Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Getting the marketing mix right for your product or service means you are covering all of the important bases in your marketing campaign. Here is a definition of marketing mix and a description of its main components.

The term marketing mix refers to the primary elements that must be attended to in order to properly market a product. Also known as The 4 Ps of Marketing, the marketing mix is a very useful, if a bit general, guideline for understanding the fundamentals of what makes a good marketing campaign. Here is a brief description of each component of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix.

Marketing

Product: The marketing mix concept has its roots in the 1950s U.S. corporate marketing world, and the practice of marketing has obviously evolved tremendously since this term was invented. One of the changes is that there are a lot more services available nowadays, such as those available online. Also, the distinction between product and service has become more blurry (e.g., is a Web-based software application a product or a service?). Either way, product here refers to products or services. The product you offer needs to be able to meet a specific, existing market demand. Or, you need to be able to create a market niche through building a strong brand.

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Price: The price you set for your offering plays a large role in its marketability. Pricing for offerings that are more commonly available in the market is more elastic, meaning that unit sales will go up or down more responsively in response to price changes. By contrast, those products that have a generally more limited availability in the market (but with strong demand) are more inelastic, meaning that price changes will not affect unit sales very much. The price elasticity of your offering can be determined through various market testing techniques.

Place: This term really refers to any way that the customer can obtain a product. Provision of a product can occur via any number of distribution channels, such as in a retail store, through the mail, via downloadable files, on a cruise ship, in a hair salon, etc. The ease and options through which you can make your product available to your customers will have an effect on your sales volume.

Promotion: Promotion is concerned with any vehicle you employ for getting people to know more about your offering. Advertising, public relations, point-of-sale displays, and word-of-mouth promotion are all traditional ways for promotion. Promotion can be seen as a way of closing the information gap between would-be sellers and would-be buyers. Your choice of a promotional strategy will be dependent upon your budget, the type of offering you are selling, and availability of said promotional vehicle.

Marketing has come a long way from the 4 Ps of yesteryear, and yet understanding this marketing mix is for your product remains very relevant today. The marketing mix serves as an excellent touchstone for continually checking that you are covering all of the bases in your marketing campaign.

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

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Definition - Marketing

Everyone's idea of marketing is different. Each textbook defines it differently, and each professional will include different aspects of marketing. Marketing is a lot of things.

Merriam-Webster defines marketing as:

Marketing

1 a: the act or process of selling or purchasing in a market b: the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service

Definition - Marketing

2: an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer.
This definition couldn't be any more general, but that in itself is the point: marketing is anything used to promote, sell, or distribute a product or service. Marketing can be passing out flyers to promote. Marketing can be the way you complete a sell. Marketing can also be who will sell your products. Marketing must be an integrated process that combines a wide variety of activities to promote, sell and distribute your products or services.

Marketing starts with determining a want or need. You must identify a reason for your product or service in order to have something to sell. Once you determine the want or need, you must create or establish the product or service that will satisfy that need or desire. Although this sounds like the beginnings of a business plan, it is also the basis for your entire marketing plan.

There are many steps to marketing once you have established a product or service that satisfies and want or need. You must make decisions about your marketing mix (product, price, place (distribution), and promotion), and you must incorporate your marketing collateral with every step. You also must combine your sales strategies with your marketing strategies to design a successful business model.

Marketing is a lot of things, but ultimately, it is any technique or process of promoting, selling, and distributing your products or services.

Definition - Marketing

Nate Stockard offers free consulting at Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions.

His 13 years of marketing experience is also put on display at The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.

Definition - Marketing

Everyone's idea of marketing is different. Each textbook defines it differently, and each professional will include different aspects of marketing. Marketing is a lot of things.

Merriam-Webster defines marketing as:

Marketing

1 a: the act or process of selling or purchasing in a market b: the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service

2: an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer.
This definition couldn't be any more general, but that in itself is the point: marketing is anything used to promote, sell, or distribute a product or service. Marketing can be passing out flyers to promote. Marketing can be the way you complete a sell. Marketing can also be who will sell your products. Marketing must be an integrated process that combines a wide variety of activities to promote, sell and distribute your products or services.

Marketing starts with determining a want or need. You must identify a reason for your product or service in order to have something to sell. Once you determine the want or need, you must create or establish the product or service that will satisfy that need or desire. Although this sounds like the beginnings of a business plan, it is also the basis for your entire marketing plan.

There are many steps to marketing once you have established a product or service that satisfies and want or need. You must make decisions about your marketing mix (product, price, place (distribution), and promotion), and you must incorporate your marketing collateral with every step. You also must combine your sales strategies with your marketing strategies to design a successful business model.

Marketing is a lot of things, but ultimately, it is any technique or process of promoting, selling, and distributing your products or services.

Definition - Marketing

Nate Stockard offers free consulting at Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions.

His 13 years of marketing experience is also put on display at The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.

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The Definition of Sales - Professional Selling Defined

Before I define professional selling. Let's look at some of the related professions. Below are some definitions of professions/occupations that relate to professional selling from Wikipedia:

• Marketing is defined as an ongoing process of planning and executing the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) for products, services or ideas to create exchange between individuals and organizations
• Advertising is defined as a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service.
• Public relations is defined as the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its audiences.
• Sales Promotions is defined as the pre-determined actions designed to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability for a limited time (i.e., contests, point of purchase displays, rebates, free travel, and sales incentives.)

Sales

What about the sales profession?

