The marketing mix is defined as a strategy analysis of internal aspects developed by companies. Its objective is to understand the current business situation in order to develop a good external positioning strategy. This is known as "the 4Ps", as it takes into account these four variables: product, price, distribution (place), and promotion:
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Firstly, the price variable establishes the information on the price of the product at which the company offers it on the market. This element has an essential and very important power over the consumer. By adjusting the price, the whole marketing strategy will be affected, as will the demand for the product. This is what is known as price elasticity of demand.
It is also essential to take into account the psychological value that the product offers when setting the selling price. In addition to four factors that you must consider when setting the prices of your product in your marketing mix strategy: that the final price covers the cost of production, knowing and knowing what value customers give to your product, finding out if you could capture more market if you reduce your price slightly and, finally, considering whether your price would be in line with your competition in the market.
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3. Thirdly, we have the distribution or "place" variable . Here we analyse the channels that our product goes through from the moment it is created until it reaches the consumer's hands. This also includes storage, points of sale, the relationship with intermediaries...
4. Finally, promotion. This variable analyses all the efforts that the company makes to make the product known and increase its sales to the public, for example: advertising, public relations, product localisation, etc.
When considering this section of the marketing mix, you should take into account for example the following questions: What communication channels do you have with your potential customers, when is the most appropriate time to start promoting your product, is it worth thinking about expensive media such as television, which social networks will be the most appropriate for your brand, what promotional strategies are your competitors using, etc.?
how to apply the marketing mix to your company?
Nowadays it is clear that it is the customer who decides. Companies ask themselves questions such as what are the needs of their customers, what is their cost of satisfaction, what distribution channels do they prefer, through which media do they communicate with them, etc. For that reason, it is essential to know the real and true needs of customers and develop the product based on them. However, this change plus the one that has brought the internet into our lives and, of course, into the marketing mix and inbound marketing, also influences significantly, it has even changed the definition of the 4 P's. Now, many companies prefer to define their 4 P's as personalisation, participation, peer to peer and modelled predictions:
- Personalisation: this is about products tailored to the customer's needs, for example, when Amazon or AliExpress recommend other personalised products when we make a purchase in their shops.
- Participation: this is about generating engagement around the business, for which it is important to provide relevant content and experiences for consumers.
- Peer to Peer: nowadays, the recommendation of users is very important, as consumers trust the opinion of another consumer more than what the brand itself says. Influencer marketing on social networks, such as Instagram, Twitter or Tik Tok, is now gaining prominence.
- Modelled predictions: it is about predicting how consumers are going to behave in order to be able to use the best strategies. To achieve this, monitoring tools that help to analyse all the information must be used.
3 simple steps to put the marketing mix into practice
To apply the Marketing Mix in your company you can start with the following steps:
1. Develop the right product. In order to be successful in your sales, you first need to develop a product that your target market really wants. This will make customers more aware of your brand and make them interested in it.
2. Promote through marketing and networking: It is essential that you promote your brand's products through all possible means. A blog or the many existing social networks are two of the most successful ways to do this at the moment.
3. Work on the price: You may have to offer a new product at a price that only gives you a very limited profit margin, especially if what you are selling has a lot of competition.
Now that you know what the marketing mix is and how to apply it to your business, you just have to get down to work and come up with the best strategies.
