How Useful Is the Marketing Mix Concept in Developing Services Marketing Strategies - Essay Example

How useful is the marketing mix concept in developing services marketing strategies Introduction The term "marketing mix" was popularized after the publication of Neil H. Borden in his 1964 article, The Marketing Mix Concept. The analysis of the concept originally explained ingredients of the same as being pricing, branding, product planning, distribution channels, advertising, promotions, personal selling, packaging, physical handling, display, servicing, and fact finding as well as analysis. In the current era, marketing mix explains the combination of four P’s in the marketing world. They include Price, Promotion, Product and place (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). These four P's generally are the key parameters, which the marketing manager controls in marketing, subject to the external and internal constraints of the business-marketing environment. The goal of controlling these components is to making decisions, which center the four P's particularly on the consumers in the market to help create perceived value as well as in generating a positive response to the product or service being marketed. It is of value noting that the marketing mix concept is very useful in developing services marketing strategies for any given firm. This paper is an analysis of the relevance of the marketing mix concepts in strategizing. Marketing mix is generally an imperative concept especially in modern marketing referring academically to the set of controllable tools, which the firm blends in producing the response it desires in the target market, therefore, it consists of ideally everything the respective firm can do to eventually influence the absolute demand for its service or product (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). It is relevant to realize that any company’s marketing mix strategy can have an enormous function, which is, strategic communication of the firms with its consumers (Proctor 212). It is also in argument that marketing mix ideally provides multiple paths for firms as such communication can actually be achieved in written communications and spoken form (selling, advertising, etc.) or in other symbolic communication forms (the conveyed image in the product quality, its ideal price and the distribution type outlet chosen) (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067). All the same, the key element in the concept is that the main features of marketing mix, which will be under discussion in this paper "should not be viewed as individual entities, rather as a set of interrelated entities that have to be set in ideal conjunction particularly with one another" (Proctor 212). The easiest approach to understand the usefulness of marketing mix in developing service-marketing strategies is through its well-known synonym regarding the "4Ps of Marketing". Product is one of the 4’ps but it is not directly linked with the service though there are some relations. Simply, product includes all combinations and features of goods and other related services, which a company offers relatively to its customers (Elena, Eva and Jorge 263-286). Therefore, for a case like the Airbus product, it will include its body parts for instance the engine, seats, nut bolts, among others. This however is related to service in that it includes those after-sales services of these products (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067; Kotler & Armstrong 17-34). Many scholars have come out to argue that is it practicable omitting service-oriented companies ideally with the logic of the term "product" since the service term does not begin with a "P". Nevertheless, the better understanding is that these companies deal with the service and can use the term "service products" in explaining their use of marketing mix for developing service strategies (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). Developing marketing strategies for services is a big challenge to the respective firms. There are therefore problems we face on the marketing mix for services. A Major problem is the approach to take in designing services to satisfy the needs of customers (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067). On the same note, services are only under direct control of the providers and less frequently in distribution through intermediaries for instance package holidays, insurance among others. Service marketing also is prone to increasing promotional budget by respective organizations or at times irregular in a way that they cut the tender sum for instance Korean and Japanese contractors case. Additionally, the quality and quantity of the provided service is a problem to the organization in marketing because the limits to the same are irregular and not well known. To overcome these problems, an additional 3-Ps is implemented in the marketing mix concept. The 3-Ps is People, processes and physical evidence. These help managers in firms to design the services in a way that customer’s needs are met. The marketing mix strategies help the organizations to refine the service characteristics and in addition, strengthening the position in the market. The 3ps will help the firm determine volume, flow and timing of services and therefore avoid the compromises up coming on the quality and quantity of the service in provision. The people, one of the Ps in the marketing mix is ideal because they provide building surveying services particularly to its clients (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067). These are the personnel representing the firm therefore can help through developing a good image of the firm and therefore making it easy for marketing process. On the other hand, the physical environment is another part of the marketing mix, which is ideal in creating the atmosphere and environment where respective services are relatively performed as well as influencing the client’s judgment of respective firm. From the concept is the process. In the marketing mix, this is of value because there is an assumption that individuals do not have interest in the final product but the process. This includes procedures and policies adopted. Therefore, the process is ideal in providing the best image in service provision with providing great discretion off employees and easing the service flow. All the same, the other three P’s are directly, related to the service industry and they are the main point of discussion when it comes to the marketing mix concept and its value in services marketing strategies development (Gregory, and Carpenter 76-89). Pricing is a key concept in the service industry (Mike & Jean 845-863). Service