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What Is a Marketing Mix?

What are the 4 ps of a marketing mix, what are other marketing tools, what are the four elements of a marketing mix, what are the 7 ps in a marketing mix, what is the purpose of a marketing mix, the bottom line.

• Marketing Essentials

Marketing Mix: The 4 Ps of Marketing and How to Use Them

Investopedia / Mira Norian

A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan . The term often refers to a common classification that began as the four Ps : product, price, placement, and promotion.

Effective marketing touches on a broad range of areas as opposed to fixating on one message. Doing so helps reach a wider audience, and by keeping the four Ps in mind, marketing professionals are better able to maintain focus on the things that really matter. Focusing on a marketing mix helps organizations make strategic decisions when launching new products or revising existing products.

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Key Takeaways

• A marketing mix refers to a framework that uses the four Ps of product, price, placement, and promotion.
• This concept traces back to 1960, when marketing professor E. Jerome McCarthy first published it in a book entitled Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach.
• The different elements of a marketing mix work in conjunction with one another with the ultimate purpose of generating higher sales.
• In addition to the 4 Ps, three approaches can also be integrated that include people, process, and physical evidence to reinforce a consumer-centric type of marketing strategy.
• This type of strategy extends beyond a product-focused marketing approach.

The four Ps classification for developing an effective marketing strategy was first introduced in 1960 by marketing professor and author E. Jerome McCarthy. It was published in the book entitled Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Depending on the industry and the target of the marketing plan, marketing managers may take various approaches to each of the four Ps. Each element can be examined independently, but in practice, they often are dependent on one another. 

This represents an item or service designed to satisfy customer needs and wants. To effectively market a product or service, it's important to identify what differentiates it from competing products or services. It's also important to determine if other products or services can be marketed in conjunction with it.

The sale price of the product reflects what consumers are willing to pay for it. Marketing professionals need to consider costs related to research and development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution—otherwise known as cost-based pricing. Pricing based primarily on consumers' perceived quality or value is known as value-based pricing .

Value-based pricing plays a key role in products that are considered to be status symbols.

When determining areas of distribution, it's important to consider the type of product sold. Basic consumer products, such as paper goods, often are readily available in many stores. Premium consumer products, however, typically are available only in select stores.

Joint marketing campaigns are called a promotional mix. Activities might include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations. One key consideration is the budget assigned to the marketing mix. Marketing professionals carefully construct a message that often incorporates details from the other three Ps when trying to reach their target audience . Determination of the best mediums to communicate the message and decisions about the frequency of the communication also are important.

Not all marketing is product-focused. Customer service businesses are fundamentally different than those based primarily on physical products, so they often will take a consumer-centric approach that incorporates additional elements to address their unique needs.

Three additional Ps tied to this type of marketing mix might include people, process, and physical evidence. "People" refers to employees who represent a company as they interact with clients or customers. "Process" represents the method or flow of providing service to clients and often incorporates monitoring service performance for customer satisfaction. "Physical evidence" relates to an area or space where company representatives and customers interact. Marketers take into consideration elements such as furniture, signage, and layout.

Additionally, marketers often study consumers in order to refine or update strategies related to services or products. This requires a strategy for communicating with consumers in order to obtain feedback and define the type of feedback being sought.

Traditionally, marketing commences with identifying consumers' needs and ceases with the delivery and promotion of a final product or service. Consumer-centric marketing is more cyclical. Its goals include reassessing customers' needs, communicating frequently, and developing strategies to build customer loyalty .

The four primary elements of a marketing mix are product, price, placement, and promotion. This framework aims to create a comprehensive plan to distinguish a product or service from competitors that creates value for the customer. Often, these elements are dependent on each other.

Product refers to a good or service that meets a customer's needs. Here, companies focus on features that differentiate it from its competitors. An organization may also consider complementary products that fit within its suite of product or service offerings.

Price represents the price point or price range for the product or service. Ultimately, the goal is to maximize profit margins and return on investment while considering the price that customers are willing to pay.

Placement refers to distribution channels. Specifically, where is this product being promoted, and how can you get it in front of your target audience?

Promotion focuses on creating brand awareness around your product or service. Importantly, it looks at how utilizing certain channels can drive sales.

Sometimes, the marketing mix can extend beyond the classic four Ps of product, price, placement, and promotion established by professor E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960. These additional categories include people, physical evidence, and process.

In this way, people represent the employees who interact with customers. A company may consider company culture as it relates to its brand strategy. This may include customer relationship management (CRM) , which aims to increase brand loyalty among customers.

