Marketing Mix Issues - Essay Example

? Marketing mix Introduction The marketing mix is described as product, place, price and promotion, commonly referred to as the 4P’s. They are designed to enhance decision making of the customer who can lead to increased profits. All the element s of the marketing mix can affect consumers is multiple ways. Therefore, marketing mix is used by firms to achieve its objectives (Lancaster and Reynolds 2003). This happens when these marketing tools are employed by an organization to pursue the target market marketing of a product entails creating an excellent marketing mix with the right product being matched with the right price, suitable proportions and in the right place. When developing a befitting marketing program for an organization, the marketing manager is required to weigh behavioral forces before juggling marketing mix elements while taking into account the resources at his disposal. The organization must consider itself as a single organism in a world of complex forces. Many other industries are competing with the industry in which the firm is only a part of (Brassington and Pettit 2006). The marketing department must develop a mix of procedures that make maximum use of the available resources. Marketers are required to look for opportunities in the method of operation. A small organization cannot use procedures from large organizations. Though the two companies may deal with similar products, they are likely to be different in many respects. A compelling example is the industrial goods industry. Small companies go for regional sales as opposed to national distribution that is practiced by large corporations. Small companies go for limited and specialized fields of operation while large organizations seek to patronize full lines. The marketing mix of a company is largely the result of evolution that comes from day-to-day marketing. The marketing mix represents programs that marketers have evolved to meet challenges with which they are constantly faced in a dynamic and ever changing market. They can be referred to as tactical maneuvers. New products are faced with aggressive promotions. Sometimes a price change initiated by a competitor must be met and accurately considered. In case of faltering sales must be stimulated while declines must be remedied. Marketing mix helps replace advertising approach, which has lost effectiveness (Lancaster and Reynolds 2003). Marketers need to maintain effective channels for information that relates to the operation of companies. This includes consumer behaviors, trade and competitors. Short range forces contribute a large part of the marketing mix which helps in the allocation of expenditures. Dynamics of the 4Ps Past empiricism and foresight dictate the plans and procedures that contribute to the marketing mix. Marketers need to have an idea as to what should be done so as to be remaining successful in a dynamic market. Long-range plans are vital in economic, technological and natural trends must be successfully managed by marketers in a turbulence market. Marketing mix allocation of resources and planning has taken prominence in many companies whose aim is to optimize spending. Marketers are under intense pressure achieve their targets with the available resources. Marketing mix seeks to strike a balance with regard to strategy and achieving organizational goals (Brassington and Pettit 2006). Marketing mix is both strategy and procedure that facilitates effective allocation of organizational resources with an aim of striking a proper balance. Marketers must use the mix in order to make the goals and organizational progress sustainable. Pricing must take into account the quality of the product and the prices of similar commodities in the market without affecting the profitability of the organization. Marketers can plan accurately when they have a functional marketing mix. Marketing mix concept is relatively simple. The concept reveals facts about areas which should be addressed. They serve as a guide to management judgment. According to Stew Leonard’s, marketing mix involves mixing product quality with consumer needs. This should be done with consistence and passion. Marketing mix has an internal element where the workers must be motivated and happy so that they can pass the same to the customers. Careful observations lead to a working marketing mix. American marketers have been using the scientific method of assembling facts. This is because accurate facts where vital to coming up with the proper marketing mix (Drummond & Ensor 2005). These marketing mix concepts would arise from both within and without the business premises. Currently, marketers and better placed to develop and design marketing mix with improved facts gathering techniques. Marketing mix makes progress predictable, achievable and sustainable. Marketing mix causes marketers to access the scope of effectiveness of an organization in the market. The 4Ps are marketing variables that help a company adjust in the market. The product refers to the good or service sold. Customers have shown interest in buying products they admire than the products they need. Production of high quality goods has become inevitable. Marketers are aware that products have to reflect the superiority of the brand and good warranty services. Marketers must give the brand emotional value to their products so that to meet the customer satisfaction needs. Marketing mix strikes the balance of proper services and goods and organizational productivity. Brand dominance must be coupled with precise pricing so that be product can be competitive in the market. The place when the product or service is being sold affects its relevance the consumers in that it must factor in their needs and culture. Marketing mix assists marketers in knowing the place they need to distribute products after thorough market