MARKETING MIX

 

MARKETING MIX

The four Ps classifications for developing an effective marketing strategy were first introduced in 1960 by marketing professor and author E. Jerome McCarthy. Depending on the industry and the target of the marketing plan, marketing managers may take various approaches to each of the four Ps. Each element can be examined independently, but in practice, they often are often dependent on one another. 

A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. The term often refers to a common classification that began as the four Ps: product, price, placement, and promotion.

Effective marketing touches on a broad range of areas as opposed to fixating on one message. Doing so helps reach a wider audience, and by keeping the four Ps in mind, marketing professionals are better able to maintain focus on the things that really matter. Focusing on a marketing mix helps organizations make strategic decisions when launching new products or revising existing products.

MARKETING MIX is a planned mix of the controllable elements of a product's marketing plan commonly termed as 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion.

These four elements are adjusted until the rightcombination is found that serves the needs of the product's customers, while generating optimumincome. Sometimes the first P (Product) is substituted by presentation.

CONTROLLABLE VARIABLES

These refer to those variables that can be easily controlled by a business-man or a company to suit the demand of the business. They include the following:
•Product:
A company or marketer is said to have control over a product because he or she can undertake the following adjustments to suit prevailing demands of the business.  The business can increase the capacity of output to cope with increasing demand, modify the product in terms of color, size, shape, fashion, design ,or  change the package of the product and so on.
• Price:
A business or a marketer is said to have control over price of his products because he or she can undertake the following adjustments to suit the demand on business: it  can offer discounts,  offer price reductions or use the money off e.g. he can use this slogan, “buy two get one free”.
• Promotion:
A marketer is said to have control over promotional activities of his organization because of the following factors:  it  is able to select appropriate promotional media to use depending on different situations , is able to select appropriate slogans to use for different market segments. It can to do this because different advertising slogans are perceived differently in different market segments.
• Place or Distribution:
A company or a marketer is able to control distribution activities in his or her organization by way of choosing appropriate marketing channels to use in the distribution of his goods and services e.g. supermarkets, village shops, kiosks and multiple shops. This will enable customers to get goods at the right time and place.
• Suppliers:
Companies can either increase the number of suppliers or decrease it.