Business Ethics and Elements of Marketing Mix - Research Paper Example

Marketing Mix Marketing Mix Introduction Marketing mix de s the controllable variables that an organizations incorporates into their operations to gratify their target group. Marketing mix is the premeditated package that characterizes the product or service that is presented to the market. Marketing mix is accepted as a theory that can carry out marketing functions and it is therefore a tool that supports the organization in attaining its target markets and definite objectives and for this reason, marketing mix is the central concept in the marketing task. The tools of the marketing mix are an amalgamation of controllable variables that can be presented to a given situation with ingenuity and imagination. Marketing mixes have several areas and are critical in setting up the strategies that are ideal to manage the dynamic environmental effects of the target market. In almost all circumstances, market mixes are inter-connected, interdependent, and they also bring together numerous factors. Marketing mix is often explained under the 4ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) which put together, the 4ps produce a set of manageable strategic marketing gears that an organization puts together to attain the desired response in the objective market (Kotler, 2003). The Elements of Marketing Mix Product; a product is anything that can be presented to a market to meet the needs and wants of a certain market. Products generally refer to physical goods, services, persons, places, firms or even ideas. In a deeper sense, a product is not a necessarily a physical item but an awareness of the buyer or the person who uses it. Product therefore denotes the contentment of the client rather than a physical good. Goods are elements of consumer satisfaction; marketing mix is the method or tool that constitutes this customer satisfaction (Doyle, 2000). Place; place denotes the circulation avenues that an organization uses to communicate its own physical products or services to the final user of that product. The distribution of an organization products refers to the ‘When’ ‘Where’ and ‘How’ a service or availed to the user. For organizations that provide services, the ‘When’ denotes the time frame in which the service is offered. ‘Where’ denotes the location of the particular services while ‘How’ depicts the nature of supply (Doyle, 2000). Price; price is a flexible and principal element, which establishes the returns/profitability/market share for the company. From the perspective of a client, price is a determinant factor since most consumers’ first look at the price before they can buy the product. The concept of price constitutes both the monetary and the social price where monetary price denotes the tendering of a certain amount of money by the client while the social price refers to the extra effort that the consumer must employ for them to be able to gain access to the product. Prices are usually set once an organization presents or obtains a new product (Doyle, 2000). Promotion; promotion denotes the communication in which the marketer employs with the consumer for them to be able to introduce and publicize the product. While each of these four factors is critical individually, their real importance depends on the mix, the exceptional way that they are put together into a careful plan or strategy (Doyle, 2000). Nature of the Elements of Marketing Mix Marketing mix is seen by experts as an ideal instrument for the realization of marketing goals, founded on the amalgamation of several elements which in their totality make up the marketing strategy of an organization. The 4ps are intertwined since the decision taken in one area usually has a great effect on the others. The nature of the marketing mix concept should be obvious from the product mix, conventional issues cropping up from the marketing mix, conventional marketing mix and the product planning. The nature of the elements of the marketing mix transform as time goes on owing to the micro-or macro environmental factors or if an organization alters its vision or mission (Moller, 2006). Traditional Issues Arising from the Marketing Mix In reality, the traditional issues that crop up from the marketing mix are factors such as religion, language, education, and the population. Ideally, a big population growth means that the ability of the business to expand is also bigger. The standard of education of the customer is also an important variable to take into account in the marketing mix. It is also critical to take into account the language as well as the religion of the consumer when deliberating on the marketing mix. An example of an area where such factors should be considered is in an institution such as a library. In the past, libraries were believed to have merely a place where books were stored but this belief is fast changing. The earlier issues cropping up from the marketing mix are as a result of transformations in the nature of library users as well as technology. Today, nearly all businesses including libraries are seen in the same light as the other types of businesses. This means that the marketing mix variable have to be included into every businesses in order to facilitate the success of such businesses. Today, various marketers are unanimous in suggesting that marketing is no longer only concerned about creating, marketing, delivering the products, and maintaining clients. It is increasingly more concerned about the creation and continuation of mutually gratifying long-term relationships and this sort of marketing is usually referred to as relationship marketing (Moller, 2006). Product planning gives organizations an opportunity to choose the best utilization of resources for technology and product development for the purpose of developing both short and long-term competitive advantages. Planning makes sure that an organization develops the ideal products while the development makes sure that the development is done in the right manner. On its part, validation ensures that the products reach the intended market while launching the product makes sure that maximum benefits are derived from the development process. This calls for the need of the product planning to take into consideration the unique needs of the clients. Product planning factors in the comprehension of products in the market and incorporates the comprehension and analysis of present and future markets as well as the technology trends. Prioritizing customer needs discloses where the organization can put into place its technological resources to work out pressing customer problems. The most important thing to note while addressing this is that client needs are forever transforming and they are never static. This means that product planning should forever be propelled by the ever-transforming requirements of clients (Palmer, 2004). Customer Satisfaction One thing that always arises in marketing mix is customer satisfaction. Offering quality products as well as services is all done to meet customer requirements. Customer satisfaction, which is a trade term, is defined as the level of how products and services that are supplied by an organization meet or go beyond the prospects of a customer. It is perceived as a central performance indicator within business and its one among the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In a highly volatile