research. The place can affect the intensity of promotion to be carried out. Promotion aims at changing or convincing consumer perceptions and wins them towards the organization. Promotion is about informing the customers about the products and urging them to purchase. Promotion is a tool from attracting customers with an aim of increasing sales figures. It also consolidates brand loyalty. Currently besides the 4Ps marketers add people and PR in the marketing mix. All these Ps interact in influence the turnover of a company and to show the effectiveness of a marketer. A factor like price affects multiple factors in the company such as strategy, cost and profits. Determination of price must figure out the market sentiments and the targets of the market. Product life cycle Product life cycle is a framework that describes the evolution of product markets in to four distinct stages namely: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The level of introduction has few competitors in the market. As a result, the competitors use a skimming strategy to recover their product development cost and intensity the product awareness in the market. The grown stage is marked by an increase in market sales resulting in a dramatic increase of new entrants in to the market. Advertising is conducted during this stage to promote specific brands. This is different from marketing to create product awareness. The growth of sales begins to ease off as the market entries the maturity stage where consumers are already aware of the product in the market and the quality of the brand. The market becomes saturated leading to intense competition and price wars among organization on the market. Product life cycle reaches a decline stage when the market sales begin to fall. During this final stage, firms reduce their expenditure with regard to marketing and begin to cut costs as products are withdrawn from the market. Product life cycle has an effect in marketing strategy. Marketing may be less important during the early stages of product life cycle where market is high and technological turbulence is evident. According to Harris, the intensity of competition strengthens market performance and marketing becomes importance e as the product life cycle matures. In dynamic markets, the costs can become extremely high (Groucutt 2005). During the early stages of product life cycle, marketing is important because mismatch between the customer needs and the company’s offering. During the later stages of product life cycle, marketing lessens because customer preferences stability. The introduction stage aims to maximize the impact of a product launch when it comes to sales. A compelling example is the launch of windows XP. The Microsoft Corporation did it in a way that customers targeted would feel compelled to respond to the product. Compared to the maturity phase of product life cycle, this stage can be referred to as money sinkhole (Dibb & Simkin 2005). This stage is accompanied by large expenditure in the process of advertising and promotion. It calls from the introduction of quick but costly requirements. Marketing strategies in this phase aim at attracting the attention of the target customers and convincing them the worth of the new product. The process is expensive and requires a unique marketing approach. Firms spend a lot and achieve little in this stage (Groucutt 2005). The marketing strategies required during this level need to be convincing and aggressive. Distribution is introduced at this stage where most firms aim at having a product on every counter. Many companies turn to outsourcing the distribution management of the product. Outsourcing is viewed as a marketing tool in this context. During this stage pricing is introduced and the marketing approach must attract customers to pay for the new product. Pricing should be regulated based on the marketing needs to make the product competitive in the market. This demands thorough knowledge of the market and the consumers’ purchasing power in a given market. This is most applicable in situations of preset prices. Growth stage demand the marketing momentum is maintained. In addition, the form must establish the uniqueness of their product and differentiate them from that of their competitors. That calls from a slight shift in marketing strategy with an aim of gaining market share and consolidating gains. This may require frequent modification of products as a marketing strategy to beat other competitors. Promotion and advertisement are less intense in this stage compared to introductory stage. This is due to a shift from product awareness to market leadership. In maturity level, the market share has already been determined (Dibb & Simkin 2005). Therefore, growth happens at the expense of other competitor as opposed to the product awareness. Marketing changes into pricing and discounting wars in relation to the competition policies. Promotions and advertisements in this stage aim at differentiating the reliability of the product, as opposed to getting new customers. This is the most profitable level of the organization and marketing is much effective and cheaper compared to introductory stage (Kotler and Armstrong 2012). The decline stage of product life cycle requires a unique marketing approach. Withdrawing a product is a complex task and requires much thought and consideration. Filling the market gap, maintenance and availability of the spare parts are some of the issues that require to be looked at. In most cases, companies retain a high price policy and discourage the few loyal customers remaining. A perfect example is the telegraph submission over facsimile. Companies fail to conceptualize this stage and its signals. The stage is accompanied by sales decline. Marketing department is too optimistic due to successful marketing at the maturity phase of product life cycle (Groucutt 