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The marketing mix

 

Key vocabulary

Marketing is the term given to all the different activities intended to make and attract a profitable demand for a product. This involves:

 

· Identifying consumer needs and wants in order to develop the product

(deciding what products or services to sell in the first place)

· Setting the price

(Setting prices that are attractive to particular groups of customers

and that are profitable for the company)

· Deciding on the best place to sell the product

(Finding suitable distribution channels to reach these customer groups)

· Deciding on how best to promote the product

(All the activities, not just advertising, used to support the product – everything from presales information to after-sales service)

 

These four factors are often referred to as The Four P’s or the marketing mix, the ‘levers’ of a company’s marketing machine, levers that it can adjust in different ways for different products and different buyers.

 

The Four Ps

PRODUCT = the goods or the service that you are marketing

A 'product' is not just a collection of components. A 'total product' includes the image of the product, its design, quality and reliability - as well as its features and benefits. In marketing terms, political candidates and non-profit-making public services are also 'products' that people must be persuaded to 'buy' arid which have to be 'presented and packaged' attractively. Products have a life-cycle, and companies are continually developing new products to replace products whose sales are declining and coming to the end of their lives.

 

PRICE = making it easy for the customer to buy the product

Pricing takes account of the value of a product and its quality, the ability of the customer to pay, the volume of sales required, and the prices charged by the competition. Too low a price can reduce the number of sales just as significantly as too high a price. A low price may increase sales but not as profitably as fixing a high, yet still popular, price.

 

PLACE = getting the product to the customer Decisions have to be made about the channels of distribution and delivery arrangements. Retail products may go through various channels of distribution:

1 Producer → end-users (the product is sold directly to the end-user by the company's sales force, direct response advertising or direct mail (mail order)

2 Producer → retailers → end-users

3 Producer → wholesalers/agents —* retailers -+ end-users

4 Producer → wholesalers → directly to end-users

5 Producer→ multiple store groups / department stores / mail order houses → end-users

6 Producer→ market → wholesalers → retailers → end-users |

PROMOTION = presenting the product to the customer

Promotion involves the packaging and presentation of the product, its image, the product's brand name, advertising and slogans, brochures, literature, price lists, after-sales service and training, trade exhibitions or fairs, public relations, publicity and personal selling.



Every product must possess a 'unique selling proposition' (USP) - the features and benefits that make it unlike any other product in its market.

 

Thinking marketing

Marketing affects every aspect of a company’s operations, as shown here:

 

Everyone who works for the company must “think marketing”

 

To think marketing we must have a clear idea of:

 

What the customer s need

What the customers want

What causes them to buy

What the product is to the customer:

its functional, technical and economic aspects as well a the aesthetic, emotional and psychological aspects

 

“FEATURES” (what the product is)+”BENEFITS” (which means that…)

 

We must be aware of our firm’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats we face in the market (“S.W.O.T.”)

 

Another way of looking at this is from the point of view of customers, with the four Cs. From this perspective, the marketing mix is expressed in terms of:

 

Customer solution: offering the right product to satisfy particular customer needs

 

Customer cost: the price paid directly by customer to buy the product, including the ‘price’ involved in not buying another product of the same or another type

 

Convenience: distributing the product in the way most suitable for each type of customer

 

Communication: exchanging information with the customer. Customers are informed about products. Thinking of the marketing mix in these terms helps sellers maintain a customer orientation – a focus on customer needs.

 

What is marketing? Vocabulary

 

A Fill the gaps in these sentences, using the words from the list.

 

creative process design distribution end-users first

hire purchase image labels mail order need opportunities outlets patterns place posters price product production-orientated profitably promotion range rival satisfy strengths threats weaknesses

 

1. What is marketing? Marketing is the........of satisfying customer needs.........

2. What is 'the marketing mix'? It consists of 'the four P's': providing the customer

with the right P............at the right P............, presented in the most attractive

way (P............) and available in the easiest way (P............).

3. What is 'a product' ? A product is not just an assembled set of components: it is

something customers buy to............ a............they feel they have. The............

and the............of the product are as important as its specification.

4. What is 'price' ? The product must be priced so that it competes effectively with ............products in the same market.

5. What is 'promotion'? The product is presented to customers through

advertising (TV commercials,............, etc), packaging (design,............, etc),

publicity, P.R. and personal selling. See 10.8 for more on this topic.

6. What is 'place'? Your product must be available to customers through the most

cost-effective channels of.............A consumer product must be offered to

............in suitable retail............, or available on............or by.............

7. What is meant by 'S.W.O.T.'? A firm should be aware of its S............and

W............and the Î............and T............it faces in the market place.

8. Why are firms becoming more customer-orientated and less............? Because

new products must be created to meet the changing............of customers' needs

— a firm can't rely on the success of its existing............of products. The

customer and his or her needs must come............!

 

 

What is marketing?

 

Complete the text using the correct form of these verbs:

 

Anticipate divide fill influence involve Modify offer share sell understand

 

A market can be defined as all the potential customers (1).........a particular need or want. Marketing is the process of developing, pricing, distributing and promoting the goods or services that satisfy such needs. Marketing therefore combines market research, new product development, distribution, advertising, promotion, product improvement, and so on. According to this definition, marketing begins and ends with the customer. Truly successful marketing (2).........the customer so well that the product or service satisfies a need so perfectly that the customer is desperate to buy it.

The product almost (3).........itself. Of course this will only happen if the product or service is better than those of competitors.

 

Companies are always looking for marketing opportunities - possibilities of (4).........unsatisfied needs in areas in which they are likely to enjoy a differential advantage, due to their particular competencies. Marketing opportunities are generally isolated by market segmentation - (5).........a market into submarkets or segments according to customers' requirements or buying habits. Once a target market has been identified, a company has to decide what goods or services to(6).........,always remembering the existence of competitors.

 

Marketers do not only identify consumer needs; they can (7).........them by developing new products. They will then have to design marketing strategies and plan marketing programs, and then organize, implement, and control the marketing effort. Once the basic offer, for example a product concept, has been established, the company has to think about the marketing mix - the set of all the various elements of a marketing program, their integration, and the amount of effort that a company can expend on them in order to (8).........the target market. The best-known classification of these elements is the 4 P's: Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

 

Aspects to be considered in marketing a product include its quality, its features, style, brand name, size, packaging, services and guarantee, while price includes consideration of things like the basic list price, discounts, the length of the payment period, and possible credit terms. Place in a marketing mix includes such factors as distribution channels, coverage of the market, locations of points of sale, inventory size, and so on. Promotion groups together advertising, publicity, sales promotion, and personal selling.

 

The next stage is to create long-term demand, perhaps by (9).........particular features of the product to satisfy changes in consumer needs or market conditions.

 

Marketing can also involve the attempt to influence or change consumers' needs and wants. Companies try to do this in order to sell their products; governments and health authorities sometimes try to change people's habits for their own good or for the general good. In other words, marketing also (10).........regulating the level, timing and character of demand.

Now translate the highlighted expressions in the text into your own language.

 

 


Date: 2015-01-12; view: 4021


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