The term marketing mix is defined as a set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market. The marketing mix is an essential part of the formulation of a firm’s marketing strategy. It is important for an organization to have a good understanding of the marketing mix. Each element is important when developing a marketing plan. Traditionally, the marketing mix consisted of four broad categories of variables known as the 4 P’s: product, place, price and promotion. These are the variables the firm can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market.
Product
The first element in the marketing mix is the product. A product is any combination of goods and services offered to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers. Hence, a product can be anything that is tangible or intangible and can be offered for purchase or use by consumers. An organization needs to have an in depth understanding about what it is they are marketing. Developments of the product’s quality, design, or brand name are important when trying to match with customers’ needs and wants. An organization should explain how their product’s features benefit the customer.
For example, as number one home improvement retailer in U.S., Home Depot’s vision was to be the largest home improvement warehouse than any competitor, a one-stop shopping place for the do-it-yourselfer. Hence, to achieve this goal, their “inventory in the company’s stores carry over 40,000 different kinds of building materials, home improvement supplies, and lawn and garden products, as well as 250,000 products that can be special ordered” (Home Depot, 2008). Another product Home Depot targets its do-it-for-me custom...
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...eated, there will be another organization ready to give them what they want.
Reference
Naik, P., Raman, K. & Winer, R. (2005). Planning Marketing-Mix Strategies in the Presence of
Interaction Effects. Davis, California: University of California, Graduate School of
Management. Retrieved August 2, 2008, from http://faculty.gsm.ucdavis.edu/~prasad/
Abstracts/Naik_Raman_Winer_05.pdf
Perruault, W. & McCarthy, J. (2005). Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach.
[University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Retrieved August
3, 2008, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, MKT421---Marketing Course Web site
The Home Depot, Inc. (2008). Our Company: Our History. Retrieved August 2, 2008, from
http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_10D/_s.7_0_A/
7_0_10D
Successful marketing strategies are very important as it determines whether the organizations can materialize the benefits and strengths of their products and improve their revenue and profitability. Marketing strategies are heavily impacted by the external opportunities and weaknesses, as well as the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Based on this information, companies have to segment the big market into small segments and divide their products into homogeneous batches to target each segment separately. Furthermore, the organizations have to design important marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion to make sure that their products are well received by the customers. All of these aspects are very important for organizations realize the potential from their products and achieve the competitive advantages in the competitive market.
The marketing mix, which is basic to any organization, can be considered the ‘controllable’ variables that every business encounters. These controllable variables can be modified based on the uncontrollable variables (external factors found in Environmental Scan) that directly affect business operations. A company focuses on four elements in the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, which are managed and coordinated through marketing programs in efforts to appeal to their target market. Marketers strive to understand what motivates consumers to purchase certain products. The marketing mix helps to break down some of these questions: What will consumers buy? How much will they spend? Where will they buy? And will they buy again?
Marketing is a process of determining a consumer’s needs, devising a product or service to satisfy those needs, and trying to focus customers on the goods and services you are offering. Marketing is extremely important, and a fundamental building block for business growth. A marketing team is given the task of creating customer awareness through a variety of different marketing techniques. If a business does not pay close attention to their consumer demographic and needs, they will eventually fail over time. Two important aspects of marketing include acquiring new customers, and the preservation and growth of relationships with current customers. Marketing has always been viewed as a creative outlet, which encompassed advertising, distribution, and the selling of goods and services. Marketing staff will also try to anticipate what customers will want in the future, often being accomplished with market research. In summation, a good marketing plan should be able to create a favorable proposition or series of benefits that a customer can value through goods or services. The marketing mix is normally described as the strategic positioning of a product or service in the marketplace, using the specification of the four Ps. During the early 1960’s, Professor E. Jerome McCarthy of Harvard Business School stated that a marketing mix contains four elements. The four key points are product, pricing, promotion, and placement. It is recognized that all these aspects must be present to ensure a successful business model within a given industry. We will now take a thorough look at the four marketing mix points.