providing firms need to know the appropriate pricing strategies for them to relate efficiently with customers and make the best out of these relations. Pricing is essentially setting a particular price for a service offered. In a simpler way, Kotler and Armstrong (17-34) address to the price concept as the amount of money, customers have to pay actually to obtain the service. In setting such a price, it is not simple for the business and there is need for marketing strategies. Normally, the strategies adopt a general principle supported by a general law that actually, a low price attracts more customers (Elena, Eva & Jorge 263-286; Paul, William and Richard 111-127). This is however not a valid argument because customers do not actually respond to the service price alone; rather they respond even to value meaning that a lower price does not essentially mean expanded sales if the service is not fulfilling the customer’s expectation (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067; Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). Pricing as a concept is useful in developing marketing strategies as it answers some important questions critical to the company. It helps to establish the value of the service to the customer therefore assumes or asses how likely the service can be consumed by the buyer (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). In this case, the firm is able to know the propensity of buying and ideally set a price depending on the same (Mike and Jean 845-863; Roland, Tim, Gregory, and Carpenter 76-89). This is what will help market the service to the customer. It also helps establish whether there are established price points for services in this area (Steve, Kim and Dominic 49-63). This is also of value in marketing strategies for the service because the firm establishes marketing with the knowledge of the market status as to whether there are competitors and if they are present, how to handle them (Stanley and & Eric 1055-1067; Kotler & Armstrong 17-34). On the same note, this concept is great because it helps know the sensitivity of the customer to a particular price of a service (Kotler and & Armstrong 17-34). In this case, it becomes better when marketing and setting strategies of marketing the service in a way that, the strategies can address such issues as the customer’s sensitivity (Mike and Jean 845-863; Proctor 212). Additionally, the pricing concept help the firm in assessing whether a small decrease in the service price gain it extra market share or not (Paul, William and Richard 111-127). Therefore, the same is of value to the strategies of marketing because the approach of what price to start with can be established as well as the progress of the same (Kotler & Armstrong 17-34). It helps to know when to increase or decrease the price in marketing the service to the potential consumer (Steve, Kim and Dominic 49-63). Pricing is also excellent for developing service-marketing strategies because it is of aid in determining the discounts, which should be in offer for a particular service to trade customers, or relatively to other particular market segments (Elena, Eva and Jorge 263-286). It is great to note that discounts are always of value in marketing and with a better way of ascertaining the fair discounts to help in marketing the business is in good position to advance and increase its average sales (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067; Kotler & Armstrong 17-34). Finally, pricing for marketing strategies will help ascertain how the prices for a particular service compare to the competitors (Roland, Tim, Gregory, and Carpenter 76-89). Therefore, the service company will be able to establish how to approach the marketing of the service in convincing the consumers over the same (Mike & Jean 845-863). Placement is the second concept, which is of value in developing service-marketing strategies. Placement under the concept of marketing mix generally involves all firm activities making the service available to the customer targeted (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). Based on the numerous factors for instance sales, contractual considerations and communications, several ways of making services available to consumer can be of use (Paul, William and Richard 111-127). Firms for instance Ferrari, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan majorly use particular dealers to ideally, make their services available, whereas firms such as Vodafone involve a chain of wholesaler retailers helping reach its consumers (Elena, Eva and Jorge 263-286). Generally, while a firm plans placement strategy under the concept of marketing mix analysis it should consider at least six different channel decisions (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). They include choosing between involving intermediaries or direct customer access, choosing multiple or single distribution channels, the length of the channel of distribution, the intermediaries’ types, the distributor numbers, and the intermediary to use particularly based on the reputation and quality (Roland, Tim, Gregory, and Carpenter 76-89). In developing service-marketing strategies, placement applies in various ways. It is one great concept that helps know where particular buyers of interest look for the service (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). It therefore means that from this point, the company can be able to strategize on where to market the service and in what intensity (Steve, Kim and Dominic 49-63). The same helps to determine what kind of places these customers seek for these services for instance stores, market places among others (Paul, William and & Richard 111-127). The firm can therefore strategize on marketing by knowing the appropriate place to do the marketing for instance, it could be a hair salon near a residential area (Stanley & Eric 1055-1067). Still on the same concept, there is a possibility of the service company determining how it can access the right channels of distribution (Paul, William and Richard 111-127). Conversely, marketing is always about reaching out to the consumer successfully with a particular medium. This means that knowing how well that message can reach the consumer is ideal for the firm (Mike and Jean 845-863). Therefore, when strategizing the marketing, the firm will be able to choose the medium appropriately (Steve, Kim and Dominic 49-63). It is from here that the service firm can question whether it needs to use sales force in the marketing, attend trade fairs for the same, or even make online submissions therefore emerging as the best in the marketing of the service (Elena, Eva and Jorge 263-286). On the same note, placement as a concept