Physical evidence might include the packaging or the layout of a physical store, which can reinforce a brand and create more value to the customer.

Finally, the process identifies areas, often from a logistical standpoint, that enable the customer to have the most seamless experience possible with a product or service. This may include everything from delivery logistics and shipping to managing third-party retailers.

At its core, a marketing mix is focused on promoting a product or service to generate revenue for a company. On the whole, it integrates key marketing strategies that create brand awareness, build customer loyalty, and drive product sales.

The development of a comprehensive, effective marketing plan takes into consideration a marketing mix that includes several areas of focus. Typically, the marketing mix refers to the four Ps: product or service, its price, placement, and promotion. This concept was developed in 1960, when marketing professor E. Jerome McCarthy first published it in a book entitled Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach.

However, because not all marketing is focused on products, customer-service businesses rely on other marketing tools that might include three additional Ps: the people who interact with customers, the process that creates a seamless customer experience, and physical evidence, or the area where customers and company representatives interact.

All of these tools are used to promote a product or service and build brand awareness and customer loyalty in order to generate revenue for a business.

E. Jerome McCarthy. " Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach ," Page vi. R.D. Irwin, 1960.

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Module: Marketing Function

Marketing mix introduction, defining the marketing mix, reaching customers through the marketing mix.

The value proposition is a simple, powerful statement of value, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. How do marketing professionals ensure that they are reaching and delivering value to the target customer?

Take yourself, as a “target customer.”  Think about your cell phone. What would make you want to buy a new one? How might the following issues affect your purchasing decision?

• Features: A company has just released a new phone with amazing features that appeal to you.
• Price: You’re concerned about the price—is this phone a good deal? Too expensive? So cheap that you suspect there’s a “catch”?
• Information: How did you find out about this phone? Did you see an ad? Hear about it from a friend? See pictures and comments about it online?
• Customer service: Is your cell service provider making it easier for you to buy this phone with a new plan or an upgrade?
• Convenience: Could you easily buy it online in a moment of indulgence?

You can see there are multiple factors that might influence your thinking and decision about what to buy—a mix of factors. Taken together, these factors are all part of the “marketing mix.”

Organizations must find the right combination of factors that allow them to gain an advantage over their competitors. This combination—the marketing mix—is the combination of factors that a company controls to provide value to its target customers.

The following video illustrates how the marketing mix changes depending on the target customer:

Evolving Definitions of the Marketing Mix

There are a few different ways the marketing mix is presented. During the 1950s the components of the marketing mix were conceived as the “four Ps” and were defined as follows:

• Product: the goods and services offered
• Promotion: communication and information
• Place: distribution or delivery
• Price: ensuring fair value in the transaction [1]

Today, this categorization continues to be useful in understanding the basic activities associated with marketing. The marketing mix represents the way an organization’s broad marketing strategies are translated into marketing programs for action.

Over time, new categories of the marketing mix have been proposed. Most are more consumer oriented and attempt to better fit the movement toward a marketing orientation and a greater emphasis on customer value. One example is the four Cs, proposed by Robert F Lauterborn in 1990:

• Customer solution: what the customer wants and needs
• Communication: a two-way dialogue with the customer
• Convenience: an easy process to act or buy
• Cost: the customer’s cost to satisfy that want or need [2]

The four Cs include a greater focus on the customer but align nicely with the older four Ps. They also enable one to think about the marketing mix for services, not just products. While it is difficult to think about hotel accommodations as a distinct  product , it is much easier to think about a hotel creating a customer solution . You can see how the four Ps compare with the four Cs in the chart below:

Whether we reference the four Ps or the four Cs, it is important to recognize that marketing requires attention to a range of different approaches and variables that influence customer behavior. Getting the right mix of activities is essential for marketing success.

Competitors and the Marketing Mix

The challenge of getting the right marketing mix is magnified by the existence of competitors, who exert market pressures using strategies defined by their marketing mix alternatives. Remember, the purpose of the marketing mix is to find the right combination of product, price, promotion, and distribution (place) so that a company can gain and maintain advantage over competitors.

Components of the Marketing Mix

• The Tesla Model S, a premium electric car
• A Stay at a Holiday Inn Express, a low-price national hotel chain
• Doritos Nachos Cheese, a snack food
• Simple, an online banking service

Each of these products has a unique set of features, design, name, and brand that are focused on a target customer. The characteristics of the products are different from competitors’ products.

