What is Marketing Mix?

Everything you need to know about marketing mix.

The term “Marketing Mix” was introduced by Professor N.H. Borden of the Harvard Business School of America. It describes a combination of the four inputs which constitute the core of a company’s marketing system — the product, the price structure, the distribution system and the promotional activities.

Marketing mix represents the total marketing programme of a firm. It involves decisions with regard to product, price, place and promotion.

These four elements differ from firm to firm and every firm must determine its own mix keeping in view its own marketing environment. Marketing mix serves as the link between a business firm and its customers.

Learn about the meaning and definitions of the marketing mix according to James Culliton, Stanton, Neil Borden, Jerome McCarthy, N.H. Borden, Phillip Kotler, Keely and Lazar.

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Marketing Mix Definition by Marketing Experts, Scholars and Thinkers

What is Marketing Mix – Definitions Provided by American Experts: James Culliton, Stanton, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy

Marketing mix is a mix of controllable elements or tools which a company uses in its marketing plan. The marketing mix is also commonly known as 4 Ps of marketing. The 4Ps of marketing are the contents of the marketing mix. Marketing mix is a mixture of plans and ideas used by a company to sell its products.

The 4Ps of marketing are – Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The 4Ps of marketing are the primary elements of marketing. The ratio of mixing these 4Ps is altered by a company in a practical situation depending on the nature of the product, extent of competition, market conditions, types of customers etc.

The concept of marketing mix was introduced by Neil Borden the president of the American Marketing Association in the year 1953, in his article titled “The Concept of the Marketing Mix.”

He started teaching the term after he learned about it from an associate, James Culliton, who in 1948 described the role of the marketing manager as a “mixer of ingredients”; one who sometimes follows recipes prepared by others, sometimes prepares his own recipe as he goes along, sometimes adopts a recipe from immediately available ingredients, and at other times invents new ingredients which nobody else has tried.

Marketing Mix refers to the collection and mixing of the resources of marketing in the manner that objects of the enterprise may be achieved and maximum satisfaction may be provided to the consumers.

The term “marketing mix” was first coined by the American Marketing expert James Culliton. The description of the “marketing mix” as four Ps was given by the well-known American Professor Jerome McCarthy. After that the terms “marketing mix” and “the four Ps” have been used synonymously.

Stanton defines Marketing as, “Marketing mix is the term used to describe the combination of the four inputs which constitute the core of a company’s marketing system — the product, the price structure, the promotional activities and the distribution system.”

Borden stated that, “The marketing mix refers to the appointment of efforts, the combination, the designing and the integration of the elements of marketing into a programme or mix which, on the basis of an appraisal of the market forces will best achieve an enterprise at a given time.”

As tools the marketing mix principles (also known as the 4Ps) are used by business in order to achieve its objectives. The marketing mix principles are controllable variables, which have to be carefully managed and must meet the needs of the defined target group.

Marketing mix is the key concept in the marketing task. It is the strategy used to perform marketing functions. These are inter-related, interdependent, and also a combination of many factors.

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What is Marketing Mix – Definitions given by Harvard Business School of America:  N.H. Borden and Kotler

The term “Marketing Mix” was introduced by Professor N.H. Borden of the Harvard Business School of America. It describes a combination of the four inputs which constitute the core of a company’s marketing system — the product, the price structure, the distribution system and the promotional activities.

Marketing activities are carried out in a certain situation which is constantly changing. We have to select specific marketing targets in the form of marketing segments. For each segment of the market we formulate a number of devices of marketing activities that are integrated into a single marketing programme to reach a particular marketing segment. The combination of these marketing devices is known as the marketing mix.

The four basic elements of marketing mix are – (i) Product (ii) Price (iii) Promotion and (iv) Place or Physical Distribution. As all the four elements start with the letter P, they are referred to as the four Ps of marketing mix. These four elements are closely interrelated. Under the systems approach, the decision in one area affects action in the others.

The basic task of marketing manager is the successful management of the marketing mix.

Marketing manager is a mixer of all marketing ingredients and he creates a mix or blending of all the marketing elements. Marketing mix offers an optimum combination of all marketing ingredients so that we can achieve company goal such as profit, return on investment, sales volume or market share. It is a profitable formula of marketing operations. The marketing will change according to changing marketing conditions.

Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables and their levels that the firm uses to influence its target market.

