The Marketing Mix

The “marketing mix” describes the kinds of choices organizations make in the process of bringing a product or service to market. We recommend working your way through the 7 Ps and/or 4 Cs as you are creating your marketing plan.

History of the Marketing Mix

• 1940s-1960s:
  • Culliton described marketers as “mixers of ingredients”
  • Borden, inspired by Culliton, claims to have coined the term “marketing mix”
  • McCarthy described the elements of the marketing mix as being 4 Ps, a concept still commonly used: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion
• 1981:
  • Booms and Bitner expanded to 7 Ps more applicable to service marketing, adding People, Process, and Physical Evidence

The Ps

All of the Ps are centered on understanding the target market you are trying to reach. In this work, we are generally talking about students, but you might be looking to reach a specific group of students.

Product
Can be tangible or intangible
Do you have the right product for your audience?

Price
Payment to actually use the product
Consider price vs. perceived value

Place
Distribution of product
Where will your audience access the product?

Promotion
Advertising
Public relations
Word of mouth (including social media)
Sales promotion

People
Both target audience as well as people associated with product (company employees, for example)

Process
Systems and processes around execution of the service
The actual service delivery, how the service is consumed
Did people get what they expected or needed?

Physical evidence
The environment in which service actually occurs
The perception of the interaction
How is the product perceived in the marketplace? (Branding for example)

Lauterborn proposes 4 Cs instead of/along with the 4 Ps. The 4 Ps are seller-oriented while the 4 Cs are consumer-oriented.

Product -> Customer Value (Does the customer want or need this?)
Price -> Cost (Considers not just financial but cost to conscience and opportunity)
Place -> Convenience (Is this readily available to customers?)
Promotion -> Communication (Promotion can be more manipulative, while communication is more cooperative)

Resources:

https://marketingmix.co.uk/marketing-mix-4cs/
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix

More from the Marketing Toolkit

What is Marketing?
>The Marketing Mix
Understanding Your Audience
Media Options
Basics of Graphic Design
Social Media