Source: https://www.simple.com/banking

• An advertisement in Cooking Light magazine
• A customer’s review of the product on Tumblr
• A newspaper article in the local paper quoting a company employee as an expert
• A test message sent to a list of customers or prospects

Marketing professionals have an increasingly difficult job influencing promotions that cannot be controlled by the company. The company’s formal messages and advertising are only one part of promotions.

Marketers often run social media campaigns, rewarding customers who “Like” the company on Facebook.

In the marketing mix, the term “place” refers to the distribution of the product. Where does the customer buy the product? “Place” might be a traditional brick-and-mortar store, or it could be online. Examples include:

• Distribution through an online retailer such as Amazon.com
• Use of a direct sales force that sells directly to buyers
• Sales through the company’s Web site, such as the shoe purchases at Nike.com
• Sales by a distributor or partner, such as the purchase of a Samsung phone from Best Buy or from a Verizon store

In today’s world, the concept of “place” in the marketing mix rarely refers to a specific physical address. It takes into account the broad range of distribution channels that make it easy for the target customer to buy.

How can a company like Starbucks that sells hot drinks from a storefront use mobile technology to improve distribution? Watch the video, below, to find out:

In the marketing mix, the term “price” refers to the cost to the customer. This requires the company to analyze the product’s value for the target customer. Examples of price include:

• The price of a used college textbook in the campus bookstore
• Promotional pricing such as Sonic Drive-In’s half-price cheeseburgers on Tuesdays
• Discounts to trade customers, such as furniture discounts for interior designers

Marketing professionals must analyze what buyers are willing to pay, what competitors are charging, and what the price means to the target customer when calculating the product’s value. Determining price is almost always a complicated analysis that brings together many variables.

Sonic offers discounts on cheeseburgers on Tuesday, which is typically a low sales day of the week. Source: https://www.sonicdrivein.com

Finding the Right Marketing Mix

How does an organization determine the right marketing mix? The answer depends on the organization’s goals. Think of the marketing mix as a recipe that can be adjusted—through small adjustments or dramatic changes—to support broader company goals.

Decisions about the marketing-mix variables are interrelated. Each of the marketing mix variables must be coordinated with the other elements of the marketing program.

Consider, for a moment, the simple selection of hair shampoo. Let’s think about three different brands of shampoo and call them Discount, Upscale, and Premium. The table below shows some of the elements of the marketing mix that impact decisions by target customers.

A number of credible studies suggest that there is no difference in the effectiveness of Premium or Upscale shampoo compared with Discount shampoo, but the communication, distribution, and price are substantially different. Each product appeals to a very different target market. Do you buy your shampoo in a grocery store or a salon? Your answer is likely based on the marketing mix that has most influenced you.

An effective marketing mix centers on a target customer. Each element of the mix is evaluated and adjusted to provide unique value to the target customer. In our shampoo example, if the target market is affluent women who pay for expensive salon services, then reducing the price of a premium product might actually hurt sales, particularly if it leads stylists in salons to question the quality of the ingredients. Similarly, making the packaging more appealing for a discount product could have a negative impact if it increases the price even slightly  or if it causes shoppers to visually confuse it with a more expensive product.

The goal with the marketing mix is to align marketing activities with the needs of the target customer.

Creating and Aligning the Marketing Strategy

Inputs that inform marketing strategy.

To a great extent, developing the marketing strategy follows the same sequence of activities used to define a corporate strategy. The chief difference is that the marketing strategy is directly affected by the overall corporate strategy; that is, the marketing strategy needs to work with —not apart from—the corporate strategy. As a result, the marketing strategy must always involve monitoring and reacting to changes in the corporate strategy and objectives.

In order to be effective, a marketing strategy must capitalize on the resources at its disposal  within the company, but also take advantage of the market forces that are outside  the company. One way to assess these different factors, or inputs, is by conducting a situation analysis (also called a SWOT analysis). As you recall, a SWOT analysis includes a review of the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses and any external opportunities and threats that it faces.

Centering on the Target Customer

The marketing strategy defines how the marketing mix can best be used to achieve the corporate strategy and objectives. The centerpiece of the marketing strategy is the target customer. While the corporate strategy may have elements that focus on internal operations or seek to influence external forces, each component of the marketing strategy is focused on the target customer.

Recall the following steps of determining who your target customer is:

• Identify the business need you will address, which will be driven by the corporate strategies and objectives;
• Segment your total market, breaking down the market and identifying the subgroup you will target;
• Profile your target customer, so that you understand how to provide unique value;
• Research and validate your market opportunity.

