The Marketing Mix Revisited.

Marketing Mix

It was Culliton way back in 1948 who first said that marketers were the chefs of organisations, using the different elements of business to produce recipes for success. Today the staple ingredients are the 4Ps, also known as the marketing mix. There are some who think that this formula is bland and tasteless and adds very little to the marketing process.

Taking this into account I will now revisit the concept of the marketing mix. I do not intend to propose something new, I merely want to remind the reader of the roots of its development and demonstrate how relevant these still are.

We need to start with a little bit of history, it was a chap called Neil Borden way back in 1964 who first said that businesses can be operated profitably if marketers focused on twelve key elements. A year later another academic called Jerome McCarthy reduced these elements to what we now know as the 4Ps: products, price, promotion and place. There was then Booms & Bitner who, in the early eighties added an additional 3Ps: people, process and physical evidence. Since then there have been numerous other academics who have tried to add their own spin to the process by introducing new ways of what essentially are the 4Ps (examples include Ohmae’s (1982) 3Cs, Robin’s (1991) 4Cs, Vignalli & Davies’ (1994) MIXMAP, Bennett’s (1997) 5Vs and the list goes on).

There is no doubt that the 4Ps are a great way to explain what the fundamentals of marketing are all about. Scholars and practitioners have appreciated the simple robustness of the concept and its easiness to remember. However, it is my opinion that that for marketers to be really successful they need to go a step further, that means going to Borden’s twelve key elements. So, what are these elements? Well the list is as follows:

  1. Product Planning,
  2. Pricing,
  3. Branding,
  4. Channels of Distribution
  5. Personal selling,
  6. Advertising,
  7. Promotions,
  8. Packaging
  9. Display,
  10. Servicing
  11. Physical Handling,
  12. Fact finding & analysis

Product (and service) planning is all about making sure that the needs of the market have been identified and addressed. It deals with all the aspects of product management: designs, extensions markets to be sold in, etc.

Pricing ensures that the appropriate value has been placed on the product (or service) for the given market position it is targeting and that profits generated are in line with the overall business objectives. Pricing should be fluid and used to stimulate demand: an example could be the “early bird discount” given to punters who are encouraged to eat in a restaurant before a given time (i.e., between 4pm and 6pm when it is usually quiet).

Branding creates the life and sole of the product, it is used to differentiate it from the rest of the market place. The branding provides the product with an identity, which is associated with a set of values. These values need to transferred and adopted not only by the staff associated with the product but also the other elements of the marketing mix.

Channels of distribution (or Place, using the 4Ps) is the means of getting the product or service to the customer. It could be a shop, an e-commerce page or both. You may decide to use partners or manage it independently. The channels used will have a big impact on the reach of the brand.

Personal Selling is not just about utilising a sales team, it is a way of ensuring every individual within the organisation is focused maximising the engagement with customer.

Advertising is a mechanism for creating awareness of the brand. It is also a means of disseminating the given brand messages that are used to entice individuals to it.

Promotions are very similar to advertising, the key difference is, a promotion is an offer used to stimulate demand. Promotions often relate to discounts or gifts, they need to be managed wisely: a bad promotions campaign can ruin a company. Hover went bankrupt after a promotion offering free flights to the USA with every purchase was over subscribed.

Packaging (and labelling) has a big part to play in the selling of FMCG type products. The organisations that produce these will spend millions on ensuring that their products stand out on the supermarket shelves. Packaging (or the lack of it) can also play a big part in other sectors: the eco movement is demanding less waste; this has changed the way many products are presented.

Display: some people may think that displays are only relevant for B2C products sold in shops. I have no doubt that when Borden thought of this element he was considering the ‘point of sales’ displays that most of us have become familiar with at supermarkets. The reality is, they are also highly relevant to the B2B and service sectors. Your website, your restaurant, your business reception area, your delivery vehicles are forms of displays in which the marketer should have some influence. These displays need to reflect the brand values and will play a big part in influencing customers.

Servicing: this can relate to the people aspect of the extended mix. People are the key players in any business. They drive customer service because they are the ones who interact directly and indirectly with customers. Earlier I reviewed the need for direct selling, servicing is slightly different, it is about maintaining excellence after the sale to encourage repeat purchases. An employee’s actions can affect the perception of the targeted customers, it is imperative that these individuals understand the values of the brand. This may require some form of training; marketers need to work with HR to ensure that it happens.

Physical Handling: this relates to all the policies and procedures associated with warehousing, distribution and inventory management. There are elements within physical handling that can be linked to the “process” (part of the extended mix): when an item is procured how does the customer take ownership of it? Do they collect it themselves or is it delivered (same day, next day or some other point later in time) or is supplied electronically? The list can go on.

Fact finding and analysis: if we consider the marketing mix as we know it today, i.e., the 4Ps or even the extended version, there is nothing that explicitly states that a marketer needs to examine the wider environment or understand the customers. This is one of its biggest criticisms; the need for market and marketing research (or as Borden put it, the fact finding and analysis) is paramount for every Marketer. Without this the marketer cannot realistically make any valid decisions.

So there you have it, the marketing mix as it was originally conceived. An interesting point that some of you may have noticed is movement into other disciplines: does marketing have control over distribution or inventory? Should marketing be involved in training? The answer to these questions is no. What I will say is the process of marketing is all about creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large (AMA definition of marketing). every function must be involved.

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Dr Alan Shaw is a Senior Lecturer and Marketing consultant focusing on a range of sectors. His main interests are in strategy development, social marketing, digital marketing, advertising, consumer behaviour and marketing application.
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