Introduction to Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is defined as a business model and a set of practices that are used to achieve the marketing goals of a business. Marketing is one of the foundation factors for the success of any business or organization. The marketing mix is the set of practices for the successful marketing or brand promotion of any company’s products or services. There are four broad areas covered under marketing: product, price, place, and product promotion.
Marketing is a wide-ranging business promotion model that comprises designing the product, development, production/manufacturing of the product, and promotion. Marketing is limited to the promotional aspect of this business, but marketers and marketing play a pivotal part during the production phases of the product or services to refine marketability and successful promotion of the product. The marketing mix is a term with wide meaning, and a broad spectrum of different areas covered related to the products and services.
Types or Categories of Marketing Mix Values
Categorization of Marketing Mix Strategies or Principles as Per the Type of Industries:
There is different type of industries or organization providing different types of services, and so we do have different types of marketing mix strategies based on the type of industry or the services they are providing to their customers including:
1. Contemporary/Digital Marketing Mix
This is the most dominant marketing mix strategy, which focuses on four Ps of marketing, namely product, price, place, and promotion of the product, which is basically used for making the management decisions related to the business.
2. Extended Marketing Mix
Then comes the extended marketing mix strategy, which comprises 7 Ps of marketing: the product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence.
3. Service Marketing Mix Strategy
The services marketer follows 8p’s of marketing in addition to the 7 Ps of the extended marketing mix, which are the product, price, place, promotion, people, process, physical evidence, and performance.
4. Customer-Driven Marketing Mix
Customer-driven services follow the 4 c’s of marketing: consumer, cost, convenience, and communication.
5. Shimizu’s Marketing Mix Strategy
This is very similar to the customer-driven principles except for commodity and channel. Thus the 4c’s of Shimizu’s marketing mix are commodity, cost, channel, and communication.
4 P’s of Marketing
The basic 4P’s of marketing are the product, price, place, and promotion, so let’s see these 4 p’s in detail:
1. Product
Products are basically the end outcomes, either the goods or the services produced or offered by any organization or industry required to satisfy the needs and requirements of a customer. Marketing does not exclusively mean only the promotion of the product or service produced, but marketing starts with product research at the very initial stage, which is carried by the product development team. They study and research the needs of the customer for reaching out to them.
Product development is not necessarily only producing or manufacturing an entirely new product, but it may also be the upgrade of the existing product or services. Then comes the product development life cycle, which is the total time taken to develop the product until the product is error or defect-free and is led by the marketing manager. It is the marketing manager’s responsibility that the product is built or produced as per the market research of the customer’s needs.
2. Price
Pricing of the product or the services is the most important aspect of the customer’s point of view. The product’s cost component must be such or must be strategized as per the customer’s capacity to pay for the opted service or product. It is important to keep the customer’s willingness to pay for the product or the service while deciding the product’s cost to attract the customers; the marketing strategy guides to provide lucrative deals and discounts on the product, which helps draw the customer’s attention towards the product. The management must keep the vision of the long terms goals and benefits while making the decision, and the cost margin should be such that it benefits both the customer and the organization.
3. Place
Marketing research is very crucial for deciding the marketing venues and the places for the product launch as it depends on the targeted consumer’s availability in that place. This also covers the local branches and franchises at different locations to promote and sell the product and services. The placement component includes a number of factors like sales personnel, training, and franchising fees for brand promotion.
4. Promotion
Today’s marketing is all about how well a product or service is being promoted to reach out to the maximum consumers. Promotion of the products/services includes advertising the product and services on TV, the internet, etc., or displaying the product on banners to target and grab the eye of the consumers, making pamphlets, and selling them to target maximum consumers. The sales revenue depends on how well the brand is promoted, and that retaining that name to gain the trust of the consumers is equally important. Again marketing research plays a vital role in targeting the maximum consumers during the promotion and helps to strategize the entire promotion of the products/services. Nowadays, consumers have become handy with technology, and they constantly look for services over the internet or e-commerce websites. Thus the digital marketing era also focusses on grabbing the consumer’s attention by email marketing and promoting the products and services over the internet and e-commerce websites.
Marketing is the key to the success of any product or service in today’s era. The industries or organizations spend a hefty amount on the promotion of their brand to reach out to maximum consumers. They often approach highly influential people like the actor and actresses, cricketers, or other sportspeople who are well known among the common people to promote their brands. Marketing has emerged as an industry, and there are firms that are solely dedicated to the marketing needs of the top-notch brands, and these marketing firms strategize and campaign the promotion of the product.
Recommended Articles
This is a guide to the Marketing Mix. Here we discuss the introduction and types or categories of marketing mix values along with the 4P’s of marketing which includes the product, price, place, and promotion of the product, etc. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –
