Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the combination of various components that comprise a company's marketing program. The term 'Marketing Mix' was first developed and introduced by Neil Borden. The marketing mix is the core essence of the marketing program. The marketing mix is the controllable variables, which the company puts together to satisfy its target market. It meets customer needs, achieves marketing objectives, and creates a competitive advantage for the business to an effective marketing mix. Different authors and scholars have defined marketing mix differently. Some of the popular definitions are stated below:

"A set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objective in the target market".
~ Philip Kotler

" The controllable variables, which the company puts together to satisfy its targeted market".
~ McCarthy

"Marketing mix is the marketing program including product conception and development, pricing decision, promotion of the product and distribution to customers".
~ Petter D. Bennet

Components or Elements of Marketing Mix

Altogether, seven components of marketing mix have been identified, called as 7P's, including four primary and three supportive components.

Primary Components (4Ps)

Marketing activities were first classified into marketing mix tools of 4Ps by E. Jerome McCarthy and William D. Porreault. The primary components of the marketing mix are explained as follows:

1. Product Mix: Management needs to plan and develop the right product to be marketed. A right product is one which can satisfy the needs and expectations of the target customers. The firm should adequately analyze the product-life-cycle. on the basis of the product-life-cycle, strategies are needed for changing products, adding new products, branding, packaging, and other various product attributes. The major aspects in product mix are product variety, durability, design, features, brand name, packaging, size, etc.
2. Price Mix: Management needs to determine a fair price for its products. A fair price is one which is affordable and acceptable to the target customers. The price mix includes pricing objectives, pricing techniques, sales terms, credit terms, pricing strategies, etc.
3. Place Mix: Management needs to distribute products to the right place at a right time in the right way by selecting and managing channels and by developing an efficient distribution system. A right place is one where maximum demand for its products exists and the maximum product is consumed. Here the marketers need to study and analyze channels of distribution, channel structure, role and power of marketing channels such as wholesalers and retailers, channel conflicts and techniques of resolving them, channel system, etc.
4. Promotion Mix: Management needs to inform and persuade target customer through right promotional media regarding its product. The major promotional activities or promotion mixes are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, public relations, etc.

Components of the marketing mix are the marketing variables or marketing tools that adjust as per the changed situations of the marketing system. The desired level of exchange will not be reached if the product does not match customers' needs if price too high or low, if it is promoted poorly or if it is distributed improperly. Therefore, to compete effectively in today's business world, marketers require a carefully planned and fully satisfactory marketing mix.

Supportive Components (3Ps)

1. People Mix: When we talk about 'people' components of the marketing mix, we are talking about the two main groups namely:
   • Service personnel: Recruit skilled manpower and their knowledge development for rendering quality service.
   • Customers: Change the negative attitude of customer and employee to a positive one and build a long-term relationship with the customer.
   With the continuous competitive activity shift from the tangible to the intangible, the selection, recruitment, motivation, and training of the right service personnel has become important to all organizations. Customer's perception of service quality will be made up of a number of fairly different and diverse factors such as the attitude of staffs, internal relations, the observable behavior of personnel, the level of service-mindedness in the organization, the consistency of appearance of personnel, the accessibility of people, customer-customer contact, and so on. An organization must aim at achieving optimum quality in all mentioned aspects.
2. Process Mix: Service organization is increasingly getting innovative that operations management ideas are now an essential input to their control of costs, system improvement and levels of the marketing mix, which have strategic dimensions are:
   
   • The degree of customer contact / Retention of customer
   • Quality control standards / Total quality marketing
3. Physical Evidence Mix: Physical evidence mix is also becoming more and more important for all organizations. Physical evidence or atmosphere consists of office-room conditions, furnishings, layouts, etc. associated with service. Such atmosphere improves the level of efficiency of office personnel in their work performance. Moreover, it influences the psychology of customers. If the psychological influence is positive, it may promote business opportunities and vice versa.

Importance of Marketing Mix

The following are the importance of the marketing mix:

1. Satisfies customers' needs: Marketing mix is a customer-oriented activity. It is designed after analyzing the needs and wants of customers. It plays an important role to create and satisfy human needs. Thus, Marketing mix is a very important program to design customer-oriented activities.
2. Increases market share: Marketing mix is developed after studying and analyzing the needs and wants of the customers. Thus, the marketing mix components such as product, price, place, and promotion become customer friendly. Proper marketing mix attracts customers, replaces substitute goods from the market, and increases market share. Thus, it is very important in this competitive and dynamic environment.
3. Helps to achieve the company's marketing objectives: Marketing mix consists of everything the company can do to influence the demand for its products. An effective marketing program blends all components of the marketing mix to achieve the company's marketing objective by delivering value to the customers.
4. Builds a strong position in the target market Marketing mix constitutes the company's tactical tool kit for building a strong position in the target market. Well designed marketing mix attracts customers and makes loyal to them. They reject substitute goods. Thus, marketing mix plays an important role to build a strong position in the target market.
5. Helps in publicity: Publicity is the crucial element of the promotion mix. It helps to promote goods and services through non-paid media. It announces a new product of a company, helps to meet objections, and provides information to stakeholders. Therefore the marketing mix is very important in this dynamic and competitive environment. It can be done through a feature article, press conference, photography, speech, and through the news release.

In conclusion, marketing mix is the term that is used to describe the combination of the four inputs that constitute the core of the company's marketing system: the product, the price, and the promotional activities. It is a tool for achieving marketing objectives. The marketing mix is the controllable variables, which the company puts together to satisfy its target market.