The marketing mix and its role in business success

Marketing Mix in Successful Business

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Business, marketing is defined as "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, products, and services to create exchanges that will satisfy the needs of individuals and organizations." (Dictionary of Business) The marketing of a product concerns itself with such responsibilities as foreseeing changes in the demand for the product, promotion of the product, quality assurance, accessibility, and the price of the product must also accommodate the needs of the market. (Dictionary of Business)

Marketing is a quintessential part of the business world and crucial to the success of any firm.

For the purposes of this discussion we will explore the four parameters of the marketing mix. We will also investigate the various methodologies of marketing. Finally we will provide the results and conclusions drawn from the research.

The Marketing Mix

The marketing mix contains the dynamics controlled by a firm, which persuade a consumers' purchasing choices. The four parameters of the marketing mix include: the product, placement, pricing and promotion. The product concerns itself with the packaging and quality. Pricing entails providing the recommended retail price, and credit terms to consumers. Promotion and placement has to do with where the product is sold and who distributes and transports that product. Marketing Research can determine the possible profitability of any marketing mix and its suitability to its market. (Dictionary of Business)

In addition to the aforementioned marketing mix consisting of product, pricing, placement, and promotion. There is also the extended marketing mix, which is composed of, physical evidence, process and people. The physical evidence of the extended marketing mix is defined as the tangible elements of a service that enable consumers to evaluate it. The process is an assessment of the complete experience offered by the service or product to make certain that all the elements function efficiently simultaneously. Finally, the people aspect of the extended mix involves the assessment of the workforce, which provides the service or product. (Dictionary of Business)

Methodologies

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is selling products or services by communicating directly with consumers rather than going through retailers. Some methods of direct marketing are mail order house, cold calling, direct mail, telephone advertising, door-to-door and email promotions. In addition some other popular strategies are telemarketing, TV advertising, and online shopping. (Dictionary of Business)

The mail order house strategy involves a firm that specializes in selling goods directly to customers by mail. Orders are taken from a catalogue, which contains pictures and other specifications supplied by the firm that launches the catalogue. This type of marketing allows these firms to have competitive prices because the costs associated with selling are very low. (Dictionary of Business)

Another form of direct marketing is direct mail selling. Utilizing this method firms mail sales literature or other promotional material directly to selected potential consumers. In this case the seller may be the manufacturer of the products or a company that specializes in this form of marketing. (Dictionary of Business)

The cold calling method of direct marketing involves selling a product or service through a sales representative who makes calls, door-to-door, by mail, or by telephone. These calls are made to people who have not shown any interest the product or service. Companies often use cold calling because the expense of maintaining a sales force is high and firms would rather that representatives make calls to individuals that will be potential purchasers. However, when firms want to attract new customers, the sales representative must call a large number of people who may not be interested in the product or service that the firm is offering. The purpose of this strategy is to establish a positive rapport with the customer allowing the salesperson to describe the business or service that is being sold. (Dictionary of Business)

In addition to the aforementioned strategies, telephone selling is also a method of direct marketing. Through this method the telephone is used to call prospective consumers this method is used in an effort to reduce the time consuming tasks of making personal visits to potential customers. The dictionary of business writes that, "certain products, such as double glazing and central heating, are frequently marketed using this technique. Orders may be taken over the phone, or arrangements are made for sales representatives to visit interested clients." (Dictionary of Business)

Finally, in recent years email has become a popular form of direct marketing for American Advertisers. Statistics show that, 54.2% of e-mail marketers used HTML format direct e-mail in the forth quarter of 2001 an increase of 34% in 2000. According to the magazine Telecomworldwide newsletters and e-zines were used by 20.8% of advertisers and text format direct e-mails were used by 16.7% of American advertisers. Fifty Seven percent of the email marketing campaigns in the fourth quarter of 2001 were for retail and consumer firms. ("New eMarketer Research Looks at e-mail Marketing Methods")

Quantitative Marketing Research

Quantitative Marketing research techniques use large samples of respondents to quantify behavior and reactions to marketing activities. Unlike qualitative strategies, a structured questionnaire is used to gather data that calculates the numbers and proportions of respondents falling into each predetermined category. Quantitative marketing research would reveal how many people per thousand of a population buy a certain product. (Dictionary of Business)

Internet market research is a form of quantitative research. According to the Bobbin Group, "conducting marketing research over the Internet offers some widely accepted advantages over other quantitative data collection options." In addition the article reports that, "It's far less expensive than either mail or telephone surveys. And results can be available much raster - literally overnight -- rather than in weeks or months." ("Using The Web")

Multiple Market Segmentation

Multiple market segmentation is a Marketing method that provides provisions e to meet the special needs of certain consumers. Multiple market segmentation can also involve a marketing exercise in which the marketer selects more than one target market and then creates a separate marketing mix for each market. (Dictionary of Business)

The differentiation strategy for each target market involves the marketer presenting "a product that is unique in the industry, provides a distinct advantage, or is otherwise set apart from competitors' brands in some way other than price." (Dictionary of Business)

There are several ways in which businesses can segment the market. Demographics are the most popular for of segmentation and include characteristics such as age, gender, income, and race. Geographic segmentation divides the market based on the location of the market. Graphic Arts Monthly reports that, "Psychographic segmentation dissects the market by social class, lifestyle descriptors, and personality traits. User benefits classify segments by what consumers deem most important about the product, i.e. quality, service, speed, price, and other factors."(Cross) The final form of market segmentation is product usage, which defines segments as standard users, possible users, nonusers, former-users, and new users. (Cross)

Business-to-Business Marketing

Business-to-business Marketing is used to sell a product for any use other than personal consumption. The buyer of the product may be a manufacturer, a reseller, a government body, a non-profit-making institution, or any organization other than an ultimate consumer. (Dictionary of Business)

Globalization Strategy

Globalization is a marketing method that allows products and services to be standardized for use around the world. The globalization strategy supposes that the purchasing behaviors of consumers around the world have become identical. It holds that the members of various market segments want similar features and purchase products for the same reasons. It also predicts that the cost savings gained from production and marketing on worldwide will offset the lower sales that may be realized because the product has not been modified for the local markets. One aspect of the globalization strategy is to utilize these economies of scale to sustain the creation of new products. (Dictionary of Business)

Positioning Method

The positioning method is a marketing method that works by positioning a firm's products and services against those of its competitors. There are four competitive strategies that companies' usually adhere to in an effort to achieve success using the positioning method. The three strategies that have proven effective are: cost leadership during which the firm attempts to have lowest costs of production and distribution; The second strategy is differentiation which utilizes different marketing mixes; The third of the winning strategies involves focus which concerns paying attention to a few market segments. The strategy that has been proven to be ineffective is the middle-of-the-road path. (Dictionary of Business)

Results and Conclusions

As a result of this investigation we have found that marketing is indeed a quintessential part of the business world and crucial to the success of any firm. We have explored the four parameters of marketing, which include price, placement, product and promotion. We found that these parameters are the foundation for any marketing strategy and that understanding the dynamics of the parameters can aid a company in the effective marketing of a product. In addition, we have found that there are several methodologies that can be used to market a product or service. Some of these methods, such as cold calling and telephone selling, have been tested and proven to be effective while others such as Internet marketing and email advertising must still prove there worth.