Where Does Advertising Fit Into the Marketing Mix?

Where Does Advertising Fit Into the Marketing Mix?

By Kathleen Ann


Many people get confused about the role of advertising in the marketing mix so here's a simple view of where it fits in.

In the traditional marketing model, we talk about the 4 P's

o Product

o Pricing

o Place

o Promotion
The last section - Promotion is what we mean when we say you are "doing your marketing". It's your communications or your actual marketing activities.

But first, let's get clear about the PURPOSE of marketing and why you want to get good at it.

"The PURPOSE of marketing or it's biggest task is to persuade prospects to visit you online or offline so you can present your offer. Done well they come waving their credit card and ready to buy so there's no need for hard sell."

Whenever and wherever you get in front of your potential market is your marketing opportunity - you are communicating or getting your message across. You could say this started as far back as Babylon when the Town Crier was the only delivery method! They went around town shouting out to people to go to the marketplace and you went to the marketplace with your goods  to "present your offer".

With the invention of print and other technologies you now have a smorgasbord of delivery methods or media to reach people such as

o Print - newspapers, magazines, catalogues, newsletters

o Phone, mail, fax

o Radio & TV,

o Internet - through websites, blogs, social networking sites, email, video & Audio podcasts

o Teleseminars & webinars

o Mobile media - Blackberrys and mobile or cell phones

o And lets not forget in person public speaking and networking

Now that range adds a level of complexity. But choice is good and you don't have to use all of these but they are available to you. In any event you'll either be speaking or writing. Simply narrow down what makes sense for you and your business and use your strengths to work out a plan.

JUST remember the marketing principles remain the same no matter the medium - so the PURPOSE of your marketing is still the same. To persuade prospects to visit you online or offline so you can present your offer.

So where does advertising fit into this?

Advertising is simply a subset of your marketing activities it's the SALES function when you make the sales pitch or "present your offer". This could be verbal or written in all the same media you use for your marketing communications. What adds to the confusion is sometimes big companies use image based ads for awareness so the "sales pitch" isn't obvious. But the primary purpose of advertising is to SELL. So you create ads in one form or another and get them in front of your audience.

Small businesses can't afford to waste money on image advertising that is designed for the masses to promote a well known brand. It simply isn't designed to sell, NOW.

What I do and recommend is Direct Marketing which is based on one-on-one relationships and uses proven direct response advertising techniques instead of mass advertising.

The purpose of a direct response advertisement is to get a response, NOW! Which means these ads actually ask the prospect to DO something.

Whether you're building a list, selling a product or service, an appointment or even something you are giving away - you still need to "sell" it to your prospect. And ask them to take the action you want them to take to move them through the sales process.

In a nutshell, advertising is a subset of marketing and direct response marketing and advertising is the champion for small business.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the "Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs". Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop "7 Secrets to Advertising Success" at http://www.powerupyourmarketing.com


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Using the Marketing Mix Strategy to Market Your Product

Using the Marketing Mix Strategy to Market Your Product

By Emma J Frost

When developing a new product or promoting a new business, the advertising strategy used is one of the earliest and most important decisions you'll need to make. The marketing mix strategy is a used by many. This plan is a good starting point for anyone in business. The marketing mix strategy is made up of what are referred to as the four P's - product, price, place and promotion. According to this strategy, these are the four areas that must be attended to in order to market a product effectively. Although some elements may be more pertinent to a specific business than others, the strategy as a whole is always useful for those in business. The more elaborate extended marketing mix includes additional elements, referred to as the three P's and the four C's. These additional three P's consist of: people, process and physical evidence, and the four C's are made up of: commodity, cost, channel and communication. This article will focus mainly on the initial four P's of the basic marketing mix strategy.

Within each of these areas, specific steps need to be taken. In terms of the product element, this refers to your decisions about product specifics. Along with a name and the features of the   product, this element also involves larger decisions. When thinking about the product, the marketer must also consider marketing to a niche market.

Many useful articles are available on using a niche group for marketing. In short, a niche group is a specific demographic of customers whom you choose to target with your product. Even more than making specific decisions regarding the features of a product, the product element of the marketing mix strategy refers to offers that accompany the product, such as warranties and guarantees. Although price is part of the features of a product, the marketing mix strategy provides a separate element for price. The price element is a very important decision because it affects the ability to market the product. Price refers not only to the direct price of a product but also consumer relations decisions regarding price, such as discounts given, specials and sales. These decisions directly affect the marketability of a product and its appeal to consumers.

