The Marketing Mix
The term "marketing mix" refers to a foundational business model that has historically prioritized promotion, location, price, and product (also known as the "4 Ps"). The phrase "set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market" refers to the marketing mix. Early in the twenty-first century, marketing theory first appeared. The modern marketing mix was first published in 1984 and has since evolved into the framework for all marketing management decisions. An extended marketing mix is used in services marketing, typically consisting of 7 Ps.
product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning, and people), composed of the original four Ps plus process, people, and tangible evidence. On rare occasions, service marketers will mention the 8 Ps (product, price, place, promotion, people, positioning, packaging, and performance), which consist of product and the seven Ps.
The four Cs model was introduced as a more customer-focused alternative to the four Ps in the 1990s. Based on the four Cs, there are two theories: The 4 Cs of Lauterborn (consumer, cost, convenience, and communication); and Shimizu's 4 Cs (commodity, cost, channel, and communication).
Considering how consumers might value potential product attributes (in any category, e.g., product, promotion, etc.), the issue of choosing a product's attributes to maximize the number of customers who prefer it is a computationally intractable problem, as are the attributes of the products sold by other companies.
The success of a company's marketing is significantly influenced by the enterprise marketing managers' selection of the marketing mix:
- Build on your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.
- Enhance the flexibility and competitiveness of businesses by ensuring close collaboration between their internal departments.
Emergence and expansion
The 4 Ps have their roots in the latter part of the 1940s. Prof. James Culliton, a professor of marketing at Harvard University, is credited with making the first recorded mention of a mix. In an article he published in 1948 titled The Management of Marketing Costs, Culliton referred to marketers as "mixers of ingredients."
A few years later, Professor Neil Borden, a colleague of Culliton's, published a retrospective article tracing the early development of the marketing mix. He asserts that Culliton's concept of "mixers" served as his inspiration and takes credit for popularizing the term. According to Borden's account, he started consistently using the phrase "marketing mix" in the late 1940s.
For instance, in his presidential address to the American Marketing Association in 1953, he is known to have used the phrase "marketing mix."
Although the notion of marketers as "mixers of ingredients" became popular, it took until the 1960s for marketers to actually come to an agreement on the ingredients that should be used. E. Jerome McCarthy first proposed the 4 Ps in their current form in 1960. He did so as part of a managerial strategy that included analysis, consumer behavior, market research, market segmentation, and pricing. and preparation. This strategy and the 4 Ps model were made popular by Phillip Kotler. Both academics and practitioners in the field of marketing have widely embraced McCarthy's 4 Ps. Early in the 1980s, at the first AMA Conference devoted to services marketing, the idea of expanding the marketing mix first emerged. This idea built on earlier theoretical work that identified numerous significant flaws in the 4 Ps model. In light of the fact that services and products are fundamentally different from one another and thus call for different tools and approaches, it is clear from the papers presented at that conference that service marketers were considering a revision to the general marketing mix. Booms and Bitner proposed the 7 Ps model in 1981 as being more appropriate for service marketing and consisting of the original 4 Ps extended by process, people, and physical evidence.
Since then, numerous proposals for a service marketing mix (with varying numbers of Ps) have been made, most notably the 8 Ps, which are made up of the 7 Ps above plus the addition of "performance."
McCarthy's 4 Ps
A framework for making marketing decisions is provided by the original marketing mix, also known as the 4 Ps, which was first put forth by academic and marketer Philip Kotler and E. Jerome McCarthy. Since then, McCarthy's marketing mix has developed into one of the industry's most enduring and widely regarded frameworks.
Brief (4 Ps) Outline
- Product
An item that satisfies the needs or desires of the customer is referred to as a product. Products can either be physical (goods) or immaterial (services, ideas, or experiences).
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- Product features and quality design.
- A product range,
- product mix, or product lines make up the product assortment.
- Branding
- Labelling and packaging Services (complimentary service, after-sales service, service level)
- Warranties and assurances
- Returns Managing the life-cycle of products
- Price
The cost of a product is referred to as the price. A consumer's expectation for purchasing a particular product may also include the price (e.g. time or effort). The only factor that influences revenue is price. The only element of the marketing mix that discusses the value to the company is the price. Price takes into account the perceived value of the customer as well.
