What are the four marketing mix, and why are they important?

The four (4) marketing mix are

1. Product

2. Price

3. Place

4. Promotion

Product

"Product" involves designing and developing the product. It is the first stage of any business, whereby ideas and concept of the product or service is determined. Each product goes through a product life cycle beginning with "Launch", "Growth", "Maturity", "Decline" and "Extension".

Price

"Price" determines the price of the product that the target customers would be willing and able to pay for the product or service. Pricing strategies used to determine a product price are;

1. Cost-based pricing

2. Competitive pricing

   1. Destruction pricing

   2. Price wars

3. Demand-based pricing

   1. Price skimming

   2. Penetration pricing

   3. Psychological pricing

   4. Promotional pricing

   5. Dynamic pricing

Pricing strategies are influenced by the price elasticity of demand (PED) of the product.

Place

"Place" refers to distribution channels. They are different from a business location, where it is determined by how accessible it is by their target customers. Distribution channels describe how products are being transferred from producers to consumers. There are 4 channels of distributions.

1. Producers ⇒ Consumers

2. Producers ⇒ Retailers ⇒ Consumers

3. Producers ⇒ Agent ⇒ Retailer or Producers ⇒ Agent ⇒ Wholesaler ⇒ Retailer

4. Producers ⇒ Wholesaler ⇒ Retailers

Promotion

Promotion are marketing activities designed to influence consumers into participating a campaign or purchasing a product. They do so by creating awareness of the product or company brand through advertising. Advertising involves above-the-line promotion and below-the-line promotion. Advertising media includes

1. Newspaper

2. Magazines

3. Radio

4. Television

5. Movies

6. Posters/Billboards

7. Internet/Social Media

8. Leaflets

9. Premium merchandises, such as T-shirts etc.

These four elements are combined to develop a marketing strategy for the business and its products.

RELATED CONCEPT

1. Marketing Research

2. Marketing Strategy

3. Product Life Cycle

4. Price Elasticity of Demand

5. Branding

PAST YEAR QUESTION

1. Do you think a business should use the same marketing mix to sell its products to different age groups? Justify your answer. (6 marks) May/June 2020/13