The place or placement element of the marketing mix is extremely important. This refers to the placement of the product in the market as a whole and how it is presented and distributed to consumers. Promotion goes hand in hand with placement. The promotion element can be further broken down into four basic sections: public relations, advertising, sales promotion and personal sales. Together, these two elements cover decisions such as whether the company chooses to use representatives to sell their products or to sell only to distributors or only through the company store. Each of these options has its advantages and disadvantages, and it is crucial that the decision is made carefully. For example, if a product is sold only through representatives, this will affect customers who hope to buy online. Certain options are better for certain products. Promotion is probably the most important element of the marketing mix strategy for those looking to market their products online.

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The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

By Medha Behera

Marketing professionals and specialist use many tactics to attract and retain their customers. These activities comprise of different concepts, the most important one being the marketing mix. There are two concepts for marketing mix: 4P and 7P. It is essential to balance the 4Ps or the 7Ps of the marketing mix. The concept of 4Ps has been long used for the product industry while the latter has emerged as a successful proposition for the services industry.

Interesting Topics:
How to create your Linkedin Profile?
How to get 500 Connections from USA & Canada?
How to get Recommendations and Endorsement?

The 7Ps of the marketing mix can be discussed as:

Product - It must provide value to a customer but does not have to be tangible at the same time. Basically, it involves introducing new products or improvising the existing products.

Price - Pricing must be competitive and must entail profit. The pricing strategy can comprise discounts, offers and the like.

Place - It refers to the place where the customers can buy the product and how the product reaches out to that place. This is done through different channels, like Internet, wholesalers and retailers.

Promotion - It includes the various ways of communicating to the customers of what the company has to offer. It is about communicating about the benefits of using a particular product or service rather than just talking about its features.

People - People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people's hands.

Process - It refers to the methods and process of providing a service and is hence essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such things.

Physical (evidence) - It refers to the experience of using a product or service. When a service goes out to the customer, it is essential that you help him see what he is buying or not. For example- brochures, pamphlets etc serve this purpose.

Interesting Topics:

How to create your Linkedin Profile?

How to get 500 Connections from USA & Canada?

How to get Recommendations and Endorsement?

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Key Reasons Why Business Photography Is A Marketing Mix Must

Key Reasons Why Business Photography Is A Marketing Mix Must

By Chris A. Harmen

When putting together your company's specific marketing mix, it's important to not only include some of the more recent cutting-edge trends, but to also incorporate some tried and true traditional promotional tactics as well. What's a current trend that tends to fall into both the traditional and trendsetting categories? Professional business photography. Yes, professional business photography has been a core staple of marketing strategies in virtually every vertical. However, as camera technology advanced, many entrepreneurs began to use in-house employees to take the pictures needed for both print and online promotional campaigns. While this may have, initially, seemed like a resourceful way to save money on outsourcing the job to professional photographers, more often than not, these executives discovered firsthand that their initiatives lacked punch and impact. It became painfully obvious that the best way to manage their print and online efforts was to partner with a professional business photography firm.

Benefits Of Working With A Qualified Business Photography Studio

Still contemplating using internal employees to fulfill your business photography needs? Understanding some of the significant benefits that working with a professional studio delivers may quickly change your mind.

A qualified corporate photographer offers:

Skilled and experienced expertise: Professional photography is an art form that can take years to perfect. Working with a skilled and experienced provider means that you are entrusting your company to a professional who has mastered this marketing genre for optimal return on your investment.

Access to needed equipment: 

Sure, that point and shoot camera housed in your desk's top drawer may be adequate; however, in order to truly deliver a marketing initiative that wows, you may need access to bigger, better and bolder pieces of equipment. A knowledgeable business photographer will have all the equipment you need to make a major impact on your audience, both online and in print.

Extensive image uses:

It's no secret that a successfully promoted organization incorporates both print and online tactics to advertise their services and wares to the masses. A reputable provider will be able to capture your images in a format that can be used with your web marketing efforts as well as printed material to ensure your company delivers a comprehensive promotional front to consumers.