Focusing the marketing strategy on the target customer seems like a no-brainer, but often organizations get wrapped up in their own strategies, initiatives, and products and forget to focus on the target customer. When this happens the customer loses faith in the product or the company and turns to alternative solutions.

Aligning Corporate and Marketing Strategies

Objectives can create alignment between corporate and marketing strategies. If the corporate objectives are clearly defined and communicated, they can guide and reinforce each step of the marketing planning process.

How would good corporate-level objectives inform the marketing strategy and objectives? Consider the following examples:

• Imagine completing a market segmentation process. You find a target market that will find unique value in your offering. The decision to pursue that target market will depend on whether that segment is large enough to support the corporate objectives for market growth.
• How many new products should the company launch this year? The answer should be informed by the corporate objectives for growth and profitability.
• The marketing function has identified a customer relationship management campaign that would create greater customer loyalty. Does the cost of the campaign and its expected returns align with the company objectives?

As you can see, company objectives provide important guidance to the marketing planning process. Likewise, marketing objectives ensure that the goals of the marketing strategy are defined, communicated, and measured.

Check Your Understanding

Answer the question(s) below to see how well you understand the topics covered above. This short quiz does not count toward your grade in the class, and you can retake it an unlimited number of times.

Use this quiz to check your understanding and decide whether to (1) study the previous section further or (2) move on to the next section.

• McCarthy, Jerome E. (1964). Basic Marketing. A Managerial Approach . Homewood, IL: Irwin. ↵
• Lauterborn, B. (1990). New Marketing Litany: Four Ps Passé: C-Words Take Over . Advertising Age, 61(41), 26. ↵
• Defining the Marketing Mix. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Components of the Marketing Mix. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Screenshot of Simple Banking. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Screen Shot of Facebook Logo. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Screen Shot of Sonic Burger Ad. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Check Your Understanding. Authored by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Introducing Marketing. Authored by : John Burnett. Project : The Global Text Project. License : CC BY: Attribution
• 4 Ps and 4 Cs chart. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix#Lauterborn.27s_four_Cs . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Boundless Marketing. Provided by : Boundless. Located at : https://www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/introduction-to-marketing-1/introduction-to-marketing-18/product-placement-promotion-and-price-108-4454/ . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Value Creation Through the Marketing Mix. Provided by : McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Located at : https://youtu.be/dNDSYW5Zu4E . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube license
• Get Ready to Love the New Starbucks Rewards. Provided by : Starbucks Coffee. Located at : https://youtu.be/-FalnLT5irs . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

How to Develop a Successful Marketing Mix Strategy [+ Templates]

Updated: July 28, 2021

Published: July 02, 2020

One of the first things you're taught in your Introduction to Marketing class is that marketing can be best explained using the marketing mix – also known as the four Ps.

They are – and say 'em with me because if you took that class, you know these four words by heart:

However, once you're in your first marketing internship or job, you learn that marketing entails so much more than can be simplified in a four-section marketing mix matrix.

Still, there's an undeniable benefit of marketing teams organizing their work into the marketing mix framework.

When you stray too far away from the four P's, it can be easy to lose focus on your purpose as a marketer.

Marketing truly is about teams and individuals working together to promote a product in the right place at the right price point. Efforts beyond this scope are essential, but they do all stem off of this foundation of the marketing mix.

Here, we're going to dive into what a marketing mix is and how to develop a successful marketing mix strategy for your own company.

What is a marketing mix?

The marketing mix refers to the actions a company takes to market its product(s) and/or service(s). Typically, it acts as a framework for breaking down the four key components of marketing — product, price, place, and promotion.

The marketing mix helps companies organize their marketing initiatives by task and department for more process-driven and impactful marketing campaigns.

This framework has roots dating back to the 1940s and has been evolving ever since. While some elements have been added or tweaked over the years – most notably for the modern digital age – the core elements of the marketing mix (i.e. the four P's) have remained consistent for decades.

Featured Resource: Marketing Mix Templates

Need a way to visualize your marketing mix to share it with your employees or investors? Use these four marketing mix templates to organize your initiatives and activities by the right section. Click here to download them now .

Marketing Mix Elements

When perfected and synchronized, the core elements of a marketing mix provide a well-rounded approach to marketing strategy.

Product refers to what your business is selling – product(s), service(s), or both. The bulk of the work in this element is typically done by product marketers or managers.

Nailing the product element of the marketing mix means doing extensive research and development, understanding the need for the product, developing a product launch plan and timeline, and educating customers and employees – especially salespeople – on the product's purpose.

