the integration of the supply chain, especially concerning direct effective two-way communication with customers, with the ultimate aim of contributing, maintaining and increasing the business's competitive edge. In the business environment, radical changes are constantly being observed, which create new opportunities as well as threats for businesses and their supply chains, in connection with the development of effective IMC plans and the determination of the mix of the activities and techniques used in IMC.

  Learning goals

  After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following questions:

  • Why is the rapport with strategic partners in the supply chain necessary for the companies to plan and implement the appropriate Integrated Marketing Communications strategies?
  • What are some of the most important factors that are constantly changing the environment of Integrated Marketing Communications?
  • What are the stages for the development of effective Integrated Marketing Communications plans?
  • What are the basic features of the main activities of the Integrated Marketing Communications mix?

  Structure

  1. 3.1 Integrated Marketing Communications within the supply chain context
  2. 3.2 Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications
  3. 3.3 Integrated Marketing Communications within a constantly changing environment
  4. 3.4 The communication process
  5. 3.5 Development of effective plans for Integrated Marketing Communications
  6. 3.6 Setting out the overall Integrated Marketing Communications mix
  7. 3.7 Product packaging for promotion

  3.1

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