Abstract
The main core of the marketing plan is making the Marketing MIX effective and balanced that is carefully planning what product would you like to offer in the market. It's not enough that you wanted to earn profit; you also have to be passionate about what you're doing. These elements of marketing have been proven to be very effective in many businesses and companies. Perfect mix must be created to in order to establish communication with the target market and thus, producing more sales. They have to keep in mind that customers are always looking after the price tag next to the appearance of the product, if blending your quality product along with a better price, then that would be an advantage and a possible sale for the business. Knowing where to put your business is normally the first line attack against possible bankruptcy, putting up a business in the right place where your target markets are, along with the quality product with a better price would be an additional factor to make the business successful. Now that you have those three elements working in balance, you don't have to stop looking on the possible opportunities. The marketer should be presentable, courteous and willing to help the potential buyer. As the years go by, many marketers continue to study and research for some other strategy on how to improve these elements. As the world changes, many products are no loner in demand because of newer products that came out in the market, so the marketers should know what products can be a possible breakthrough in the industry that they work for. By carefully understanding what the people need and wants, by knowing what they are capable of buying based on economic situation, being in the perfect location to let the target know what features your products have, and by letting them realize that your product is what they need in a right manner, then, you have what it brings to execute the elements of marketing and achieve the main reason of your hard work and that is the Profit.
Introduction
The principal elements of MIX are the elements being used to promote businesses and their products. These kinds of elements have been used by marketers for many years in conducting businesses and also being used as a tool by most marketing professionals. This is somewhat synonymous with the 4 P’s of marketing which eventually then became 5 P’s as some marketers added another element. Some have different name for these elements, but originally, 4 P’s stand for Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. As time goes by, another P has been added and that stands for People. The first P which stands for Product, this is the tangible and intangible outcome of the operational business. It can be the object itself that the business is marketing or offering to their customers. A product doesn’t only mean something that the person can touch; it can also be a service, which is being provided by some companies, like transportation for instance. Depending on the industry that the business belongs to, there are many kinds of product that can be offered to their customers; also product itself is the most important element in the marketing mix.
Discussion
There are a lot of things that companies should take in to consider when it comes to product. It’s not just selling the product because they have to, but companies have to ensure that the quality is not compromised. No matter what the product is, whether it is tangible or not, quality really matters on a product to ensure customer satisfaction. Making the customer satisfied may eventually lead to customer’s loyalty. The next P is the Price; this is the amount that corresponds to the products or services. This is another critical component marketing mix. Depending on the company, they’re the ones who determine what price a certain product should have. It should match the value of the product, but it is not that easy to match the price versus one’s product. They have to consider a lot of things before they put their tag price. One of which is the target market, it is the level of customers that a company is looking forward to buy or patronize their product.
They have to match the price not only with their product’s value, but it has to match their potential customer’s buying capacity. Competition is part of the business; therefore, in order to win the battle, you have to have a reasonable pricing on your product. Other companies would put some discounts, or making them as a bundled product which can get more in terms of quantity without paying more. It also has psychological effect on customer’s perspective on how they will value the product that they’re paying for. For some customers, the higher the price is, the more value it has. As opposed to the other customer’s perspective that they can get the same value for a lesser price which contradicts the previous sentence, but in the end it is still the marketer’s strategy on how they can adjust with different target market’s perspectives and on how their pricing strategy can convince customers to buy their product. The next P is the Place; this is the element of marketing that represents the physical location of the business where the product will be distributed. It is also the key channel on where the business will be presented to their target buyers. Marketers should evaluate the location of the business for them to analyze and study how they will conduct their business depending on the place. Being aware of what the best product in the right place would play an important role in having a successful market. Place or location also covers the way that marketers deliver and distributes their goods; it is determining how a certain business can reach the target market in an easier and economical way and at the same time, suitable enough to distribute their products. Marketers nowadays use a new channel in reaching their customers, and that is with the use of new technology. Many products are now available through the internet and that is how fast and convenient marketers can reach their target market. Customers would have a wide variety of products and services in just one click of a button and can buy the product without having to leave the comfort of their own home.
The next P stands for Promotion; this is the strategy used to present the features and benefits of the product and services. It portrays how the marketers communicate in the marketplace and establish relationships between the company and the product itself. Every marketer should use every channel that would introduce the product to the market; it can be in a form of media like television commercials between your favorite programs, newspapers, and magazines. Marketers should know how to build connection to their customers, and aside from said channels of promoting the product, they also connect by making their products as part of target market’s everyday life. They put the advertisements on the sides of the buses, sending promotional text messages on the customers’ mobile phone, or even posting advertisements over the internet. Some advertisements are being made in a form of person to person tactic, personal selling is very effective because a promotion merchandiser can offer the product directly to the customers and presents the features and benefits of the product in an instant and can get an instant response right away. The last P is stands for People; some marketing theorists have added this marketing element.
