Marketing_Mix_Paper

Marketing Mix Debra Tatum MKT/421 July 22, 2013 Susan Tomaski Marketing Mix Marketing mix is an important business tool used by marketing professionals in today’s marketing. Perreault (2011) states, “that marketing mix is the controllable variables that a company puts together to satisfy its target group.” It explains the different choices an organization makes in the entire process of bringing a product or service to market. The marketing mix is a good place to start when plans for a new product or service. It helps to avoid or eliminate possible mistakes that could be made. The marketing mix elements, product, place, promotion, and price are identified as the four P’s. The Four P’s is the best known way to define the marketing mix. The four P’s each has its own function and plays an important role in the marketing mix. No one element is more important that the other, each is equally important. Product “The product area is concerned with developing the right product for the target market. This offering may involve a physical good, a service, or a blend of both” (Perreault, 2011). Product deals with the products or services offered to the customer. The company’s product or service must satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers. The company has to be concerned about the products physical attributes, what they do or offer, how the product is different from the competitors and what kind of benefits the product provide. Place “Place is concerned with all the decisions involved in getting the right product to the target market’s place. The distribution system responsibility is to get the right product or service to the right place at the right time” (Perreault, 2011). The distribution method used depends on a variety of circumstances. Place deals with where the company sells and gets its products or services to the customers. Promotion “Promotion is concerned with telling the target market or others in the channel of distribution about the right product. Sometimes promotion is focused on acquiring new customers, and sometimes it’s focused on retaining current customers. Promotion includes personal selling, mass selling, and sales promotion” (Perreault, 2013). The methods will be used for the communication of the benefits and features of the product or services to reach targeted customers. Promotion provides information that will help customers make decisions to purchase a product or service. Price “Price deals with how a company prices the product or service so that the price remains competitive but allows you to make a good profit” (Duermyer, (2013). The only element that creates revenue is price; the other elements, product, place, promotion are cost. It is important to research the consumers opinion about pricing because it indicates how they value what they are looking and what they want to pay. The circumstances that may exist within an organization will cause the organization’s pricing policy to vary. The Organization – Kroger’s Kroger’s is an American retailer incorporated in 1902 that offers different brands of products, including its own brand of products to meet the need of the consumer. It provides a strong economic advantage over other firms because Kroger’s has its own brand products. The company is located throughout the United States. Kroger’s is known as one of the world’s largest retailers, the headquarters is located in Cincinnati. Kroger’s exist in the grocery, pharmacy, floral department, and baking industry and has held the position of number one and number two market share. It also has a fuel center where customers can purchase gas. Barney Kroger, the retailer founded had a motto “Be particular, Never sell anything you would not want yourself” (Kroger’s, 2013). The company still operates under the same motto. The development of the organizations marketing strategy is affected by the four elements of the marketing mix. A market strategy is composed of several interrelated components called the marketing mix. Marketing strategies includes the product development, place, promotion, and price. These elements affect an organization’s ability to take successfully its products and services to the market. Each of these elements is constructive to a marketing strategies plans or approach for marketing a Kroger’s products and services. It is important and critical for a company to know if a high-quality product will deliver value to the intended end user. The marketing strategy must start with a vision for the product by implementing a new product development strategy. It requires a well-planned or product strategy to introduce a product into the marketplace. The marketing strategy should research, outline, answer, and evaluate the customers’ needs and reaction to the product. It must discover if the product will fill a place in the market by determining or studying the competition. It determines the products performance against the competition once placed on the market by performing different types of research. When marketers develop marketing strategies and tactics, they will consider sales data information as well as market research information about the customers’ satisfaction with the product. Feedback is gathered through a variety of channels and markets respond to this feedback by making changes to their products and services. Place is also an element that affects the plans of a marketing strategy. This component of the marketing mix refers to both the location and access to the product or services, the availability. If a highly desired product with an appealing price is hard to find or sold out when consumers want to make a purchase the product will struggle to achieve success. Ensuring that the product is placed in the best location and is easy accessible must be taken into consideration when implementing the marketing strategy. Ordering online and how easy or difficult navigation will be should be considered when considering place in the marketing strategy. Promotion is another element that goes into achieving marketing success. Marketing is also a part of promotion and businesses need to consider how they will communicate their high-quality products priced appropriately and desired by customers, ensuring that they are readily and conveniently available. In this promotion such tactics as advertising, public relations, or special events come to play. Businesses must ensure that this is taken into consideration when planning or implementing a marketing strategy. Another important consideration in the marketing planning process is price. Placing a product at the wrong price will not achieve market success. Producing and delivering the products have an impact on the price. Pricing is based on those elements. Desired brand images and how a specific target audience may respond to various prices must also be taken into consideration. For example Kroger’s brands are sold priced lower than other brands carried in the store. The Implementation of the Four P’s The marketing mix, the four P’s is implemented into Kroger’s marketing strategy. The products that the store chose to sell, the quality of their products, the different features to be placed on the marker, USP of the products, how the product will be branded, and the secondary products to be sold with primary warranty services are discovered before produced on the market. Product strategy helps defines what Kroger’s will offer to their target market. Kroger’s must also be concerned with the placement of their products, the distributions of a product. Their intent is for their products to be available as far and wide as possible. However, their premium consumer product is only available in selected stores. The product and pricing decision affects where the product will be placed as well. Kroger’s has a full proof logistics and supply chain plan for the distribution of its products. Placement strategy defines how the product will be delivered to the target market. Promotion helps Kroger’s learn how to communicate with their customers and provide information to help make decisions when purchasing a product or service. Like other companies Kroger’s promotions strategies are depended upon their products and pricing. Kroger’s successful promotion increases their sales advertising and other costs are spread out. Promotions enables Kroger’s to know and compete with its competitors and enables the store to develop and build a succession of messages. Promotion strategy defines how Kroger’s connected and communicate with their target market. The cost of Kroger’s products, advertising, marketing, and expense price fluctuations in the market is a major consideration in the pricing element of the store. The price of a product has to be increased and decreased according to the changes for a certain length of time. When a company is deciding on a pricing strategy consideration for the competition the targeting and positioning of a product and sales promotions in the form of trade discounts must be taken into consideration. Pricing strategy defines the process for Kroger’s pricing its products to the target market. Conclusion The marketing mix is the strategic part of a marketing plan. The marketing mix also known as the four P’s, product, place, promotion, and price is crucial when deciding to put a product or service on the market. The marketing mix and the four P’s are synonyms for each other and are interrelated and affect each other. They are necessary for a marketing strategy to be successful in describing the different kinds of choices organizations have in developing and bringing a product to market. It helps to avoid the many mistakes that can be made causing the downfall of a product and the possibility of a company. The marketing mix is beneficial to a company because when implemented it provides satisfying products and services to market. References Duermyer, R. (2013). Marketing Mix. Retrieved from http://homebusiness.about.com/od/homebusinesslossar1/g/marketing... Kroger. (2013). Kroger by The History of Corporate. Retrieved from http:/www.thehistoryofcorporate.com/companies-by-industry/…/Kroger/ MindTools. (2013). The Marketing Mix and 4 Ps. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm Perreault, W. D., Jr., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2011). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (18th ed.). NewYork, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin Richards, L. (2013). What Is the Importnace of the Marketing Mix in the Development of a Marketing Strategy and Tactics' Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com.info_8132703_importance-development-marketing-strategy-tactics.html