MARKETING MIX

Notes 28 Pages

Bengaluru City University

Bachelor of Business Administration

Contributed by

Prajwal Hallale

Unit 4: MARKETING MIX (very imp for Exam)
Definition: The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a
company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. The 4Ps make up a
typical marketing mix - Price, Product, Promotion and Place
Product

Definitions
1.A good, idea, method, information, object or service created as a result of
a process and serves a need or satisfies a want. It has
a combination of tangible and intangible attributes (benefits, features, functions, use
s) that a seller offers a buyer for purchase.
A product mix is the set of all products offered for sale by a company. Product line
is a broad group of products for similar uses and with similar characteristics. An
organization‟s product mix has four dimensions:

Width: The product mix width is the number of product lines in the product mix.

Length: The product line length shows the number of different products in a
product line.

Depth: Some of the product types may be split into subgroups which is shown by
the product line depth.

Consistency: Describes how closely related the various product lines are in end
use, production requirements, distribution channels, etc.

Hindustan Unilever has a wide width offering personal care, home care, food and
beverages, etc. Skin care, oral care, hair care, fabric care, beverages, food, etc are
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the product lines that Unilever as a parent company carries.The food line of HUL
contains beverages like tea, coffee ,ice cream, food, etc.

Product line
A product line is a group of related productsmanufactured by a single company.
For example, a cosmetic company's makeupproduct line might include
foundation, concealer, powder, blush, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara and
lipstick products that are all closely related.

Product Life Cycle (Go through my notes what I given in class) (very imp for
Exam)
A new product progresses through a sequence of stages from introduction to
growth, maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as theproduct life
cycle and is associated with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the
marketing strategy and the marketing mix.

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1. Introduction stage
Product is introduced in the market with intention to build a clear identity and
heavy promotion is done for maximum awareness. Before actual offering of the
product to customers, product passes through product development, involves
prototype and market tests. Companies incur more costs in this phase and also bear
additional cost for distribution. On the other hand, there are a few customers at this
stage, means low sales volume. So, duringintroductory stage company‟s profits
shows a negative figure because of huge cost but low sales volume.
At introduction stage, the company core focus is on establishing a market and
arising demand for the product. So, the impact on marketing mix is as follows:
Product
Branding, Quality level and intellectual property and protections are obtained to
stimulate consumers for the entire product category. Product is under more
consideration, as first impression is the last impression.
Price
High(skim) pricing is used for making high profits with intention to cover initial
cost in a short period and low pricing is used to penetrate and gain the market
share. company choice of pricing strategy depends on their goals.
Place
Distribution at this stage is usually selective and scattered.
Promotion
At introductory stage, promotion is done with intention to build brand awareness.
Samples/trials are provided that is fruitful in attracting early adopters and
potential customers. Promotional programs are more essential in this phase. It is
as much important as to produce the product because it positions the product.
2. Growth Stage
In this stage, company‟s sales and profits starts increasing and competition also
begin to increase. The product becomes well recognized at this stage and some of
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the buyers repeat the purchase patterns. During this stage, firms focus on brand
preference and gaining market share. It is market acceptance stage. But due to
competition, company invest more in advertisement to convince customers
so profits may decline near the end of growth stage.
Affect on 4 P‟s of marketing is as under:
Product
Along with maintaining the existing quality, new features and improvements in
product quality may be done. All this is done to compete and maintain the market
share.
Price
Price is maintained or may increase as company gets high demand at low
competition or it may be reduced to grasp more customers.
Distribution
Distribution becomes more significant with the increase demand and acceptability
of product. More channels are added for intensive distribution in order to meet
increasing demand. On the other hand resellers start getting interested in the
product, so trade discounts are also minimal.
Promotion
At growth stage, promotion is increased. When acceptability of product increases,
more efforts are made for brand preference and loyalty.
3. Maturity stage
At maturity stage, brand awareness is strong so sale continues to grow but at a
declining rate as compared to past. At this stage, there are more competitors with
the same products. So, companies defend the market share and extending product
life cycle, rather than making the profits, By offering sales promotions to
encourage retailer to give more shelf space to the product than that of competitors.
At this stage usually loyal customers make purchases.
Marketing mix decisions include:
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product
At maturity stage, companies add features and modify the product in order to
compete in market and differentiate the product from competition. At this stage, it
is best way to get dominance over competitors and increase market share.
Price
Because of intense competition, at maturity stage, price is reduced in order to
compete. It attracts the price conscious segment and retain the customers.
Distribution
New channels are added to face intense competition and incentives are offered to
retailers to get shelf preference over competitors.
Promotion
Promotion is done in order to create product differentiation and loyalty. Incentives
are also offered to attract more customers.
4. Decline stage
Decline in sales, change in trends and unfavorable economic conditions explains
decline stage. At this stage market becomes saturated so sales declines. It may also
be due technical obsolescence or customer taste has been changed.
At decline stage company has three options:
1. Maintain the product, Reduce cost and finding new uses of product.
2. Harvest the product by reducing marketing cost and continue offering the product
to loyal niche until zero profit.
3. Discontinue the product when there‟s no profit or a successor is available. Selling
out to competitors who want to keep the product.
At declining stage, marketing mix decisions depends on company’s strategy. For
example, if company want to harvest, the product will remain same and price will
be reduced. In case of liquidation, supply will be reduced dramatically.

