The Marketing mix is an element of operational marketing that is constituted as the set of strategies and internal planning carried out by organizations to analyze and define the focus of their marketing activities of products and services.

The purpose of the marketing mix remains ​​to encourage the purchase desire of potential customers of a company. The strategies and planning used must be adapted and defined based on the business profile and the defined characteristics of the target market.

History and Background

The marketing mix model was initially proposing by the publicist Neil Border in the 1950s. Who first configured the classic with 12 elements that he considered necessary when offering a marketing strategy to attack or convince his target audience.

This list was simplified in 1960 by the well-known American marketer and accountant Jerome McCarthy, who reduced Norde’s 12 elements into 4, later known as the four p’s. McCarthy’s work quickly gained significant repercussions due to the simplicity of his model and its easy application, especially for the commercial needs of the companies of the time.

Elements

McCarthy’s marketing mix groups four elements or variables that must be mixed or combined with having the best and most optimal marketing strategy.

These four elements must be able to answer the following questions

  • What needs do my clients have?
  • What is the cost of satisfying our customers, and what return will that satisfaction give me?
  • Distribution channels are most convenient?
  • How and in what media do I communicate it?

The marketing mix elements are the product,  the price, the place or positioning, and finally, the promotion below a detailed description of each of the elements accompanied by concise examples.

Price

It is mainly about the amount of money or goods that a potential customer is willing to pay for a product or service. To set the price of a good, it is necessary to analyze the value that the product generates in consumers and consider it essential to pay for its acquisition.

It is one of the most significant delicate variables of the marketing mix since, for its fixation. It is necessary to contemplate a large number of variables related to the cost and expenses of production and marketing of the good. In addition to the fact that it must provide a level of utility for the organization that uses it.

Before agreeing on the price of a product or service, the organization must have the answers to the following questions

  • What value does the product or service have for the potential customer?
  • Are there prices defined by the competition, market or customers?
  • What is the price of competing products or like products?
  • Do you want to have a competitive advantage through pricing?

Example

The multinational company PepsiCo wants to market its products in the Republic of Zimbabwe for the first time. The firm’s biggest problem is competing with existing local companies that offer products. At a meagre cost and have perfect acceptance by the general public. PepsiCo decided to carry out a cost and market study. Where it chose to market only the products of the ‘Pepsi’ and ‘Miranda’ brands and not its entire range of brands. As “premium” brand, they differentiate themselves from the competition mainly because of a higher cost and target only a specific audience of the country above. It is because these brands would enter the Zimbabwe market.

They are obtaining a differentiation strategy through prices, allowing good profitability. Without spending a lot of money on advertising so that their “low cost” products have to face the local market very well positioned.

Product

The product can define as the main element of the marketing mix without an effect. This element seeks to better define the product or service to be offered, which aims to satisfy consumer needs by creating desire impulses in potential consumers. An organization cannot market, much less establish a marketing campaign.

For a product or facility to stand out from the competition or be a sales success. It must add added value to the consumer and maintain this characteristic throughout their life cycle.

Generally, before defining a product, it must be able to consider the following variables

  • The demand or demands that the product can meet.
  • The process of attention to the demand.
  • I use the product.
  • The product’s characteristics, such as the name, description and format.
  • product differentiation

Example

When the company Apple Inc decided to launch the ‘iPhone’, it was apparent. What the advantages of its product were since the competition could not match or imitate the technical characteristics. And functionality never seen before in a mobile phone. These features were unnecessary for most of the target audience. However, it managed to generate the desire of millions of people worldwide, becoming a bestseller.

Place or Positioning

Commonly called ‘Distribution’ or point of sale, this element of the marketing mix focuses. On how a product or service arrives from the place of production or storage to the delivery site defined by customers.

This element groups the stages or phases and distribution channels through which a good go through for its commercialization. For this purpose, it remains necessary to define sales points and delivery or acquisition points. These last variables are very sensitive since they considerably influence the attractiveness of the product or service marketed and the expenses incurred for its transportation.

The necessary variables that must be define to obtain an optimal distribution are:

  • Shipping costs.
  • Operation times.
  • Distribution channels.

Example

The Toyota automobile company was one of the pioneers in using the ‘JIT’ (Just in time) distribution model. Which allows an organization to save costs and expenses related to the distribution. Storage and transport of its merchandise through an efficient system for the time, stock and merchandise rotation control.

This company acquires raw materials to construct vehicles when there is a production line ready and available to start production. In this way, it minimizes costs by keeping only the right amount of inventory required and being able to adjust to changes in demand for its products.

Conclusion

“marketing mix” is a business foundation model historically center around a product, price, place, and promotion. The marketing mix has been defining as the “set of marketing gears that the firm habits to pursue its marketing objects in the target market”.

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