Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix is a framework which helps to structure the approach to each exchange infrastructure of goods and services. The term marketing mix originated from Neil H. Borden in 1964 as a means of portraying the marketing manager as a mixer of product planning, branding, distribution channels, pricing, physical handling fact finding and analysis, promotions, advertising, display, servicing, packaging, display, and personal selling (The Marketing Mix (The 4 P's of Marketing), 2010). Also referred to as the 4 P’s of Marketing, the marketing mix provides that marketing decisions made by managers will generally fall into the four controllable categories: Product, Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion.

Product refers to the tangible, physical products or services offered to your customer. Product decisions are based on physical attributes, what they do, how they differ from competitors, and what benefits they provide. These decisions can refer to brand name, styling, quality, and safety to name a few.

Price is how a product or service is priced so that it remains competitive but allows the organization to make a profit. These decisions can be based on pricing strategy, price discrimination, suggested retail price, and bundling to name a few.

Place (distribution) is Where products or services are sold and how an organization gets those products or services customers. Place decisions consist of logistics, channel motivation and members, market coverage, service levels, Internet, and mobile.

Promotion is the methods used to communicate the features and benefits products or services to target customers. Promotion decisions include budget, media, sales, direct sales, message, public relations, and advertising.

There is no one, single, perfect marketing mix, as there is an infinite amount of combinations possible. By blending these four variables in an optimal way, marketing managers can maximize organizational performance through the generating of...