The marketing mix

The term marketing mix became popularized after Neil.H.Borden published his 1964 article titled ‘The concept of the marketing mix’. Borden began using the term in his teaching in the late 1940’s after James Cullington had described the marketing manager as a ‘mixer of ingredients’. The ingredients in Borden’s marketing mix included product planning, pricing, branding, distribution channel, personal selling, advertising, promotion, packaging, displaying, servicing, physical handling, fact finding and analysis.
E.Jerome Mc Carthy later grouped these ingredients into four categories that are today known as 4 Ps : - Products - Price - Place - Promotion
When marketing their products, firms need to make the successful mix of the right product, sold at the right price, in the right place, using the most suitable promotion.
The marketing mix is the balance of marketing technics required for selling th eproduct. To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet the following conditions : - the product has to have the right features, for ex : it has to look good and work well. The product has to be appropriate to the market segments the firm is trying to sell to. In the past, many firms were product oriented, which means that all their effort was focused on marketing the product. There was little flexibility for individual customers or segments of the market. Firms now tend to be market oriented ; this means that they are flexible and adaptable to the demand of the market. They aim to change the product as necessary to satisfy their customers. - The price must be right. Consumers will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy profit. The price of the product, particularly the price compared to the competitors, is a vital part of marketing. There are two possible pricing technics : • market skimming : pricing high but selling fewer • market penetration : pricing lower to secure a