Fresh marketing perspective:

Most importantly, a professional business photographer isn't just an imaging expert, he's also an advertising specialist. Your chosen provider will be able to see things about your organization that you may be visually immune to at this point. In short, partnering with an outside source for your photography needs will broaden your perspective on your various campaigns to help give each initiative a fresh, new spin that helps reconnect with previous customers as well as effectively engage with new clientele.

More internal bandwidth:

Best of all, by outsourcing your imaging needs to an outside provider, you'll instantly be increasing your internal staff's bandwidth. By no longer having to navigate through the potentially overwhelming territory of "office shutterbug," your internal employee will be able to refocus on the tasks and responsibilities that you initially hired her to do.

Design & Promote, a leading online marketing firm in Chicago, offers professional business photography as part of their comprehensive marketing mix. If you're ready to add professional images to your marketing approach, Design & Promote can help. Visit the company's site today at http://www.designandpromote.com for more!


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Impact of Branding on the Marketing Mix

Impact of Branding on the Marketing Mix

Impact of Branding on the Marketing Mix

By Sam Traffanstedt

The impact of branding on the marketing mix is seen in every aspect of our society. The ability for consumers to identify with your brand and associate it with a product is a powerful tool in marketing. The more you are recognized, the more you will be thought of when the needs for your products arise.

1) Brand Names - Coke, Pepsi, Nike... When you see the words, you imagine the products, the logos, maybe even the times you used the products. This is a wonderful thing if you are one of these companies. These are what we call brand names. Branding that is so powerful that the products take on an air of being the best or the most popular automatically.

2) Lifestyles - Some brands even illicit behavior traits and lifestyles. Raiders, No Fear, Bob Marley... these are symbols that have taken on an almost iconic brand. Many have associated the brand with the feeling of the brand and have modeled their lifestyle to fit that feeling. They decorate their vehicles and homes, choose clothing, and buy other products that they now identify with.

3) Presence - You need to set a bran for yourself and get it out there. It is very important to consider the style and tone you will be setting for your company and company presence. In time, the brand you make for yourself will stick and you will have issues to confront if you try to change it. Just think of the new coke issue and you will understand. People like what they are used to. Choose wisely and you will be pleased with the persona your company takes on with your branding efforts.

The ultimate impact of branding on the marketing mix is in your sales. If your customers are comfortable with the company that they have come to know, they will continue to purchase from your company. Setting up your branding is one small aspect of marketing, but an important one. A good mentoring and education system in marketing can help you understand branding and other aspects of marketing much better.

Sam Traffanstedt is here to help you get the education you want. Click on our site to discover how to claim your 3 FREE training sessions. http://www.dreamstofact.com


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The Marketing Mix for Small Business Marketing

Author: Nate Stockard

All marketing resources will eventually talk about your marketing mix, but what do they mean exactly? Marketing mix is a term that the marketing world tries to hold as a private term that only the industry knows about, but as a small business owner, you need to understand how to plan and implement your marketing mix.

The marketing mix is defined as the four P\'s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. These four areas make up the complete outline for product or service marketing. Once you have defined the variables for each P, you have a basis for proper marketing.

Market research will play a major role in each area of your marketing mix. You must understand what you are competing with in regards to products and pricing. Although you may have a new and unique item with an innovative type of distribution, you still must compare your product or service to existing ones.

Here are the four P\'s of your marketing mix for small business marketing.

P #1: Product

The product or service or selling must be defined first. What are you selling? How will it be packaged? Determine your product\'s features, and then build the benefits from them. At this point, you will make all of the decisions relating to your product or service: style, quality, packaging, warranty, etc.


P#2: Price

Pricing actually plays a vital role in the branding and image of your product. Determining your price can be difficult, especially if you product is in a widely-variable industry. You must determine pricing strategy, retail and wholesale pricing, possible bundling, and any type of discounts.


P#3: Place

Place refers to how you will distribute the product. Will you sell to retail stores, or will you sell directly to customers? Is your product a wholesale item? The decisions made about distribution will affect your marketing mix in terms of how you will warehouse your products, how you will process orders, what types of channels will you use, and how will you cover the market.


P#4: Promotion

Promotion is the area where you will make decisions on how people will learn about your product. What types of sales strategies and promotions will you use? What kind of sales force will you need to sell your product? How will you use public relations and publicity to support your product? There are many aspects of the promotion element of your marketing mix. In fact, the other three P\'s will affect your promotion strategy.

