marketing mix essay pdf

Visualizing Marketing pp 3–7 Cite as

Marketing and Marketing Mix

• S. Umit Kucuk 2  
• First Online: 08 December 2016

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This chapter discusses the definition of marketing as a social science and the role played by the marketing-mix elements in a successful business. The function of marketing and the role of each element in the mix are explored from both social and normative science perspectives.

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Dev, C. S., & Schultz, D. E. (2005). In the mix: A customer-focused approach can bring the current marketing mix into the 21st century. Marketing Management , 14 (1), 16–22.

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Kucuk, S.U. (2017). Marketing and Marketing Mix. In: Visualizing Marketing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48027-5_2

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1.2 The Marketing Mix and the 4Ps of Marketing

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• 1 Define and describe the marketing mix.
• 2 List and explain the 4Ps of marketing.

Marketing Mix Defined

Having a great product or service is just the first step in establishing a successful business or building a successful brand. The best product or service in the world won’t translate to profits unless people know about it. How do you reach customers and help them connect with your product? That’s the role of the marketing mix.

The marketing mix is commonly referred to as the tactics a company can use to promote its products or services in the market in order to influence consumers to buy. The marketing mix is also known as the 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion (see Figure 1.4 ). Let’s look more closely.

• The product is the good or service that the company provides.
• The price is what the consumer pays in exchange for the product.
• The place is where the product is purchased.
• Promotion is comprised of advertising, sales, and other communication efforts the company utilizes to attract the customer.

The 4Ps of Marketing

To this point, we’ve been talking marketing in somewhat of an abstract manner. Instead of continuing with a theoretical discussion of the marketing mix and the 4Ps of marketing, we’re going to approach these topics using an example of a product you probably already own—a backpack. Let’s get started.

Remember: product refers to a good or service that a company offers to its customers. Let’s consider a product that many of you likely own as a college student: a backpack (see Figure 1.5 ).

In terms of the first of the 4Ps, marketing analyzes the needs of consumers who buy backpacks and decides if they want more and/or different bags. For example, marketing will analyze what features consumers want in the bag. Do they want a water bottle pocket, padded shoulder straps, reflective tape, a padded laptop sleeve, or organizer pockets? Think about your own bag for a moment: Why did you buy this particular product? What features did it have that made it appealing to you?

Armed with market research knowledge, marketing then attempts to predict what types of backpacks different consumers will want and which of these consumers they will try to satisfy. For example, are you selling bags to adults for their children’s use? Are you selling them to young adults who might want more (or different) graphics on the bag? Are you selling to adults who will use these bags for work or for school?

Marketing will then estimate how many of these consumers will purchase backpacks over the next several years and how many bags they’ll likely purchase. Marketing will also estimate how many competitors will be producing backpacks, how many they’ll produce, and what types.

Price is the amount consumers pay for a product or service. There’s a delicate balance here. On one hand, marketers must link the price to the product’s real or perceived benefits while at the same time taking into consideration factors like production costs, seasonal and distributor discounts, and pricing product lines and different models within the line.

Marketers attempt to estimate how much consumers are willing to pay for the backpack and—perhaps more importantly—if the company can make a profit selling at that price. Pricing products or services can be both an art and a science. In the case of our backpack example, the company wants to determine two things:

• What’s the minimum price that the company can charge for the backpack and still make a profit?
• What’s the maximum price that the company can charge for the backpack without losing customers?

The “correct” answer usually lies somewhere in between those points on the price continuum.

Promotion includes advertising, public relations, and many other promotional strategies, including television and print advertisements, internet and social media advertising, and trade shows. A company’s promotional efforts must increase awareness of the product and articulate the reasons why customers should purchase their product. Remember: the goal of any promotional activity is to reach the “right” consumers at the right time and the right place.

In terms of our backpack example, marketing now needs to decide which kinds of promotional strategies should be used to tell potential customers about the company’s backpacks. For instance, should you use TV advertisements to make customers aware of the backpack? If so, you’ll want to run your commercials during programs that your target audience watches. For example, if you’re selling backpacks to children (or trying to entice them to badger their parents to purchase them), children’s cartoons may be the most cost-effective avenue to reach your target market. If your backpacks are designed for work or school, you’ll likely decide to advertise on television programs that target younger adults.

Link to Learning

Netflix, jansport, and stranger things.

A real-world promotional example is the recent brand partnership between Netflix and JanSport , the backpack company. These two companies collaborated on a Stranger Things –branded backpack with the launch of the fourth season of Stranger Things in 2022. This collaboration created five Hawkins-inspired backpacks centered on various Stranger Things themes. Read more about this promotion and see the backpacks here .

