You might often hear the saying that marketing is all about putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time.
Sounds easy, right?
You just need to simply develop a desired product for a specific target group, and cater the place, price, and time to match that particular people. However, to do so effectively, you need to put in a significant amount of effort.
You must determine what your potential consumers want and where they purchase. Also, you need to find out how to develop said product at a price that represents value to your consumers, and at the right time.
Consequently, getting even one aspect wrong can cause severe calamity.
For example, you might find yourself offering an item at a price that is too high – or too low – to appeal to the people you’re chasing.
The marketing mix and the 4Ps of marketing are excellent instruments for avoiding such blunders. In this article, we’ll learn more about applying them to construct a winning marketing strategy.
What is marketing?
Before delving into the marketing mix, let’s get right back to basic. Many people think of marketing as only selling and advertising.
Selling and advertising are only the very surfaces of the marketing iceberg.
In today’s modern world, marketing must be understood in the new sense of satisfying customer needs rather than merely making a sale process. If you can engage with consumers effectively, understand their needs, and provide superior customer value. In addition, you need to consider price and promotion.
In its broadest sense, marketing is a social and management process through which people and businesses get what they want and need by generating and exchanging value with others.
Meanwhile, in a more limited sense, marketing entails developing profitable, value-laden trade relationships with customers.
As a result, we describe marketing as the process by which businesses engage customers, form strong customer relationships, and provide customer value to receive value in return.
What is the marketing mix?
The major marketing mix tools are classified into four broad groups, called the 4Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.
To deliver on your value proposition, you must first develop a market offering that meets a need (product).
Next, you must determine how much the offering will cost (price) and how you will make the offering available to target customers (place).
Lastly, you must attract target consumers, interact with the offer, and convince them of the benefit of the offer (promotion).
Hence, the marketing mix is a collection of tactical marketing instruments that you can deploy to generate the desired response in its target market.
Everything you can do to engage customers and give value to them is included in the marketing mix.
The 4Ps
1. Product
Product means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market. To get this element right, you can start by writing down a product definition.
This includes information about your product, your target market, and, most importantly, how your product differs from the competition. Your product can be a physical commodity, a concept, a service, or even a personality.
2. Price
Price is the number of money customers must pay to obtain the product. It should represent the consumer’s perceived value, including the product’ relative price versus quality level compared to its competitors.
Hence, your task is to develop a price that is appealing to customers while also generating a profit. A product’s pricing has a direct impact on how well it sells. Rather than the objective cost of the goods, this must be evaluated by the value buyers place on it.
After all, it will be hard to market a product priced higher or lower than its perceived value. To summarise, the price is determined by the consumer’s perception of the product’s worth.
3. Place
Place includes company activities that make the product available to target consumers. This component determines how the goods will be delivered to the customer. After deciding on a location, the customer’s marketing channel is selected.
Basically, the place is the location where the goods will be distributed or sold.
Place used to refer to how your product’s visibility in a physical store.
However, nowadays, it’s even more crucial where your product shows on the Internet because your reach online can be worldwide. In contrast, your presence in the real marketplace is limited by physical area.
4. Promotion
Promotion refers to activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it.
In other words, promotion is any form of engagement your business has with the customer in relation to your product.
Advertising, sales, promotions, and special offers are some examples of promotion.
An effective marketing program blends the marketing mix elements into an integrated marketing program designed to achieve its marketing objectives by engaging consumers and delivering value to them.
An Alternative: The 4As
The 4Ps concept takes the seller’s view of the market, not the buyer’s view.
From the buyer’s viewpoint, in this age of customer value and relationships, the 4Ps might be better described as the 4As.
| 4Ps | 4As |
|---|---|
| Product | Acceptability |
| Price | Affordability |
| Place | Accessibility |
| Promotion | Awareness |
Under this more customer-centred framework, acceptability refers to how well the product meets or exceeds customer expectations; affordability is the extent to which customers are willing and able to pay the product’s price; accessibility is the extent to which customers can obtain the product; and awareness the extent to which customers are informed about the product’s features, persuaded to try it, and even repurchase.
The 4As correlates with the traditional 4Ps. Product design influences acceptability, price affects affordability, place affects accessibility and promotion influences awareness.
It will benefit you to think through the 4As first and then build the 4Ps on that foundation.
The Bottom Line
To conclude, the four aspects of the marketing mix must always be balanced as they are interdependent and rely on each other.
The 4Ps can provide leverage for you to stand out from your competitors.
Additionally, as the demands for a more customer-centric approach increase, the 4As must be used together with the 4Ps.
These are the most important factors in marketing a product or service, and they interact heavily. By considering all these factors, you can create a cohesive marketing plan.
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