Price refers to the price point at which you'll sell your product(s)/service(s) to consumers. Arriving on this dollar amount requires consideration of multiple pricing strategies, analysis of similarly priced products in your market, and insights from consumers through surveys and focus groups.

Price speaks to positioning in the market, the speed at which you want to penetrate your market, and your company's revenue goals and profit margin.

In the marketing mix, place refers to where your product or service will be sold. For tangible products, this will include physical locations such as your own store, or a retailer where your product will be resold.

It can also include the other methods where your products can be purchased, like online or over the phone.

4. Promotion

Promotional activities are those that make your target market aware and excited about what you're selling.

While this does include paid initiatives like commercials and advertising, promotion also entails organic initiatives like word-of-mouth marketing, content marketing, and public relations.

Other Elements

While the marketing mix can often be simplified down to the 4 P's, the expansion of the scope of marketing in recent years has resulted in more P's added to the list.

For example, Smart Insights includes the following elements in its marketing mix definition:

• Process , or the large internal initiatives taken to support a product launch, such as including salespeople in goal setting.
• People , which can refer to your buyer, market, and target audience, or your internal team responsible for a launch.
• Partners , or who you'll be working with outside of your company, such as distributors or co-marketing partners.

Some of the other P's can include:

• Payment , or how transactions will be held and processed.
• Physical evidence, or anything tangible pertaining to your product or service, like any materials needed to complete your service or deliver your product.
• Packaging , or anything pertaining to the physicality of your product, like how it looks or how it's packaged.

These other marketing mix elements should be utilized as you see fit for your projects. However, every good marketing mix should rely on a thorough exploration of those first 4 Ps.

Marketing Mix Templates

Fill out the form to get your templates, marketing mix examples from real businesses.

Fintech companies are everywhere, but how many of them focus on organic and non-GMO agriculture?

As sustainable agriculture becomes more top of mind, brands like Mercaris help support agriculture companies looking to stay ahead in the market. Beyond delivering a service, the company identified a niche and launched a business with few direct competitors.

They offer a monthly subscription-based service that arms agricultural companies with the market intelligence needed to compete in the space. This includes detailed reports on food production, commodity prices, and market shifts.

Not long after Airbnb launched, users filed complaints of racism from their hosts and expressed reluctance to use the platform's services. The company implemented measures to appease these concerns. However, it brought attention to an important issue.

It's this uncertainty that allowed Noirbnb to enter the market. The brand tapped into people of color's desire to feel safe and welcomed in their temporary home while traveling – then, they used it as their unique selling position (USP).

The brand even plays on Airbnb's name – which is now a household one – to indicate that they offer a similar service that's been adapted to cater to travelers of color.

Warby Parker

This online retailer of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses is known for its stylish yet affordable glasses. Warby Parker 's pricing, which starts at $95, undercuts many of its competitors, making it a popular go-to for consumers.

The brand's pricing strategy is based on public perception. In interviews, the founders revealed that originally, they were going to price their frames as low as $45. However, after considering how low prices for items like glasses can be perceived as low quality, they doubled the price to settle at a number that was still competitive.

A brand's pricing strategy can have an important role in how it's perceived in the market. So, it's important to consider what that perception is and if it's the one you want to put out there.

When Canva entered the market, it was every small business owner's dream. You could design any marketing material you wanted for FREE, what more could you ask for?

Eventually, the brand introduced premium versions of its platform. Catering to businesses ranging from small to enterprise-level, they added features like high-quality stock visuals, social media publishing tools, marketing campaign management, and large cloud storage.

Hu , short for "Get Back to Human," is a dessert company that specializes in making organic, paleo chocolate bars free of the junk ingredients we find in big-name products.

The brand has made its products available from multiple major retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods. They also have a virtual storefront on Amazon. If stock ever runs out there, you can always purchase their products through their website.

Hu has made its product accessible through multiple channels, maximizing its earning potential while expanding its brand awareness.

The Lip Bar

Vegan beauty brand The Lip Bar leverages influencers and celebrities to promote its products and increase its brand awareness. Recently, the brand partnered with beauty influencer Raye Boyce to announce its expansion into Walmart stores and its nine latest products.

The Lip Bar places women of color at the center of its products and collaborating with a Black influencer known for her love of lipsticks is in perfect alignment with the brand's identity.

Beyond a robust social media presence, the company also has a blog on its website with content that appeals to audiences across the buyer's journey.

Avant-Garde Vegan

Some brands launch a product then promote, while others promote then launch.

