Tag: marketing mix

What is Marketing Mix?

The term marketing sounds simple right? But do you have the clear idea about what is the whole concept of marketing mix? No worries you will have it after going through this article.

Marketing mix refers to the elements or components that are mixed by the marketers in order to interact with the customers in a much better way. These are basically the tactics used to promote the products. It provides broad guidelines for putting the right products in the right place, at the right time and price. Hence marketing mix plays a very important role for achieving the objectives . Majorly it is divided into the following elements:

Product:

Product is something that is actually offered to the customers for satisfying their needs and wants. Marketers need to clearly look out the conditions in the market before launching a product because customer is the king in today’s market scenario and if the product is not satisfactory for them they will switch over to some other brand as there is stiff competition in the market. There can be two situations the product can be known to the market or it can be the newly launched. More efforts will be required in new one because there will be the need of attracting the new customers and making them aware about that product along with the requirement of that product to the market. Product can be tangible that can be seen and touched or intangible which can’t be seen nor touched.

Price:

Price is the cost charged for a product. It is the most important element of marketing mix as it plays a very crucial role in attracting customers . Price must be set up in such a manner that it must be beneficial on behalf of both the customers and the sellers. Some products involve huge prices that gives them luxury while for some of the necessity products the prices offered are comparatively low.Marketers must link the price to the product’s real and perceived value, but they also must consider supply costs, seasonal discounts, and competitors’ prices.

Place:

It refers to the ultimate place where the product is being offered. Mostly the product is produced in one part and demanded in various parts so various distribution channels are used to make that product available to the customers who are more likely to buy it. Also product can be sold virtually the main difference in that case will be that there will be no personal touch between the buyer and the seller.

Promotion:

It involves adopting all those strategies that are responsible for making the customers aware about a particular product to increase the sale. These strategies leads to the huge changes in the profit potential of a business by helping the business to achieve its goals. It can be done through:

  • Advertising
  • Public relations or publicity.
  • Sales promotion.
  • Direct marketing.
  • Personal selling.

Service Marketing

Must have heard this term often right? But do you really know what is service marketing all about? Keep reading to understand properly.

The term can be easily understood separately as the service refers to an act of performing something for someone in exchange for adequate consideration on the other hand marketing is a broader term but in simple word it means promotion. Collectively we can say that when a person or entity promotes services it offers to the various clients it can be known as service marketing which aims at providing the solutions to the problems faced by the clients. Both the B2B (business-to-business) and B2C ( business-to-consumer) marketing is included in it.

Service Marketing have occupied a significant role in the market because service is something which can’t be seen or touched it can only be availed and experienced. The decision of the buyers in case of products is highly influenced by its quality but it is something different in case of services because the quality of service can be determined after it is availed by the customers. So it is required by the marketers to adopt those strategies that are highly attractive for the customers to induce them for availing a particular service.

Also these services can’t be resold or returned that means they are one time action and the manner it is availed at that time affects its future sale because if the goodwill of a particular service is not maintained then it will not be able to attract another more customers.

Examples: marketing of medical services, beauty parlours and spa, coaching centres , telecommunication etc

Service marketing is often confused with the term product marketing but it is important to know that both of them are different product marketing is the marketing of a tangible item that can be seen and touched whereas services are intangible.

If the proper service marketing strategies are adopted then it can leads to huge profit potential for a business and promote it to get more customers also.

Services marketing are dominated by the 7 Ps of marketing namely Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence. All these are the factors or elements that are mixed by the marketer in order to deal with the customers much better.

Explanation of service marketing elements.

Marketing Mix

In every business it is important to have an efficient marketing plan or strategy to promote their product, to engage more customers or to understand consumer behaviour, to upgrade their pricing strategy. For this in 1960s, an academic and marketer E. Jerome McCarthy proposed the idea of ‘marketing mix’.

Marketing mix is basically a mixture of 4Ps to enhance business model with Price, Product, Place and Promotion. These 4Ps can be used as marketing tools by any business for achieving their market goals and targets.

Components of Marketing Mix

  1. Product

Product means anything which is for sale any physical product or any service rendered to customer.  Product should the meet expectations and demand of customers in the market.Some of the marketing decision which every seller should think of  such as branding, packaging, product range, product design, packaging and labelling, guarantees and warranties.

2. Place

In marketing mix, place refers that where seller choose to sell his product whether it is warehouse, street market, online platforms, supermarkets, etc. It depends upon the nature of the product i.e. if product is perishable, shops are preferable to sell that product and if product is non-perishable both shops and online platforms are suitable.Marketing decisions related to place includes: market coverage, inventory, transportation, location, distributors, warehousing and franchising.

3. Price

Price is the main aspect for the business and customer. Each and every customer gets affected from price of the product which consumer is selling. Price reflects the cost or value of the product. Seller should set the price as per the demand of customer and the actual cost of the product. Accurate price can change the customer’s preference form one product to another. Other important aspect of pricing is what price has been set by your competitors? This can help any business in setting their pricing strategy. Pricing strategy can make profits for the business or can cause loss to the business if it is not accurate.Price market decisions includes: payment method (card or cash), credit payment, pricing strategy, allowances for distributors and discounts for customers.

4. Promotion

Promotion means to tell or convey about the product to customers through advertising, marketing and sales promotion. It can be through offline mode such as T.V. magazines, newspapers, radio etc. and online mode like websites, ads on social media, etc. It depends upon the seller of the product which way or method he chooses to communicate about his product to customers and according to response from his customers, he should continue with that particular promotion method.Marketing decisions for promotion involves: advertising, sales promotion, public relation, direct marketing, what and how to communicate to customers.

In 1980s Booms and Bitner proposed a model of marketing mix which consist of 7Ps, generally he added 3 more Ps to marketing mix i.e. Process, People and Physical Evidence which is beneficial for Service Marketing.

5. Process

Process describes the chain of delivering the goods or services to the customer. Process examination involves the evaluation of each and every step like procedure of distribution, payment system and relationships with customer. Evaluating, modifying and improving different steps of process will help business to maintain their efforts and to check that methods are new and as per recent trend. Process related marketing decisions involves: blueprint service, process design, checking system failures, monitoring service performance, allocation of resources required.

6. People

In marketing mix, ‘people’ refer to those who all are involved in the process of delivering of goods; managing the process; handle customer relationship, etc. Employees, staff, workers or labour all are included in ‘people’, basically all those who are a part of business. For any business it is necessary to employ right people to manage all the business related process. Marketing decisions related to people includes: staff recruitment and training, attending customers, handling complaints and failures, handling social interactions.

7. Physical Evidence

 Physical evidence means evidence of the product which has been purchased by the customer. It can be receipt, brochures, tracking information, invoices, etc. It is beneficial for both customer and seller to have a record or any document of transaction. It also relates to validation of the product, authenticity of the product check by the customer through their websites, logo etc. Here, marketing decisions includes: interior design like furniture and scheme, facilities like equipment access, brochures, stationery, surrounding conditions, and signage.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix

https://blog.hurree.co/blog/marketing-mix-7ps