THE MARKETING MIX

Simply put the Marketing Mix is a tool used by businesses and Marketers to help determine a
product or brands offering. The 4 Ps have been associated with the Marketing Mix since their
creation by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960 (You can see why there may have been some need to
update the theory).

The Marketing Mix 4 Ps:

 Product - The Product should fit the task consumers want it for, it should work and it
should be what the consumers are expecting to get.

 Place – The product should be available from where your target consumer finds it easiest
to shop. This may be High Street, Mail Order or the more current option via e-commerce
or an online shop.

 Price – The Product should always be seen as representing good value for money. This
does not necessarily mean it should be the cheapest available; one of the main tenets of
the marketing concept is that customers are usually happy to pay a little more for
something that works really well for them.

 Promotion – Advertising, PR, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling and, in more recent
times, Social Media are all key communication tools for an organisation. These tools
should be used to put across the organisation’s message to the correct audiences in the
manner they would most like to hear, whether it be informative or appealing to their
emotions.

In the late 70’s it was widely acknowledged by Marketers that the Marketing Mix should be
updated. This led to the creation of the Extended Marketing Mix in 1981 by Booms & Bitner
which added 3 new elements to the 4 Ps Principle. This now allowed the extended Marketing
Mix to include products that are services and not just physical things.

The extended 7 Ps:

 People – All companies are reliant on the people who run them from front line Sales staff
to the Managing Director. Having the right people is essential because they are as much a
part of your business offering as the products/services you are offering.

 Processes –The delivery of your service is usually done with the customer present so
how the service is delivered is once again part of what the consumer is paying for.

 Physical Evidence – Almost all services include some physical elements even if the bulk
of what the consumer is paying for is intangible. For example a hair salon would provide
their client with a completed hairdo and an insurance company would give their
 customers some form of printed material. Even if the material is not physically printed (in
the case of PDFs) they are still receiving a “physical product” by this definition.

Though in place since the 1980’s the 7 Ps are still widely taught due to their fundamental logic
being sound in the marketing environment and marketers abilities to adapt the Marketing Mix to
include changes in communications such as social media, updates in the places which you can
sell a product/service or customers expectations in a constantly changing commercial
environment.

Marketing mix 4c’s is one of the business tools that you should take advantage of as an internet
marketer. It’s a modern version of the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).

The 4Cs (Customer/consumer value, Cost, Convenience, and Communication) enables you to
think in terms of your customers’ interests more than your own. From being business-oriented,
you’ll become customer-centric.

Here are some of the best tactics pros use to enjoy the benefits of the 4C’s in marketing.

Customer/Consumer Value

Your marketing campaigns must focus on bringing value to your consumers/customers. You may
want to follow these tactics to create more value for your customers/consumers:

 Address the needs and wants of your customers/co nsumers, and minimize the cost of
your solution.
 Unify your goals of (a) generating income or making money from your business, and (b)
delivering high value to your customers/consumers.
 Be proactive in delivering solutions to your customers/consumers. Become their partners
in writing their own successes.
 Speed up your turnaround time. Increase the efficiency of the delivery of your services or
products.
 Always show your appreciation to your loyal customers/consumers. One way to do this is
to feature them in your social media pages.
 Listen to customer/consumer feedback. Whether the feedback is negative or positive,
you’ll be able to use it to improve your business.
 Apply the standard formula on how to create customer/consumer value, which is
“benefits-cost= customer value”.
 Strengthen your customer service with a goal of delighting your customers. How you
delight/satisfy your customers is what matters.
 Give more to your customers/consumers. Your three options:

1. Give them the same quantity/quality of product/service but lower the cost.
2. Keep the same cost, but increase the quantity or improve the quality of your
product/service.
3. The ideal is increase/improve the quantity/quality while lowering the cost.
Keep in mind that customer/consumer value is what is going to determine your place in the
market.

Cost

The price of a product or service is the amount you set for the item/s the customers/consumers
will get from your business. This is from the business’s point of view.

Shifting to the perspective of your customers/consumers, the price becomes the cost. It
represents the amount your customers/consumers will pay for your product(s) or service(s).

Cost is a major factor that determines whether customers or consumers will buy or avail the
products or services. There is no standard formula for costing, but it depends largely on
customers/consumers.

Cost means you need to consider how much your customers/consumers are willing to pay for the
value of your offer (product or service). It also depends on the type of market you are targeting
to capture.

For instance, if your target is the A-B crowd, your product or service should carry premium
costs. If the market is C-D, costs must be lower. Thus, you have to know what type of customers
you wish to target.

For your ready reference, here are the three common types of consumers:

1. Status-conscious – These consumers want first-rate products or services and are willing
to pay for the cost of the item(s). They look at these products/services and corresponding
costs as a way to define and maintain their status.
2. Convenience-conscious – These consumers will pay for the cost of the product(s) or
services(s) if they find them convenient. They are willing to pay extra as long as their
purchase means convenience.
3. Budget- conscious – These consumers buy products or services that fit their budget. They
are the people who want more value for their money. Thus, they are always on the
lookout for lower-cost product(s) or service(s).

Convenience

These days, people decide in favor of buying based on convenience. Thus, you will notice that
practically all businesses have started to create their online presence.

Using the marketing mix 4c’s, convenience means that you make it easy, simple, and fast for
your customers to avail of your product(s) or service(s). You provide them everything they need
to buy from your business.

Thus, it is important to:

  Simplify the process your customers have to go through in doing business with you.
 Make your customers feel good about complying with your business process.
 Consider rewarding your customers for complying with your business process and for
their loyalty to your business.
 Always seek new ways to connect with your customers/consumers and to
distribute/deliver your product(s) or service(s).

Your goal should be the convenience of your customers/consumers in availing or buying from
your business. This will prevent your customers from seeking convenient solutions elsewhere,
especially from the competition.

Communication

The final element in marketing mix 4C’s is communication. With this marketing mix, you do
not “promote” your business; rather, you communicate value to your customers/consumers.

You give your customers/consumers meaningful content to engage them.

You do not just make your target audience aware of your business; you build rapport and
relationship with them.

Whereas before, you promote your business through advertising, press releases or public
relations, direct marketing, and the likes; today, you engage your consumers/customers through
interactive communication.

Here are some of the proven ways to benefit from interactive communication as part of
marketing mix 4c’s:

 Make your communication more personal. Deliver your personalized communication

through your customers’ preferred media or channel.
 Take advantage of the power of the search engines to reach your target market. Make
your site search-engine and user-friendly.
 Leverage on the social media to connect with your customers/consumers. To do this:

1. Find out what social media sites your consumers are hanging out often. Join the social
networking site(s).
2. Familiarize yourself with the culture and language of the social networking sites you are
joining or have joined.
3. Upload optimized content that allows you to (1) attract your target audience, (2) build
rapport with them, and (3) engage your audience.

 Increase the engagement of your audience and maintain your interactive communication
with them. You can do this through:

1. Consistent uploading of content that is relevant to your audience’s needs and wants- if
your audience can relate to your content, they are most likely to like, share, and
comment.
2. Make your content responsive. Your audience should be able to access and view your
content irrespective of what device they use, e.g. pc or mobile devices.
3. Think of topics that interest your target audience. Start a discussion by posting your
questions on your social networking sites. You may also want to take advantage of poll
questions.
4. Use infographics. This new way of presenting information can do several things such as:
(1) add life to your content and make it more interesting, (2) make it simple for your
target audience to digest your content.