MARKETING MIX

DEFINITION OF MARKETING MIX:

 The marketing mix concept is a well established tool used as a structure by
marketers. It consists of the various elements of a marketing programme
which need to be considered in order to successfully implement the
marketing strategy and positioning in the company’s market. It is the
important internal elements or ingredients that make up an organization’s
marketing programme”– Adrian Payne
 It is a combination of different submixes of marketing mix, such as product
mix, promotion mix, price mix, and place mix. Some of the experts also talk
about the submixes like people, physical evidence and process” – S.M. Jha
 The term marketing mix was introduced by Prof-Neil H borden of the
Harvard business school. Later it became widely used throughout the
world.
MEANING OF MARKETING MIX:
The marketing mix refers the combination of ideas, concepts and features which
put together best appeal to the target market segments. Market mix is tailored to
each target segment in order to meet the specific needs of consumers in the
individual segments. The conceptual framework of marketing mix designed by the
different experts is the same. Experts such as Kotler, Keeley Lazar, and Davar etc.,
agree that the marketing mix comprises four elements, product, price,
promotions and place. These elements include those marketing variables that are
directly controlled by the organizations. The product mix includes product line
and quality, brand, packaging and services. The promotion mix includes,
advertising, public relations, sales promotions, word of mouth promotion,
personal selling and tele-marketing. The price mix includes strategic decisions
related to the use of pricing. The place mix is concerned with the distribution
process. The four elements of marketing mix can be combined in different ways in
order to produce desirable result in the market. The marketing mix provides a
bridge between marketing strategy and marketing tactics. Marketing strategy
establishes a match between the organisation’s skills and capabilities and the
indentification of the needs of the target market. Marketing tacties are related to
decisions as how to deliver the product or services offer that offers that reflects
this matching process. Thus, marketing mix has both strategic and tactical
dimensions.

SERVICE MARKETING MIX:

The traditional marketing mix is considered in the context of services. Since a
different marketing mix is needed for service, some have expanded the traditional
fours Ps. The service marketer encounters many challenges in the form of
heterogeneity of the services, requirements of customers, interactions with
customer while delivering services, perishability of service and intangibility of
offer, etc. these unique characteristics of services necessitate the extensions of
scope of marketing mix.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICE MARKETING MIX:
1. The marketing mix represents the important internal elements or
ingredients that make up an organisation’s marketing programme.

2. Services marketing mix is different from traditional marketing mix in the

context of services
The four is Ps of marketing mix namely, product, price and promotion are
derived from a list developed by Harvard business school in the 1960s. The
orginal list included twelve elements: Product plan, pricing, branding,
channels of distribution, personal selling, advertising, promotion,
packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, fact finding and analysis.
Over a period of time, the marketing mix gained a wide acceptance of the
marketers and the four Ps were adopted. Many authors have extended four
Ps to five, seven and eleven key elements, which should be considered in
the marketing mix. Several authors emphasise that a different marketing
mix is needed for services. Marketing mix elements for services industries
like banking and the airlines are different from those of professional
services.
 3. According to simon Majaro, three factors determine whether or not a
specific element should be included in a firm’s marketing mix:
 The level of expenditure on a given ingredient in the marketing mix.
 The perceived level of elasticity is the customer responsiveness. For
example, in case of a government body, prices may be set externally
without being included in the marketing mix.
 Allocations of responsibilities: A well structured marketing mix needs
a clear cut allocations of responsibilities.

4. Making any decision about marketing mix depends upon how the services is
to be positioned and the market segments to be addressed.

5. Marketing mix is blending process.

6. Services marketing mix is an extended from of traditional marketing mix.

The inclusion of additional elements (people, process and physical evidence)
is the result of the intangibility, inseparability and heterogeneity of services.

7. Each elements in the marketing mix support other elements. They reinforce
the positioning of the product and deliver appropriate service quality to
achieve competitive advantage.

