The Marketing Mix

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Marketing Mix and the Nature of the Market

Each element of the marketing mix often influences other elements of the marketing mix. A successfully integrated marketing mix can lead to a competitive advantage. The marketing mix is made of the 4 Ps:

Place

The place where a business sells its product is important as different customers shop in different ways.
Older people tend to do less shopping online, and so if a business decides to sell mainly online then it may have to adjust the price, product, and promotion to make sure they're targeting the right people.

Promotion

Certain methods of promotion are better suited for different demographics and therefore different target markets.
Promotion changes all the time and firms increasingly use social media and search engines like Google to promote their products.
This affects the price, place and product aspects of the marketing mix.

Price

The price that a business decides to charge for their product affects:
- Who they need to promote to.
- The business' target market and therefore the optimal place to sell it.
  - Since the target market has changed the product needs to change to suit the needs of the customers.

Product

As with the other elements of the marketing mix, the product that the company decides to sell will suit the needs of a specific target market.

The Marketing Mix and the Nature of the Market

The nature of the market affects the 4 elements of the marketing mix (the 4 P's):

Price

Price is one of the main factors that customers use to make decisions. A business should price a product so that they attract customers and cover their costs in order to make the most amount of profit possible.
Luxury goods and services usually have high prices. The clothes that consumers buy in Gucci are usually more expensive than the clothes that they buy in Primark or Zara.

Product

The product or service that a company sells should meet customers’ needs and wants to the same standard (or better) than competitors.
Choosing a target market and designing a product that meets customers’ needs and wants is important.
- Google Glass was a product launched by Google in 2013, however, it was not clear which features consumers wanted. The product failed and is no longer produced.

Promotion

Promotion describes the ways that a business tries to inform consumers about a product (or service) and tries to persuade them to buy it.
If consumers are not aware about a product then they are unlikely to buy it. Businesses need to inform and remind consumers about a product so that they are more likely to buy it.

Place

Products and services should be sold where consumers want to buy them.
- For a company like Dell, selling computers in a children’s toy shop like Hamleys may not be sensible.
Where a product is distributed affects the price that a firm can charge for it. If products are sold through e-commerce websites, then price comparison may be easier and more practical than in a shop. Firms may have to charge lower prices online because of this.

Marketing Mix - The 4 P's

The 4 P's of the marketing mix are very important for businesses. They determine what kind of business a business is, which people the business sells to and where they sell their products. Perfecting the marketing mix:

Cake

Price, promotion, product and place are all like ingredients in a cake.
Every cake has different ingredients and different combinations produce different results.

Aston Martin

Sports cars like Aston Martins sell at premium prices.
Customers usually want to see and test drive expensive cars like this. A car showroom should be near traffic of the kind of people who buy Aston Martins (40-60 year old men rather than 15 year old boys).
Aston Martin’s showroom in Derby is within 100m of Derbyshire County Cricket ground and an upmarket Nuffield Health Club.
All of the elements of the marketing mix are integrated into one.