These are the workforces of your company that serves as the backbone of the business operation; another key element is having a successful trade. It is the level of expertise and skills company employees are doing. All four P’s wouldn’t be possible without the help of these people. The staff should be trained enough how to provide a good service to the customers, must have enough knowledge about the product they sell, and ready for some questions and rebuttals that customers might throw. This is the level of service and the people that provide it because it is how you want your product appears to your customer’s eye. Hence, as a person who represents the business, it is you who will be judged on what you do, not what you actually say so, having a suited person for a suited product he sells would bring a better impact to the business profit.
A business that would be able to apply these 5 P's has a potential to grow and be successful as the operation years go by, one good example is the McDonald's. Everywhere you go, whatever country you will be in, this fast food restaurant is there. McDonald's product is unique in a way that you can determine the differences between a regular cheese burger and McDonald's cheese burger. They have this trademark that makes their customers to patronize the product, aside from cheese burger; McDonalds's offers a variety of fast food products that have trademarks as well. These products are marketed to customers successfully; in fact, customers continue patronizing McDonald’s because its affordability that catches the market’s buying power. They even offer packaged meals on a reasonable price. Only 15% of the total numbers of stores are owned by the company itself, the remaining 85% are owned by is operated by franchisers. This is another way of putting up a business on different places, but before they operate a business on a specific location, they extensively study and analyze if the place of distribution would be right enough to reach their target market, not only that, the location should be convenient and suitable enough for delivery of the stocks to sell. McDonald’s has a perfect structure when it comes to promoting their products.
Every country’s television has been airing McDonald’s commercial, radio stations, newspapers, and even on Internet websites, McDonald’s has been one of the well promoted companies for decades. When it comes to people, the company has an extensive training that makes them looks presentable on the customer’s eye. They are trained how to present and offer the products and also how to treat customers the way they will be patronized. Customer satisfaction is one of the main concerns of the company. That is why McDonald’s works hard to keep their established reputation and to sustain the company’s market standing by practicing the key elements of marketing and strategically keeps the Product, Price, Place, Promotion and People always in right shape.
Domestic Computer Printer Manufacturer
The principal elements of marketing are not only being performed in Food businesses. These elements are applicable on all types of businesses. Let’s put them on a manufacturer of domestic computer printer‘s line. If a company’s nature of business is to sell computer printers, then they have to have their products to be unique in a way that it will different from the other manufacturer’s product. They should always create a new way on how they will go along with ever changing innovation and technology. The manufacturer should ensure the reliability of the printer that could handle the printing job, like for an instance in the office. Their product should be able to operate long hours, non-stop. They can also improve the product, like what the others do, by making it more useful than just a plain printer. They can make it a multipurpose machine that can also handle scanning documents, able to send documents as a fax copy and use it as a photo copier machine. Printers can be as useful as what like the others can, but competition wise, the product should not be very expensive.
There are other printer manufacturers that can create products of the same kind, so competition against the other manufacturers should still be taken care of. The price should just be enough to make it affordable without compromising the performance quality. Some manufacturers would bundle it with a computer to make it a one whole package, some would give discounts for first the time or loyal customers. Having a good better product on a better price is not enough. The manufacturer needs to ensure that the place or location of its business is in the right path. For computer printers, the ideal location would be in a place where there is a large warehouse type space that can be good for storage, also a place where pick-up and deliveries can be performed easily and conveniently for both customers and manufacturer, an ideal place where the product can be reached by target customers easily. If the business is in the right place, then it will be somehow easier for them to promote the product itself.
Promoting a computer printer considers a lot of things; one of which is how the marketer will present the product in terms of usage, features and benefits, and of course, the affordability. Properly communicating the target market would be the usual way. As a computer printer manufacturer, they need to focus selling their products by reaching out to their customers directly. They can try visiting some offices to promote their product and let the potential buyer try the product so they can experience the features and benefits that a marketer is presenting. Also, they can spread out the promotion by giving some product catalogue along in the office districts. There are a lot of other ways on how a computer printer manufacturer can promote their business, but what important is that they should be able to communicate to their customers and, as much as possible, reach out to where the customer is.
These strategies won’t be possible without having skilled people. These staff will be the ones who will perform and execute the four elements of marketing, or the 4 P’s. As a computer printer manufacturer, it is imperative that the company should also invest for an extensive training that would support the operation from production line where the printers are being assembled, to distribution and deliveries of the finished product, up to selling the product which needs to be presented and offered to the potential buyers. The company's people should have the knowledge about the computer printers that they sell in order for them to convince the customers to buy. As a buyer, customer would ask a lot of questions and inquiries about the product before the person says: "OK", let me buy that one." So the marketer or seller shouldn't just be knowledgeable enough to answer the questions, but he should also demonstrate that he is willing to help the buyer in any way that he can without being obvious that what he wanted more is for this person to buy their printer. Showing a good better customer service can also be another strategy to sell, in that way, a potential buyer would feel comfortable in transacting with the seller that may eventually say: "yes" to the offer.
