Marketing mix
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Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market. Those tools are classified into four groups, called the four P's:
Product
A product is an item (or service) that is offered in a market to satisfy a specific need of customer. A product may be physical but also may have immaterial form (e-book, mp3 tune, etc.).
Price
The price is a value customer has to pay for it. For that reason, the price element cannot be considered separately from the element of product. The key objective of using a price is obviously to generate and maximize company revenues.
Place
This factor includes distribution channel or place in which customers can buy offered product. The distribution forms the physical connection between the company and the final users of the product. Having a good distribution is very important and may even produce a sustainable competitive advantage. The main objective of a distribution is to decide to what extend and where should be the product available that the target audience is able to obtain it.
Promotion
Promotion consists of all marketing communication activities between company and its customers. Communication involves informing and convincing the target audience of certain characteristics of the brand; therefore, it has not only short-term goals but also long-term goals. Sales promotion refer to all short-term efforts to achieve more sales by making temporary changes in the four P's.
The particular marketing components and marketing-mix decisions under each P are presented in fig. 1.
Choice of marketing mix strategy
The choice of the marketing strategy determines the marketing mix strategies to a large extend. The marketing mix objectives should be formulated separately for an each marketing mix element, however not an every company considers it as an important phase, they often presume that generally formulated marketing objectives are sufficient for a business (however, it is difficult to meet all these requirements for some marketing mix factors).
The marketing mix objectives have to meet the four requirements:
- They have to be formulated within specified time frame,
- They have to be formulated quantitatively using clear numeric measures,
- They have to be ambitious, and require substantial work of managers and employees,
- They have to be realistic to maintain engagement.
Marketing mix is often used to discover and analyse strategies of company's competitors.
See also:
References
- Alsem K.J., (2007). Strategic Marketing: An Applied Perspective, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill.
- Borden, N. H. (1964). The concept of the marketing mix. Journal of advertising research, 4(2), 2-7.
- Kotler P., (2000). Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, Millennium Edition.
- Kotler P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson education.
- Peter J.P., Donnelly Jr J., (2003). Marketing Management: knowledge and skills, McGraw-Hill/Irwin
- Robinson, W. T. (1988). Marketing mix reactions to entry. Marketing Science, 7(4), 368-385.
- Van Waterschoot, W., & Van den Bulte, C. (1992). The 4P classification of the marketing mix revisited. The Journal of Marketing, 83-93.
- Marketing mix @ Wikipedia.
Author: Ewa Szczepankiewicz