Decide on the first three P\'s before you tackle Promotion, but ultimately, each P will coordinate with the others. Once you complete your marketing mix decisions, review the entire plan to make sure you have a consistent and precise marketing mix plan in order to properly sell, distribute, and promote your product.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/the-marketing-mix-for-small-business-marketing-510403.html

About the Author

Nate Stockard is the owner of Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions. He is also the author of The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.

Promotion, The 4th P Of The Marketing Mix

Author: Osman Habbal

As part of the Marketing Mix, Promotion is as equally important as the other three components, Product, Price, and Place. In the 4Cs approach, the term replacing Promotion is known as Communication. Some state that Promotion is rather a manipulative term because it comes from the seller. They prefer using Communication as it involves a certain level of interaction between the seller and the buyer.

I have to disagree with that understanding. In order to communicate or interact, you have two parties involved. One of those parties starts the communication, which leads to interaction if the other party is interested.  By promoting their product, the sellers are actually starting the first step of the interaction process. Although Promotion in the Marketing Mix does not detail the communication process, it never meant that Interaction was to be prevented.

On another hand, many companies that adopted the Communication approach did that for manipulative reasons. During the focus on the customer era, many companies joined the train of what is known as the customer oriented approach. Although initiated a communication process, it turned to be a one sided conversation when it came to what really matters. It is not as some try to portray it, a simple willingness by the business community to communicate with their potential customers, it is rather a well thought of plan to collect sales leads, collect data for market research, etc… In other words, since some companies were doing promotions and not receiving the feedback they wanted they decided to trick us, the customers, into giving them this feedback, by initiating the interaction via communication. Now tell me that is not manipulative! Surely, and thankfully, this is not the case for the majority of the companies

Some also claim that communication does not promote sales. Then what is the aim of communicating your product or your company? Even if it was a political stand, you actually want people to buy into it.  The whole point is that whether you want to use the 4Ps or the 4Cs, you still have to use them as guidelines or reference points. What you have to know about the 4th component of the Marketing Mix, is that you have to put it out there for people to know about.

Successful promotions never occur when you use the wrong media to reach your target customers. I have seen many promotions fail, some were my own, others were my competitors\'. Imagine an illiterate public response to a short messages ad campaign. Sending a message to educate the public in one small village about AIDS was a complete failure. Although 25of these village inhabitants owned mobile phones, they were 100unable to read and write. You would assume they could by the mere fact that they used mobile phones. Come to find out that they knew numbers, and knew how to dial and receive calls, but knew nothing more when it came to read letters, let alone typing them. Can you imagine any success for a TV advertising campaign in a country where electric power reaches a mere 20of the population for about 2 hours a day? In such countries, even when your target market is the niche that owns a generator, you will find out that this same niche uses satellite services and will never see your ad on the local channel.

Choosing your media may depend on your financial resources and not only on your target market. You won\'t be able to launch a successful TV campaign if your budget allows you to print a dozen of flyers only. Be genuine in your ideas. What you may use as a means of promotion had probably been used by others but it doesn\'t mean you won\'t be successful doing the same.

When I was in college, student activities were banned for several years due to political tension in the country, which affected the campus too. In my senior year, the administration allowed us to organize the first student activity. In that time everything was looked at from a political or religious angle in a country (Lebanon) where 'civil' war lasted 17 years.

We were independent students, who could not afford a big budget for advertisement (The College only provided the hall) and politically attached students had every intention to make our activity fail, in order to show their later activities as a success. We had budgeted to distribute flyers around the campus but due to the importance of the event we had to make sure that we do our best. After all, it was the first student event in years after the ban.

Our budget showed that we could afford 500 flyers. It meant that every flyer should guarantee the presence of 1 person to fill the auditorium. What I did is to reduce the size of the flyer. I only stated the time and place of the event. This gave us 5000 tiny papers rather than 500 flyers. We distributed them via student mail boxes, on the benches, and any other place that was fit.

I was looking for the number of flyers to ensure the spread but I also took into consideration not to cause any political sensitivity that can be triggered by misunderstanding the name or aim of our event. On the day of our event the organizers, including myself, were finalizing the preparation of the auditorium. The Doors were open 10 minutes before the start, the auditorium was full and people kept coming during the 2 hours event. It was definitely a success and I was especially proud when I heard comments from friends and 'foes' that the small flyers were the essential cause in bringing this crowd.