Notice in the above definitions, the profession is *not* defined as the individual. For example, marketing isn't defined as "people who market." Yet, the sales profession is often explained as "individuals who sell." Therefore, selling shouldn't be defined in this manner. Notice also, that the above professions are *not* defined by the activities of those individuals. In other words, the profession of advertising isn't defined as "placing ads on television." Therefore, selling shouldn't be defined in this manner.

Academically, selling is thought of as a part of marketing, however, the two disciplines are completely different. Sales departments often form a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing individuals who specialize in sale specific roles. While the sales process refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of the sales "profession" doesn't exist (until now with this article).

So the questions become:

• Who is "in" the profession and who is not?
• How does selling relate to marketing, advertising, promotions, and public relations?
• What shared competencies do individuals within the sales profession need?
• How do these competencies align to roles in terms of focus and differentiation?

A definition should provide a meaning. To determine the meaning of the sale profession, it is useful to determine what the sales profession *must* contain.

The following three tenets are required for professional selling:

• The focus of the sales profession centers on the human agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller
• Effective selling requires a systems approach, at minimum involving roles that sell, enable selling, and develop sales capabilities
• A specific set of sales skills and knowledge are required to facilitate the exchange of value between buyers and sellers

Within these three tenets the following definition of profession selling is offered by the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD):

Professional Selling is:
 "The holistic business system required to effectively develop, manage, enable, and execute a mutually beneficial, interpersonal exchange of goods and/or services for equitable value."

Note: this definition was published by ASTD in 2009.

What does this definition accomplish?

First, it creates a definition of world class selling. An organization wishing to benchmark its selling effectiveness can leverage the above definition to clearly understand strengths and weaknesses. Without such a definition, most adjustments to the selling team are arbitrary and subjective. By understanding the system's view required for selling effectiveness, organizations can look at indidual sales team members as well as sales team processes and tools and how they align to the buyer.

Second, it allows for more consistent results in performance through the clear establishment of roles regarding who is "in" and who is "out" of professional selling. For example, if it doesn't involve a human agent, it is not within the sales profession -- it's a marketing function with a transaction (i.e., a "sale"). For this definition, sales operations, sales recruiters, and sales trainers are "in" the profession because they possess unique skills outside of their regular job titles. They posses knowledge and skill that is unique to enabling the definition.

Third, the definition lays the foundation for sales talent management/people strategies. With such a definition, sales development employees can create learning solutions that fit the unique aspects of a sales culture. At the same time, front-end recruitment strategies and more clearly tie to retention strategies.

Fourth, it helps organization on exemplary performance. By setting a bar with such a definition, organizations don't have to settle for mediocre sales effectiveness. They can use the definition to help bridge the gap between sales capacity and sales team competency.

The Definition of Sales - Professional Selling Defined

Dr. Brian Lambert is a senior analyst for Forrester Research serving Technology Sales Enablement Professionals. He covers the strategy, processes, and execution associated with helping sales team members achieve their desired business outcomes through more effective collaboration and behavior change. Brian researches key challenges associated with sales enablement, including helping sales team member's effectively model customer needs and map solution capabilities to those needs within each sales conversation. He also researches the impact of today's complex and changing business environment on portfolio, marketing, and sales team members as they design; implement; and reinforce training, talent management, leadership development, performance, and adoption strategies needed to improve the skill, expertise, and results of team members.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Find out about Brian at http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/brian_lambert

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Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Getting the marketing mix right for your product or service means you are covering all of the important bases in your marketing campaign. Here is a definition of marketing mix and a description of its main components.

The term marketing mix refers to the primary elements that must be attended to in order to properly market a product. Also known as The 4 Ps of Marketing, the marketing mix is a very useful, if a bit general, guideline for understanding the fundamentals of what makes a good marketing campaign. Here is a brief description of each component of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix.

Marketing

Product: The marketing mix concept has its roots in the 1950s U.S. corporate marketing world, and the practice of marketing has obviously evolved tremendously since this term was invented. One of the changes is that there are a lot more services available nowadays, such as those available online. Also, the distinction between product and service has become more blurry (e.g., is a Web-based software application a product or a service?). Either way, product here refers to products or services. The product you offer needs to be able to meet a specific, existing market demand. Or, you need to be able to create a market niche through building a strong brand.

Price: The price you set for your offering plays a large role in its marketability. Pricing for offerings that are more commonly available in the market is more elastic, meaning that unit sales will go up or down more responsively in response to price changes. By contrast, those products that have a generally more limited availability in the market (but with strong demand) are more inelastic, meaning that price changes will not affect unit sales very much. The price elasticity of your offering can be determined through various market testing techniques.

Place: This term really refers to any way that the customer can obtain a product. Provision of a product can occur via any number of distribution channels, such as in a retail store, through the mail, via downloadable files, on a cruise ship, in a hair salon, etc. The ease and options through which you can make your product available to your customers will have an effect on your sales volume.

Promotion: Promotion is concerned with any vehicle you employ for getting people to know more about your offering. Advertising, public relations, point-of-sale displays, and word-of-mouth promotion are all traditional ways for promotion. Promotion can be seen as a way of closing the information gap between would-be sellers and would-be buyers. Your choice of a promotional strategy will be dependent upon your budget, the type of offering you are selling, and availability of said promotional vehicle.

Marketing has come a long way from the 4 Ps of yesteryear, and yet understanding this marketing mix is for your product remains very relevant today. The marketing mix serves as an excellent touchstone for continually checking that you are covering all of the bases in your marketing campaign.

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Does your website accomplish your marketing goals? Get an affordable, custom website redesign or build a new website. Click to learn more.

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