Fact-Check: Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix is the set of controllable elements or variables that a company uses to influence and meet the needs of its target customers in the most effective and efficient way possible. These variables are often grouped into four key components, often referred to as the "Four P's of Marketing."

These four P's are:

• Product: This represents the physical or intangible offering that a company provides to its customers. It includes the design, features, quality, packaging, branding and any additional services or warranties associated with the product.
• Price: Price refers to the amount of money customers are willing to pay for the product or service. Setting the right price is crucial, as it not only affects the company's profitability but also influences customer perception and purchasing decisions.
• Place (Distribution): Place involves the strategies and channels used to make the product or service accessible to the tragrt market. It encompasses decisions related to distribution channels, retail locations, online platforms, and supply logistics.
• Promotion: Promotion encompasses all the activities a company undertakes to communicate the value of its product or service to the target audience. This includes advertising, sales promotions, public relations, social media marketing, and any other methods used to create and generate interest in the offering. The marketing mix has been defined as the "set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market."

Marketing theory emerged in the early twentieth century. The contemporary marketing mix which has become the dominant framework from marketing management decisions was first published in 1984. In services marketing, an extended marketing mix is used, typically comprising of the 7P's (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence), made up of the original 4P's extended by people, process and physical evidence involved in the determination of the value of the service. Occasionally, service marketers will refer to 8P's (product, price, place, promotion, people, positioning, packaging, and performance), comprising the 7P's plus the quality of the performance of the actual service.

In the 1990s, the model of 4C's was introduced as a more consumer-driven replacement to the 4P's. These are the two theories based on the 4C's: Lauterborn 4C's (consumer, cost, convenience, and communication) and Shimizu 4C's (commodity, cost, channel, and communication).

Given the valuation of customers towards potential product attributes (in any category, e.g., product, promotion, etc.) and the attributes of the products sold by other companies, the problem of selecting the attributes of a product to maximize the number of customers preferring it is a computationally intractable problem.

The correct arrangement of the marketing mix by enterprise marketing managers plays an important role in the success of a company's marketing strategy, so as to:

1. Develop strengths and avoid weaknesses;
2. Strengthen the competitiveness and adaptability of enterprises;
3. Ensure the internal departments of the enterprise works closely together to attain company objectives.

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