| Summary |
| Marketing professionals have long used marketing mix in a company’s business strategy. It comprises 4ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Generally, each P plays a vital role in creating good marketing tactics to help a company stay in the competitive market and industry. Over time, alternative marketing models have been introduced. Although it may sound more up-to-date, its concept is still anchored to the traditional 4ps by Harvard professor Neil Borden. In short, it made the 4ps timeless and still useful despite newer strategies coming into play. |
Understanding what the 4ps of marketing mix mean is essential for anyone looking to create a successful marketing campaign.
In fact, marketers have been creative in their branding and marketing strategies through the years. Over time, they have used different internet and social media tactics to create compelling content and positive branding for their products. However, their innovativeness will always be rooted in the traditional ways marketing has been fueled.
Learning about the marketing mix will deepen your understanding of how professional marketers effectively sell their services and products. Generally, this concept is anchored with the conventional formula they use for their products: the 4Ps of marketing.
So, if you are curious about the marketing mix, what the 4ps are, and how it works and helps a business, continue reading.
What Is A Marketing Mix?
Simply put, marketing mix is the actions or strategies a company implements to promote its offers.
It is the business plan crucial for a company’s growth and success. Generally, it is important to have a clever and strategic marketing mix to avoid potential losses and failure to achieve company goals.
In fact, a great marketing mix will need comprehensive market research efforts and understanding. Consulting with users, people in the industry, and stakeholders will also be helpful.
Its basic functions are the following:
- Listen to what the consumers need or want
- Increase competitive advantage
- Analyze product interactions with customers
- Assess problems and public perception of the product or service
Everything About The 4Ps of Marketing
To understand the marketing mix, get to know what the 4ps of marketing is through this video.
Youtube link: The 4 Ps of The Marketing Mix Simplified
A firm’s marketing mix refers to the combination of place, product, price, and promotion. In its most basic sense, they are the tools to meet marketing objectives and goals. With this, it is critical for a business to use the 4 mix to its advantage and branding strategy.
How The 4Ps Came About
If you wonder about the guy who first conceptualized the four ps, you may look at Harvard University professor Neil Borden. He published an article in 1964 entitled, The Concept of Marketing Mix, where he emphasized that businesses could use the 4 mix to ensure success in advertising their products.
Additionally, he was inspired by his colleague, James Culliton. Basically, Culltion thought successful marketers are always open to experimenting and changing strategies according to customer demand and conditions.
Borden believes that some marketing factors that affect a marketing mix are as follows:
- Consumer shopping behaviors
- Government rules and regulations
- Competitive landscape
Product
The first marketing P is the product. It is any item, whether tangible goods or intangible services, that is sold by the company to satisfy the needs of the consumers.
A good marketer knows their products. In short, it entails clearly understanding its purpose and what makes it different from other competitors in the market before launching it to the public.
Additionally, a product must be aligned with consumer demands, considering how they will experience and use it. So, don’t miss out on any feature that can gratify the customers.
Marketers can also take advantage of each stage of a product life cycle to assess what the market wants and determine what they can do to improve their strategies. Generally, its stages are introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
Each level has its respective marketing goal. For example, the marketing goal for a product in the growth stage of its product life cycle is to increase profit. To do this, businesses can:
- Assess and improve their product’s quality
- Widen distribution channels
- Explore new market segments
- Keep pricing high and reasonable
- Change your marketing messages to product preference
Surely, companies can use each cycle stage’s goals to improve their marketing styles.
Price
Price is considered to be the variable in the marketing mix that is always prone to change and flexibility. Generally, it is a marketing factor that will always be open to modifications depending on market and consumer conditions.
Remember, it is an important part of your business and marketing model as it is one of the determiners of the sellability of your product. Additionally, the price component of a marketing mix is revenue-generating. Strategizing involves careful planning and consideration of your customer and profit.
Place
In terms of place marketing definition, it is about giving consumers product access to prioritize their convenience.
It talks about putting the right product in the right channel and time. Generally, it is how and where the product is sold to the customers.
Additionally, It touches on the area of distribution in marketing. So if one asks which of the 4 ps of marketing is most closely related to a distribution strategy, this P may be what you’d most likely be looking at. Of course, identifying where you’ll launch or make your product accessible will always be connected to how you will distribute it.
Promotion
Effective promotion enhances a product or service’s image and marketability. Ultimately, it may be the end goal of what the 4ps targets–to make a product pleasing to consumers.
In promoting your products, one must consider effective marketing channels and advertising approaches to the audience. Therefore, it will surely take a lot of research on the marketer’s end.
