Selecting the Optimum Marketing Mix

Introduction
No company or individual can continue to be in business successfully without selling either a product or a service. In order to sell successfully an effective marketing strategy should be implemented. The correct marketing strategy is the one that have the biggest potential to ensure a sustainable sales volume growth for the particular business. The challenge is to correctly evaluate the available options and implement the strategy that is most suited for the situation. The business strategy should be aligned with the marketing strategy as a minimum.

When evaluating the marketing strategy one should have a clear understanding of how to leverage the product, price, promotion, and place related to the marketing objectives of the company. These four parameters are often referred to as the 4 P's of marketing mix and represent the different choices a company can make in the complex process of successfully bringing a product or service to market.

Marketing decisions generally fall into one of these four controllable parameters in an attempt to generate a buy response from potential clients in the target market.

The individual marketing decision about the marketing mix criteria will be discussed individually in this article however it is important to remember that they should be evaluated for their cross impact regarding the way in which they are affecting the other three parameters.

Product Decisions

In marketing terms the expression product refers to any product or service. Product decisions are often misunderstood to only be about the type of product or service. Product decisions also include decisions about the product brand, name and position as well as the functionality, styling, quality, safety and packaging of the product or service. All these items will influence the perception that potential clients will have about the product and therefore great care should be taken with these aspects.

Price Decisions

One of the more commonly known P of the four P's is the price parameter. Price decisions are primarily about setting the correct base price but also include decisions about the positioning of the product or service. This includes issues about the marketing objectives like to ensure survival, maximize profit, ensure market share leadership or establish product quality leadership. The strategy can be to penetrate or hold a market position. Price decisions also include determining the suggested retail price and whether or not volume or other discount will be applicable. In some cases the seasonality of the product may also require that a different price should be effective at different times.

Promotion Decisions

The most well known marketing parameter is this factor. Promotion refers to the different aspects of the marketing communication strategy. Marketing communication is primarily conducted with the task of conveying information about the product to customers and potential customers with the aim of influencing their purchasing decisions in a positive manner. The four primary areas that should be considered is advertising, sales promotions, personal selling and public relations. These decisions will then be translated into a promotional strategy and will result in marketing communications budget.

Place Decisions

The place decisions are about the distribution required to get the product available, at the right time, at the right place, in the right quantities. These decisions include obvious items about the logistics to get the product or service to the customer that includes warehousing, distribution centers, transportation and reverse logistics. It also includes decisions about less obvious issues such as the selection of distribution channels for the product or product range, the extent of the market coverage and inventory management.

Conclusion

The marketing mix model discussed in this article is known as the 4 P's marketing mix model and can be used by companies as a tool to achieve its marketing objectives.

The purpose of using a marketing mix model such as the 4P's model is to help develop an optimum combination of decisions in an objective manner that will satisfy the needs of the customers and potential customers in the selected target market as well as to maximize the ability of the company to achieve its overall goals and objectives.

The correct use of the 4P's will help companies to effectively define the marketing elements necessary for successfully positioning of the product range in the identified target market.

© 2009 Carl Marx