The marketing mix is a marketing tool. It is a checklist, which focuses attention on the main marketing activities in which a firm needs to carry out its marketing strategy. It consists of the four Ps (product, price, promotion and place).
Product (including range of pack sizes, flavours and colours)
Price (pricing strategy and pricing method)
Promotion (branding, advertising, packaging and sales promotion)
Place (distribution channels and seeking shop distribution)
Managers look at these areas and decide what marketing actions need to taken. For effective marketing each area needs to be considered. The actions taken must work with each other. A successful mix will achieve marketing objectives and customer satisfaction.
The most important element of the mix is the product. Good marketing means developing products that fit the market. It needs to be designed to meet requirements of the target market, which is probably achieved by extensive market research. The design must keep pace with market changes.
Market Street
Deutsch: Klassischer Marketing-Mix Franzika eines ...
English: Representation of a Marketing-Mix with th...Once the product has been chosen, the other elements of the mix become clear:
The price must be suited to the target market and to the image of the product.
The promotion must be through the media that the target market watch or read.
The place should be the shops visited by the target market.
The place is the only element that is outside the company's control, as obtaining shop distribution is a very difficult task. Retailers have limited shelf space, so in order to gain distribution, another product will probably have to be removed from the shelves.
The effectiveness of marketing activity is constrained by the budget available.
Industrial Markets: This is when one business is supplying another.
Businesses purchase the products from another business to produce their own products for the market. The product may have exact specifications agreed with the...