Business - Marketing mix

Marketing

The process of anticipating, identifying + satisfying of customers needs at a profit.

Marketing mix

A combination of 4 elements - Product, Price, Place, Promotion, that can help a business market its products to its target market and help it achieve its goal of maximising profits.

Product

An actual item (good or service) provided to meet consumers needs. Design, Product life cycle, Branding, USP

Design

Well-designed product are attractive, easy to use, long-lasting and useful. 1st stage in marketing process.

Branding

A name, symbol, design or other feature that makes it easy to recognise and distinguishes the product from competing products. E.g. Apple

Logos

A symbol or design used by a business to identify its product. E.g. Twitter - X

USP (Unique Selling Point)

This is what makes the product or service different from similar products or services. E.g. Toyota’s USP - The best cars in the world

Price

The amount of money a seller charges a customer for a product or service. Covers production cost. Depends on how much money the customers has to spend.

Cost-plus pricing

The business calculate how much it costs to produce the product and then adds a % mark-up to make a profit.

Loss leaders

Selling a product below cost price deliberately, in order to attract customers. This is with a product that is not new to the market.

Penetration pricing

Business charges a low price when a product is new to the market to get customers interested in it. E.g. Vodafone

Premium pricing

The business charges a permanently high price to show an image of exclusivity. E.g. BMW

Price skimming

Occurs where firms charge a very high price at the launch of a product/service with the intention of recovering the R&D costs as soon as possible. E.g. New technology - robot lawnmowers

Profit-maximising pricing

Setting a price that will generate the largest amount of profit as quickly as possible. E.g. Concert tickets

Discriminatory pricing

Charging different prices to different customers for the same product or service. E.g. Cinema tickets

Predatory/Competitive pricing

Setting prices below-cost to try and drive out competitor of business. This creates a war price. E.g. Supermarket

Place

Where customers buy the product, and the channel of distribution used to get the product to this location. E.g. shops online sites, farmers market

Channel of distribution

Describes the way a product gets from the producer to the consumer.

Promotion

The methods used by a business to make customers aware of a product or service in order to increase sale and create brand loyalty.

Promotion mix

Combination of promotional activities used by businesses to communicate with existing and potential customers.

Advertising

How a business communicates information to consumers to encourage them to buy products and services. E.g. Radio, billboards

Informative Advertising

Provides information about a product or service to the customer as how it works.

Persuasive Advertising

Aims to convince consumers to buy the product or service, oftens features a celebrity.

Competitive Advertising

Used by businesses to convince people that their product is better than their competitor brands. E.g. Aldi vs Tesco

Generic Advertising

Promotes product categories rather than particular brands. E.g. Bord Bia

Sales Promotion

Short-term incentives used to increase sales of a product or service. E.g. Free samples, Buy 1 get 1 free

Sponsership

Paying to have to have the business name or logo associated with a team event or venue. E.g. 3Arena

Public Relations

PR describes the things a business does to make sure that consumers see is brand and product in a positive way. Looks after a business reputation. Often cost much less than advertising.

Digital Marketing

The promotion of goods and services using digital media, such as social media sites. E.g. Company websites, instagram

Own Brand Products

When a shop offers a product similar to a branded product but at a cheaper price. E.g. Oaky Dories - Hunky Dories