Marketing mix

Marketing
Key concepts
	Product / Pricing / Promotion; Distribution / Service / Retail; Brand management; Account-based marketing; Marketing effectiveness; Market research; Marketing strategy; Marketing management; Market dominance;
Promotional content
	Advertising / Branding; Direct marketing / Personal Sales; Product placement / Public relations; Publicity / Sales promotion; Sex in advertising / Underwriting
Promotional media
	Printing / Publication / Broadcasting; Out-of-home / Internet marketing; Point of sale / Novelty items; Digital marketing / In-game; Word of mouth;
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Not to be confused with Promotional mix.

The four main fields of the Marketing mix.

The Marketing mix is generally accepted as the use and specification of the four p's describing the strategic position of a product in the marketplace. One version of the origins of the marketing mix starts in 1948 when James Culliton said that a marketing decision should be a result of something similar to a recipe. This version continued in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and coined the term 'Marketing-Mix'. A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a 4 P classification in 1960, which would see wide popularity. The four Ps concept is explained in most marketing textbooks and classes.

[edit] Marketing Mix

A Marketing mix is the division of groups to make a particular product, by pricing, product, branding, place, and quality. Although some Day1 marketers^[who?] have added other P's, such as personnel, packaging and physical evidence, the fundamentals of marketing typically identifies the four P's of the marketing mix as referring to:

"Marketing Mix" is set of correlated tools that work together to achieve company's objectives, they are:product, price, promotion, place.

The set of controllable tactical marketing tools, product,price,place and promotion - that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market:

Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are often service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system.
Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product.
Place – Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet.
Promotion – Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements - advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from television and cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. One of the most notable means of promotion today is the Promotional Product, as in useful items distributed to targeted audiences with no obligation attached. This category has grown each year for the past decade while most other forms have suffered. It is the only form of advertising that targets all five senses and has the recipient thanking the giver. Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations (see Product above).

Broadly defined, optimizing the marketing mix is the primary responsibility of marketing. By offering the product with the right combination of the four Ps marketers can improve their results and marketing effectiveness. Making small changes in the marketing mix is typically considered to be a tactical change. Making large changes in any of the four Ps can be considered strategic. For example, a large change in the price, say from $19.00 to $39.00 would be considered a strategic change in the position of the product. However a change of $131 to $130.99 would be considered a tactical change, potentially related to a promotional offer.

The term "Marketing Mix" however, does not imply that the 4P elements represent options. They are not trade-offs but are fundamental marketing issues that always need to be addressed. They are the fundamental actions that marketing requires whether determined explicitly or by default.

[edit] References

Kotler, Philip, Keller, Lane (2005) "Marketing Management", Prentice Hall, ISBN 0131457578.
Barlon, Kimuli. (2006) "The concept of the marketing mix" Presentation on marketing management, vol 1, September, 2006, pp 2–7-Turku university -Finland - The same article can also be found in: Schwartz, G. (ed), Science in Marketing, John Wiley, New York, 1965, pp 386–397 - and also in: Enis, B. and Cox, K. (1991) Marketing Classics, A selection of influential articles, Allyn and Brown, Boston, 1991, pp 361–369.
Bitner, J. and Booms, B. (1981) Marketing strategies and organizational structures for service firms, in Donnelly, J. and George, W. Marketing, American Marketing Association, Chicago, 1981.
Borden, N. H. (1964), “The Concept of the Marketing Mix”, Journal of Advertising Research, June, Vol. 4, pp. 2–7. Available in Schwartz G. Science in Marketing. John Wiley & Sons, NY 386-97
Culliton, J. W. (1948), The Management of Marketing Costs, Graduate School of Business Administration, Boston, Mass: Harvard University.
Frey, A. (1961) Advertising, 3rd ed., Ronald Press, New York, 1961.
Hammer, M. and Champy, J. (1993) Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Harper Business Books, New York, 1993, ISBN 0-06-662112-7
Hughes, M. (2005) "Buzzmarketing: Get People To Talk About Your Stuff", Penguin/Portfolio, New York, 2005 Website
Lauterborn, R (1990) "New Marketing Litany: 4 Ps Passe; C words take over", Advertising Age, October 1, 1990, pg 26.
McCarthy EJ (1960) Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Homewood IL: Irwin.
McCarthy, J. (1960 1st ed.), Basic Marketing: A managerial approach, 13th ed., Irwin, Homewood Il, 2001.