Marketing Mix

Santosh kumar

Definition
Marketing Mix is a Particular combination

of the Product, its Price, the methods to promote it and the ways to make the product available ie.

Promotion Mix

Product Mix

Marketing Mix

Place Mix

Price Mix

 The tools available to a business to gain the reaction it is seeking from its target market in relation to its marketing objectives 7Ps Price, Product, Promotion, Place, People, Process, Physical Environment Traditional 4Ps extended to encompass growth of service industry

Product Mix

Product decision involves what goods or services should be offered to customers. The product or service serves the basic need of the customer. The customer got interested in the company primarily because of the product or service it was producing or proposed to produce.

Product mix includes

Physical Goods: core benefit associated features Service: order ease, delivery, financial arrangement, maintenance and repair, disposal. Features: benefits offer Quality Level Installation Warranty Packaging Branding

Price Mix

Price is the cost that customer is willing to bear for the product and the way it is made available to him. Marketing need to be very careful about pricing objectives, methods to arrive at a price and the factors which influence setting of a price. The company must also take into account the necessity to give discounts and allowances in some transactions.

Rapid skimming: launching product at higher price and higher promotional level to skim market rapidly. this is useful when large part of potential market is unaware of the product.

 Slow skimming: This strategy calls for launching the new product at a higher price and a low promotional level. This is feasible when the market is aware of the product, the market size is limited. Rapid penetration: Rapid penetration demands the launching of a product at a lower price and with heavy promotion. This is applied when the market is large in size, and competition is strong. Slow penetration: launching product at a lower price and low level of promotion. Customer are price sensitive.

Price Mix Includes

Objectives:

survival, profit, return on investment, market share, status quo Flexibility Geographic Terms Discounts Allowances

Price
Pricing Strategy Importance of:

knowing the market elasticity keeping an eye on rivals

Promotion Mix

Decision have to made with respect to promotional mix: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relation. The type promotional tool used has to gel with other elements of marketing mix. Advertising in the mass media is wasteful as the number of customers are small. The company makes its first contact with customers through its promotional efforts.

Promotion
Strategies to make the consumer aware of the existence of a product or service NOT just advertising

Place Mix
Place involve decisions concerning distribution channels to be used, the location of outlets, methods of transportation and inventory levels to be held. Product should be available in right quantity, at right time and place. Distribution channels consists of independent intermediaries such as retailers, wholesalers etc. Intermediaries performs three distinct functions they transfer products from manufacturer to customers, they pass information and retrieve payments from customers to the manufacturer.

 The means by which products and services get from producer to consumer and where they can be accessed by the consumer
The more places to buy the product and the easier it is made to buy it, the better for the business (and the consumer?)

Place Mix includes

Channel Type Market Exposure Kinds of Middleman Kinds and Locations of Stores How to Handle Transporting and Storing Service Levels Recruiting Middlemen Managing Channels

An Effective Marketing Mix

An Effective Marketing Mix should match customer needs :The Target Customer has to be understood in terms of his level of need, his ability and willingness to pay a particular amount for his needs being served, the way he would like the product to be delivered and his most preferred method of accessing information from the company. The Marketing Mix should reflect the customers choice criteria. Customers evaluate products on both economic and psychological criteria. economic: performance, availability, reliability, durability and productivity and psychological criteria are self image, pleasure, convenience, and risk reduction.

 Marketing Mix is the true source of competitive advantage: Company can make focus on any one or many aspects of marketing mix to get competitive advantage may be on product, or price or place or promotion. The Marketing Mix should be more blend to form a consistent theme: All the elements of marketing mix should reinforce each other to strengthen the positioning of the product in the marketplace. The marketing mix should match corporate resource: The choice of the marketing mix will be constrained by the financial resources and internal competencies of the company and customers willingness and ability to pay for such an exalted marketing mix.

Criticism of 4 Ps
Marketing mix oversimplifies the realities of the market. In services, 4Ps do not take into account people who provide the service , processes and physical evidence.

Thank You