X-Ray Machine Manufacturer
Another industry that uses the elements of marketing is a manufacturer of X-Ray machines for hospital use. This is another type of product that we don't often see on TV advertisements or commercial. Marketers use a different kind of strategy in selling this product, thus still follows the path and the same formula using the elements of marketing. X-Ray is not considered a basic commodity that people use everyday. This product as often used for medical procedure in the hospital, considers a lot of factors when it comes to marketing this product. His kind of product is expected to keep the market from growing up rapidly or even contribute to a decline. However, the X-Ray machine is the highest selling product within the imaging category, and so the usefulness of X-Ray machines and its modern features should be the key factor to sell this product. As being used in hospitals, it should be accurate, durable, and reliable.
Innovative product that would be classified as top of the line is a good foundation that would make your product in demand. Since it is going to be the medical people who will decide whether or not they're going to select your brand as one of their options, it is still important to keep your X-Ray machines to be worth paying for. The manufacturer needs to make their X-Ray machines that "It is the one they need". The price of the X-Ray machines is not just like paying for a used car or a brand new home theater system. It is worth as much money as hospital would pay to save life. Though the price for this product is very high, hospitals still need to purchase a unit, or number of units to completely operate the medical facility. However, competitions between X-Ray machine manufacturers are still high. The person who decides on which manufacturer they are going to close the deal still considers the amount of the product, that's why offering a better deal than your competitor is a plus factor to sell the product. And, in fact, most big hospitals would not just be interested in purchasing a unit of X-Ray machine, most of them will make a deal for number of units since there are varieties of X-Ray Machines depending on usage.
The next thing that the X-Ray manufacturer needs to consider is the place of business or location of the business. Having an X-Ray manufacturing business would require a good place to operate. It is imperative that the place can handle huge and delicately handled machines, as they are prone to malfunction if not stored and handled properly. In addition, the place where the business will be operating should be accessible for both potential buyer and manufacturer. It should be accessible for potential buyer so that they won't have a hard time reaching the establishment if they are going to check the actual X-Ray machine before making a deal, and also for research purposes on how the product is being manufactured. It should be accessible enough for the manufacturer so that they would be able to deliver their service to the customers as fast as they can.
The location of the business should also be safe enough for the company workers to travel from and to the location of the business. They have to consider the travel time between the distances of the places where their workers are coming from, this is to ensure that the employees will be punctual to make them more productive once started working. Talking about the employees which are the brain and the backbone of the company, an X-Ray manufacturing business needs to ensure that all of their staff is aware and knowledgeable on what their main products are, for an instance, an X-Ray technician that is trained enough in testing the products to ensure that the machine will perfectly work as designed. Another staff is the product designer that would make the outcome reliable and durable that would last for a long time, and to ensure that every function and of the machine will co-work with the others. They have to have a better sales representative as well to win the battle of competition versus the other X-Ray manufacturers. Another person would be the quality control that ensures the perfect working condition of the machine before they deliver the product to its location, and last, but not the least, a management team that would take care all of these people to ensure quality of work.
Promoting an X-Ray machine can be as almost expensive as buying it. Marketers who promote this product should know who he is targeting as a potential buyer or on the context, which hospital is he targeting to be his client. Promoting an X-Ray is not that easy. It doesn’t usually being promoted in a form of television commercial, but if it is, very seldom that it happens. The usual way of promoting this machine is in a form of product representation; a sales representative communicate with his target buyer in a form of telephone call or telemarketing, sending a product catalogue to present the products. Or sometimes the purchaser will be the one to reach out to the company to check the deal. Customer can get the information from a common customer as well who were clients of the X-Ray manufacturer or in a form of recommendation. Many ways of promotion are now being adapted by companies, an X-Ray manufacturer also uses the new form of media, and that is using Online Promotion. Using an Internet as a new channel to endorse their product has been a practice for years now.
They are going to ask for an Information Technology person to create a website of their business including the presentation of the product shown as actual photos. In just a few clicks, customers will be able to see the details about the product that they need, like the X-Ray machines. It can be considered first line of promotion, followed by a person who's going to present the full product details. As part of promoting the X-Ray machines over the internet, the marketers should be ready for a possible phone call or a personal visit from an interested buyer, and that's when the elements of marketing are going to work altogether to form a one concrete strategy to get and close the deal with the customer.
Conclusion
No matter how good a marketer on a specific element is, success will not be reachable if the principal elements of marketing will not exhibit all at once. Marketing Managers must know how to devise these elements because if not, it's like having good ingredients in the kitchen and a very bad cook.
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