Four Elements of the Marketing Mix

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What does the phrase marketing mix mean? What is the purpose of the marketing mix? The marketing mix is a process most organizations use to bring a product or service to market. The four Ps is a good way to define the marketing mix tool. The four Ps or four elements of the marketing mix are product, place, price, and promotion, which are used to satisfy consumers’ needs and the objectives of the organization. After a target market is selected, “…the firm must take steps to satisfy [the customers] needs” (Kerin, Hartley, & Rudelius, 2009 p. 13). The basic concept of the marketing mix is to focus on what customers want and to keep customers satisfied. Although the marketing mix is a unique way to market a product or service, satisfying the consumers’ needs and wants is every marketer’s main goal.

Aspects of the Marketing Mix

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)

Figure 1: Four elements of the marketing mix (Style, 2010)

The goal of the ...

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...te, 2010). Assuredly, a customer is the most important subject in the marketing process. Above all, the perception of the marketing mix is vital in the marketing industry because the process will allow the organization to sustain customer satisfaction and maintain corporate success. Ultimately, the focal point in the marketing mix is to fulfill the customers’ needs.

References

BusinessMate 2010, Retrieved May 28, 2011 from http://www.businessmate.org/Article.php?ArtikelId=201

Food Export Association of the Midwest USA and Food Export USA – Northeast 2011, Retrieved May 27, 2011, from http://www.foodexport.org/GettingStarted/Content.cfm?ItemNumber=1288

Kerin, R.A., Hartley, S.W., Rudelius, W. (2009). Marketing (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Style Communications Pty Ltd 2010, Retrieved May 18, 2011, from

http://www.stylecom.com.au/blog/?tag=marketing-mix

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