The product refers to the goods and services offered by an organization to the buyers for use. Kotler has defined product in this way – A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption; it includes physical objects, services, personalities, places, organizations and ideas.

Once the needs are identified, it is necessary to plan the product whether the product still satisfies the needs which were originally planned for. If the said situation does not prevail, it is necessary to determine the changes required to face the situation.

Price is the exchange value of a product or service expressed in money. The marketing manager has to decide what price should be set for each product/service. Price is an important element of marketing mix. It may be defined as the value of product attributes expressed in monetary terms which a consumer is expected to pay in exchange. Pricing is a marketing function which has an important role to play in marketing decisions. Pricing influences the profit level.

Promotion is the persuasive communication about the product to an identified audience. Promotion covers advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, public relations and exhibitions used in promotion. Largely it deals with non-price competition.

Place of physical distribution is the fourth P in marketing mix. It refers to the different types of the channels of distribution through which the product has to move before it reaches the final consumer. Distribution is also concerned with the selection of distribution channels. It includes the logistic aspects of distribution such as the transporting, insurance, warehousing and inventory control.

‘Product mix’ is used to describe the assortment of different types that a company produces and markets. The product line is the number of brands or related products in each product type. For example, Proctor and Gamble have four major product lines — detergents, toothpastes, soaps and deodorants.

For each line there are a number of brands and the number of different brands represents the length of product line. Hindustan Lever Limited has a product line consisting of vanaspati, soaps, detergents, cosmetics, etc.

Price is an important element of marketing mix. Price is an essential consideration in buying decision. Price also denotes quality in the consumers’ mind — a psychological factor. Pricing is a marketing function which has an important role to play in marketing decision.

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What is Marketing Mix?

The basic task of marketing is the delivery of product(s) to consumers so that their needs are fulfilled and organizational objectives are also achieved. It involves several important decisions, e.g., deciding about the product or products which should be offered for sale, price of the product, markets where products may sell and the means of communication with the consumer for the sale of the product. All these decisions form part of marketing mix.

The concept of marketing mix, its components and the relationship among various components of marketing mix are as follows-

Marketing mix is the process of designing and integrating various elements of marketing in such a way as to ensure the achievement of enterprise objectives. The elements of marketing mix have been classified under four heads — product, price, place and promotion which is pronounced by McCarthy.

That is why marketing mix is said to be a combination of 4 Ps. Decisions relating to the product include product designing, packaging and labelling and varieties of the product. Decision on ‘Price’ is very important as sales depend, to a large extent, on product pricing. Whether similar price will be charged or different prices will be charged for the same product in different markets are examples of decision pertaining to the price of the product.

The third important element is ‘place’, which refers to decision regarding the market where products will be offered for sale. ‘Promotion’ involves decisions bearing on the ways and means of increasing sales. Different tools or methods may be adopted for this purpose.

The relative importance to be attached to the various methods is decided while concentrating on the element of ‘promotion’ in marketing mix. The marketing manager has to keep in mind the impact of external factors like consumer behaviour, competitors’ strategy, and government policy on each element of marketing mix.

Marketing mix involves decisions regarding products which are to be made available in the market, the price to be charged for the product, the incentives which are required to be provided to the consumers in the markets where products could be made available for sale. These decisions are taken keeping in mind the various marketing forces outside the organization.

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What is Marketing Mix?

Let us understand this concept in a simple way. Think about the chocolates. All the chocolates are made of the same common mix which is cocoa powder, sugar, milk. These three (cocoa powder, sugar and milk) can be considered as a ‘Choco-Mix’. For crunch, we can add an additional ingredient in the form of nuts or butter scotch. To increase the sweetness, we can add more sugar. We can add or alter the ingredients as per our requirements.

Marketing Mix is similar to the ‘Choco Mix’. As per customer’s taste and preferences, marketing mix elements can be altered by varying the mix elements. The marketing mix consists of the ‘4P’s’. These ‘P’s’ play an important role in launching any product or service. These variables are also known as the ‘4P’s of marketing’. Effective use of these 4P’s, ensure success to any organization.

A marketing expert named E. Jerome McCarthy created the Marketing 4P’s in the 1960s. This classification has been used throughout the world. These ‘P’s’, help in idea generation and formulation. Main objective of any organization is to satisfy customers and then earn profits.

A marketer tries to know the needs and wants of customers, for this, he undertakes research, the marketer tries to know the pulse of the market, create segments, target and position products in the most convenient way. The marketer does all this keeping the marketing mix (4 p’s) in mind. For each segment of the market, he formulates a marketing programme to cater to the needs and wants of consumers.