OBJECTIVES:

 Marketing mix involves whole set of marketing decisions

 Build brand awareness
 Grow market share
 Launch new products or services
 Improve stakeholder relations
 Enhance customer relationships
 Improve internal communications
 Increase profit
ADVANTAGES OF MARKETING MIX:
• It simplifies and brings together different concepts of Marketing into one,
making Marketing easier to do and manage
• Allows separation of marketing from other company activities and
delegation of marketing tasks to specialists
• Enables a company to vary its Marketing activities according to its
resources, market conditions and customer needs
• Promotes your business to a target market.
• Helps you understand your customer.
• Helps brand your business.
NEEDS AND IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING MIX:
An organization utilizes different strategies to influence the demand of its
offerings. The 4P’s must be well utilized in relation to one another to avoid
conflict in minds of buyers. A good quality product in a luxury market cannot have
high price and a large discount at the same time.
These elements should be adjusted regularly to meet the needs of the target
market. The importance of Marketing Mix in marketing strategy is given below –
 Influencing demand – the 4P’s are best utilised with proper mix to counter
competition, attract customers and promote sales.

 Better use of resources – it helps in bringing efficiency in utilization of the

resources available with the organisation. The investment of time and resources
is done basis the customers’ needs. This also brings cost effectiveness.

 Effectiveness in Marketing – proper analysis results in effective decision making

process. The management is able to prioritise the steps to be taken for
successful implementation of strategies. It helps in focussing attention on the
needs of the market.
CONCEPT AND COMPONENTS OF MARKETING MIX
Marketing involves a number of activities. To begin with, an organisation may
decide on its target group of customers to be served. Once the target group is
decided, the product is to be placed in the market by providing the appropriate
product, price, distribution and promotional efforts. These are to be combined or
mixed in an appropriate proportion soil as to achieve the marketing goal. Such
mix of product, price, distribution and promotional efforts is known as ‘Marketing
Mix’. According to Philip Kotler “Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables
that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response”. The controllable
variables in this context refer to the 4 ‘P’s
1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotions
Each firm strives to build up such a composition of 4‘P’s, which can create highest
level of consumer satisfaction and at the same time meet its organisational
objectives. Thus, this mix is assembled keeping in mind the needs of target
customers, and it varies from one organisation to another depending upon its
available resources and marketing objectives. Let us now have a brief idea about
the four components of marketing mix.
Product:
Product refers to the goods and services offered by the organisation. A pair of
shoes, a plate of dahi-vada, a lipstick, all are products. All these are purchased
because they satisfy one or more of our needs. We are paying not for the tangible
product but for the benefit it will provide. So, in simple words, product can be
described as a bundle of benefits which a marketeer offers to the consumer for a
price. While buying a pair of shoes, we are actually buying comfort for our feet,
while buying a lipstick we are actually paying for beauty because lipstick is likely
to make us look good. Product can also take the form of a service like an air
travel, telecommunication, etc. Thus, the term product refers to goods and
services offered by the organisation for sale.
The four levels of product:
 The core or generic product: The core product represent the basic services
of product. This product is at its basic level. For example, food served in a
restaurant, a bed in a hotel room for the night, safety of deposits and
loanable funds in the bank.
 The expected product: The expected product consists of the core product
together with the minimal purchase condition which is need to be met.
Customer buying airline ticket expect a range of additional elements such
as comfortable waiting area, prompt in flight service, good quality food,
clean toilets and timely arrivals
 The augmented product: Augmented product refers to offerings. This
concept enables a product to be differentiated from another. The
augmented product from restaurant includes sparkling floors, ambience,
smart employees, courtesy etc.
 The potential product: Potential product refers to doing everything
potentially feasible to hold and attract the customers. The concept of
potential product of a restaurant is viewed in terms of pleasing flower
arrangement, managers word of thanks etc…
Price:
Price is the amount charged for a product or service. It is the second most
important element in the marketing mix. Fixing the price of the product is a tricky
job. Many factors like demand for a product, cost involved, consumer’s ability to
pay, prices charged by competitors for similar products, government restrictions
etc. have to be kept in mind while fixing the price. In fact, pricing is a very crucial
decision area as it has its effect on demand for the product and also on the
profitability of the firm.
Place:
Goods are produced to be sold to the consumers. They must be made available to
the consumers at a place where they can conveniently make purchase. Woollens
are manufactured on a large scale in Ludhiana and you purchase them at a store
from the nearby market in your town. So, it is necessary that the product is
available at shops in your town. This involves a chain of individuals and
institutions like distributors, wholesalers and retailers who constitute firm’s
distribution network (also called a channel of distribution). The organization has
to decide whether to sell directly to the retailer or through the
distributors/wholesaler etc. It can even plan to sell it directly to consumers. The
choice is guided by a host of factors about which you will learn later in this
chapter.
Promotion:
If the product is manufactured keeping the consumer needs in mind, is rightly
priced and made available at outlets convenient to them but the consumer is not
made aware about its price, features, availability etc. its marketing effort may not
be successful. Therefore promotion is an important ingredient of marketing mix
as it refers to a process of informing, persuading and influencing a consumer to
make choice of the product to be bought. Promotion is done through means of
personal selling, advertising, publicity and sales promotion. It is done mainly with
a view to provide information to prospective consumers about the availability,
characteristics and uses of a product. It arouses potential consumer’s interest in
the product, compare it with competitors’ product and make his choice. The
proliferation of print and electronic media has immensely helped the process of
promotion.