By concluding this article about promotion, I am not be concluding the presentation of the 4Ps as I see it. I believe that a thorough understanding of the 4Ps encompasses all the modifications (4Cs) and additions (7Ps), they complete rather than compete with each other. Marketing theoreticians may be competing for recognition and position of their theories. They provide us with guidelines, but at the end, it is us the consumers who decide what we will buy into. To summarize the marketing Mix as I see it:

1. You have a Product. It can be an idea, an item, anything that you want people to buy or buy into. Answer the question: What? What are you offering? In other words. Know your product.
2. Set the Price. It can be a simple opinion that you want to give out for free, or some expensive commodity. Look at your costs and the costs that others are willing to incur to buy or buy into it. Answer the question: Why? Why are you doing this? Are you aiming to sell it? If the answer is yes then you have to determine a price. If your answer is no, then you probably want to give it out for free.
3. Decide on a Place. You can offer your product from your house maybe, or be a reseller for a company. You can operate from a shop or via the internet. Answer the question: Where? Where can your potential customer find your product? Make sure you have enough exposure for your product.
4. Promote your product. Put your product out for the grabs. The means you will use to advertise and the attractive presentation of your product will help in your success. Answer the question: How? How will people know about your product? If your potential customers don\'t know that you have something to sell, they won\'t contact you to purchase it.

All of this explanation does not have a value if it does not target people. If we did not exist who will be marketing to whom? Who among us can claim understanding all our needs, let alone all our wants? In my next article I will attempt to discuss the importance of the main P, People, in all this mix.

Comments and questions are always welcome.

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About the Author

Osman Habbal is a well traveled Business expert. With over 20 years experience in Business covering Marketing, Sales, Customer Care, and Management, Osman has been exposed to many markets and cultures. His skills in Arabic, French, Russian, and English, widened his communication experience. Osman was born in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, in a Muslim family. He is strongly opinionated when it comes to Politics due to his early childhood exposure to war. Osman is Married and a proud parent. His personal website is http://www.dadaway.com

Marketing Mix - Top 4 Promotion Mix Tactics

Author: FranWil

The promotion mix targets raising product or brand awareness, communicating the unique value proposition of your product and gaining acceptance of your products. The primary purpose and focus of promotional mix is to get the desired result: the sale of your product. There are more than seven common promotion mix tactics and while most businesses do not use all of these tactics to promote and sell their products, they do use a mix of these tactics.

The Top 4 Promotion Mix Tactics:

1. Personal selling is one of the most common of the promotion tactics. Most companies will hire people to do the selling: sales representatives, account managers, inside sales representatives, retail sales, sales agents, or telemarketers. Face-to-face selling is one of the most common methods of selling, although sales by phone, and more recently, sales by email, are becoming well used. These are not necessarily as effective, but they are low cost sales tactics.
2. Advertising is another common promotion tactic. Advertising focuses on brand recognition and identity; not on the product alone. Advertising can be a costly tactic that only the big businesses can invest in; particularly advertising on television which can cost anywhere from $100,000 to over $1 million for a national broadcast in prime time (for a 30-second spot!). This cost is in addition to the cost of producing the commercial. Advertising in industry or consumer magazines is less expensive and typically you can target your advertisement to a specific industry or region. Other advertising can include car or bus \'wraps\', events (such as sports, music, art), and billboards. The Internet is becoming a very popular place to advertise, and on a relative basis, it is more affordable.
3. In the retail marketplace, consumer promotion is very common. Buy one, get one free. Coupons for discounted or free product. Free trial packages. Cash discounts or refunds. Contests that give back cash, prizes, or products. The commitment by marketers to consumer promotion is that this form of promotion can be designed to be very measurable. Coupons, contests, and packaging can be coded to report redemptions and to report sales increases and/or decreases related to consumer promotion. Additionally, packaging new products as a trial, with a mature or declining product, can often provide an opportunity to up-sell and extend the declining product\'s life-cycle.
4. Public relations (PR) is another common promotion tactic. Public relations includes writing and distributing press releases (to the local newspaper, the national newspapers, to online PR sites, to radio and television, to magazines, and more). The key for effective PR is to identify and understand your target audience, the key message or messages you want to deliver, the credibility of your organization, and the recognition that PR is not a sales tactic but an identity (whether corporate, brand or product) building tactic.

