The components of the Mix

Product

Since it’s the consumers’ perception that should be the centre of product policy, the
product should not be defined as just the set of its own physical properties. The
perceptions are influenced by different parameters, such as any associated services, the
image, the brand name, even the social and cultural connections, or the perception of its
own differentiation from competition. A product is a mixture of tangible and intangible
attributes, including functional, social and psychological utilities or benefits (Anonymous
2006).

Price

Price is the only revenue generating element of the marketing mix; the other elements
consume resources. There are three basic pricing strategies that all organisations can
pursue for existing products: pricing above the market (higher than similar competitve
products), pricing below the market (lower than competition) and pricing at the market
(almost at the price of competition) (Anonymous 2006).

Promotion

One long-term purpose of promotion is to influence and encourage buyers to accept or

adopt goods, services and ideas. Potential buyers go through a psychological or
behavioural process before purchasing a product. AIDA, which is an acronym for
Attention, Interest, Desire and Action incorporates psychological processes: attention is
a cognitive process, interest and desire are affective processes and action is a manifest
behaviour process (Anonymous 2006).

Place

Place, or distribution strategy concerns the routes by which marketers of products and
services can ensure that these reach their intended market. We normally refer to these
routes as marketing channels, which include those intermediaries that products and
services pass through from the point of production to the point of final use (Anonymous
2006).