DISADVANTAGES OF MARKETING MIX

 The Marketing Mix does not consider client behavior, but it is internally
oriented.
 The Marketing Mix considers clients as passive; does not allow interaction
and can not capture relationships.
 The Marketing Mix does not take into account the unique elements of
service marketing.
 Product is indicated in the singular, but most companies do not sell a
product in isolation. Sellers sell products, product lines or brands, all
interconnected in the mind of the consumer
 The Marketing Mix does not mention building relationships with the
consumer that has become a major marketing focus, or the brand
experiences that consumers buy
 Cost of marketing.
  Time and Effort may not yield a return.

NATURE AND SCOPE OF MARKETING MIX: AREAS, ASPECTS AND ENTITIES

COVERED IN MARKETING:

Marketing being a part of social science is highly dynamic and complex in nature.
The rapid changes in various sectors have brought great changes in the concept of
marketing. Traditionally, marketing was concerned with buying and selling of
goods and services only but now its scope has widened and it encompasses a
range of activities from consumer satisfaction to consumer delight and
management of customer relationship.
The scope (subject matter) of marketing is as follows:

(1) Products and Services:

Products and Service are the basic element of marketing. If there is no product
there is no marketing. It is concerned with the nature and type of products,
product quality and design, product planning and development, product decisions
relating to branding, labelling, packaging, trademarks etc.
(2) Marketing Research:
Though products and services were the starting point under traditional marketing,
modern marketing starts with an analysis of the various aspects of market and
related areas. It includes an analysis of nature and types of customers, size of
market, customer attitude, buyer behaviour etc. An in-depth analysis of
customers and markets is a prerequisite for every marketer to have a successful
marketing.
(3) Channel of Distribution:
The pathway through which the goods move from producer to consumer is the
channel of distribution. It includes a number of intermediaries like wholesaler,
retailers, jobbers etc. Channels by moving the goods help in transferring the
ownership of goods from seller to buyer.
(4) Physical Distribution:
The physical movement of the goods from producer to consumer is physical
distribution. It includes transportation, warehousing, inventory control and
management, order processing etc.
(5) Promotional Decisions:
Howsoever good a product is, it has no value if it is not properly promoted.
Promotion has the basic objective of informing the market about product
availability and creating a demand for it. Different promotional tools are there like
advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, public relations etc.
(6) Pricing Decisions:
This is the only element of marketing which generates revenue for the firm.
Pricing is concerned with pricing policies and strategies, price determination,
discounts, commissions etc.

