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Basics of Marketing - Kotler Philip

Development of a marketing mix

Having made a decision regarding the positioning of its goods, the firm is ready to begin planning the details of the marketing complex. The marketing complex is one of the basic concepts of a modern marketing system. We define it as follows:

The marketing complex is a set of controllable variables of marketing, the totality of which the firm uses in an effort to generate the desired response from the target market.

The marketing mix includes everything that a firm can undertake to influence the demand of its product. Numerous possibilities can be combined into four main groups: product, price, methods of distribution and incentives 4. (A detailed analysis of these marketing variables is given in Chapter 8-16.)

Fig. 11. The four components of the marketing mix

A commodity is a set of "products and services" that a firm offers to a target market. So, the new painkiller of Helen Curtis can be a "commodity" in the form of 50 white tablets in a dark green bottle with a cap that can not be opened by children, with a three-year shelf life, the brand name "Disposal" and a money back guarantee in case Customer dissatisfaction.

Price - the amount of money that consumers must pay to receive the goods. "Helen Curtis" offers retail and wholesale prices, preferential prices and discounts, sale on credit. The price assigned by the firm must correspond to the perceived value of the offer, otherwise the buyers will purchase the goods of competitors.

Methods of distribution - all kinds of activities, through which the product becomes available to target consumers. So, "Helen Curtis" selects wholesalers and retailers, convinces them to pay more attention to the product and take care of its good layout, monitors the maintenance of its stocks and ensures efficient transportation and storage.

Methods of stimulation - all sorts of activities of the firm to disseminate information about the merits of its goods and convince target consumers to buy it. So, "Helen Curtis" pays for advertising, hires sellers, promotes the goods through various special events, organizes its propaganda.

All decisions regarding the components of the marketing mix largely depend on the firm's specific positioning of the goods. Suppose that "Helen Curtis" decided to release a brand-name anti-caking agent of the "Cadillac" class, calculated on the segment of consumers who prefer a high softness of action. Such positioning suggests that the branded drug of the firm should be at least as soft in its effect as Tylenol, or else And even softer. The company should use high-quality packaging for it, and the branded goods should be offered to the market in several different packages. Its price should be higher than that of Tylenol. It should be sold in reputable retail stores. Allocations for advertising should be large. The ads should include wealthy consumers who need the best of the available drugs on the market for headaches. With respect to this brand, price reductions and promotional activities should be avoided, which could detract from its image. From all this it becomes clear that the decision to position the product on the market is the basis for developing a targeted marketing mix.