Perhaps you’ll decide to run magazine print ads. If so, you’ll need to decide in which magazines you’ll place the ads. Most magazines have a very specific readership demographic consisting of factors such as age, gender, and interests. If you’re going to advertise those backpacks with print ads, you’ll want to leverage readership demographics to ensure that your message is being seen by the right consumers—those who are most likely to buy your backpacks. 18

What about internet advertising? Internet advertising (sometimes known as online advertising or digital advertising) is a promotional strategy in which the company utilizes the internet as a medium to deliver its marketing messages. If you’re going to go the digital route, what types of internet advertising will you use? Search engine marketing? Email marketing? Social media ads? TikTok videos?

Place considerations focus on how and where to deliver the product to the consumer most likely to buy it. Where did you buy your backpack? Did you buy it in a big box store, online, in an office products store, or perhaps even the school bookstore? Once again, through market research, marketers determine where potential customers will be and how to get the company’s backpacks to them.

One important factor to note about the importance of place in the marketing mix is that it doesn’t refer to the location of the company itself but rather to the location of the customers or potential customers. Place deals with strategies the marketer can employ to get those backpacks from their present location—a warehouse, for example—to the location of the customers.

Knowledge Check

It’s time to check your knowledge on the concepts presented in this section. Refer to the Answer Key at the end of the book for feedback.

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7Ps of the Marketing Mix

A marketing strategy is a company’s battle plan in the struggle of market competition. However, its task is in effect to outline the way the company plans to act in the market, which is made in a general way. To realize the marketing strategy, a company develops a marketing mix, which is a set of marketing tools used to influence the demand for the product (Kotler et al 2008, p.49). The first formula of the marketing mix included four elements, so-called 4Ps, which were: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Gradually the notion of the marketing mix has been extended to 7Ps by adding such elements as Processes, Physical Evidence, ad People (Schneider & Bowen 1998, p. 213).

Product is a service produced by the company; it can be tangible or intangible, produced on a large scale or individually. Each product has its life cycle, which includes the stages of development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline (Kurtz, MacKenzie & Snow 2009, p.341). Each of the stages requires specific marketing decisions. Another important point is a product’s competitive advantage, which also defines the product’s marketing: it helps to expand the company’s market segment and to increase the price.

Price is not simply the cost of the product for the buyer; it is a point of communication between the producer and the customer. Price defines the product’s position in the market, informing the client about its quality and originality. Depending on a good’s parameters and the life cycle stage, different pricing strategies can be used (Bangs 2002, p. 72): premium pricing (high quality or unique products), penetration pricing (lowering the price when entering the market), economy pricing, and price skimming (the product is new or has a strong competitive advantage). There are also some alternative approaches, such as psychological pricing ($99 instead of $100), optional product pricing (setting price for the additional services), etc (Armstrong et al 2009, p. 328).

The element of Place outlines the approach of the product’s distribution and includes the distribution chain which delivers the product from the manufacturer to the customer (Kotler et al 2008, p. 50). The product can be sold directly to the customer or the dealer; the shop can be physical or virtual. The place is defined according to the peculiarities of the product sold.

Promotion is a set of tools that help to communicate to the client, which is to attract his attention, provide information about the product, and stimulate the decision to buy. The company can use such tools as direct selling, personal selling, public relations, advertising, sponsorship, etc. As a rule, they are used in complex (p.51).

Schneider and Bowen emphasize the meaning of the last 3Ps: these factors help to overgrow the marketing of products and services and embrace marketing of the whole organization with its attributes, such as people, tangibles, etc. (1998, p. 213).

The component of People includes the company’s staff with its skills and knowledge. The staff which has appropriate interpersonal skills and attitude to the work, as well as the professional competence, creates an additional competitive advantage, becoming a face of the company.

Processes also make the company competitive, increasing the customers’ loyalty. They include efficient service delivery which meets the needs and requirements of the clients, for ex., preparing a burger the way a client wants (Strydom 2005, p. 196).

Physical Evidence implies taking care of the services’ performance which influences the judgments about the company. Providing a clean environment of the restaurant or comfortable accommodation for the college students, as well as the website and brochures about the company’s service or a logo at the ticket, are examples of this element (Strydom 2004, p. 197).

Some attempts to extend 7Ps to 9Ps take place (Dacko 2008, p. 335); however, the additional elements are disputable: for example, Packaging can be considered a separate element or be included in the category of the Product, and Professionalism can be combined with People.