guides the firm in understanding what its major competitors do, and how the company can learn from that (Mike and Jean 845-863; Proctor 212). This is because understanding and taking note of the competitor’s placements might be the breakthrough of knowing where the firm is going wrong in marketing and what it needs to change in the future strategies (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). For instance, U.S. Airways will value to assess how virgin Atlantic handles its placement for it to succeed in such a marvelous way and make the best out of the market. Promotion also works out as a concept in marketing mix of great value in developing services marketing strategies. Promotional strategies comprise of all means through which a service firm communicates the values and benefits of its services and persuades the customers targeted to buy the same (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). The best way of understanding promotion is relatively through the marketing communication concept and the entire process (Roland, Tim, Gregory, and Carpenter 76-89). Promotion is the firm’s strategy of catering for the marketing process of communication, which requires interaction particularly between two or even more people and groups, including senders, media, messages, and receivers (Steve, Kim and Dominic 49-63). Taking for instance Nokia, the communication sender in this case is the company Nokia, the agency of advertising, or both; the respective media used can be television, newspapers, magazines, salesmen, radio, billboards, and the like (Koichi 23). The message is actually the advertisement and the destination is the consumer, in this case of mobile service users (Kotler and Armstrong 17-34). Regarding its relevance in helping develop strategies for marketing, the concept applies numerously. It is the concepts, which guides in understanding where and when the firm can get across the marketing messages to the target market (Steve, Kim and Dominic 49-63). As discussed earlier, marketing is about having the customer accept the service through the message delivered (Stanley and Eric 1055-1067). Therefore, having known the exact and precise timing of the marketing is what strategizing is about to be on time and in the right place for the best marketing of the service (Roland, Tim, Gregory and Carpenter 76-89). It is also valuable since it helps to ascertain whether it is possible to reach the targeted audience by advertising in the respective medium (Elena, Eva and & Jorge 263-286). The assessment is of value because it will help strategize alternatively what medium to use to ascertain reaching the targeted consumer of the service (Koichi). On the same note, knowing when is the best time for promotion is great and helps in marketing strategies to make sure that whatever time set for the marketing, it is the right time for succeeding to reach the respective customer with the service (Koichi 23). Similarly, it will help establish whether at some point there is seasonality in the marketing and therefore know when the season is at peak and the right time when the service is on a high demand (Steve, Kim & Dominic 49-63). Still on the same, promotion concept helps establish or evaluate whether there are any wider environmental issues, which dictate or suggest the timing of the market launch, or the subsequent promotions timing (Elena, Eva and Jorge 263-286). With the same concept, strategizing on promotions will be through evaluating the competitor’s approaches of promotion to measure whether the firm’s strategies are great and promising as the competitors do (Mike & Jean 845-863). Generally, it is all about succeeding in strategy development for service marketing strategies. Conclusion Marketing mix is generally an imperative concept in developing marketing strategies. This is especially in modern marketing referring academically to the set of controllable tools, which the firm blends in producing the response it desires in the target market. It consists of ideally everything the respective firm can do to eventually, influence the absolute demand for its service. Any company’s marketing mix strategy can have an enormous function, which is, strategic communication of the firms with its consumers and all this involves marketing. It is also in argument that marketing mix ideally provides multiple paths for firms as such communication can actually be achieved in written communications and spoken form or in other symbolic communication forms. All the same, the key element in the concept is that the main features of marketing mix should not be, viewed as individual entities, rather as a set of interrelated entities that have to be set in ideal conjunction particularly with one another. The service business is affected mostly by the three other concepts, which include promotion, place and pricing. With the three, it is possible to develop strategies for marketing in any field. Though they differ, they have some similarity all geared towards providing success in marketing by establishing the right strategies for the service firm. We can therefore conclude that the marketing mix concept has enormous use in developing services marketing strategies. Works Cited Elena, F., Eva, M., & Jorge, M. “A Multidimensional Approach to the Influence of Environmental Marketing and Orientation on the Firm's Organizational Performance” Journal of Business Ethics, 88(2) 2009, p. 263-286. Koichi, Shimizu "Advertising Theory and Strategies", 16th edition, Souseisha Book Company (Japanese) (2009), 23 Koichi Shimizu "Symbiotic Marketing Strategy", fourth Edition, Souseisha Book Company (Japanese) (2003) Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G., 'Principles of Marketing', Tenth Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc, 2004. Mike, K. & Jean, L., “Anomie and the Marketing Function: The Role of Control Mechanisms” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Dec., 2008), pp. 845-863 Paul, N., William, R., & Richard, B., “Explaining the Marketing Effort of Professional Service Providers: An Exploratory Study” Marketing Letters, 2(2) 2001, p. 111-127 Proctor, T., 'Strategic Marketing: An Introduction', London: Routledge, (2000) 212 Roland, T., Tim, A., Gregory, S., & Carpenter, V., “Measuring Marketing Productivity: Current Knowledge and Future Directions” The Journal of Marketing, 68(4) 2004, p. 76-89 Stanley, F., & Eric, M., “Marketing's Contribution to the Implementation of Business Strategy: An Empirical Analysis” Strategic Management Journal, 22(11) 2001, p. 1055-1067 Steve, B., Kim, H., & Dominic, E., “Consumer as Stakeholder in Service Crises: Perspectives from Services Marketing” Risk Management, Vol. 7, No. 2 (2005), pp. 49-63 Read More