Marketing Mix Overview

Marketing Mix

• The marketing mix is a set of elements companies use to successfully create and sell products. These are often referred to as the 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion.
• A product is an offering by a firm that meets specific customer needs.
• Price refers to the amount a firm charges for its product.
• Place refers to how a company makes products available to customers.
• Promotion refers to strategies used to inform customers about a product and encourage purchase.

Course Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the first quarter, students will be able to apply marketing concepts and techniques to interpret/solve marketing problems.
• By the end of the second quarter, students will be able to develop marketing programs by creating a marketing plan.

Product Definition

• A product is anything (good, service, or idea) with attributes to satisfy wants/needs, received in exchange for something of value.

Product Components

• Core Product: The fundamental benefit the buyer seeks.
• Formal Product: The physical/perceived characteristics (quality, features, styling, branding, packaging)
• Augmented Product: Additional elements (service, warranty, delivery, installation) that complete the offering.

Product Classification

• Consumer Products:

  • Convenience Products: Frequently purchased, low cost, routine (e.g., groceries).
  • Shopping Products: Less frequent purchase, higher cost, more time spent in the purchase process (e.g., clothes, furniture).
  • Specialty Products: Products with unique characteristics (e.g., luxury cars, designer goods).
  • Unsought Products: Not actively sought out, often need to be actively promoted (e.g., insurance).

• Industrial Products: Bought by businesses to use in production or daily operations (e.g., raw materials, processed materials, equipment).

  • Raw Materials: Unprocessed, obtained from mining, harvesting, or fishing.
  • Processed Materials: Raw materials that have undergone processing.
  • Equipment: Products used in operations/production.

Product Strategies

• Product Positioning: Placing a brand in the market where it can gain approval compared to competitors (e.g., low price, quality, characteristics).
• Product Elimination: Removing products to improve a product line.
• Product Repositioning: Changing the current position to be more appropriate for new target markets.
• New Product: Introducing new products to the market or improving existing products (e.g., improvements in existing products, product imitation, or product innovation).
• Product Diversification: Developing unrelated products and/or markets (e.g., expanding into a new market).
• Product Overlap: Competing with oneself via new products/private labels/selling to original equipment manufactures.
• Product Scope: The overall mission/description of the business unit.
• Value Marketing: Delivering on promises about the product/service.

Product Mix

• refers to a business's total product offering
  • Product Mix Width: The number of different product lines offered by a company.
  • Product Mix Depth: The number of different styles, sizes, colors offered for a given product.
  • Product Line Length: The number of different products offered within a specific product line.
  • Product Line Consistency: How closely related the product lines are in terms of usage, production, and distribution.

Product Design

• Degree of standardization in a product.

Marketing Plan Outline

• Executive Summary: One-page summary of the entire plan.
• Industry Definition: Information about the industry.
• Market Size: Size of the market.
• Competitive Market Shares: Sales data for each brand.
• Marketing Objectives: Sales goals, target markets, etc.