Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is a tool which was propounded by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960s to help decision makers to decide on various components of product / services which affect a lot in their success and failures. Researchers / professionals generally call it as 4Ps / 7Ps / 4Cs of marketing. This mix answers most of the questions being asked related to product / services and helps a lot in gaining competitive advantage. 

4Ps of Marketing

• Product

o What are the “product’s / service’s” characteristics such as name of product, shapes, sizes, weights, colours, unique selling proposition (USP) etc?

o How product features are different from the similar product available in market?

• Price

o What would be the "price" of the product / service?

o Which pricing strategy which will be adopted during launch and thereafter? This should take into consideration the pricing strategies of competitors.

o How much amount does a customer is willing to pay for the product? If customer perceived value (CPV) is greater than price paid, then the products / services gets wider acceptability or vice versa?

• Place

o Which are the "places" where it will be launched (phase wise)? 

o What are places where it is demanded more? 

o Whether it will be sold more through offline or online medium or both?

• Promotion

o Which medium of marketing will be used for reaching at audience such as TV, Radio, Print media, Social media etc.? 

o How would be the "promotion" activities / strategies undertaken?

o When will be promotional activities undertaken i.e. timing?

Few Ps apart from 4Ps, which were added during 1980s & 90s by marketing researchers is mentioned below & are gaining lots of importance nowadays. 

3Ps of Service marketing

• People

o Who would be the "people" / "customers" and what are their preferences?

• Process

o What would be "processes" of service delivery?

• Physical evidence

o If somebody takes the service, then what changes will occur?  

o What are the location / infrastructure of service provider?

o What are the documents / evidences provided for supporting trustworthiness of services?

Other Ps which has also evolved apart from 7 Ps of marketing

• Positioning

o How will this be "positioned" in the minds of customer? Creating confusions about the product can lead to disaster so beware from confused positioning.

• Packaging

o What would be "packaging" during launch and thereafter? 

• Politics

o What is the political environment & how do they affect various components of product / services?

These are very crucial questions and any wrong decisions taken with respect to these Ps can lead to disastrous results.

Evolution 

From 4Ps to 7Ps & then to 8Ps, further to 4 Cs of marketing mix

In Product marketing

• Initially, during 1960s, there were only 4Ps in this mix i.e. Product, Price, Place & Promotion. 

• Thereafter, during 1980s, we got 3Ps more into this mix i.e. People, Positioning & Packaging (earlier part of "product"). 

• Most recently we have got 1P more into this i.e. Politics. So, in total we have got 8Ps in product marketing.

If we talk about Service marketing, we have 7Ps of marketing i.e. 4Ps + 3Ps

• Initially, 4Ps i.e. Product, Price, Place & Promotion 

• Thereafter we got 3Ps more i.e. People, Process & Physical evidence.

Researchers keep on adding Ps in this mix but the questions which needs to be addressed by them still moves in or around the product / services. In short, you just need to keep a close eye on your competitor and act fast in order to survive in the market. 

New thought
4Cs of Marketing 

This was propounded by Robert F Lauterborn during 1990s with a customer focused approach. Few marketers / researchers have already focused their approach from 4 Ps / 7 Ps of marketing to 4Cs but earlier version still has mass acceptance. 

• Consumer (replaced by “product” as this focuses more on customer preferences & their demand)

• Cost (replaced by “price”)

• Convenience (replaced by “place”)

• Communication (replaced by “promotion”)

“Marketing is all about placing the right product in right market at right price at right time”. This statement is sufficient for confirming the existence / extinction of big brands in the market.  So don’t forget to do the proper homework for all marketing mix for getting the wider acceptability of the product / services in the market.