The Marketing Mix

Running head: The Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix

Chris Sherman

MKT 421/Marketing

Norm Hays

May 2, 2009

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The Marketing Mix

Marketing a new product or service is not an easy task. Organizations do not merely create a product and put it on the market in hopes that customers will purchase enough to generate a profit. Careful, painstaking analysis through detailed market research must be accomplished in order for the organization to realize any profits. Market research gives the company a direction as to the type of products that interest its customer base. Research also gives the organization a somewhat educated idea of how many products to produce and for whom the products will be targeted. In some cases, multiple products tailored to the specific needs of the organization's customers may be introduced. Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, and Rudelius (2006) posit that marketing research begins with defining a specific problem, developing a research plan, collecting relevant information, developing findings, and then taking marketing actions.

HMS Monmouth at Darwin's Fort Hill Wharf July 2007

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Turbomeca Arrius

Most importantly, marketing research allows an organization to determine a precise marketing strategy concerning the production and distribution of a new product.

Once the marketing strategy has been established for the new product, the organization must begin planning the details of the marketing mix. Armstrong and Kotler (2005) define the marketing mix as "the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market" (p. 57).

The marketing mix includes everything the company can do to influence the demand for its product. All the variables that must be manipulated can be grouped into four subsets which are product, place, price, and promotion. Careful, detailed analysis of each variable of the marketing mix is vital to satisfying customer needs and has a direct...