Avant-Garde Vegan , an online brand created by UK-based chef Gaz Oakley, grew his business on social media – namely YouTube. Oakley gained popularity posting recipes for healthy, vegan dishes and soon became a go-to resource for new and established vegan consumers.

Eventually, Oakley released his first product, a cookbook. Now the brand sells both cookbooks as well as merchandise.

The reason why this strategy works particularly well is that it focuses on adding value instead of selling. Oakley gained his audience's trust and loyalty through consistent and quality posts on social media.

Once he introduced a product, many of his followers were ready to make a purchase. It's a long-term strategy that can have a big payoff if executed well.

How to Develop a Marketing Mix Strategy

Because the marketing mix incorporates elements from across your department – and even your company – it's imperative to establish a marketing mix strategy for each product you launch, or for your company as a whole. For a fully fleshed-out marketing mix, follow these steps.

1. Engage in market research and product development.

The success of your marketing work is first and foremost contingent on your product. Make sure it's well developed and your team can speak to its benefits and the story behind it.

Best practices in this step include:

• Engaging in market research to understand your buyers' needs.
• Speaking to your current customers to uncover their pain points and see which needs to address in your current product or service line.
• Monitoring industry trends to identify a potential demand in your market.
• Examining the competition.
• Collaborating with your product team during product development to ensure it meets your buyer personas' needs.
• Having your product tested by current customers to see how they're using the product or service and if it's actually solving for their problems.

Taking these actions ensures you're making every effort to understand and solve for your customer, providing a solid foundation for your product to launch successfully.

Featured Tool: Market Research Kit . To make your R&D more impactful, use these free market research templates so you can better understand your customers and competitors.

2. Determine your pricing model.

A lot goes into choosing a price point – so much so that we wrote an entire guide to pricing strategies .

Luckily, you'll be able to refer to much of the work done in the previous section. Thanks to your understanding of your market through research, you'll have answered most of the necessary questions in this section. You'll also need to take your costs into account so you can maximize unit sales and profit.

During this stage, make sure you do the following.

• Speak to customers (or refer to previously completed market research) to determine the ideal selling price.
• Work with the product team to ensure the product can be developed in a cost-effective manner that would ensure profitability at your target price point.
• Meet with financial experts to determine aggressive yet realistic sales forecasts to contribute to the company's bottom line.
• Collaborate with your sales team to determine discounting strategies.
• Determine how you'll adjust price and revenue forecasts when selling through resellers.

Lastly, don't forget to factor in the perceived value by the customer. Even if your product or service doesn't cost a significant amount to make, you'll be able to mark up your product more if you face little competition and provide an irreplaceable benefit to your customers.

Featured Tool: Pricing Strategy Calculator . If you need help selecting your pricing model, use this template to compare different pricing strategies and see which will yield your company the most profit and revenue based on your forecasts.

3. Choose your distribution channels.

The "place" part of the marketing mix answers where your product will be sold. Keep in mind, this can be any combination of your store, a distributor's store, or online. You'll want to address the following points before moving onto the promotion stage:

• Determine if your product will fare best in your physical location, a store of another retailer, on your website, on another company's website, or some combination of these locations.
• Think about geographic location – make sure your supply meets regional demand, and plan for whether or not what you're selling will be available in a certain city, a state, the country, or worldwide.
• Come to an agreement with retailers and resellers on margins, markups, and manufacturer suggested retail prices (MSRP).
• Figure out how many salespeople will be needed to ensure you meet your goals.
• Set goals for retail, third-party sellers, since you may be sharing shelf space or search results with a competitor or two.

4. Select your promotion tactics.

Finally, it's time to promote your product. While this is probably the element most associated with marketing, it's crucial that this element be completed last, because you need the foundation of product, price, and place before determining promotion tactics.

Think about it – shouldn't you know what you're promoting, why you're promoting it, and where it's available before actually promoting it? It's tempting to jump right to this step, but your promotion will be much better off if it's done after everything else in the marketing mix.

Once you do have that understanding, consider the following promotional channels and choose the one(s) that makes the most sense for your product, its buyers, and its price point:

• Content marketing efforts, such as blogging, content creation, and building a website.
• Public relations and working with affiliates and/or influencers.
• Social media marketing – both organic and paid – on channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
• Search engine ads on sites like Google and Bing.
• Ads to air on video streaming sites like YouTube, or on TV.
• Event marketing, including attending industry events or hosting your own event.
• Customer marketing and utilizing referrals.
• And more – There are countless promotional ideas you can use to spread the word on your product, service, or business.

