UNDERSTANDING MARKETING- THE MARKETING MIX

ARE YOU INTO BUSINESS?


The Marketing Mix 

There are seven parts of the marketing mix that you must continually think about and revise in the face of fast-changing market conditions.

1. Product/Service – what exactly do you sell? What exactly does it do to improve the life or work of your customers? Is this the right product for you, and for your market, at this time?

2. Price – how much do you charge, and how do you charge it? Could there be a better way to price and charge for your products?

3. Promotion – these are your methods of marketing, advertising and selling. What revisions do you need to make in your promotional activities to increase the sales of your products or services?

4. Place – where exactly do you sell and deliver your product? Could there be a better place?

5. Process - The process part of the mix is about being ‘easy to do business with’. If you’ve ever  become frustrated at call centres that can’t answer your questions, or annoyed when  you can’t buy something in a shop because the computerised till doesn’t recognise  that it exists, even when you can see it on the shelves, you’ll know how important this  element can be. 

6. Physical Evidence - When you sell tangible goods, you can offer your customer the chance to ‘try before 

they buy’, or at least see, touch or smell. With services, unless you offer a free trial,  your customer will often be buying on trust. And to help them do so you need to  provide as much evidence of the quality you will be providing as possible.  So physical evidence refers to all the tangible, visible touchpoints that your customer  will encounter before they buy, from your reception area and signage, to your staff’s  clothing and they images you include in you corporate brochure. 

7. People – who are the key people in your business who deal with customers? Who are your key salespeople? Who are your key service people? The fact is that people do not buy products or services; they buy the people who sell those products or services. Sometimes, one change in your key people can change your entire business.