Define Marketing Mix

And Include in Definition Marketing Strategy

Every marketing plan needs to clearly define marketing mix for its products or services. What is marketing mix? Why is it so critical to your plan? Mix is used to build strategies, programs and action plan examples and tactics. (This is page 2 of 2 on marketing mix.)

Search This Site

Custom Search

Understanding the importance that mix has in the definition marketing strategy will help you build a stronger and more successful marketing program. Define marketing mix means that you need to define each element - product, price, promotion and place - and define how you can create strategies and action plans to successfully market your products or services.

What is Marketing Mix? The 4 Ps of Marketing Mix:

These 2 Ps are Promotion and Place/Distribution (Product and Price are discussed on Page 1 of 2).

1. Promotion:

Promotion includes a number of marketing tactics focused on communicating with your market. Ensure that all your communications cover the most important aspects of your product: the who, what, where, when, how and why buy story.

Build a strong and consistent product identity and brand that you use regularly throughout all of your marketing communications. Communicate through a variety of tactics – it doesn’t have to be all the tactics listed here but do try to use several communication tactics for a broader and deeper reach.

• Consider direct mail targeted specifically to your market.

• Consider digital media and/or online marketing, particularly if your target market shops online (e.g. buy advertisements through the big name search engines).

• Consider traditional media advertising – print, radio, television. And also consider non-traditional media – how about a car wrap? This is an image or graphic that is created to wrap a car in advertising – if you sell primarily to a local market this is a great way to get your name out there (please go to the professionals to do this). You can also pay a monthly fee to put the graphic on other non-company vehicles.

• Consider building your brand and communicating by building a strong public relations program: talk to your industry’s media, participate in your local community; have your business sponsor or participate in charity events – please do not do this cynically – yes, you can raise your profile but the primary focus should be on doing good in this category of communications.

• Attend industry (and non industry if there is a relationship) trade shows – but only participate with a trade booth if you can put together a strong show and tell with great images, take-aways and a good story to tell. Consider partnering with a non-competing business at the trade show and share the costs – this can be expensive. Participate in a show with measurable goals – you want 200 new leads; you want 30 sales by the end of the weekend; and so on.

• Put together printed materials: point of purchase displays, catalogs, brochures, business cards, letterheads, folders and all the other materials necessary to communicate with your market.

  Make sure that your printed materials reflect the value of your product. In other words, if you have a low cost, low price product a basic print program will be fine; however if you are trying to sell a high cost, high price and high value product your print program (and for that matter, the entire promotions program) needs to reflect that value – or customers will have a hard time buying the brand value.

• Promotion also includes your selling activities: business to business selling and business to consumer selling will need to be considered separately. You need to build a good sales story for your sales effort and staff. Connect the products' features and advantages to the benefits for customers. Ensure that customers clearly understand the benefit and the solution you bring to them.

Define marketing mix for promotion that fits with the overall mix strategies, objectives and tactics.

2. Place

Place describes the how and the where of taking your product to market. In the place segment of marketing mix you need to make decisions about which distribution channel you will use.

• Will you sell business to business; such as a manufacturer selling to a distributor or a manufacturer selling to another manufacturer?

• Will you sell business to consumer: such as a retailer to a consumer?

• Will you sell your products with your own sales force or will you contract the sale of your products out to agents or distributors?

• Will you set up multiple locations? Will there be a main warehouse or localized inventory at stores? What kind of inventory level do you need to support your sales plan?

• Will you sell online – some or all of your products?

• How does your target market geography affect your distribution or place decisions?

These are all questions that must be carefully and thoughtfully answered before you decide your place marketing mix strategies.

And to define marketing mix and build a stronger program, analyze action plan examples for mix from other industries to ensure that you are on the right track in the definition of marketing strategy.)

Define Marketing Mix:

The Four P's of your marketing mix are the foundation of your marketing plan.

Strategy can be challenging and time consuming to develop and create. Marketing plan development must include the strategy and objectives you need to handle the product, price, promotion, and place elements of your marketing mix.

For a new product to succeed and to achieve planned sales results, small business owners must understand how to define marketing mix in the context of the definition marketing strategy plan. And then they must build a strong marketing mix program using action plan examples and tactics (for without action plans, the mix elements will not be effective).

Note: Marketing services is the same, but different, than marketing products. Marketing services extends the 4 Ps of Marketing, to the 7 Ps of Marketing.

More-For-Small-Business Newsletter:
Subscribe here for timely small business information, resources and advice.

Read More:

Marketing Mix - Page 1 of 2

Or Return from Define Marketing Mix to Definition of Marketing.

Or Return from Define Marketing Mix to More For Small Business.