It is also important to note that marketing mix applied by a particular firm will vary according to its resources, market conditions
The 4 Ps of the marketing mix are: Product, Promotion, Price, and Place. The marketing mix puts the right products, at the right price point, in the right place, at the right time. The following examines how Claire’s Chocolates optimizes its marketing mix (Yoo, Donthu, & Lee, 2000, 195-196).
The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand of products in the market. Price, Product, Promotion and Place, are known as the 4Ps that make up a typical marketing mix. As marketing evolves, there are additional Ps that can also be included in the marketing mix, however, focusing on the 4 core Ps of the marketing mix, price, place, promotion and Product, taking an in-depth look at the aspects of Victoria’s Secret in general and in terms of the selected product. All the elements of the marketing mix influence each other. They contribute to the business plan for a company and if managed correctly, can give it a great success. In order to successfully master marketing mix, it needs understanding,
I found the main goal of the article to explain the concept of marketing. As the author implies, the concept of the marketing mix is a great tool to give an answer to the question “what is marketing”. It is a great introduction of the elements of marketing as a whole, with visual charts that sum the different marketing forces. Marketing is not about doing or not doing, its mainly about doing the right things for your operation with consideration of the resources that are available. This also sheds light over the fact that managing functions of marketing must be oriented to the market and with consideration of the marketing changes make a marketing mix that fits the resources of the firm.
Neil Borden, the developer of the marketing mix model, suggests that you need two sets of information in order to develop a marketing mix; a list of important elements that go into the mix, and a list of forces that influence these decision variables (Wikipedia, 2006). The most common variables that are used in formulating this mix are product, price, place and promotion. These variables, viewed from the perspective of the marketer, are sometimes referred to as marketing management because it describes the elements in which marketers have to work with.
The best way to define a market is to recognize the needs and wants of consumers and then focus on meeting those needs and wants. In today’s advertising industry, marketers use the marketing mix as a tool to satisfy their target consumers. Furthermore, the marketing mix contains controllable variables that are carefully managed by the business to meet the needs of a targeted audience. “In other words, a company has control over what product it makes, what price it sells the product for, how it wishes to place (distribute) the product and how it wishes to promote it” (Food Export, 2011 para. 4). Therefore, a good way to understand the characteristics of the marketing mix is to identify its four special elements—the four Ps. The following is a diagram of the marketing mix formula (product, place, price, promotion) (See figure 1)
Marketing mix are the variables that mangers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market. A typical marketing mix includes the product offered at price, with some promotion to tell customers about the product and a way to reach the customers’ place.
The marketing mix is composed of four key elements to execute or examine for marketing campaigns. The chief goal of the marketing committee is to optimize the marketing mix. Marketers can enhance their outcomes and marketing value by implementing the right combination of the four P’s. Discrete alterations made to the marketing mix are looked at as tactical changes, while rendering huge changes to it can be considered strategic. The “Four P’s” of marketing are: product, price, placement, and promotion.
Retail marketing mix is about choosing the optimum combination of marketing mix elements and integrating and formulating the methods strategically to satisfy target audience establishing brand positioning and creating value in the market. The marketing mix serves the purpose of coordinating the elements of mix and creating distinct images in the consumer’s mind about each store. The way our customers perceive and value proposition of our retail store is affected by the way we design our marketing mix. It completely depends on the market we operate and the type of customers they serve. The optimum combination helps the retailer to better stand out from the competitors in the retail market. Here we discuss the marketing decisions that need to be taken in the areas of marketing mix elements.
According to Principles of Marketing, 14e, Kotler and Armstrong, 2012 - "The Marketing Mix is the set of tactical marketing tools - Product, Price, Promotion, and Place - that the firm
The main objective of this study is to demonstrate how the marketing mix applies to a product and why is an important tool of analysis.
To create a successful marketing mix you must have all of the following aspects: the right product for your target market, sold to your target market at the appropriate price,in the right place and time, while using the most fitting promotion. ( Marketing Theory 1995.) The product, price, place, and promotion all are of uttermost importance in a business, since all businesses must complete all of these activities, including advertising agencies and research firms, everybody in the business world should understand the marketing mix.