Marketing mix

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Marketing
Key concepts
Product / Pricing / Promotion Distribution / Service / Retail Brand management Account-based marketing Marketing ethics Marketing effectiveness Market research Market segmentation Marketing strategy Marketing management Market dominance
Promotional content
Advertising / Branding Direct marketing / Personal Sales Product placement / Publicity Sales promotion / Sex in advertising Underwriting
Promotional media
Printing / Publication / Broadcasting Out-of-home / Internet marketing Point of sale / Novelty items Digital marketing / In-game Word of mouth
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The marketing mix is generally accepted as the use and specification of the 'four Ps' describing the strategic position of a product in the marketplace. One version of the marketing mix originated in 1948 when James Culliton said that a marketing decision should be a result of something similar to a recipe. This version was used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and coined the term "marketing-mix". A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a 4 P classification in 1960, which has seen wide use. The four Ps concept is explained in most marketing textbooks and classes.

Contents 1 Definition 2 Four Ps 3 Extended marketing mix 4 Four Cs 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Definition

The 'marketing mix' is a set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that work together to achieve company's objectives

[edit] Four Ps

Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as 'the four Ps':

• Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are often service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system.
• Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product.
• Place – Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet.
• Promotion – Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements - advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from and cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. One of the most notable means of promotion today is the Promotional Product, as in useful items distributed to targeted audiences with no obligation attached. This category has grown each year for the past decade while most other forms have suffered. It is the only form of advertising that targets all five senses and has the recipient thanking the giver. Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations (see Product above).

Broadly defined, optimizing the marketing mix is the primary responsibility of marketing. By offering the product with the right combination of the four Ps marketers can improve their results and marketing effectiveness. Making small changes in the marketing mix is typically considered to be a tactical change. Making large changes in any of the four Ps can be considered strategic. For example, a large change in the price, say from $19.00 to $39.00 would be considered a strategic change in the position of the product. However a change of $130 to $129.99 would be considered a tactical change, potentially related to a promotional offer.

The term 'marketing mix' however, does not imply that the 4P elements represent options. They are not trade-offs but are fundamental marketing issues that always need to be addressed. They are the fundamental actions that marketing requires whether determined explicitly or by default.

[edit] Extended marketing mix

There have been attempts to develop an 'extended marketing mix' to better accommodate specific aspects of marketing.

For example, in the 1970s, Nickels and Jolson suggested the inclusion of packaging.

In the 1980s Kotler proposed public opinion and political power and Booms and Bitner included three additional 'Ps' to accommodate trends towards a service or knowledge based economy:

• People – all people who directly or indirectly influence the perceived value of the product or service, including knowledge workers, employees, management and consumers.
• Process – procedures, mechanisms and flow of activities which lead to an exchange of value.
• Physical evidence – the direct sensory experience of a product or service that allows a customer to measure whether he or she has received value. Examples might include the way a customer is treated by a staff member, or the length of time a customer has to wait, or a cover letter from an insurance company, or the environment in which a product or service is delivered.^[1][2][3]

[edit] Four Cs

The Four Ps is also being replaced by the Four Cs model, consisting of consumer, cost, convenience, and communication. The Four Cs model is more consumer-oriented and fits better in the movement from mass marketing to niche marketing.^[4][5] The product part of the Four Ps model is replaced by consumer or consumer models, shifting the focus to satisfying the consumer. Another C replacement for Product is Capability. By defining offerings as individual capabilities that when combined and focused to a specific industry, creates a custom solution rather than pigeon-holing a customer into a product. Pricing is replaced by cost, reflecting the reality of the total cost of ownership. Many factors affect cost, including but not limited to the customers cost to change or implement the new product or service and the customers cost for not selecting a competitors capability. Placement is replaced by the convenience function. With the rise of internet and hybrid models of purchasing, place is no longer relevant. Convenience takes into account the ease to buy a product, find a product, find information about a product, and several other considerations. Finally, the promotions feature is replaced by communication. Communications represents a broader focus than simply promotions. Communications can include advertising, public relations, personal selling, viral advertising, and any form of communication between the firm and the consumer.^[6]

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.12manage.com/methods_booms_bitner_7Ps.html
2. ^ http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/canons/servicesmkting.pdf
3. ^ http://fredmba.blogspot.com/2008/05/marketing-7ps.html
4. ^ http://www.scs.unr.edu/~khalilah/eMarketing.pdf
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ [2]

• Kotler, Philip, Keller, Lane (2005) "Marketing Management", Prentice Hall, ISBN 0131457578.
• Barlon, Kimuli. (2006) "The concept of the marketing mix" Presentation on marketing management, vol 1, September, 2006, pp 2–7-Turku university -Finland - The same article can also be found in: Schwartz, G. (ed), Science in Marketing, John Wiley, New York, 1965, pp 386–397 - and also in: Enis, B. and Cox, K. (1991) Marketing Classics, A selection of influential articles, Allyn and Brown, Boston, 1991, pp 361–369.
• Bitner, J. and Booms, B. (1981) Marketing strategies and organizational structures for service firms, in Donnelly, J. and George, W. Marketing, American Marketing Association, Chicago, 1981.
• Borden, N. H. (1964), “The Concept of the Marketing Mix”, Journal of Advertising Research, June, Vol. 4, pp. 2–7. Available in Schwartz G. Science in Marketing. John Wiley & Sons, NY 386-97
• Culliton, J. W. (1948), The Management of Marketing Costs, Graduate School of Business Administration, Boston, Mass: Harvard University.
• Frey, A. (1961) Advertising, 3rd ed., Ronald Press, New York, 1961.
• Hammer, M. and Champy, J. (1993) Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Harper Business Books, New York, 1993, ISBN 0-06-662112-7
• Hughes, M. (2005) "Buzzmarketing: Get People To Talk About Your Stuff", Penguin/Portfolio, New York, 2005 Website
• Lauterborn, R (1990) "New Marketing Litany: 4 Ps Passe; C words take over", Advertising Age, October 1, 1990, pg 26.
• McCarthy EJ (1960) Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Homewood IL: Irwin.
• McCarthy, J. (1960 1st ed.), Basic Marketing: A managerial approach, 13th ed., Irwin, Homewood Il, 2001.
• Nickels, William G. & Jolson, Marvin A. (1976) 'Packaging - The Fifth 'P' In The Marketing Mix', Advanced Management Journal, Winter, Vol. 41, Iss. 1, p. 13.

[edit] External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Marketing

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marketing Mix

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Schools Marketing Mix (bitesize 4P's)