Marketing Mix and its Importance for the Marketers - Essay Example

?Marketing Mix and its Importance for the Marketers The marketing mix is a tool that is used for marketing purposes in business. The marketing mix plays an important role in determining the product or service made by a brand. There is a set of four Ps that help achieve this purpose in service marketing, that stand for the price, place, product, and promotion. Over the years, more Ps have been identified to address the innovative features of the latest products and services. Lately, a set of four Cs has also been introduced by various theorists in an attempt to customize the four Ps so as to make them more customer-driven. According to Lauterborn, the four Cs represent consumer, communication, cost, and convenience (Burgers, 2008, p. 3). Shimizu has defined the four Cs as commodity, communication, cost, and channel (Solis, 2011, p. 201). Basically, commodity in C is the same as product in P, communication in C broadens the concept of promotion in P, cost in C is the replacement of price in P, whereas channel or convenience in C takes the concept of place in P to the next level. The product or commodity emphasizes on the importance of the physical attributes of the product or service that include but may not be limited to the size, weight, and dimensions of the product, and the materials used in it. Product is of immense importance because this is what the consumers need and the marketers’ entire marketing strategy is based on. In the contemporary age, one feature that the consumers are particularly interested in and which the marketers should thus place huge emphasis on is the innovation. Other factors that are also important include the product or service’s environment friendliness, and user friendliness. Price or cost is the aggregate of the entire values exchanged by the consumers. The price is determined by the benefits consumers are likely to attain by having the product or service being introduced by the marketers. This is the only factor in the marketing mix that determines the marketers’ revenues and thus, its role in the marketing objectives cannot be overestimated. Place is a very important element in the marketing mix and is extremely strategic in that the maximal success of the product or service depends upon the optimal location of its introduction in the market because a product or service would only be popular among the consumers if its features are consistent with their culture, norms, and values, in addition to their needs. Marketers employ the distribution channels to make their products and services available to the consumers. Place helps the marketers segment the products and services to ensure their optimal consumption. Marketers use promotion to advertise their products and services so that the consumers get to know about it. Promotion is also an equally strategic and important element of the marketing mix as place because maximal awareness about a product or service is created by advertising it on such platforms and mediums that are most commonly viewed and/or visited by the consumers. Various theories including the sets of Ps and Cs have been introduced to serve as a guideline for the marketers. Marketing mix helps the marketers to focus their attention and efforts in the right direction so that the product or service they introduce is not only of immense value and use to the consumers but has enough scope in the market in the presence of similar products or services to earn the marketers their intended profits from making it. The marketing mix is of huge significance to the marketers because it facilitates them in the decision making both before the launch or a product or service and after it has been launched. Marketers use marketing mix modeling to achieve this. “Marketing mix modeling is a statistical analysis that links multiple variables, including marketing, sales activities, operations and external factors, to changes in consumer behavior, such as acquisition, sales, revenue, and retention” (Brooks, 2011, p. 2). Marketing mix modeling helps in the development of forward-looking optimization exercises and business simulations. With the start of the 21st century, the innovators of marketing mix modeling identified the need of superior quality analytics through their dispersion into different industries. Different industries that included but were not limited to the telecommunications industry, healthcare industry, and the construction industry needed refinement in the marketing mix models to offer a unique analytical focus. Today, marketers belonging to all the industries have adapted the marketing mix modeling in their attempt to balance the art and science in the planning of their business processes as well as to achieve the competitive advantage in terms of improved returns upon the analytics. Alignment of the marketing mix models with the critical needs of business enables the marketers to generate objective insights into the business hierarchy at all levels. Change in Marketing Strategies over the Product’s Life-Cycle The marketing strategies, quite understandably, vary across the length the life-cycle of a product, that basically constitutes five stages, namely development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline of the product. When the product is being introduced for the first time, the marketers have to emphasize upon its innovative features and the potential ways in which it can benefit the consumers in the advertisements so that the consumers find value in it and give it a try. Over the passage of time, marketing strategies alter and modify because similar products have been developed by other companies in this duration. The marketers might consider merging their product with another company so as to make a joint venture or they might as well consider terminating a long-held alliance to gain the consumers’ attention one more time. The product’s needs change as it ages. The way marketing strategies change over the product’s life-cycle is discussed as follows: Marketing Strategies during the Development Stage When a product is in the development stage, it may not necessarily be ready for sale and may just be an idea. The marketing mix in the development stage is in the phase of planning. Therefore, marketers in the development stage of a product research marketing methods and plan the most effective way to launch the product rather than actually implementing the strategies of marketing. In this stage, the marketing mix is directed at creating awareness among the consumers through promotional ads and marketing campaigns. A suitable example of a product in the development stage is the transparent version of Apple iPhone 5. Although its pictures are readily available on the Internet, yet