Saturday, July 19, 2008

4 Ps of marketing or Marketing Mix

There is no shortage of marketing programs, many with great profit potential. The challenge is to sift through and choose the ones that are right for your situation ― the ones that have the greatest potential to grow your business.

One key to knowing which marketing programs to choose involves thoroughly understanding how to leverage the 4 Ps of marketing ― price, product, promotion, and place ― to reach and appeal to your target audience(s). When you have addressed these strategic issues, you are better able to choose marketing programs with the most potential to increase your business.
Ps of Marketing - Price, Product, Place, and PromotionToo often, we focus on "promotion" to the detriment of other Ps in the marketing mix. When choosing programs for your marketing plan, consider each of the marketing 4 Ps ― price, product, place (distribution), and promotion. You are likely to find the results much better than if you include promotions alone.

The opportunities for incorporating all 4 Ps into your plan are numerous. You may find after studying the competition that increasing or decreasing your price is likely to result in better profits for your business, for example. Perhaps there is a distribution channel, such as electronic delivery or mail order, you haven't fully integrated into your business. With respect to products, developing a new product or giving an existing product a facelift are examples of business-building programs

Marketing decision variables are those variables under the firm's control that can affect the level of demand for the firm's products. They are distinguished from environmental and competitive action variables that are not totally and directly under the firm's control.
The four marketing decision variables are:

  1. Price variables
    Allowances and deals
    Distribution and retailer mark-ups
    Discount structure
  2. Product variables
    Quality
    Models and sizes
    Packaging
    Brands
    Service
  3. Promotion variables
    Advertising
    Sales promotion
    Personal selling
    Publicity
  4. Place variables
    Channels of distribution
    Outlet location
    Sales territories
    Warehousing system

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