The most effective promotional program is usually one that uses a variety of tactics and techniques. It is important to measure the effectiveness of the program you engage in, and adjust your promotional program to increase effectiveness and outcome (sales).

To find out more about marketing mix, promotional tactics, push and pull strategies, and product life-cycle, visit http://www.more-for-small-business.com/marketing-mix-promotion.html and for more on small business resources and advice, please visit http://www.more-for-small-business.com/
Kris Bovay is the owner of Voice Marketing Inc, a business and marketing services company. Kris has 25 years of experience in leading large, medium and small businesses. Copyright 2008 Voice Marketing Inc.

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Defining the Marketing Mix: The Seven Ps

Author: Nattapong Chainwongteerachote

Many marketing experts or talented marketers disclose the various 'Ps' of new marketing concepts. And the traditional 4Ps that have been well-known for a long time are: product, price, place and promotion.  Regarding the three additional Ps are: people, process and physical (evidence).  When you want to create a great marketing campaign instead of normal level marketing campaigns, then you need to smartly mix these all Ps into all of your marketing campaigns.  I decided to summarize them up here for quick and easy reference for all marketers.

1. Product
This is the first P of all the 7Ps mixed in your marketing campaign, identifying and developing a product or service to sell. And normally, product is the most important P, since there will be no any other Ps if there is not any product. If your product offers good benefits to your customers, it will bring the good feedback from the market initially.  Research and development (R&D) is very important for you to innovate or re-furbish your products to beat the market\'s demand effectively.

2. Price
Price seems to be a bit more complicated, since setting up a product\'s price is depended on various inner and outer factors in the market more than the product. There are many products that charge less than the price they deserve. Price is not just a number on a tag hanging on a product, but pricing is an important marketing strategy in all manners. In order to properly price your product, the entire business and marketing strategies are required. Your customer can afford your products, suitable sales channels, product cost, competitors and expected profit. You must bear in mind to always calculate all costs (interest owed and the cost of waiting for payments), and how much you require to be floating through your product\'s R&D. According to some marketing experts\' advices, the suitable price you should charge as the manufacturer of a product is about five times of the cost as the minimum selling price.

3. Place
Product distribution channels are your places for selling your products. Placement is an easy task like making an e-catalog for an online store. Product placement planning, you must think of the many paths to everywhere you can sell your product. You must know that whether your product has more sales when its placement near to cashier location, retail store or department store performs better and doesn\'t forget about the cost of placements too.

4. Promotion
Normally, promotion always applied last, since promotion will be required once after all other Ps are on their position in the market already.  This is how you can make more sales by encouraging your customers to buy more from you.

5. People
Power of people is very powerful in all markets, don\'t overlook it. People can affect and influence your products in any situations and channels. If you apply all other Ps without considering about people, then your sales could not be really maximized.

6. Process
If every other Ps are applied to your product but your process was weak, the failures are waiting ahead. Process is a key to fully succeeded in promoting your products in all markets. You must have a good or at least suitable process carefully planned along together without Ps.

7. Physical Evidence
This is very another great P which extended from the traditional 4Ps in the past. If you can effectively roar as many as satisfactions to all potential customers and clients in the market, the more long-term sales revenue you can make in the same market.

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About the Author

Nattapong Chaiwongteerachote has been in business management and marketing since 2001. He wants to share some management online by writing articles.You can visit his sites here: Ebooks With Resell Rights, another site at Making Money Online Facts.

