Marketing mix
This is an accepted version of this page The marketing mix is the set of controllable elements or variables that a company uses to influence and meet the needs of its target customers in the most effective and efficient way possible.
[3] In services marketing, an extended marketing mix is used, typically comprising the 7 Ps (product, price, promotion, place, people, process, physical evidence), made up of the original 4 Ps extended by process, people and physical evidence.
[8][9] The first known mention of a mix has been attributed to a Professor of Marketing at Harvard University, James Culliton.
Years later, Culliton's colleague, Professor Neil Borden, published a retrospective article detailing the early history of the marketing mix in which he claims that he was inspired by Culliton's idea of "mixers", and credits himself with popularising the concept of the "marketing mix".
[14] Early schemas to define mix include:[15] The 4 Ps, in its modern form, was first proposed in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy, who presented them within a managerial approach that covered analysis, consumer behavior, market research, market segmentation, and planning.
Product decisions include the "quality, features, benefits, style, design, branding, packaging, services, warranties, guarantees, life cycles, investments and returns".
Example, firms that produce luxury goods like Louis Vuitton employ an intensive placement strategy by making their products available at only a few exclusive retailers.
In contrast, lower priced consumer goods like toothpaste and shampoo, typically employ an extensive placement strategy by making their products available to as many different retailers as possible.
"[26] Promotion refers to "the marketing communication used to make the offer known to potential customers and persuade them to investigate it further".
The prospect of expanding or modifying the marketing mix for services was a core discussion topic at the inaugural AMA Conference dedicated to Services Marketing in the early 1980s, and built on earlier theoretical works pointing to many important problems and limitations of the 4 Ps model.
[32] When people are the product, they impact public perception of an organization as much as any tangible consumer goods.
From a marketing management perspective, it is important to ensure that employees represent the company in alignment with broader messaging strategies.
[33] This is easier to ensure when people feel as though they have been treated fairly and earn wages sufficient to support their daily lives.
[33] Physical evidence refers to the non-human elements of the service encounter, including equipment, furniture and facilities.
It may also refer to the more abstract components of the environment in which the service encounter occurs including interior design, colour schemes and layout.
Some aspects of physical evidence provide lasting proof that the service has occurred, such as souvenirs, mementos, invoices and other livery of artifacts.
The 7 Cs also include numerous strategies for product development, distribution, and pricing, while assuming that consumers want two-way communications with companies.
As a result, when a company is making strategy for Internet marketing, it is necessary to understand how to vary their products in the online environment.
Besides, the Internet is more likely to ease the pressure on price because online-producers do not have to put budget on renting a physical store.
[48] The major contribution from the Internet to the business is not only making it possible to selling products online, but also enabling companies to build relationships with customers.
Unlike the traditional marketing communication tools, tools in digital marketing aim at engaging audiences by putting advertisements and content on the social media, including display ads, pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimisation (SEO), influencers etc.
[49] When creating online marketing campaigns, Chaffey and Smith suggested that they can be separated into six groups:[52] The Internet Mix, was first proposed by Sidney (Sid) Peimer in a 2004 article in Bizcommunity, where he identified the Internet Mix as consisting of three elements:[53]
