Friday 15 March 2013

The Marketing Mix Part One

So you want to know everything about the marketing mix and more?  Well lets start!.

The marketing mix is a common term used in marketing. It is used to describe  four strategies, known as the four P's.  These P's are as follows...


  • Product
  • Price
  • Place
  • Promotion


So the first thing you need to know is that the marketing mix can also be called the four P's.

All firms need to carefully manage their marketing mix if they are to be successful.  Let us start off by looking at how a firm should manage their product strategy.

Marketing Mix : Product Strategy

So what is a product? Well it is something you can  touch, so its tangible. You can acquire it, feel it and consume it. From a firms perspective, a consumer will not consume their product unless they add some added benefit to it  and this benefit offers a unique selling point (USP) over any competitor.

Branding

All firms need to think about how they will brand their product. The brand name needs to be unique and may have some form of meaning that brings customers closer to it.

Features

Firms also need to think about the features they will add to their product, again these features maybe what makes their product stand out from the crowd, something they can shout about that makes them unique.

Quality

The product quality is also important. The product needs to be built well and be durable and it must do what it says. If a product does not perform well, this has an impact on the brand name and the image the firm is trying to create. As you can see the quality aspect of a firms product strategy is extremely important.

Design

Design is another important factor that needs to be taken into account. The design of the product will help the product stand out from the crowd, the design can also be functional and help with the performance of the product.  Many companies like Apple and Dyson use design as a tool to help them differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Packaging

I will also touch on packaging but expand on this later. The packaging of the product has to be carefully thought out. If the product is sitting on a shop shelf , the packaging of the product needs to stand out from competitors. A firm needs to think about the size, the colour and the functionality of the product.

After Sales and Warranty

Finally, a firm needs to think about the after sales service and warranty they will offer on the product.  This again could help them differentiate themselves from their competitors. Computer companies may offer onsite service if the product goes wrong, car manufacturers may offer an extended warranty on their cars rather then the industry norm because they are that confident with their product.

So as you can see, when a firm thinks about the marketing mix and their product strategy they need to think about a number of different aspect  that will help them differentiate themselves from their competitors.

For more information, please visit www.learnmarketing.net/marketingmix.htm







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