The Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a long term given to a set of variables that a marketer can expercise control over in creating an offering for exchange. Various framworks for fhe marketing mix have evolved over time including:

- The 4 Ps framework - product, price, promotion and place (place is more easily understood as distribution). The 4 Ps framework was the first approach to the marketing mix.

- The 5 Ps framework which evolved from the 4 Ps model by adding a fifth P, 'people'.

- The 6 Ps framework which evovled from the 5 Ps model adding 'process'.

- The 7 Ps framework which added 'physical evidence' to the 6 Ps framework.

To frame their thinking, marketers often choose to target certain types of customers. Marketers are heterogeneous - they are made up of many different people with many different needs and wants. A target market is a group of customers with similar wants and needs. Not al customers in a target group will have exactly the same need and wants but they are kore similar than different. By narrowing their thinking to a target group, marketers can think about how they can best communicate, deliver and exchange their offerings with customers.

Marketers cannot act with complete freedom in determining their marketing Mix. They are governed by the cost of implementing the various marketing mix options, as well as the focus at play in the marketing environment. They are also governed by the people in their organisation. There is little point creating something that is simply not possible to implement.

It is important to remember that marketing - whatever marketing mix framework you apply or consider - is ultimately about a total focus on servicing the needs and wants of the customer.

Elements of Mix Marketing Frameworks

Product

A product is anything offered to a market. It can be a good, a service, an idea, or even a person. Some products are branded others are not. A brand is a collection of symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design intended to create an image in the customers mind that differentiates a product from competitors products.

Products can be best understood as a 'bundle of attributes' that when exchanged have value for customers, clients, or society. Bunidle of attributes refers to the features and functions of a product, which benefit the customer. In the marketing mix, the product variable is concerned with creating an offering that anticipates and meets needs and wants of customers.

Marketers understand that customers have needs and wants and this thinking is based on exonomics. Needs are day to day survival requirements. People need food and clothing, personal growth and the social need of a sence of security. People also have wants. Wants are desires, and are not nessasrly for day to day survival. Wants cover products such as televisions, technology, just to name a few. Marketers provide products to satisfy customers needs and wants. People have unlimited wants and they do not have the recourses to satisfy them all. Good, A physical tangible offering capable of being delivered to a customer. A service An intangible offering that does not involve ownership

The 4 Ps Framework

Price - is the amount of money a business demands in exchange for its offerings.

Promotion - the marketing activities that make potential customers, partners and society aware of and attracted to the business's offerings.

Distribution (or place) - The means of making the offering available to the customers at the right place and time. The science or art of the ensuring products are in the right place at the right time in the right quantity is known as logistics. And the various patterns that contribute to the process makes up what is called the supply chain.

People - marketers must think about people, including employees and other customers. In the marketing framework, people refers to any person coming into contact with customers who can affect value for customers.

Process - process refers to the system used to create, communicate, deliver, and exchange an offering.

Physical evidence - Tangible cues that can be used as a means to evaluate service quality prior purchase.