Q&A - What goes into the “marketing mix”?

The marketing mix deals with the way in which a business uses price, product, distribution and promotion to market and sell its product.

The marketing mix is often referred to as the “Four P’s” - since the most important elements of marketing are concerned with:

• Product - the product (or service) that the customer obtains
• Price - how much the customer pays for the product
• Place (distribution) – how the product is distributed to the customer
• Promotion - how the customer is found and persuaded to buy the product

It is known as a “mix” because each ingredient affects the other and the mix must overall be suitable to the target customer.

For instance:

• High quality materials used in a product can mean that a higher price is obtainable
• An advertising campaign carried in one area of the country (promotion) requires distribution of the product to be in place in advance of the campaign to ensure there are no disappointed customers
• Promotion is needed to emphasise the new features of a product

The marketing mix is the way in which a marketing strategy is put into action - in other words, the actions arising from the marketing plan.

An example of the marketing mix in action can be seen from this example of the Apple iPhone: