The Marketing Mix

1
The Marketing Mix

• Product
• People buy products that satisfy their needs,
  while firms sell products to increase their
  profits. The product therefore is the means by
  which a firms objectives a customers needs
  are matched.
• The product is not just the physical item being
  sold, but also the extras that go along with it
  when bought, e.g. the after-sales service,
  guarantees, maintenance contracts free phone
  help-lines
• It is often these extras which convince people
  to buy a particular product rather than a similar
  one.

2
Product

• Design
• A product must work as it is meant to do. In
  addition is must look good, project a good image
  have an appealing shape, size colour. It
  must be easy to use transport store.
• These are all important factors to be taken into
  a account if you want to have a saleable product.
• Product Positioning
• Products must be positioned in relation to
  competing products in the target market. To
  position a product means to highlight the
  differences similarities between the firms
  product competing products.

3
Product

• Packaging
• This is an essential element in the marketing mix
  for any consumer product.
• It keeps the product safe
• It preserves the quality of the product until it
  is ready to be used
• It provides information about the contents
• Packaging helps to market the product by making
  it attractive to buy
• Packaging helps to bring the product to new
  markets, e.g. draught beer in cans or wine in
  stay-fresh cartons

4
Product

• Branding
• A brand is a name, symbol, or design that
  identifies the goods or services of a company
  distinguishes them from those of competitors.
• Think of the strength importance to a firm of
  brand names such as Guinness, Coca-Cola, Nescafe,
  Kelloggs etc.
• Brand names can be registered to protect the
  owner so that no other firm can use that names.

5
Product

• Branding helps customers to identify a particular
  suppliers goods creates maintains their
  confidence in the performance of the brand
• Brand loyalty is the extent to which customers
  buy a particular brand of product in preference
  to similar brand
• Brands can range from the generic or own brands
  used by supermarkets (St Bernard Dunnes
  Stores,) through to global brands (e.g.
  McDonalds, Nike) that are recognised worldwide.

6
Product

• Advantages of branding
• Customers recognise the product or business can
  easily distinguish it from that of competitors
• It promotes customer loyalty increased sales
  profits
• It is easier to launch a new product on the
  market if it has a brand name
• The customer is assured that the branded product
  is of good quality

7
Price

• Price is an important element in a purchasing
  decision, because the demand for products or
  services is influenced by price. Price affects
  sales volume the amount of profit of companies.
• A balance has to be arrived at between setting a
  price that will cover costs earn a satisfactory
  profit, while at the same time being attractive
  to consumers
• Therefore great care must be taken when deciding
  on the price to charge

8
Price

• Key determinants of price
• Market structure
• Economic conditions
• Competitive behaviour
• The product itself
• Customers
• Goals of the seller
• Legal restrictions
• Distribution channels
• Exchange rates

9
Price

• Pricing Methods
• Cost-plus pricing
• Psychological pricing
• Competitive pricing
• Market-skimming pricing
• Market-penetration pricing
• Tactical pricing
• Break even approach

10
Promotion

• Promotion refers to all the ways used by a firm
  to communicate with the public about their
  product in order to increase sales
• Promotion not only includes advertising, but also
  sales promotion public relations. It can also
  include the packaging, merchandising personal
  selling of the product.
• The various ways of promotion are combined into a
  promotional mix that best suits the product being
  sold

11
Promotion

• The type of product. Cheap consumer products are
  promoted mainly be advertising. Expensive
  industrial products need personal selling
• The product life cycle. Sales promotion is used
  a great deal at the start of the product life
  cycle. Advertising is used more a the mature
  stage.
• The type of market the product is aimed at.
  Goods sold to consumers are advertised widely in
  newspapers magazines, while specialised
  industrial products are not
• The budget available. This will decide the
  overall techniques. I.e. you may be limited to
  placing flyers on car windscreens!!

12
Promotion

• So its important to remember that the way in
  which a product is promoted depends on
• Product
• Market
• Budget
• Position on the life cycle
• Advertising
• Advertising is the communication of information
  about a product of service in order to initiate,
  maintain or increase sales

13
Promotion

• Advertising aims to inform, persuade increase
  sales. Advertising is different from other
  promotional techniques in that it uses media
  rather than people to carry its message that
  message is directed at a large number of people.
• Types of Advertising
• Informative advertising - is designed to give
  factual information about a product. Examples??
• Persuasive advertising - is designed to persuade
  people that they cannot live with a product.
  They are usually non essential items. Examples??

14
Promotion

• Competitive advertising is designed to convince
  customers that one product is better than
  another. This is often used when there are a
  number of similar products on the market.
  Examples??
• Generic advertising is designed to promote a
  product type rather than a particular brand.
  Examples??
• Reminder advertising is designed to keep the
  public aware of a familiar product

15
Promotion

• Functions of advertising
• It gives information about the product or service
• It creates awareness of new products services
• It creates confidence in the product a desire
  to buy it
• It attempts to increase sales market share by
  persuading people to buy the firms products
  rather than competitors products
• It reminds customers about the product keeps
  them thinking about it

16
Promotion

• Sales promotion refers to all forms of promoting
  a product or service other than direct
  advertising or personal selling.
• Examples
• Free trial samples
• Money-off packs
• 2 for the price of 1 offers
• In-store demonstrations etc
• It usually only lasts for short periods
  products are often promoted directly to the
  consumer

17
Promotion

• Public Relations
• Public relations involves establishing
  maintaining a good public image for a firm and
  its products
• Companies employ a public relations officer (PRO)
  
• To deal with the media
• To provide information about the company
• To represent the company at press conferences
• To ensure favourable comments are made in the
  media
• To defend the reputation of the company in a
  crisis

18
Place

• To maximise sales, it is necessary to have the
  right product in the right place at the right
  time
• Firms look for the most cost-effective way of
  distributing their products, keeping in mind the
  following factors
• Potential sales through each channel of
  distribution
• Transport cost for each channel
• Profit margins that will have to be offered to
  each middleman in the channel
• Demands of customer