How's Your Marketing Mix

The Mix

"Marketing Management" author Philip Kotler, says, "...Market innovation is gained by creating customer satisfaction through product innovation, product quality and customer service. If these are absent, no amount of advertising, sales promotion or salesmanship can compensate (guerrillamarketing.com, 2005)." When dealing with the marketing mix consider the four "P's". Product, Place, Price and Promotion are critical for a successful marketing plan. The goal for marketers is to have the right mix to provide the right solutions to fit the customers identified needs.

The Four P's

A product is a good or service a company uses to fulfill the needs of its customers. Just like life, a product goes through a life cycle as well. Any product or service goes through a beginning or development stage before it is introduced into the market. During this stage, it should be determined how this product or service is going to live out its life and what purpose it serves in the lives of the consumers. As it is introduced into the market it experiences forms of growth and more customers purchase the product until it stabilizes and no longer is the hot ticket. Once the product reaches the maximum growth potential it will decline until it becomes obsolete or the company decides to remove it from the market. This is an ongoing process as companies strive to come out with the latest and greatest.

Place is described as a, "channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is a mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer/service provider to the user or consumer (marketingteacher.com, 2005)." Some things to consider when looking at place is how many channels, what type of channels, or is the product going to be retail or wholesale. Understanding the consumer base can dictate the place that is chosen.

Price has four main components according to marketingteacher.com. These are premium, penetration, economy pricing, and price skimming. Each of these forms or pricing can be used with the same product in different places, with different promotion types. Premium pricing can be set for products or services that are unique. Penetration pricing is used to gain market share with a low price, and then raised once market share is gained. Economy pricing gives you the basic without the bells and whistles. You are not paying outrageous prices because the product or service does not warrant a premium price. Finally, price skimming is when companies can and will charge, "a high price because there is a substantial competitive advantage (marketingteacher.com, 2005)." There are numerous other approaches dealing with price that have the same outcome as the four mentioned above. They are prices used to attract consumers or competitors letting them know you are on the market and want their business.

Promotion deals with the moving of the product or service. The question is asked, what is going to be the best avenue to get our product out to the masses in the most cost effective way that will give us the biggest return on investment. Is there going to be a sales force that goes out to gather business, or will it be through mass advertising? Will we rely on word of mouth or public relations to speak for us? As mentioned before, understanding the customer's needs will tell us the best way to get that product out in front of them.

The Organization

Starmedia