In addition, part of the promotion is the activities companies must perform to take their products to the limelight. It wants to inform, persuade, remind and communicate with the audience to get their services and buy their offers.
How To Create A Good Marketing Strategy Using The 4Ps
The magic of what the 4ps of marketing really does is contribute to curating a good marketing strategy for a business. Generally, it serves as the framework or the foundation from which a business can create its winning marketing tactic. So, to create a good one, follow these simple steps:
1. The first step is to analyze and get to know the product. Use its best features and create an aligned strategy to emphasize how the product differs from others in the industry.
2. After that, it would be best to consider its pricing. Remember, it is not always about profit generation. Also, pricing entails product value and positioning, determining if it’s a luxury or can be priced lower in the market.
3. Once you have established your product’s price and value, consider the place and distribution strategies next. Ensure that it is accessible to the right audience.
4. Lastly, think about how you will do your product launch and promotions. In general, it will include advertising them on different marketing channels like radio, television, emails, social media, or using SEO. Also, it would help to have good content management.
The Retail Marketing Mix
Marketing changes and advancements have paved the way for the traditional 4 mix to evolve, adding two more p’s, and it is now called the retail marketing mix.
Retail marketing mix adds people and presentation to the p’s. Additionally, it mainly focuses on the sales associates and aesthetics part of the company.
People cover the company representatives who reach out and interact with customers. They answer consumer queries on product details, price, and availability and are known to affect marketing strategies. Generally, these people connect the products to customers, affecting customer experience and feedback.
Meanwhile, presentation refers to how presentable the retail setting looks. It includes furniture, wallpaper, and room layout. This p affects the buying feel and experience of the customer.
Other Alternative Marketing Models
Note that the retail marketing mix is not the only evolution of marketing strategies. Through time, professionals and businesses have used other marketing considerations and tools and stirred away from the traditional.
The Four C’s by Lauterborn
In 1990, consultant and educator Robert F. Lauterborn suggested a new marketing approach called the four C’s. Additionally, it focused more on the consumers by looking at the marketing mix from a customer’s perspective.
The C’s are as follows:
1. As a customer-centric approach, the first C of Lauterborn is the consumer. It considers its wants and needs. Generally, it is the counterpart of products in the traditional marketing mix.
2. The second C is cost, which corresponds to the marketing mix’s price. It wants to look at the price from the consumer’s viewpoint.
3. The third C is convenience in buying on the customer’s end. Basically, it is the place in the conventional marketing mix.
4. Lastly, the fourth C is communication which tackles how the consumers will look at the product once it is promoted and communicated to them. It is the counterpart of promotion in the marketing mix.
Seven P’s by Booms’ And Bither’s
Professors Mary Jo Bitner and Bernard Booms have added 3 ps of marketing strategies from the traditional 4 mix. Additionally, aside from price, promotion, place, and product, they have added people, processes, and physical evidence to the p’s.
The Addition
| People | It covers anything about customer service. |
| Process | Delivering goods and services to consumers. |
| Physical Evidence | It is everything consumers see during a business transaction. |
The Five C’s
This marketing model may reflect some of the other strategies, but considering external factors makes it different. Generally, the five Cs are company, customer, competition, climate, and collaboration.
| Company | It is the business itself that sells products and services. |
| Customer | A company’s target audience. |
| Competition | Refers to other industries offering the same products and services. |
| Climate | It is the market’s economic, social, and political environment. |
| Collaboration | Collaborators are other stakeholders that help in company operations. |
Using The Marketing Mix Effectively
Whether which mix you prefer to use, here are some tips on how you can use your marketing mix effectively:
1. Be updated on the current market trends. Keep posted on current market trends to ensure that you are on track in keeping your marketing mix aligned with your goal and time. This way, you can monitor the competitors and what the market wants.
2. Your product is crucial. Remember that what you sell is your most important asset in the market. Highlight its features and be open to improvements.
3. Decide on your marketing message. Of course, consumers must read a message that is clear and understandable. So, before reaching your customers, you have to decide first on what you want to tell them and what actions you want them to perform.
4. Always check your mix and revisit them from time to time. Strategies and trends can always change. Generally, it is important to revisit your mix and ensure it is still parallel to the current time.
Wrapping Up
A marketing mix is generally a tool that supports businesses in promoting their brands. It attends to what the 4ps of marketing want, which is to create a compelling marketing strategy to raise the company’s image and its products. Although other marketers have already explored other strategies over time, everything will still revolve around products and consumers.
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