7 Ps of Services Marketing Mix

Author: Albert Frank

7 Ps of Services Marketing Mix in Marketing

Traditional marketing mix was developed by keeping in view the goals of marketing. This also may be adapted to services marketing. The use of traditional marketing mix in service organizations cannot satisfy themselves because as they are to stay at sub-optimal performance in marketing. Slightly adapting marketing labels cannot resolve the problems that are affiliated with the marketing of services.
The four Ps (product, price, place & promotion) are said to be controllable variables of the traditional marketing mix. The effective combination of these four Ps components will make an organization to have a competitive edge in preference by the target market. Marketing researches also identified limitations and inefficiencies of traditional marketing mix when applied to services.
In the year 1981 7Ps marketing mix model was suggested by Boom and Bitner to service firms, which was later supported by McGrath and other marketing specialists. In addition to the four Ps in traditional marketing, services marketing mix will have three additional components are Physical evidence, People and Process.
The following elaborated components of Service marketing Mix are:

• Product: Service is an intangible product. It has bundle of features and benefits in it, which have a relevance to a specific target market. As such there is a high level flexibility and opportunity to be innovating in designing a product offer.
• Physical Evidence: Most services cannot be offered without the support of tangibles. Customers cannot see the service provided, but they can definitely see the tangibles that accompany. For example, a passenger transport organization promises for a safe, comfortable and timely journey from one place to another. Now this is examined on the bases of transport vehicle\'s condition, seating facilities and other physical facilities and also the way in which the employees are responding to the customers. All these physical factors are used as evidence by the customer to evaluate and expect the service from the provider. As, a result physical evidence plays a crucial role in shaping the consumers perception as well as expectations.
• Price: The pricing decision is very critical in the field of services as well. This pricing component of marketing mix alone can determine the revenue for the firm. Consumer sensitivity to price would be higher in services than in goods. However, the basic pricing methods are the same as in goods, but for the pricing strategies for services depends on the understanding of the values of various groups of people that are targeted by the organization.
• Place (Distribution): Services are intangible and as well as inseparable. These are the two characteristics that do not allow a service firm to follow the same channel options available for goods marketing. Due to the intangible character of service wholesalers and retailers cannot be used. As, the services cannot be stored and cannot be separated from producers, retailing cannot be an independent activity in services marketing. The simultaneous activities in services are Production, distribution and consumption. Services have an advantage of using a direct selling approach, through which services are offered at lower price to the customers. As, this does not mean a direct selling, is the only way of selling the services. There are other channels of distribution such as, agents and brokers, franchisers and electronic channels that are used for distributional services.
• People: Service organizations are people oriented and people based organizations. Where the employees of a service firm, form into a major competency in undertaking the business operations. In services organization every employee is a marketing person, who undertakes either full-time or part-time service in the marketing activity. For better performance in marketing activity, service employees are to be trained and motivated.
• Promotion: Consumers are the co-producers in the service business. The quality of services will not only depend upon the performance of service provider but also on the performance of the service consumer. Very few service organizations or service concepts have readily available performers as consumers. As, it is the responsibility of service organization to educate and provide sufficient training to customers to make use of the services efficiently. A well designed promotional program is large help to the organization to inform and advice customers for better experience.
• Process: The process is a functional activity that assures service availability and quality. The way of physical setting is designed technically and the functions are scheduled and routed to provide promised services to the customers. In simple terms, the management process is to manage the service encounters effectively. Gronroos who was a marketing specialist has described process as interactive marketing wherein moments of truth occur. The challenge of process management is to improve moment of truth.

As, the 7 Ps service marketing become the marketing offer of the organization to the target market. The marketing mix aims to achieve seven distinctive goals. They are the matching offer to the consumers\' needs and wants, consumer quality expectations, consumers\' perceptions, consumers\' satisfactions consumers\' relation and consumers\' welfare and protection. The dynamic nature of target market in all the seven different areas offer challenges to marketing organization. As, service firms can be successful only when the marketing mix elements and dynamic and adaptable to the changes in the market environment.


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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/7-ps-of-services-marketing-mix-from-helpwithassignmentcom-4887028.html
About the Author
Albert Frank is a Phd holder from an Ivy League university and has been with www.HelpWIthAssignment.com for the last seven years. He is engaged in providing Online tutoring and assignment help services to students from K-12, college and University.

The Marketing Mix for Small Business Marketing

Author: Nate Stockard
All marketing resources will eventually talk about your marketing mix, but what do they mean exactly? Marketing mix is a term that the marketing world tries to hold as a private term that only the industry knows about, but as a small business owner, you need to understand how to plan and implement your marketing mix.

The marketing mix is defined as the four P\'s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. These four areas make up the complete outline for product or service marketing. Once you have defined the variables for each P, you have a basis for proper marketing.

Market research will play a major role in each area of your marketing mix. You must understand what you are competing with in regards to products and pricing. Although you may have a new and unique item with an innovative type of distribution, you still must compare your product or service to existing ones.