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- Price policy
- price strategies
- Price-setting
- Allowances, such as distributor rebates
- discounts for clients
- Credit terms and payment options
- Place
refers to granting access to customers. Think about making things convenient for the consumer.
- such tactics as extensive distribution, careful selection, and exclusive distribution. Franchising market exposure
- Selection of channel members and relationships between channel members Assortment
- Choosing a location
- Inventory Logistics, warehousing, and transportation
- Promotion
Marketing communications are referred to as promotion. These include things like PR, direct marketing, advertising, and sales promotion.
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- A good promotional mix should balance advertising,
- public relations,
- direct marketing, and sales promotion. What is to be communicated in a message?
- Choosing the right media and channel to reach your audience How frequently should you communicate?
Product refers to the products or services that the company has available for purchase. "Quality, features, benefits, style, design, branding, packaging, services, warranties, guarantees, life cycles, investments, and returns" are considered when making decisions about products.
Price refers to choices made regarding "list prices, discounts, special offers, credit payments, or credit terms." The term "price" refers to the total cost to the customer of purchasing the good, which may include both monetary and non-monetary costs like the time and effort required. Distribution channels such as retail, wholesale, business-to-business, or business-to-customer are taken into account.
Place refers to "direct or indirect channels to market," geographical distribution, territorial coverage, retail outlet, market location, catalogs, inventory, logistics, and order fulfillment." Place can refer to a company's actual office space or to the channels it uses to distribute goods to customers.
Place can also refer to a physical store, but increasingly it also refers to online stores, call centers, and catalogs. As an illustration, luxury goods manufacturers like Louis Vuitton use an intensive placement strategy by only making their products available at a select few high-end stores. By making their products available to as many different retailers as they can, manufacturers of lower cost consumer goods, such as toothpaste and shampoo, typically employ an extensive placement strategy.
Promotion refers to "the marketing communication used to promote the offer to prospects and convince them to learn more about it." Advertising, public relations, direct selling, and sales promotions are examples of promotion elements.
Modified and expanded marketing mix: "Seven P's"
By the 1980s, a number of theorists were arguing that service marketers would benefit from an expanded and modified framework. At the first AMA Conference on Services Marketing in the early 1980s, the idea of expanding or changing the 4 Ps model's marketing mix was a major topic of discussion. This discussion was based on earlier theoretical work that identified numerous significant issues and limitations with the model.
In light of the fact that services and products are fundamentally different from one another and thus call for different tools and approaches, it is clear from the papers presented at that conference that service marketers were considering a revision to the general marketing mix. In 1981, Booms and Bitner proposed the 7 Ps model as being more appropriate for service marketing and including the original 4 Ps plus process, people, and physical evidence.
The Modified and Expanded Marketing Mix in Brief
- People
In these changing times, it is important to study people's psychology in order to better understand their precise needs. What does the customer want, in essence? Only this can result in the creation of products that will improve the lives of customers. Positioning: Aligning the product with the appropriate target market.
Definition/ Explanation
human elements involved in the provision of services. Employees in customer service who uphold the company's principles. interactions among clients. interactions between staff and clients.
Typical Marketing Decisions
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- the hiring and training of personnel
- Uniforms
- managing wait times and scripting queueing systems
- addressing grievances and service issues
- the control of social interactions
- Process
The steps, controls, and sequence of events are used to deliver services.
Typical Marketing Decisions
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- Creating processes
- Flowcharting service processes according to their blueprints
- Decisions about standardization vs. customization
- identifying system failures, critical incidents, and fail-points
- keeping an eye on and following service performance analysis of resource allocation and requirement
- Developing and evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Adherence to Recommended Practices making of operation manuals
- Physical evidence
the setting in which service is provided. the area where service staff and customers converse. tangible goods that aid in the performance of services (such as furniture and equipment). Reminders of the service performance for the clients
Typical Marketing Decisions
- Facilities (e.g., furniture, equipment, access)
- Spatial layout (e.g. functionality, efficiency)
- Signage (e.g. directional signage, symbols, other signage)
- Interior design (e.g., furniture, color schemes)
- Ambient conditions (e.g., noise, air, temperature)
- Design of livery (e.g. stationery, brochures, menus, etc.)