2005). This stage requires rejuvenation in terms of promotion and prices must remain competitive. Product variation should be done to make the product appealing to customers, and a rebrand is healthy to give the company and better look. Marketing strategies in this phase aim at keeping the company and products relevant and consolidate the market share gains rather than losing them. Co-ordination between marketing and other functional disciplines. Marketing is creating a product or service awareness with the aim of getting customer loyalty and increasing sales. Marketing affects the profitability of an organization directly. Marketing has different meanings during different stages of a product life cycle. Marketers are required to use reliable management models that facilitate efficient coordination between marketing and other functional disciplines. The interaction between marketing and other functional area can be views as a form of open social system (Drummond & Ensor 2005). This is a group consisting of two or more entities that are interlinked to achieve a common purpose. The system receives both internal and external inputs and incorporates them into the system to send new outputs into the system. Coordination failure can be termed as organizational failure. One of the factors contributing to this is resource dependency. Marketing personnel do not have all the monetary or human resources necessary to carry out their assignments effectively. They seek these resources from people in other functional areas. The nature of the strategy being used by the entire organization serves as an inspirational unifying factor making marketing interactive with other functional disciplines (Groucutt 2005). For organizations that seek extensive product development strategies are likely to experience greater interaction with the marking department. Coordination between marketing and other disciplines determines that kind of presentation to be done to the customers. Marketing departments are the face of the organization and represent the level of organization and effectiveness of the overall organizations. Uncoordinated marketing impacts the entire organization negatively. Different product life cycle stages need different approaches to marketing (Jobber2009. This demands regular cooperation between organizations strategists, finance and other departments. Different marketing strategies have different expenses. During the introductory stage of product life cycle, marketing is aggressive and requires huge financial resources. Uncoordinated marketing means poor resource allocation leading to losses (Dibb & Simkin 2005). Coordination between marketing and other disciplines gives room from smooth change in terms of marketing strategies during the product life cycle. Therefore, coordination between marketing and other functional disciplines is a vital ingredient for organizational success. The level of complexity and turbulence brought by competitors require organizational flexibility and smooth communications within the organization. Government regulations and customer demands influence the effectiveness of marketing personnel and the amount of support they need to achieve the goals of the organization. In case of a change in marketing strategy, other disciplines need to supply resources, and support needed including skills, manpower and finances. This averts inter departmental conflicts and enhances the effectiveness of working relationships within the organization (Dibb & Simkin 2005). Various parts of the organizations achieve joint goals. Marketing leads to increased market share with other disciplines grow in terms of skills and effectiveness. Inter functional relationships make an organization a working unit. The exchange of ideas between marketers and other personnel leads to consolidation of experiences and effectiveness of interaction. Resources are shared equitably and harmony. A network approach in organizational matters leads to proper and balanced representation of organizational needs. This means that timely action is taken incase product changes are needed. This is healthy when it comes to dealing with competitors in a turbulent market. Conclusion In conclusion, for an organization to achieve its goals, it must ensure communization flows between the marketing departments and other functional disciplines. The aim is reduce bureaucracies and create a working coordination for the sake of organizational efficiency. At the same time, conflict resolution becomes structured and easy. This coordination leads to organizational efficiency and profitability. Changes in the marketing strategy at any stage in the product life cycle need to be communicated in time and the resources supplied to enhance the relevance of the firm in the market. This can only be achieved though coordination between marketing and other functional disciplines. References Brassington, F. & Pettitt, S., 2006. Principles of Marketing, 4th Edition, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, W.M. & Ferrell, O.C., 2005. Marketing: Concepts and strategies, 5th European Edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. Drummond, G. & Ensor, J., 2005. Introduction to Marketing Concepts, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Groucutt, J., 2005. Foundations of Marketing, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Jobber, D., 2009. Principles and Practice of Marketing, 6th Edition, London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G., 2012. Principles of Marketing, 14th Edition Global Edition, London: Pearson Education Ltd. Kotler P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V., & Saunders, J., 2010. Principles of Marketing, 5th European Edition, Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Lancaster, G. & Reynolds, P., 2003. Marketing, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More