Here are the four P\'s of your marketing mix for small business marketing.

P #1: Product

The product or service or selling must be defined first. What are you selling? How will it be packaged? Determine your product\'s features, and then build the benefits from them. At this point, you will make all of the decisions relating to your product or service: style, quality, packaging, warranty, etc.


P#2: Price

Pricing actually plays a vital role in the branding and image of your product. Determining your price can be difficult, especially if you product is in a widely-variable industry. You must determine pricing strategy, retail and wholesale pricing, possible bundling, and any type of discounts.


P#3: Place

Place refers to how you will distribute the product. Will you sell to retail stores, or will you sell directly to customers? Is your product a wholesale item? The decisions made about distribution will affect your marketing mix in terms of how you will warehouse your products, how you will process orders, what types of channels will you use, and how will you cover the market.


P#4: Promotion

Promotion is the area where you will make decisions on how people will learn about your product. What types of sales strategies and promotions will you use? What kind of sales force will you need to sell your product? How will you use public relations and publicity to support your product? There are many aspects of the promotion element of your marketing mix. In fact, the other three P\'s will affect your promotion strategy.

Decide on the first three P\'s before you tackle Promotion, but ultimately, each P will coordinate with the others. Once you complete your marketing mix decisions, review the entire plan to make sure you have a consistent and precise marketing mix plan in order to properly sell, distribute, and promote your product.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/the-marketing-mix-for-small-business-marketing-510403.html
About the Author
Nate Stockard is the owner of Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions. He is also the author of The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.

Marketing Mix

The Marketing mix is generally accepted as the use and specification of the "four P's" describing the strategic position of a product in the marketplace. One version of the marketing mix originated in 1948 when James Culliton said that a marketing decision should be a result of something similar to a recipe. This version was used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and coined the term "Marketing-Mix". A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a 4 P classification in 1960, which has seen wide use. The four Ps concept is explained in most marketing textbooks and classes.

Definition

A"Marketing Mix" is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that work together to achieve company's objectives, they are: product, price, promotion and place. Although some marketers have added other P's, such as personnel, packaging and physical evidence by Magrath for service-based industries, public relations and political power by Kotler, and packaging by YS Chin, the fundamentals of marketing typically identifies the four P's of the marketing mix as referring to:

• Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are often service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system.

• Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product.

• Place – Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet.

• Promotion – Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements - advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from and cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. One of the most notable means of promotion today is the Promotional Product, as in useful items distributed to targeted audiences with no obligation attached. This category has grown each year for the past decade while most other forms have suffered. It is the only form of advertising that targets all five senses and has the recipient thanking the giver. Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations (see Product above).

Broadly defined, optimizing the marketing mix is the primary responsibility of marketing. By offering the product with the right combination of the four Ps marketers can improve their results and marketing effectiveness. Making small changes in the marketing mix is typically considered to be a tactical change. Making large changes in any of the four Ps can be considered strategic. For example, a large change in the price, say from $19.00 to $39.00 would be considered a strategic change in the position of the product. However a change of $130 to $129.99 would be considered a tactical change, potentially related to a promotional offer.

The term "Marketing Mix" however, does not imply that the 4P elements represent options. They are not trade-offs but are fundamental marketing issues that always need to be addressed. They are the fundamental actions that marketing requires whether determined explicitly or by default.

The Four P's is also being replaced by the Four C's model, consisting of consumer, cost, convenience, and communication. The Four C's model is more consumer-oriented and fits better in the movement from mass marketing to niche marketing. The product part of the Four P's model is replaced by consumer or consumer models, shifting the focus to satisfying the consumer. Pricing is replaced by cost, reflecting the reality that price is set by the market, not necessarily by the firm (if the price is too high, the firm will not sell enough and be forced to lower the price). Thus, the firm must focus on cost considerations rather than on what the correct price is to set. Place is replaced by the convenience function. With the rise of internet and hybrid models of purchasing, place is no longer relevant. Convenience takes into account the ease to buy a product, find a product, find information about a product, and several other considerations. Finally, the promotions feature is replaced by communication. Communications represents a broader focus than simply promotions. Communications can include advertising, public relations, personal selling, viral advertising, and any form of communication between the firm and the consumer.