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Product Planning
Product Planning is the ongoing process of identifying and articulating market
requirements that define a product's feature set. Product planning serves as the
basis for decisions about price, distribution and promotion.
Planning (also called forethought) is the process of thinking about and organizing
the activities required to achieve a desired goal
What is Product Planning?
In order to maximise his sales revenue and profits, a business firm must
continuously adjust and adapt its products and services to the changing
requirements of customers. From time-to- time, it may have to design and develop
new products.
Product planning is the process of searching ideas for new products, screening
them systematically, converting them into tangible products and introducing the
new product in the market. It also involves the formation of product policies and
strategies.
Product planning includes improvements in existing products as well as deletion of
unprofitable or marginal products.
Product development or New Product development
Product development is the process of designing, creating and marketing
new products or services to benefit customers. Sometimes referred to as new
product development, the discipline is focused on developing systematic methods
for guiding all the processes involved in getting a new product to market.
Stage 1: Idea Generation
New product ideas have to come from somewhere. But where do organisations get
their ideas for NPD? Sources include:
Market Research
Employees
Consultants
Competitors
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Customers
Distributors and Suppliers
Stage 2: Idea Screening
This process involves shifting through the ideas generated above and selecting
ones which are feasible and practical to develop. Pursing impractical ideas is
expensive and a waste of resources.
Stage 3: Concept Development and Testing
The organisation may have come across what they believe to be a feasible idea,
however, the idea needs to be taken to the target audience. What do they think
about the idea? Will it offer the benefit that the organisation hopes it will? or have
they overlooked certain issues? Will there be a demand for the product? Note the
idea taken to the target audience is not a working prototype at this stage, it is just a
concept.
Stage 4: Marketing Strategy and Development
How will the product/service idea be launched within the market? A proposed
marketing strategy will be written laying out the marketing mix strategy of the
product, the segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy and expected sales
and profits.
Stage 5: Business Analysis
The company has a great idea, the marketing strategy seems feasible, but will the
product be financially worth while in the long run? The business analysis stage
looks more deeply into the Cashflow the product could generate, what the cost will
be, how much market shares the product may achieve and the expected life of the
product.
Stage 6: Product Development
At this stage the prototype is produced. The prototype will undergo a serious tests,
and will be presented to a selection of people made up of the the target
market segment to see if changes need to be made.
Stage 7: Test Marketing
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Test marketing means testing the product within a specific geographic area. The
product will be launched within a particular region so the marketing mix strategy
can be monitored and if needed modified before national launch.
Stage 8: Commercialisation
If test marketing is successful the product is ready for national launch. The
following decisions regarding the national launch need to be made
 timing of the launch
 how the product will be launched
 where the product will be launched
 will there be a national roll out or will it be region by region?
Conclusion
The eight stages of product development may seem like a long process but they are
designed to save wasted time and resources. New product development ideas and
prototypes are tested to ensure that the new product will meet target market needs
and wants. There is a test launch during the test marketing stage as a full market
launch is expensive. Finally the commercialisation stage is carefully planned to
maximise product success, a poor launch will affect product sales and could even
affect the reputation and image of the new product.
Reasons behind new product failure
Here‟s our top 10 list of reasons new products and services fail:

1. Marketers assess the marketing climate inadequately.
2. The wrong group was targeted.
3. A weak positioning strategy was used.
4. A less-than-optimal "configuration" of attributes and benefits was selected.
5. A questionable pricing strategy was implemented.
6. The ad campaign generated an insufficient level of awareness.
7. Cannibalization depressed corporate profits.
8. Over-optimism about the marketing plan led to a unrealistic forecast.
9. Poor implementation of the marketing plan in the real world.
10.The new product was pronounced dead and buried too soon

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Branding
Barand - A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished
from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated
and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the distinctive product, service,
or concept. Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name.
Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual
product and service names.
Branding is the process involved in creating a unique name and image for
a product in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising
campaigns with a consistent theme.
Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in
the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.

What is Packing
Packing is the preparation of a product for storage or transportation. Packing
can be simply defined as the process of wrapping or binding the product in a
manner appropriate for transporting, handling or storing. In packing, we can use
different processes like wrapping, cushioning, weatherproofing, sealing, etc. The
process of packing depends on the nature of the product. For example, if the
product is very fragile, we use multiple layers of bubble wraps. The noun packing
refers to the material used to protect or cover the product and prevent it from
moving around.

What is Packaging
Packaging is the technique of enclosing or protecting products for sale or
transport. Packaging includes the process of packing, but it does not stop there. It
contains many more steps including sales promotion and marketing. Packaging is
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concerned with the manner in which a product is placed in a container in a safe,
comfortable and attractive. It also deals with the appearance, design, colors that
would attract consumers since it plays a major role in attracting the consumers.
In the past, packaging consisted of natural materials such as reed baskets, woven
bags, clay jars, wooden barrels, etc. But in the contemporary society various
synthetic items such as plastic and polythene are used for packaging.
Pricing (very imp for Exam)
Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its
products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan.
Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price at which it will sell its
products and services, and may be part of the business's marketing plan. Lemuel In
setting prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acquire
the goods, the manufacturing cost, the market place, competition, market
condition,brand, and quality of product.
Some of the more common pricing objectives are:
 maximize long-run profit.
 maximize short-run profit.
 increase sales volume (quantity)
 increase monetary sales.
 increase market share.
 obtain a target rate of return on investment (ROI)
 obtain a target rate of return on sales.
OR
Objectives of pricing can be classified in five groups
Profits-related Objectives:
 .Maximum Current Profit:
One of the objectives of pricing is to maximize current profits. This objective is
aimed at making as much money as possible. Company tries to set its price in a
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MARKETING MIX

MARKETING MIX

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