THE MARKETING MIX

FOUR P’S OF MARKETING ENVIRONMENTAL VARIEBLES OF MARKETING, INTERECTION BETWEEN MARKETING

MIX AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES,ASSEMBLING AND MANAGING THE MARKETING MIX

What Is a Marketing Mix?

A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. The term often refers
to a common classification that began as the four Ps: product, price, placement, and promotion.

Effective marketing touches on a broad range of areas as opposed to fixating on one message. Doing so helps reach
a wider audience, and by keeping the four Ps in mind, marketing professionals are better able to maintain focus on
the things that really matter. Focusing on a marketing mix helps organizations make strategic decisions when
launching new products or revising existing products.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 A marketing mix often refers to E. Jerome McCarthy's four Ps: product, price, placement, and
promotion.

 The different elements of a marketing mix work in conjunction with one another.

 Consumer-centric marketing mixes incorporate a focus on customers into their approaches.

Understanding Marketing Mix\ FOUR P’S OF MARKETING

The four Ps classification for developing an effective marketing strategy was first introduced in 1960 by marketing professor
and author E. Jerome McCarthy.1 Depending on the industry and the target of the marketing plan, marketing managers may
take various approaches to each of the four Ps. Each element can be examined independently, but in practice, they often are
dependent on one another.

Product

This represents an item or service designed to satisfy customer needs and wants. To effectively market a product or service,
it's important to identify what differentiates it from competing products or services. It's also important to determine if other
products or services can be marketed in conjunction with it.

Price

The sale price of the product reflects what consumers are willing to pay for it. Marketing professionals need to consider costs
related to research and development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution—otherwise known as cost-based
pricing. Pricing based primarily on consumers' perceived quality or value is known as value-based pricing.

Placement

The type of product sold is important to consider when determining areas of distribution. Basic consumer products, such as
paper goods, often are readily available in many stores. Premium consumer products, however, typically are available only in
select stores. Another consideration is whether to place a product in a physical store, online, or both.

Promotion

Joint marketing campaigns also are called a promotional mix. Activities might include advertising, sales promotion, personal
selling, and public relations. A key consideration should be for the budget assigned to the marketing mix. Marketing
professionals carefully construct a message that often incorporates details from the other three Ps when trying to reach
their target audience. Determination of the best mediums to communicate the message and decisions about the frequency of
the communication also are important.
 ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES OF MARKETING

Business activities do not operate in a vacuum. But they are surrounded by environmental variables, which
affect them, either positively or negatively. These marketing environmental variables are categorized into two,
namely:

1. Controllable variables.
2. Uncontrollable Variables.

1. CONTROLLABLE VARIABLES
These refer to those variables that can be easily controlled by a business-man or a company to suit the
demand of the business. They include the following:

• Product:
A company or marketer is said to have control over a product because he or she can undertake the following
adjustments to suit prevailing demands of the business:

i) He can increase the capacity of output to cope with increasing demand.

ii) He can modify the product in terms of color, size, shape, fashion, design, e.t.c.
iii) He can change the package of the product and so on.

• Price:
A company or a marketer is said to have control over price of his products because he or she can undertake
the following adjustments to suit the demand on business:

i) He can offer discounts.

ii) He can offer price reductions.
iii) He can use the money off e.g. he can use this slogan, “buy two get one free”.

• Promotion:
A marketer is said to have control over promotional activities of his organization because of the following
factors:

i) He is able to select appropriate promotional media to use depending on different situations.

ii) He is able to select appropriate slogans to use for different market segments. He is able to do this because
different advertising slogans are perceived differently in different market segments.

• Place or Distribution:
A company or a marketer is able to control distribution activities in his or her organization by way of choosing
appropriate marketing channels to use in the distribution of his goods and services e.g. supermarkets, village
shops, kiosks and multiple shops. This will enable customers to get goods at the right time and place.

• Suppliers:
Companies can either increase the number of suppliers or decrease it.

2. UNCONTROLLABLE VARIABLES
These refer to those variables that a marketer has little or no control over them. But they can affect a
marketer’s activities either positively or negatively. As such, a marketer has to devise ways of undertaking
these activities under the umbrella of these variables. These variables include:

• Demography:
This simply refers to the study of human population as well as its structure. This can affect marketing activities
in the following ways:
i) A low rate of population growth implies small potential market for goods and services, and vice versa.
ii) High mortality rate affects negatively the demand for goods and services. Demand for goods and services
always decreases.
 • Technology:
Changes in technology affect marketing activities either positively or negatively. However, the marketer has no
control over them. As such, he needs to try and cope with the situation. Among some of this changes are:

POSITIVE CHANGES DUE TO TECHNOLOGY

i) It has resulted in high output capacity.
ii) Modern technology has enabled direct marketing. Direct marketing uses modern devices that enable
producers to have direct access to ultimate consumers e.g. use of internet, telephone, fax, e-commerce,
vending machines e.t.c.

NEGATIVE CHANGES DUE TO TECHNOLOGY

i) It has stimulated new markets and industries in fields that are not related to new technology.
ii) It has radically altered or virtually destroyed existing industries.
iii) Modern technology has led to the development of modern machines that are extremely expensive to
acquire. Hence, it has negatively affected those firms that cannot afford it.

• Political stability:
When a country is stable politically, a marketer’s activities are boosted. As such a marketer is free to penetrate
the market and serve all the customers. But during periods of political instability in a country, marketers’
activities are jeopardized.

• Legal Forces:
The government makes laws that govern a given country. These rules and regulations may affect marketing
activities either positively or negatively.

• Social and Cultural Forces:

These include races, tribes, religion, class or status e.t.c. Due to these differences, the marketer has to produce
what suits the market e.g. Muslims do not eat pork, while Christians do not smoke and drink beer e.t.c.

• Economic Forces:
When the economy of a country is booming, people’s purchasing power becomes high. Hence they are able to
purchase more goods and services. Thus, a marketer registers high sales’ volume. But during economic
recession, coupled with inflation and devaluation of a country’s currency, prices of essential commodities hike.
Hence, people are not able to purchase all that they require due to limited purchasing power. Instead, they
reduce their consumption levels. As such the sales of a company’s products will start to decline. This forces the
marketer to derive techniques to improve the situation, for instance, offering discounts and so on.

• Competition:
A company has no control over the activities of competing firms. But to ensure a competitive strategy is laid
down, it has to compete fairly by offering better services and other strategic techniques.

When Did the 4 Ps Become the 7 Ps?

The focus on the four Ps—product, price, place, and promotion—has been a core tenet of marketing since the 1950s. Three newer Ps
expand the marketing mix for the 21st century.

• People places the focus on the personalities who represent the product. In the current era, that means not only sales and customer
service employees but social media influencers and viral media campaigns.
• Process is logistics. Consumers increasingly demand fast and efficient delivery of the things they want, when they want them.
• Physical evidence is perhaps the most thoroughly modern of the seven Ps. If you're selling diamond jewelry on a website, it must be
immediately clear to the consumer that you are a legitimate established business that will deliver as promised. A professionally
designed website with excellent functionality, an "About" section that lists the principals of the company and its physical address,
professional packaging, and efficient delivery service are all critical to convincing the consumer that your product is not only good, it's
real.
ASSEMBLING AND MANAGING THE MARKETING MIX