A combination of marketing methods and activities, integrated into a marketing programme, to achieve marketing goals through satisfaction of consumer needs in a market, is called marketing mix.

1. Product – Anything that is offered in the market for a price.

2. Price – Value of the product in monetary terms directly or indirectly.

3. Promotion – All those activities that conveys a message to the customer.

4. Place – All those activities involved in getting the product to the customer.

In simple words, marketing mix is about, the right product, at the right time, to the right person, at the right price. Such a marketing programme is a mixture of four ingredients or elements, namely Product, Price, Place (Distribution) and Promotion.

Product mix consists of, product strategy, product innovation and diffusion, product development, product life cycle (PLC).

Price mix consists of pricing decisions, designing pricing strategies, pricing techniques.

Place mix consists of channel partners, channel strategies, functions performed by channel partners, marketing logistics and supply chain management.

Promotion mix consists of promotion mix which includes advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sales promotion and public relations.

Marketing mix varies from company to company and from time to time. Marketer uses the elements of the marketing mix effectively, to capture more market share. Most companies consider one or two elements of marketing mix relatively more important than the others, whereas few companies consider one of the elements more important than the other three.

Generally, a good marketing mix should focus on:

(i) Meeting customers’ needs and preferences

(ii) Profit building for the business

(iii) Gaining competitive advantage.

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What is Marketing Mix – Definitions by Famous Thinkers: Keely , Lazar, Jerome McCarthy  and Philip Kotler

“Marketing mix is composed of a large battery of devices which might be employed to induce consumers to buy a particular product”. – Keely and Lazar

“Marketing mix is a pack of four sets of variables namely product variables, price variables, promotion variables and place variables”. – Jerome McCarthy

“Marketing mix is the firm’s task to find the best solution for its marketing decision variables; the settings constitute its marketing mix”. – Philip Kotler

The contents or elements of the marketing mix (4Ps of marketing) are as follows:

1. Product – This refers to the goods manufactured by the company and offered for sale to the people. A product may be a tangible product or an intangible product (service).

2. Price – Price is the amount of money paid by the buyers to buy the product.

3. Place – This refers to the places or locations where the products are made available for the people to buy them.

4. Promotion – This refers to the various strategies and ideas adopted by a company to bring the products to the notice of the consumers and thereby make the products popular. Techniques such as advertising, word of mouth etc. are used.

The product itself is the most important factor in the sales of a company. The present day buyers are very well informed and fastidious. Therefore a company has to offer very good product-in terms of quality, durability, utility, appearance, disposability etc. In this context a company which improves the product by modernizing the production, adopting latest technology, using better quality raw materials, improving the design of the products etc. is using the element-product to sell or increase the sales of its product.

The present day market is very competitive and the sellers try to capture more buyers by offering the products at lesser prices. Moreover consumers are very aware of the price levels because of which no company which over prices the products can survive in the market. In this context a company which offers a product at a discount or offers a larger quantity of the product for the same price is using the element-price to sell or increase the sales of its product.

The most outstanding feature of the present life style of people is the shortage of time. People are so busy always and a result of that they expect convenience in everything they do. So is it with purchasing also. People want to purchase them requirements within the shortest possible time.

In this context a company which increases the number of the retail outlets or the sales offices of its product and claims that the product is now available so that buyers can buy the product with a greater amount of convenience is using the element-place to sell or increase the sales of its product.

A company may design the best product, offer it at the most reasonable price and make it available at a very large number of places, but if people are not aware of the above facts, all the efforts of the company become a waste. Companies should always bring the above facts to the notice of the people, only then will people consider such a company’s products.

In this context a company which widely advertises the product, creates a large amount of visibility to the product through effective displays and thereby creates awareness in the minds of the people about the product and the brand is using the element-promotion to sell or increase the sales of its product.

Therefore marketing mix can also be understood as a classification under the 4Ps, of all the efforts that a company puts in to increase the sales of its products. Any effort on the part of a company can be classified under one of the 4Ps.

Marketing is also defined as “Putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time”.

According to the above definition, a company only needs to create an appropriate product that a particular group of people wants (product), price it at a level which matches the value they feel they get out of it (price), put it on sale at such places which the same people visit regularly (place), and do all that is required to make the people notice it (promotion).