- Artifacts: (e.g. souvenirs, mementos, etc.)
People are crucial to the promotion of any good or service. Standing for the service is personnel. The products themselves, rather than the people who produce them, are the producers in the professional, financial, or hospitality service sectors. When people are the product, they have a greater influence on how the public views an organization than any tangible consumer goods. From a marketing management standpoint, it's crucial to make sure that staff members represent the business in line with more general messaging strategies. When people believe they have been treated fairly and are paid enough to support their daily needs, this is easier to ensure.
Process a "set of actions that result in the delivery of the product benefits." A process could be a set of tasks that an employee completes in a particular order as part of their work. It might represent the sequential actions that several different employees took to try to finish a task. Some people are in charge of overseeing several processes at once. For instance, a restaurant manager should keep an eye on staff performance to make sure that procedures are being followed. In order for the subsequent customer to start the process, they must also keep an eye on customers as they are promptly welcomed, seated, fed, and led out.
Physical evidence refers to the equipment, furniture, and facilities that are non-human aspects of the service interaction. It may also refer to the less tangible elements of the setting where the service interaction takes place, such as the interior design, color scheme, and layout. Souvenirs, mementos, invoices, and other types of livery of artifacts are some examples of tangible evidence that offers long-lasting proof that the service has taken place.
The service rendered and any tangible goods that make the performance and communication of the service easier are considered the physical evidence in Booms and Bitner's framework. Customers value physical proof because it shows whether the seller delivered what they expected (or not), depending on the tangible goods.
Lauterborn's 4 Cs (1990)
| 4 Ps | 4 Cs | Definition |
|---|---|---|
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Product
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Consumer wants and needs
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Price
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Cost
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Place
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Convenience
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Promotion
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Communication
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Shimizu's 4 Cs: in the 7Cs Compass Model
Following Koichi Shimizu's 4 Cs classification proposal in 1973, the 7 Cs Compass Model was developed to give a more comprehensive picture of the nature of marketing in 1979. The 7Cs Compass Model is a co-marketing framework (commensal marketing or symbiotic marketing). Co-marketing includes consumer and business co-creative marketing as well.
Co-marketing, also known as collaborative marketing, is a marketing strategy in which two businesses collaborate while using independent distribution channels. Co-promotion is frequently confused with it. Commensal (symbiotic) marketing is another term for a form of advertising in which people and nature can coexist alongside corporations, consumers, nations, and even other corporations.
- The 7Cs Compass Model comprises:
(C1) Corporation – Corporation is at the heart of the 4 Cs (company and non profit organization). Within the company, C-O-S stands for competitor, organization, and stakeholder. Compliance and accountability must be valued by the company. the competition between the company and other businesses in its industry in those areas.
The 4 elements in the 7Cs Compass Model are:
The 4 Cs (commodity, cost, channel, and communication) are a formal approach to this customer-focused marketing mix in the 7 Cs Compass Model. In place of the well-known 4 Ps supply side model (product, price, place, and promotion) of marketing management, the 4 Cs model offers a demand-centric version.
- Product → Commodity
- Price → Cost
- Place → Channel
- Promotion → Communication
| "P" category (narrow) | "C" category (broad) | "C" definition |
|---|---|---|
| Product | (C2) Commodity | (Latin origin: commodus = convenience, joy) products and services aimed at customers or citizens. |
| Price | (C3) Cost | There are social costs in addition to purchasing costs and producing costs (Latin derivation: constare= It makes sacrifices). |
| Place | (C5) Channel | (Canal, from Latin): marketing channels. Product flow. |
| Promotion | (C4) Communication | Marketing communication (Latin derivation: communis=sharing of meaning) Promotion is important, but so is communication. Advertising, sales promotion, public relations, publicity, personal selling, corporate identity, internal communication, SNS, and MIS are all examples of communication. |
The compass of consumers and circumstances (environment) are:
- (C6) Consumer—(Needle of compass to consumer)
- The first of the four directions marked on the compass model can explain the factors relating to consumers. The cardinal directions can be used to remember these, thus the name "compass model":
- N = Needs
- S = Security. "
- E = Education (consumer education).