many customers looking for the transparent version of Apple iPhone 5 could only get the regular version. Marketing Strategies during the Introduction Stage The product enters the introduction stage when it hits the market. Sales during this stage are usually low because not many customers are aware of the product. Marketing strategies are directed at bringing awareness among the customers during the introduction stage and accordingly, the marketing expenses are relatively higher than the development stage. The regular non-transparent version of Apple iPhone 5 is in its introduction stage. Apple is making catchy statements and promotional campaigns to ignite the spur among the customers for buying Apple iPhone 5; “Taller, thinner, brighter and lighter: Apple unveil the new iPhone 5 - 'the most beautiful thing we've ever made'” (Prigg and Wrenn, 2012). Marketing Strategies during the Growth Stage Sales of a product increase as more customers become aware of it, and the product thus reaches the growth stage. During the growth stage, the marketing tactics requires such branding of the product that helps differentiate between it and similar products available in the market. Marketers tend to impress upon the customers how using the product gives them additional benefits than other companies making similar products. During the growth stage, marketers also tend to look for external sources of funding the product. The game “Angry Birds” has reached the growth stage because people around the world are now aware of it. Marketing strategies for “Angry Bird” have been focused on incorporating the visuals of the game in one way or another in things that are used in everyday life and may not even be connected to the game in any way. Such strategies include printing the face of a character from Angry Birds game on the T-shirts, making the characters of “Angry Birds” on cakes with icing sugar, and even installing the game in the latest models of cell phones like “Nokia Asha 311”. Marketing the game this way provides the company with a way to locate external sources of funding. Marketing Strategies during the Maturity Stage A product enters the maturity stage in its lifecycle when it has gained over its competition. During the maturity stage, the marketing mix includes attempts to develop the customer loyalty. This is achieved with the help of incentives for the consumers as well as special promotions to encourage the people to switch from using the product of another brand to the marketers’ own brand. The Sony and Ericsson have terminated their alliance. Both companies have both been industry for long and have introduced numerous valuable products. Before, they have had a merger and the Sony Ericsson mobiles were the outcome of that. Some time ago, the two companies separated. “The divorce papers have been officially signed for Sony Ericsson, giving Japanese entertainment biz Sony its very own phone-making unit and Swedish company Ericsson some lovely cash” (Parnell, 2012). In addition to other purposes, one very important purpose that the breakup has served is that it has again brought both the companies in the news, and accordingly their products. Marketing Strategies during the Decline Stage A product reaches the decline stage when its market is over saturated. Marketing efforts decline when a product is in its decline stage. Companies may retain loyal customers during this stage but the marketers do not spend time and resources on attracting new customers. The marketing mix that sustains during this stage, if any, is directed at emphasizing on the products benefits to retain the loyal customers. Nokia N73 is in its decline stage. There is no marketing for this mobile phone and loyal customers can only purchase it second hand. The Importance of Co-ordination between Marketing and Other Functional Disciplines Marketing functions both as an academic discipline and as a functional area of business. There are core schools of thought in marketing’s academic discipline in which marketing is visualized either as a function or as a philosophy. When it is seen as a function, marketing is essentially described as a department just like the departments of personnel or accounting. When it is seen as a philosophy, the concept of marketing is implanted in the thought of the management. “What matters is the state of mind of the producer/seller - their philosophy of business. If this philosophy includes a concern for customers' needs and wants, an appreciation of the benefits and satisfactions which are looked for, a genuine effort to establish dialogue and build a long term relationship then this is a marketing philosophy irrespective of whether or not the organisation possesses any personnel or function designated as 'marketing.'” (Baker, 2000, p. 19). Coordination between marketing and academia is very important particularly in the present age when technological advancement is happening at a very fast pace and marketers need to identify and implement new strategies of successful marketing and business that are revealed by the ongoing research in academia. This coordination is also required to facilitate the academic research because this provides the researchers with means to apply their research on real-life case studies and draw conclusions that can in turn be employed by the marketers. Coordination between marketing and such other functional disciplines as corporate social responsibility and ethics is needed to help the marketers identify the ways in which they can do business successfully in the contemporary multicultural, diverse, and sensitive consumer society. Such coordination also helps marketers learn lessons from the real life case studies of companies that have faltered in the past because of poor marketing strategies. References: Baker, MJ 2000, Marketing Theory: A Student Text, Cengage Learning. Brooks, D 2011, Success and Failures in Marketing Mix Modeling: Maximizing the Potential of Today’s Predictive Analytics, [Online] Available at http://nymetro.chapter.informs.org/prac_cor_pubs/brooks%2011-09%20IRI-POV-MMM_FINAL121509.pdf, [accessed: 2 November 2012]. Burgers, W 2008, Marketing Revealed: Challenging the Myths, New York: Palgrave MacMillan. Parnell, B 2012, Official: Sony and Ericsson are divorced, [Online] Available at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/16/sony_ericsson_divorce_final/, [accessed: 2 November 2012]. Prigg, M, and Wrenn, E 2012, Taller, thinner, brighter and lighter: Apple unveil the new iPhone 5 - 'the most beautiful thing we've ever made' [Online] Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2202232/iPhone-5-unveiled-Apple--beautiful-thing-weve-made.html, [accessed: 2 November 2012]. Solis, B 2011, Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Read More