open market where businesses fight for clients, customer gratification is perceived as a vital differentiator and has over the years become a major component of business strategy. The four major steps for ideal marketing are elucidated as comprehending the client, making value for customer, communicating the value to the target market, and easy the buying process for the customer (Moller, 2006). Unlike in the past when marketing mix was only known to denote the Ps, things have really changed and today marketing mix is used to refer to numerous elements that an organization utilizes to market its products effectively since there is more to marketing than just advertising a product. Marketing mix basically examines all the things that a business enterprise needs to do in order to ensure that its product is successful among the target market. While the original marketing mix only addressed the four aspects of marketing namely Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, presently financial experts have gone ahead to add People, Process, and Physical Evidence (Moller, 2006). One thing that business managers must realize that any attempt to change one of the P’s usually has an impact in all the other areas of the marketing mix. An example of this is the fact where lowering the price of a commodity would affect the place since there would be a greater need to increase the distribution to retail stores. This means that the marketing department has to work hand in hand with all the other departments to elucidate on any potential consequences and to ensure that the whole organization is operating on the same page (Moller, 2006). Disadvantages of the Marketing Mix and the Ethical Considerations The marketing mix had been around for the last 50 years and during that period, business managers have used it with amazing results. However, business leaders need to rethink about this 20th century marketing tool if they are to succeed in today’s B2B reality. As a tool for fine-tuning the marketing mix, the P’s have been used effectively by marketers for some time now. However, in the current environment of Business to Business transactions, they yield very minimal results. This is because the product-focused approaches that are produced are mostly at odds with the essence to bring about results (Schultz, 2001). Over the years, business researchers have established that the 4 P’s fails to meet the expectations of business managers in various ways. To begin with, it causes marketing and the sales teams in organizations to put more emphasis on product technology and quality despite the fact that this is no longer considered as a differentiator but rather a cost of entry. Secondly such an approach does not emphasize the need of creating a strong case for the higher value of their business solutions. Finally, taking such an approach prevents them from leveraging their benefits as a reliable source of diagnostics, advice, or even as a tool for solving solutions in the organization. Despite the above downfalls, it would be unwise to claim that 4 P’s are irrelevant but it is widely accepted that they need to be reshaped to serve the emerging B2B marketers (Schultz, 2001). With the constantly changing business environments, many businesses are constantly changing their strategies from the 4 P’s to reflect the new business reality. Instead of products businesses now look for solutions and instead of placing much emphasis on place they now seek access. Additionally, price has now been replaced by value while promotion has been taken over by education. While this new strategy does not negate the value of the 4 P’s, the truth is that business managers who insist on employing the same strategies will soon find themselves edged out of the market by their competitors. A good example of an organization that has used the new strategy to stay in business is Motorola. This strategy saw the organization restructuring its marketing organization to create a solid foundation both in the government and in the enterprise sector (Kent, 2010). For the 4 P’s to be fully utilized, the management must foster a culture of looking for solutions in the entire organization. In most cases, businesses that are technologically focused find it impossible to transition from just offering ‘technologically superior’ products and services and adopt a perspective that is more customers centered. Rethinking the aspect of product is critical for such businesses since it allows them to adopt a strategy that factors in the ethical considerations of the consumers. Majority of business leaders only give all their on the product and how it can appeal to the target market. However, the problem with employing such a strategy is that is that it fails to factor in the ethical considerations of the clients that the organization is meant to be serving. In most cases, giving the product preeminence over people leads organizations to come up with products that in some cases might harm the very users of the products. While it is critical that a business put enough emphasis on the product, failing to factor in people leads the organization to make some unethical business decisions and once discovered these might lead to lawsuits that might bring the business to a halt (Kent, 2010). In order to avoid being caught in a repetitive and unproductive cycles, business leaders must work with their sales and marketing teams to make sure that the strategies that they use in trying to market the product are consistent with the legal as well as the ethical requirements in the society. In most cases, organizations put more value on promotion something that can sometimes make them to use marketing strategies that are not consistent with the law or the ethical standards that are prevailing in their area of operation. This means that the place where the product is used is also important since any society has their moral guidelines that might not necessarily be applicable in another place. This aspect is also interrelated with that of customer satisfaction and it should therefore be an integral part of any business operations. While providing quality products and services is important to an organization, ensuring that customers are content with the product is the most important thing that an organization should put into consideration. If they are employed correctly, the 4 P’s can be transformed into parameters that the marketing manager can control but business leaders must realize that they subject to both the internal and external controls of the operating environment (Chandler, 2013). References Chandler, S. (2013). The Hidden Benefits of Marketing: Why Your Strategy Might be Working Better than you Think. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/03/12/the-hidden-benefits-of-social-media-marketing-why-your-strategy-may-be-working-better-than-you-think/ Doyle, P. (2000). Value Based Marketing. Wiley, Chichester. Kent, R. (2010). Faith in the four Ps: An alternative. Journal of Marketing Management, 2: 145-154. Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Moller, K. (2006). The marketing mix revisited: Towards the 21st century marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 22 (3): 439-450. Palmer, P. (2004). Introduction to Marketing- Theory and Practice. UK: Oxford University Press. Schultz, D. (2001). Marketers Bid Farewell to Strategy Based on Old 4Ps. Marketing News, 35 (2): 7-12 Read More