- W = Wants
- (C7) Circumstances—(Needle of compass to circumstances)
- In addition to the customer, companies are surrounded by a number of uncontrollable external environmental factors. The first letter of the four directions marked on the compass model can also be used to explain this situation:
- N = National and International (political,legal, and ethical) environment
- S = Social and cultural
- E = Economic
- W = Weather
These can also be recalled by using the compass's cardinal directions. The 7 Cs Compass Model is a co-marketing framework (symbiotic marketing). It's been said that all it really is are the 4 Ps with different emphasises. Since consumers are a marketing target while the other components of the marketing mix are tactics, the inclusion of consumers in the 7 Cs is particularly criticized. The 7 Cs assume that customers want two-way communication with businesses and also include numerous tactics for product development, distribution, and pricing.
In his book "Service 7," Australian author Peter Bowman proposes an alternative strategy. Bowman suggests that service marketing initiatives take a values-based approach. Seven service marketing principles, including value, business growth, reputation, customer service, and service design, are recommended by Bowman. Within Australia, Service 7 has been widely disseminated.
Digital Marketing Mix
The marketing mix, which adapts the elements of product, price, place, and promotion for use in digital marketing, is fundamentally the same as the digital marketing mix. A common definition of digital marketing is "achieving marketing objectives through the application of digital technologies." product In the context of digital marketing, the term "product" has been redefined as a "virtual product"—a combination of tangibility and intangibility—thanks to the interaction and connectivity of the Internet.
A product can be sent directly from manufacturers to customers in digital form. Customers could, for instance, purchase music digitally as an MP3 as opposed to a physical CD. As a result, it's critical for businesses to comprehend how to differentiate their products in the online marketplace when developing their Internet marketing strategies. Here are some examples of how to modify a product's online component.
- The term "modifying the core product" here specifically refers to items that can be converted into digital formats, such as movies, music, books, and other publications. Use Netflix as an illustration. Due to the widespread use of the internet, video is now sold and rented online instead of through brick-and-mortar retailers.
- Offering digital goods: Businesses must expand their product lines in order to gain market share on the Internet. For instance, a psychological counseling service might provide video calls for online consultation.
- Building the entire product: In addition to online product sales, Amazon.com offers a paid subscription service called Amazon Prime, which entitles users to free shipping and access to Amazon videos.
- Online research: The Internet provides a cheap and practical means of conducting marketing studies, which is useful for businesses to learn what goods and services customers prefer.
Price
Concerns about a company's pricing practices or pricing models Numerous applications could be found from the perspectives of both consumers and producers as a result of the widespread use of the Internet. Consumers benefit from the Internet's ability to compare prices to those in effect right now before making a purchase decision because it saves them time and effort.
Regarding suppliers, they have the ability to change prices immediately and offer customers a higher level of price transparency. Aside from that, because online producers do not have to allocate funds for leasing a physical store, the Internet is more likely to reduce the pressure on prices. Therefore, developing new pricing strategies or modifying existing ones is crucial for a business that wants to enter the Internet market. Pricing techniques and strategies
Place
Place is becoming a more significant factor in promoting consumption with the use of the Internet as both the Internet and physical channels become virtual. The Internet has significantly impacted business by enabling not only online product sales but also the development of strong customer relationships. Additionally, since the ease of moving between websites is always associated with promotion from the perspective of digital marketing, retailers frequently use third-party websites like the Google search engine to direct customers to their websites.
Promotion
Promotion is the process of identifying and incorporating different communication tools into the marketing mix. Unlike traditional marketing communication tools, digital marketing tools, such as display ads, pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), influencers, etc., aim to engage audiences by posting advertisements and content on social media. Chaffey and Smith proposed that online marketing campaigns be divided into six categories:
- Pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) (PPC).
- Online PR aims to encourage favorable product or service reviews while minimizing negative ones.
- Online collaborations, establishing connections between independent websites to market goods or services.
- Interactive advertising
- Opt-in e-mail advertising
- Social media marketing involves initiating and taking part in online interactions between customers and businesses.
The Internet Mix
Sidney (Sid) Peimer first suggested the term "Internet Mix" in a 2004 article for the online business publication Bizcommunity. He listed three components of the Internet Mix as follows:
- Sell (trade)
- Tell (inform)
- Dwell (entertain)