Integrated Marketing Mix for a Product

Marketing Strategy

Marketing is a term used to refer to the process of putting the right product, in the right place, at the right price, and at the right time. While it sounds an easy proposition, marketing is a complex process requiring a significant amount of research and work. If one of the elements of marketing goes wrong, a promising product can completely fail and end up generating losses for a company. A South African company operating in the computer industry is considering launching a new laptop and requires an effective marketing strategy. The company is considering launching a new product at a time when COVID-19 has significantly impacted people’s lives and businesses. In this regard, the success of the new product would require a comprehensive marketing strategy that caters to the existing need in the market. This paper provides an integrated marketing strategy for the company.

Part A – The Marketing Mix

The first element in the marketing mix is product, which refers to what a company or organization introduces to the target audience (Al Badi, 2015). As the first element, product affects other components of the marketing mix because of its nature and attributes. In essence, a product offered by a company to a specific audience or market differs in its features and attributes, which are also influenced by the marketing environment. Product is also defined as anything offered by a company/business to a market for attention, purchase, use, or consumption that might satisfy an existing need/want in the target market (Al Badi, 2018). The features or attributes of the product/service act as the foundation for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, businesses are faced with the need to provide high-quality products or services that align with customers’ needs and wants in order to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as a competitive advantage over rivals. A product can be a tangible item like a laptop or non-tangible like communication services.

Price is the second element of the marketing mix and refers to the amount of money the customer is willing to part with in exchange for the product/service. Price is a critical factor in the purchase decision as it is affected by the consumers’ buying power. For a business, pricing decisions are influenced by various factors including product differentiation, market share, consumers’ perceived value of the product, competitive level, and cost of materials (Al Badi, 2018). While fixing the product’s price is an increasingly complex process, it has significant impacts on the perceived need of the product and organizational productivity. There are different strategies employed when determining product prices including cost-based, demand-based, and competition-based approaches. Cost-based approaches are based on the effects of costs facing the business while demand-based approaches are influenced by the level of demand. For example, a company could lessen the pricing of a product/service when demand decreases or reduce prices by using low-cost materials. Competition-based approaches consider the pricing of relatively similar products by competitors.

The third element in the concept of the marketing mix is place, which refers to the mechanism used to move products and services from one manufacturer/provider to the consumer. Some of the components relating to place include warehousing facilities, distribution channels, location, logistics, mode of transportation, and inventory control management. Successful distribution processes ensures the availability of the product or service at the right place for ease of access by customers or end-users. Thabit & Raewf (2018) contends that a marketing strategy should ensure that products/services are readily available in the target markets. However, the business must choose whether to provide products/services to distributors or sell directly to consumers. For example, public water service agencies sell water directly to customers rather than distributors/retailers.

Promotion is a marketing mix element referring to the communication process between the customer and product/service. It entails measures employed by the business to communicate and persuade the target market regarding the product/service. During this process, the company identifies the target market’s needs for the customer to purchase the product/service. Promotion incorporates all marketing activities and processes used to inform, convince, and remind targeted consumers about the company and its products/services. It is one of the strongest elements of the marketing mix since it enables the business and sales force to show products/services to customers and persuade them to buy (Thabit & Raewf, 2018). As a result, promotion plays a key role in determining product positioning in the market. Some of the components of promotion include personal selling, advertising, public relations, and sales promotion. The most powerful component of promotion is advertising because it plays a major role in developing the image of the product/service in the market and influences how it is perceived.

Part B – Integrated Marketing Mix

COVID-19 has had significant impacts on people’s lives and businesses across the globe. The spread of the virus has slowed down business activities and resulted in the closure of some business organizations in different parts of the world. However, the global pandemic has also created business opportunities for others. Schools and universities globally have been forced to shut down in efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It is estimated that more than 1.2 billion children are out of the classrooms across the globe (Li & Lalani, 2020). This has resulted in dramatic changes in the field of education, which is reflected in the distinctive rise and growth of e-learning. Teaching and learning are currently undertaken remotely and on digital platforms as existing studies show that e-learning increases retention of learning and lessens the time it takes to learn. Therefore, researchers contend that e-learning is here to stay even in the aftermath of this global pandemic.

The rise of e-learning provides a business opportunity for the South African company to capitalize on. Educational technology and online tutoring is a suitable opportunity in the market for this company. As a result, the launch of a new laptop that meets the needs of learners in the e-learning platforms would be beneficial for the company. As previously indicated, the launch of this new product, especially at a time when global economies have been hit hard, requires a successful marketing strategy. The marketing strategy should incorporate the four major elements of the marketing mix, which is primarily a means of translating marketing planning into practice. As shown in the above discussion, the marketing mix comprises four elements, which are critical in the company’s integrated marketing mix.

The South African company will introduce a new laptop in the market to help meet the existing need for an e-learning platform. The new laptop will serve as educational technology and online learning tool for students in high school and colleges/universities. It will meet the minimum computer requirements to support e-learning imposed by Course/Content Management System (CMS) or Learning Management System (eLearning NC, 2020). The new laptop will be a 15-inch, black Pentium IV laptop with a 2.8 GHz processor (Intel Core i5). It will support Windows 7, 8, and 10 operating systems and 4 GB of RAM. Since the laptop will be utilized for delivery of course materials, it will have 256 GB SSD of hard disk space. The use of SSD storage space, 2.8 GHz processor, and 8 GB of RAM is to support faster-processing speed and high-speed connection to the Internet. It will also include a webcam, stereo sound card, headset with microphones, and a graphics card and monitor capable of 1920x1080 display. This new product is designed to support basic computer usage for students at faster processing speeds as well as high-speed internet connectivity for better learning experiences.

A competition-based approach will be utilized for the product’s pricing because of the existence of many substitutes in the market. In this regard, the new laptop will cost $500, which would help generate demand for it while promoting organizational profitability. Most of the existing substitute products in the market use HDD internal storage space, which is relatively slower. This product supports faster processing speeds at an affordable price, which will help generate a competitive advantage for the South African company.

Given the availability of potential substitute products and intense competition in the market, the place strategy to be employed for this new laptop is using distribution channels. Distribution channels will be used to promote, sell, and distribute the new laptop to final buyers or end-users. Direct selling to the customer and distributors will be used as part of a dual distribution channel to enhance product availability to consumers. Customers can directly purchase the product online or in retail shops. The use of multiple channels for distribution will be beneficial for the company since it enhances product reach and is a significant aspect of marketing personal computers (Chu, Chintagunta & Vilcassim, 2007).