Featured Tool: Marketing Plan Template . If your promotional tactics are multi-faceted enough, consider documenting your plans in this customizable template.

Every company's marketing mix is different, placing emphasis on certain factors over others.

Some businesses use their marketing mix for a single product, while others adopt a company-wide marketing mix. However, good marketing mixes should tie in all the elements without neglecting one.

All elements of the marketing mix are important, so don't be quick to overlook any of them, and find ways for different elements of the mix to overlap and share goals.

With so many activities happening to support a single initiative, it's helpful to organize everything in a single template for easy reference. Here are a few examples of marketing mix templates your marketing department can use, in addition to when they might make sense to reference.

1. Simple Marketing Mix Template

Download this Template

This template is a great starter for organizing a marketing mix. It's ideal for one product and for the marketing mix's maker to get an understanding of all the elements involved in the marketing of a product.

2. Company Marketing Mix Template

For a marketing mix that applies company-wide, this template is a perfect fit. You can outline the initiatives that apply to most or all of the products and/or services in your suite.

3. Structured Marketing Mix Template

For when you need to get right to the point with a more organized, actionable visualization, use this structured, bulleted template for quick reference and clarification.

4. Production Marketing Mix Template

Finally, a production marketing mix template is best utilized for internal reference. This template answers questions on the go-to-market efforts for products and services that you're selling.

Mix It All Together

Whether you're a student just learning to understand everything that marketing entails or a CMO hoping to clearly convey the work that your team is doing to your fellow employees, the marketing mix framework is an essential tool to help you get the job done.

Don't forget – if you need to organize your marketing initiatives into a central location, try using HubSpot's Marketing Mix Templates to document your activities in one place.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Organize your product, price, place, and promotion initiatives in a simple, single template.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, keynote paper from marketing mix to relationship marketing ‐ towards a paradigm shift in marketing.

Management Decision

ISSN : 0025-1747

Article publication date: 1 May 1997

Discusses the nature and sometimes negative consequences of the dominating marketing paradigm of today, marketing mix management, and furthermore discusses how modern research into, for example, industrial marketing and services marketing as well as customer relationship economics shows that another approach to marketing is required. This development is supported by evolving trends in business, such as strategic partnerships, alliances and networks. Suggests relationship marketing, based on relationship building and management, as one emerging new marketing paradigm of the future. Concludes that the simplicity of the marketing mix paradigm, with its Four P model, has become a strait‐jacket, fostering toolbox thinking rather than an awareness that marketing is a multi‐faceted social process, and notes that marketing theory and customers are the victims of today’s mainstream marketing thinking.

• Marketing mix
• Marketing theory
• Relationship marketing

Grönroos, C. (1997), "Keynote paper From marketing mix to relationship marketing ‐ towards a paradigm shift in marketing", Management Decision , Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 322-339. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749710169729

Copyright © 1997, MCB UP Limited

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• Marketing Mix

What Is Marketing Mix - 4 P and and 7 P of Marketing

Definition of marketing mix.

The marketing mix is defined by the use of a marketing tool that combines a number of components in order to become harden and solidify a product’s brand and to help in selling the product or service. Product based companies have to come up with strategies to sell their products, and coming up with a marketing mix is one of them.

Table of Content

• Marketing Mix 4P
• 7Ps of Marketing
• Marketing Mix Example

Marketing Mix Product

Importance of marketing mix, questions on marketing mix, what is marketing mix.

Marketing Mix is a set of marketing tool or tactics, used to promote a product or services in the market and sell it. It is about positioning a product and deciding it to sell in the right place, at the right price and right time. The product will then be sold, according to marketing and promotional strategy. The components of the marketing mix consist of 4Ps Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In the business sector, the marketing managers plan a marketing strategy taking into consideration all the 4Ps. However, nowadays, the marketing mix increasingly includes several other Ps for vital development.

What is 4 P of Marketing

A product is a commodity, produced or built to satisfy the need of an individual or a group. The product can be intangible or tangible as it can be in the form of services or goods. It is important to do extensive research before developing a product as it has a fluctuating life cycle, from the growth phase to the maturity phase to the sales decline phase.

A product has a certain life cycle that includes the growth phase, the maturity phase, and the sales decline phase. It is important for marketers to reinvent their products to stimulate more demand once it reaches the sales decline phase. It should create an impact in the mind of the customers, which is exclusive and different from the competitor’s product. There is an old saying stating for marketers, “what can I do to offer a better product to this group of people than my competitors”. This strategy also helps the company to build brand value.

