Choose the correct item

1. Marketers should (promote/ consider/ vary) how to position the product, how to exploit the brand, how to exploit the company's resources.

2. (Promotion/ Variety/ Consideration) comprises elements such as: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.

3. (Variable/ Various/ Variety) strategies such as intensive distribution, selective distribution, exclusive distribution and franchising can be used by the marketer.

4. Marketing (depends/ differentiates/ differs) from selling because (in the words of Harvard Business School's retired professor of marketing Theodore C. Levitt) "Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product”.

5. These are (decisions/ promotions/ promoters) which the marketing manager has to make after careful analysis of the situation, the market, its needs, its sectors, the ideal positioning, the resources within the company.

2. Read the text

The 4 p’s of marketing

The Marketing mix is a set of four decisions which need to be taken before launching any new product. These variables are also known as the 4 P’s of marketing. These four variables help the firm in making strategic decisions necessary for the smooth running of any product/ organization. These variables are

1. Product

2. Price

3. Place

4. Promotions

Marketing mix is mainly of two types.

1. Product marketing mix– Comprised of product, price, place and promotions. This marketing mix is mainly used in case of tangible goods.

2. Service marketing mix– The service marketing mix has three further variables included which are people, physical evidence and process.

The marketing mix can make or break the firm. Over time the concept of marketing mix has provided a steady platform for the launch of a new product or business.

The marketing mix is characterized by four different but equally important variables. These variables may be changed over time. However, a change in one of the variables may cause a change in all the other variables as well. The variables are as follows:

1) Product – The first thing you need, if you want to start a business, is a product. Product decisions are the first decisions you need to take before making any marketing plan. A product can be divided into three parts: the core product, the augmented product and the tertiary product. Before deciding on the product component there are some questions which you need to ask yourself.

· What product are you selling?

· What would be the quality of your product?

· Which features are different from the market?

· What is the USP of the product?

· Whether the product will be branded as sub brand or completely new?

· What are the secondary products which can be sold along with primary (warranty, services)

Based on these questions, several product decisionshave to be made. These product decisions will in turn affect the other variables of the marketing mix. As long as you don’t know your product, you cannot decide any other variable of the marketing mix. However, if the product features are not fitting in the marketing mix, you can alter the product such that it finds a place for itself in the marketing mix.

2) Pricing of a product depends on a lot of different variables and hence it is constantly updated. Major consideration in pricing is the costing of the product, the advertising and marketing expenses, any price fluctuations in the market, distribution costs etc. Many of these factors can change separately. However, if all these variables change, then the pricing of a product has to be increased and decreased accordingly.

There are also other things which have to be taken in consideration when deciding on a pricing strategy. Competition can be the best example. Similarly, pricing also affects the targeting and positioning of a product. Pricing is used for sales promotions in the form of trade discounts.

3) Place refers to the distribution channel of a product. If a product is a consumer product, it needs to be available as far and wide as possible. On the other hand, if the product is a Premium consumer product, it will be available only in select stores. Similarly, if the product is a business product, you need a team who interacts with businesses and makes the product available to them.

4) Promotions are dependent a lot on the product and pricing decision. What is the budget for marketing and advertising? What stage is the product in? If the product is completely new in the market, it needs brand/ product awareness promotions, whereas if the product is already existing then it will need brand recall promotions.

Promotions also decide the segmentation targeting and positioning of the product. The right kind of promotions affects all the other three variables – the product, price and place. If the promotions are effective, you might have to increase distribution points, you might get to increase the price because of the rising brand equity of the product, and the profitability might support you in launching even more products. Promotion is considered as marketing expenses and the same needs to be taken in consideration while deciding the costing of the product.

Thus as we see from the above explanations, all the four variables of marketing mix are inter related and affect each other. By increasing the pricing of the product, demand of the product might lessen, and lesser distribution points might be needed. On the other hand, the product USP can be such that maximum concentration is on creating brand awareness, thereby increasing need of better pricing and more promotions. Finally, the overall marketing mix can result in your customer base asking for some improvement in the product, and the same can be launched as the upgraded product.

Answer the questions:

1. What is a marketing mix?

2. What are tangible goods?

3. What is the difference between Product marketing mix andService marketing mix?

4. Why is marketing mix important?

5. How many kinds of products are there?

6. How are the product decisions made?

7. What variables affect the pricing?

8. What does the choosing the place depend on?

9. What does the promotion decision depend on?

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 859