Sheet 19
The Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is the set of ‘ingredients’ that the business will use to achieve its
aims, and is based on the ‘four Ps’ (see below). A successful marketing mix of a good
product in the right place at the right price, with attractive packaging and advertising,
wins customers and makes profits more likely. As the marketing strategy for a
product, or range of products, progresses, it is likely to be changed and amended,
depending on its success. Each change will involve a change in the marketing mix more money and time will be spent on some ‘P’ elements, and less on others.
The ‘four Ps’ elements of marketing mix
Product
 Quality. Needs constant review
 Range. Develop new products,
or concentrate on small number?
 After sales service. Builds
reputations and sales.
 Features and facilities.
Alterations/updates can
completely ‘remake’ a product.
 Size and packaging. May be
crucial to customers.
Price
 Basic price level. Needs
constant review.
 Discounts. Could win new
customers.
 Pricing products differently
for different customers.
The
four
Ps
Promotion
 Expenditure - how much?
 Style and substance - posters,
adverts, local leafleting?
 Timing- regular, seasonal, aimed
at particular time of day? Vital
at launch of new product.
 Media - press, TV, point-of-sale,
telephone, local or national?
Place
 Distribution - most common
chain of distribution is
producer - wholesaler - retail
- customer, but shorter
chains, e.g. wholesale consumer (cash and carry
stores) cut costs.
 Direct selling - home selling,
e.g. children’s books, also
mail order, TV and computer
sales are all growing sectors
of the market.
 Delivery and stock levels sales will be lost if these
areas are inefficient.
Increase delivery fleet?
Marketing Strategy and Marketing Mix
In creating the marketing mix for a product or range of products, a business will
concentrate on different elements from the lists overleaf. For instance, if the marketing
strategy is to establish a new product in an existing market, a company might decide to
concentrate on low pricing (Sheet 27) and swift and efficient delivery. It may not have
much money left for promotion (relying instead on word-of-mouth marketing). If a
business is trying to boost the sales of a well-established product, on the other hand, its
marketing mix may involve creating new product features and improving product
quality, running a new advertising campaign, and trying to attract a new group of
customers.
Different companies place different emphasis on elements of the marketing mix. One
supermarket chain may base its place in the market on a continuing reputation for low
prices (Aldi) whereas another on its reputation for quality, range of products and
presentation (Waitrose or Sainsburys).
The Marketing Plan
When a business launches a new product it will have conducted market research to find
the segment of the market it wishes to target the product at. It will then create a
marketing plan for that product. This will use the 4 elements of the marketing mix.
markemix