NATURE AND SCOPE OF MARKETING MIX: AREAS COVERED IN THE SUBJECT:

Scope refers to the areas that a subject covers. Scope of marketing can be
described by having an understanding of the functions of marketing. The scope of
marketing can also be understood easily by studying the roles and responsibilities
of the marketing department. The scope of marketing revolves around customer
satisfaction, anything and everything that has an impact of customer satisfaction
comes under the scope of marketing.

 Consumer Needs and Wants:

Consumer will purchase goods or services only if it fulfills his/ her needs and
wants. Before offering a product, the marketer undertakes research activities in
order to try and understand customer needs, and then try to offer a product
which satisfies those customer needs.

 Consumer Behavior:
In this, the marketer studies and analyzes how consumers respond to a particular
product or service? Every consumer is different and unique in nature, therefore
consumers have to be studied in a group as well as individually in order to
understand their behavior and satisfy them accordingly.

 Product Planning & Development:

There is no marketing without a product. Therefore product planning and
development is an integral part of marketing functions. Product planning and
development includes idea generation, concept development, product
development, branding, packaging & commercialization of the product. Marketing
department plays a key role in this activity along with the research and
development team.

 Pricing Policies:
As marketing is an exchange process, money is exchanged for products. This
aspect of marketing falls under the function of pricing strategies. Every product
needs to be priced strategically in order to survive in the market and satisfy
consumers. There are different pricing policies. Each policy depends on various
factors like production cost, competition, product life cycle etc.

 Distribution:
Study of distribution channels is important in marketing. It is necessary for a
marketer to reach maximum customers with minimum cost.

 Promotion:
Promotion includes personal selling, sales promotion, world of mouth advertising
etc. To achieve marketing objectives it is necessary to design the right promotion
mix. The process of designing and implementing the marketing mix falls in the
scope of marketing.

 Consumer Satisfaction:
Consumer satisfaction is the major objective of marketing. A consumer is satisfied
when his/ her needs are fulfilled. Consumer satisfaction ensures that the business
is moving in the right direction.

CHOICE OF MARKETING MIX STRATEGY:

The choice of the marketing strategy determines the marketing mix strategies to a
large extend. The marketing mix objectives should be formulated separately for
an each marketing mix element, however not an every company considers it as an
important phase, they often presume that generally
formulated marketing objectives are sufficient for a business (however, it is
difficult to meet all these requirements for some marketing mix factors).

The marketing mix objectives have to meet the four requirements:

 They have to be formulated within specified time frame,
 They have to be formulated quantitatively using clear numeric measures,
 They have to be ambitious, and require substantial work of managers and
employees,
 They have to be realistic to maintain engagement.

Marketing mix is often used to discover and analyse strategies of company's

competitors.

The marketing mix’s place in promoting and selling a company’s product should
not be minimized. Successful marketing campaigns incorporate and utilize all of
the strengths at hand while downplaying or containing the weaknesses. To strike
that balance, it’s necessary to understand all the basic elements of the
marketing mix for that particular product.

As an example, a company will inevitably market a simple $8 household storage

bin quite differently from a complex $8,000 business storage system. Generally,
the truth of that statement is immediately apparent, even to people who don’t
know much about marketing. The reasons all boil down to those basic elements:
the products, their different price points, their disparate intended purchasers
and the different methods and places of distribution for each, among other
things. Marketers designing the promotional marketing plan for these products
could take the same analytical approach, using the 4Ps (or 7Ps) framework to
compose that plan. However, the profiles for each “P” would look quite distinct.

A thorough examination of the marketing mix for the product in question yields
a more effective and ultimately successful marketing plan. It allows the company
to capitalize on strengths, thus minimizing associated marketing costs and
increasing its return on that investment. Ultimately, it results in more product
units being sold and – assuming the business provides excellent customer
service – greater profits.