A large amount of hard work needs to go into finding out what customers want, and identifying where they do their shopping. Then a company needs to find out how to produce the item and offer it at a price that represents value to them, and get it all to come together at the critical time.

Even if one element goes wrong, it can spell disaster. It would become like promoting a car with amazing fuel-economy in a country where fuel is very cheap; or publishing a textbook after the start of the new academic year, or selling an item at a very high price or at a very low price-to attract the buyers. The marketing mix serves as an excellent touchstone for continually checking that you are covering all of the bases in your marketing campaign.

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What is Marketing Mix – Definitions by Eminent Thinkers: Philip Kotler, MC Cacthy and W.J. Stanton

Marketing mix represents the total marketing programme of a firm. It involves decisions with regard to product, price, place and promotion. These four elements differ from firm to firm and every firm must determine its own mix keeping in view its own marketing environment. Marketing mix serves as the link between a business firm and its customers.

Philip Kotler has defined the term “marketing mix” as – “The set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response.”

In other words, the concept of marketing mix is useful in designing a marketing strategy either to meet the “non-controllable variables” or to nullify its effects.

Examples of non-controllable variables are:

i. Consumer’s buying behaviour.

ii. Trader’s behaviour.

iii. Competitor’s behaviour.

iv. Government behaviour.

Prof. N.H. Borden of Harvard Business School of America introduced the concept of marketing mix.

Accordingly, it refers to two things:

1. A list of important elements or ingredients that make this marketing programme, and

2. The list of forces having bearing on the marketing operations.

In line with this thinking MC Cacthy has advocated four elements of manufacturing mix viz.:

1. Product.

2. Price.

3. Promotion.

4. Place.

Thus, all activities and function relating to marketing can be grouped in these four P’s and it is known as marketing-mix. All these elements are inter-related and need closer integration with the aim of maximum satisfaction of customers.

Marketing mix highlights the factors that affect the policies and decisions with regard to product-mix, price mix, promotion- mix and place-mix. How and what considerations are to be taken into account while finalizing the decisions relating to 4 p’s.

It is the policy adopted by manufacturers to get success in the field of marketing.

Again to quote Borden, “the marketing mix refers to the appointment of efforts, the combination, the designing and the integration of the elements of marketing into a programme or mix which, on the bases of an appraisal of the market forces will best achieve an enterprises at a given time”.

According to W.J. Stanton, “Marketing mix is the term used to describe the combination of the four inputs which constitute the core of a company’s marketing system, the product, the price structure, the promotional activities and the distribution system”.

In a nutshell, marketing mix means deciding the ideal combination of the product, the price, the promotion and the place. These four Ps and their sub-mixes are taken as instruments and management frames the policies. The marketing mix is not static but dynamic. These will have to be charged according to charge in marketing conditions life economical, political, social, legal etc. The marketing mix is developed to satisfy the anticipated needs of the identified market.

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What is Marketing Mix – By Philip Kotler and Stanton

Marketing directs, facilitates flow of goods and services from supply end that is producer or provider to the ultimate customer. Marketing is therefore responsible for simplifying business activity which in turn justifies its cause of existence. The growing demand of marketing is quite obvious because of trend of simplification of business activities via modern techniques.

Marketing not just simplifies but upgrades business activities in the company so as to have a faster, optimum performance. That’s why vast research is being carried by marketing research institutes and private marketing agencies in the areas of marketing mix, service marketing etc.

Marketing Objectives are those objectives which are developed by the top managers of the company which includes increase in profits, distribution of dividends, sustaining competitive environment etc. Marketing Mix consists of tools for achieving those marketing objectives. It basically contains set of different elements which are covered by marketing department to analyze and formulate a plan for carrying an activity.

In a literal sense marketing mix means collection and mixing of resources of marketing in the manner that objectives of enterprise may be achieved and maximum satisfaction may be delivered customers.

Philip Kotler- “Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market.”

Stanton’s definition of marketing Mix- “Marketing Mix is the term used to describe the combination of the four inputs which constitute the core of a company’s marketing system- the product, the price structure, the promotional activities and the distribution system.”

The marketing principles are used by organization as tools for achieving marketing objectives.

Following perspectives must be considered while formulating marketing mix:

1) Product strategies – It includes everything about the product starting from design up to its value.

2) Price strategies – It contains pricing decisions and allied activities which are generally concentrated to top management.

3) Place – Location of Firm.

4) Promotion – Regarding promotion of product.

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