Price in Marketing Mix:

Price is a very important component of the marketing mix definition. The price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for to enjoy it. Price is the most critical element of a marketing plan because it dictates a company’s survival and profit. Adjusting the price of the product, even a little bit has a big impact on the entire marketing strategy as well as greatly affecting the sales and demand of the product in the market. Things to keep on mind while determining the cost of the product are, the competitor’s price, list price, customer location, discount, terms of sale, etc.,

Place in Marketing Mix:

Placement or distribution is a very important part of the marketing mix strategy. We should position and distribute our product in a place that is easily accessible to potential buyers/customers.

Promotion in Marketing Mix:

It is a marketing communication process that helps the company to publicize the product and its features to the public. It is the most expensive and essential components of the marketing mix, that helps to grab the attention of the customers and influence them to buy the product. Most of the marketers use promotion tactics to promote their product and reach out to the public or the target audience. The promotion might include direct marketing, advertising, personal branding, sales promotion, etc.

What is 7 P of Marketing:

The 7Ps model is a marketing model that modifies the 4Ps model. As Marketing mix 4P is becoming an old trend, and nowadays, marketing business needs deep understanding of the rise in new technology and concept. So, 3 more new P’s were added in the old 4Ps model to give a deep understanding of the concept of the marketing mix.

People in Marketing Mix:

The company’s employees are important in marketing because they are the ones who deliver the service to clients. It is important to hire and train the right people to deliver superior service to the clients, whether they run a support desk, customer service, copywriters, programmers…etc. It is very important to find people who genuinely believe in the products or services that the particular business creates, as there is a huge chance of giving their best performance. Adding to it, the organisation should accept the honest feedback from the employees about the business and should input their own thoughts and passions which can scale and grow the business.

Process in Marketing Mix:

We should always make sure that the business process is well structured and verified regularly to avoid mistakes and minimize costs. To maximise the profit, Its important to tighten up the enhancement process.

Physical Evidence in Marketing Mix:

In the service industries, there should be physical evidence that the service was delivered. A concept of this is branding. For example, when you think of “fast food”, you think of KFC. When you think of sports, the names Nike and Adidas come to mind.

Marketing Mix Example:

This article will go through a marketing mix example of a popular cereals company. At first, the company targeted older individuals who need to keep their diet under control, this product was introduced. However, after intense research, they later discovered that even young people need to have a healthy diet. So, this led to the development of a cereals product catered to young people. In accordance with all the elements of the marketing mix strategy, the company identified the product, priced it correctly, did tremendous promotions and availed it to the customers. This marketing mix example belongs to Honeycomb, one of the most renowned companies in the cereal niche. Following these rules clearly has managed to make the company untouchable by all the other competitors in the market. This makes Honeycomb, the giant we know and love today to eat as morning breakfast!

Related read:

• Why planning in marketing is important?
• What are the principles of Management?

All products can be broadly classified into 3 main categories. These are :

• Tangible products: These are items with an actual physical presence such as a car, an electronic device, and an item of clothing or a consumer good.
• Intangible products: These are items that have no physical presence but can be felt indirectly. An insurance policy is an example of this. Online items such as software, applications or even music and video files are also intangible products.
• Services: Services are also intangible products but they are the result of an economic activity that does not result in ownership. It is a process that creates benefits for customers. Services depend highly on who is performing them and remain difficult to reproduce exactly.

The marketing mix is a remarkable tool for creating the right marketing strategy and its implementation through effective tactics. The assessment of the roles of your product, promotion, price, and place plays a vital part in your overall marketing approach. Whereas the marketing mix strategy goes hand in hand with positioning, targeting, and segmentation. And at last, all the elements, included in the marketing mix and the extended marketing mix, have an interaction with one another.

Q.1 State Any One Advantage of Personal Branding

• It is because of branding that customers are able to identify the products.
• Example, a customer who is satisfied with ‘Dove’ beauty bar need not inspect it every time she buys the product.

Q.2 State the Components of Product Mix.

Q.3 A Company Has to Decide About Its Price Policy, Credit Policy; Terms of Payment Etc. Name the Concept Which the Company is Trying to Decide.

The above mentioned is the concept, that is elucidated in detail about ‘Marketing Mix’ for the Commerce students. To know more, stay tuned to BYJU’S.

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• Marketing Mix Strategies

Marketing Mix Strategies - Term Paper Example

• Subject: Marketing
• Type: Term Paper
• Level: Masters
• Pages: 12 (3000 words)
• Downloads: 2
• Author: bbatz

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