• Armstrong, G et al 2009, Marketing: an introduction. Harlow, England, Financial Times Prentice Hall.
• Bangs, DH 2002, The market planning guide: creating a plan to successfully market your business, product, or service. Chicago, Dearborn Trade Pub.
• Dacko, SG 2008, The advanced dictionary of marketing: putting theory to use. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press.
• Kotler, P et al 2008, Principles of marketing. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson Prentice Hall.
• Kurtz, DL, MacKenzie, HF & Snow, K 2009, Contemporary marketing. Toronto, Nelson Education.
• Schneider, B & Bowen, DE 1998, Winning the service game. Boston, Mass., Harvard Business School Press.
• Strydom, J 2004, Introduction to marketing. Lansdowne, Cape Town, S.A., Juta.

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The pop superstar’s latest album was preceded by a satellite radio channel, a word game, a return to TikTok and an actual library. For her fans, more is always welcome.

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Taylor Swift was already the most ubiquitous pop star in the galaxy, her presence dominating the music charts, the concert calendar, the Super Bowl, the Grammys.

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In the days leading up to the release of “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, Swift became all but inescapable, online and seemingly everywhere else. Her lyrics were the basis for an Apple Music word game . A Spotify-sponsored, Swift-branded “ library installation ,” in muted pink and gray, popped up in a shopping complex in Los Angeles. In Chicago, a QR code painted on a brick wall directed fans to another Easter egg on YouTube. Videos on Swift’s social media accounts, showing antique typewriters and globes with pins, were dissected for clues about her music. SiriusXM added a Swift radio station; of course it’s called Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version).

About the only thing Swift didn’t do was an interview with a journalist.

At this stage in Swift’s career, an album release is more than just a moment to sell music; it’s all but a given that “The Tortured Poets Department” will open with gigantic sales numbers, many of them for “ghost white,” “phantom clear” and other collector-ready vinyl variants . More than that, the album’s arrival is a test of the celebrity-industrial complex overall, with tech platforms and media outlets racing to capture whatever piece of the fan frenzy they can get.

Threads, the newish social media platform from Meta, primed Swifties for their idol’s arrival there, and offered fans who shared Swift’s first Threads post a custom badge. Swift stunned the music industry last week by breaking ranks with her record label, Universal, and returning her music to TikTok, which Universal and other industry groups have said pays far too little in royalties. Overnight, TikTok unveiled “The Ultimate Taylor Swift In-App Experience,” offering fans digital goodies like a “Tortured Poets-inspired animation” on their feed.

Before the album’s release on Friday, Swift revealed that a music video — for “Fortnight,” the first single, featuring Post Malone — would arrive on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. At 2 a.m., she had another surprise: 15 more songs. “I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you,” she wrote in a social media post , bringing “The Anthology” edition of the album to 31 tracks.

“The Tortured Poets Department,” which Swift, 34, announced in a Grammy acceptance speech in February — she had the Instagram post ready to go — lands as Swift’s profile continues to rise to ever-higher levels of cultural saturation.

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“The Tortured Poets Department” — don’t even ask about the missing apostrophe — arrived accompanied by a poem written by Stevie Nicks that begins, “He was in love with her/Or at least she thought so.” That establishes what many fans correctly anticipated as the album’s theme of heartbreak and relationship rot, Swift’s signature topic. “I love you/It’s ruining my life,” she sings on “Fortnight.”

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The album’s title song starts with a classic Swift detail of a memento from a lost love: “You left your typewriter at my apartment/Straight from the tortured poets department.” It also name-drops Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith and, somewhat surprisingly given that company, Charlie Puth, the singer-songwriter who crooned the hook on Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” a No. 1 hit in 2015. (Swift has praised Wiz Khalifa and that song in the past.)

Other big moments include “Florida!!!,” featuring Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, in which Swift declares — after seven big percussive bangs — that the state “is one hell of a drug.” Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, the producers and songwriters who have been Swift’s primary collaborators in recent years, both worked on “Tortured Poets,” bringing their signature mix of moody, pulsating electronic tracks and delicate acoustic moments, like a bare piano on “Loml” (as in “love of my life”).

As the ninth LP Swift has released in five years, “Tortured Poets” is the latest entry in a remarkable creative streak. That includes five new studio albums and four rerecordings of her old music — each of which sailed to No. 1. When Swift played SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles in August, she spoke from the stage about her recording spurt, saying that the forced break from touring during the Covid-19 pandemic had spurred her to connect with fans by releasing more music.

“And so I decided, in order to keep that connection going,” she said , “if I couldn’t play live shows with you, I was going to make and release as many albums as humanly possible.”

That was two albums ago.

Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. More about Ben Sisario

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history  by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards .

‘The T ortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name , weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think ?  

In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex  at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship .

Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram . The singer, who some believe has enough influence  to affect the result of the election , has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated , largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump . The pop star's fans are shaking them off .