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_marketing mix _
By: chaz
Marketing Mix What is the marketing mix? Professor Jerome McCarthy coined
this term which breaks down into four separate parts: product, price, place,
and promotion, better known as the four Ps of marketing. Some experts feel
this early 60s mentality is a little archaic and should reflect societies
other factors. Todays marketers feel there are two important Ps that have
been overlooked, or intentionally ignored, and they are politics and public
opinionThe first P in the marketing mix is product. A product is any
physical good, service or idea that satisfies a want or need. Because the term
product is somewhat vast in its definition, marketers dissect the meaning
into a smaller unit known as a commodity. A commodity is a product with subtle
differences. These differences can range from physical to geographical. Kotler
uses the example of DuPont dacron, nylon, and orlon, DuPont deserves credit
for creating brilliant new fibers displaying different properties. In each
case it gives them memorable names. The next ingredient in the marketing mix
is price. The price of a product depends on several factors including, but not
excluded to, the product being offered, competitors pricing on a like item and
the demand for the product. Companies use a variety of techniques to reach the
most competitive price for their product. One example of this would be
cost-based pricing. Cost-based pricing is simply adding a markup to the cost
of the item. On the other hand, a company could also employ value-based
pricing. Value-based pricing is a hypothesis of the maximum amount of money a
person will spend on a product and then pricing the item below that figure to
make the item more appealing. Both pricing techniques take into account the
supply and demand for an item. After a need is uncovered and a price is set,
the next step in the marketing mix is deciding where to market the product.
This is refereed to as place or distribution. How and where will your products
be sold? Companies chose to sell a product directly to customer or use a
retailer/wholesaler to distribute their product. The best example of direct
selling would be Gateway computers in their early years. Before there was a
Gateway Country in every city, a person did not have the option of walking
into their store and seeing the many options available. If a person wanted to
purchase one of their computers, he or she had to call the company direct.
Now, Gateway has expanded into storefronts but you are still purchasing the
computer directly from Gateway. A retailer would be the average department
store. These stores carry a wide-range of items from a plethora of
manufacturers. When you walk into one of these stores you can usually see
like items made by different companies. Jeans would be a good example to
illustrate this point. Department stores usually carry jeans made by different
companies like Levis and Guess. Now that a need has been identified, a price
has been set, and a means for distribution has been established, the final
step is to promote the product. All other factors considered; advertising is
probably the most important aspect of the marketing mix. A product, which no
one has heard about, is not making a company any money. Companies spend
millions of dollars a year on advertising. Advertising is a very intricate
process. Contrary to popular belief, ads are directed at a very specific
audience, and have well defined goals. Some companies use advertising to
promote their product while others may advertise their products as a public
service.
Word Count: 596
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