Marketing Mix Paper

Marketing Mix

John Davis

MKT/421

April 25, 2011

Shannon Peterson

Marketing Mix

In today’s society, marketing is an important part of any organization. The controllable variables a company puts together to satisfy its target market are called a marketing mix. The marketing mix is also known as the four P’s these consist of product, place, price, and promotion. The use of the four P’s in implementing a marketing plan help insure that a marketing team has an organized marketing plan. In this paper, I will describe how my own employer, TravelCenters of America uses the four elements in the marketing mix within their business. According to (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009) The customer is not part of the marketing mix, but the customer is surrounded by the four elements that make up the marketing mix to reach out to the customer.

The four elements of the marketing mix ensure that the customer is the center of the marketing mix, and all elements involved with the mix help the company insure that the customer is satisfied. There are numerous ways to satisfy a target customer with the four P’s included in the marketing mix. TravelCenters of America is a large company that meets and exceeds many customers’ needs throughout the country the country through the use of the marketing mix. Each customer is satisfied in different ways including the product, place, price, and promotion of the given sale. A company’s goal is to sell a product to the target customer and ensure the customer is satisfied.

Established during the 1960’s as Truck Stops of America, by E. Philip Saunders, TravelCenters of America over the years has used many marketing techniques to grow their business (Spicer, 2007). Over the years, the company has merged with other truck stop companies and developed many marketing techniques to grow their business. TravelCenters of America (TA) has used the four P’s in the marketing mix to succeed at marketing their business. In 1999 TA formed an...