Marketing Mix

Think of the marketing mix as a group of “controllable factors.” Each of these factors can be adjusted strategically to improve sales opportunities. The key is to adjust each factor to its optimal level to bring in the greatest profit potential.

For example, as a small business owner, you control the price of your product. You have to make a profit, but if you price your product too high, you lose customers and the potential for new customer acquisition. If you price products too low, you will price yourself out of business. The goal is to find the sweet spot or best price that happens to bring in the most profits for your business. This usually happens when your customers see the value in your product and feel the price is a fair reflection of that value.

A company’s marketing mix is one of its most important assets. This is because the marketing mix makes the company money by working in harmony to create sales for the company. Traditionally marketing departments have relied on the 4Ps of marketing to help with customer acquisition.

The 4Ps constitute a very important marketing mix:

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion

But these days, the marketing mix more often than not includes many other additional Ps, such as positioning, packaging, people, and even politics as essential marketing mix components. After all, small businesses today have had to learn to adjust their marketing mix to better serve their customers and the fast-changing times.

To keep your business alive and well, it's always advisable to pick the right product, the right price, the right places to sell your product, and the right promotions to influence buyers to do business with you. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Small business owners often tend to adopt a haphazard approach when it comes to handling their marketing mix. While one strategy works great in some areas of their business, they tend to ignore or overlook others.

To avoid this problem, you have to understand the components that make up the marketing mix. Once you understand each component, you can work to improve and optimize each one to improve your overall marketing mix.

• Product - This is what you sell.
• Price - This is how much you charge for your product or service.
• Place - This is where you sell your product or service (location).
• Promotion - This is how you share your product or service.

Product

Every product is unique, having various attributes (characteristics) that help define it. These attributes are brought to life by linking them to logical rewards (advantages) and emotional rewards (benefits).

People make purchasing decisions based on how they feel psychologically about a product or service. To make sense of these emotions, they need to be able to justify their purchases by grounding their emotions in logic.

To sell a product, you must understand how your product helps your customers emotionally and logically. Then you must develop your brand, advertising, and marketing assets to align with a message your customer can identify with.

Price

Pricing is both subjective and objective. When comparing one product to another, customers weigh the pros and cons of each and base their buying decision on what’s in their best interest. This is why similar products can have vastly different price points.

One car that takes you from your home to work may cost $10,000. A similar car may cost $100,000. Depending on a customer’s needs, one may buy the less expensive product while the other purchases the more expensive product.

Deciding what price point to sell at starts by understanding your ideal customer. Are they successful CEOs and celebrities? Or, are they middle-class individuals needing something functional that fits their lifestyle and budget?

Once you know your ideal customer (target market) and fully understand their needs, wants, and desires, you can then begin testing price points to determine the best price for your products.

Place

Once you have a great product and understand your customers’ needs, you’ll have a better understanding of the ideal placement for your product.

If you operate an online business, you may want to partner with online marketplaces to get your product to market. You may also need a website and a Facebook business page.

If you decide the most advantageous and most equitable place to sell your products is a storefront on Mainstreet, you may want a Google My Business listing to help people find you and to help strengthen your brand.

Promotion

Promoting your business is influenced by product, price, and place. But, these aren’t the only factors to consider when trying to sell your product.

You may want to sell a product using a co-branding strategy. This is done by partnering with another more established brand that will bring more value to your brand. You may want to promote your product in other ways, such as offering discounts to loyal customers or hosting an event to celebrate.

There are countless ways to promote a product. Your job is to find out the best ways. To figure this out, you must first understand your customer and find ways to appeal to their interests.

As you promote your product, test the efficacy of your marketing and advertising promotions by measuring their effectiveness. You’ll quickly come to know which promotions and sales strategies create the best profit margin for your business. Be sure to implement these strategies before implementing strategies that may be less effective.

Your marketing mix comprises all the factors that work together to help you make a sale. The core of this mix is composed of the 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion.

Follow these steps to optimize your marketing mix:

1. Understand your ideal customer.
2. Create products they want to buy.
3. Price the products to highlight their value while making them affordable for your ideal customer.
4. Get your product in front of your ideal customers in a way that reaches them best.
5. Promote your product with effective advertising and marketing strategies.
6. Keep refining your marketing mix until you reach the ideal product, price point, placement, and promotions that bring in the most profit for your business.

Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion are the most common components of the marketing mix. Take the time to improve your product, research the best price point, find the best places to sell your product, and effectively promote and advertise your product. Optimizing your marketing mix will improve sales and help your business make more profit. Additionally, be sure to remember that it is important to constantly refine your product mix as markets change.

What is a marketing mix?

A marketing mix consists of various marketing components. At the core of the marketing mix are product, price, place, and promotion. Other components would include any factor that influences customers to buy from your business. Optimizing your marketing mix will generate sales and increase profits for your business.

What is the meaning of the 4Ps?

The 4Ps of marketing are product, price, place, and promotion. These four factors are tied to profit potential. The ideal marketing mix will be one that has optimized its product, price, place (location), and promotions to generate the most profit for a business.

How to optimize your marketing mix?

To optimize your marketing mix, you should get to know your ideal customer. The ideal customer is the typical buyer who purchases your product. By understanding them, you’ll be able to provide them with products they want to buy, at prices they can afford, in a convenient location, while providing targeted promotions that keep them coming back.

What is the best marketing strategy?

The best marketing strategy depends on your business’s needs. Businesses operate in different markets and appeal to different customers. Coming up with the best marketing strategy starts by understanding your ideal customer (target market) and finding the best ways to reach them. Studying and optimizing your marketing mix will help you successfully reach these customers and grow your business.