What is the marketing mix?

To satisfy the consumer and achieve its business goals, it is essential to analyze one's own marketing mix and find the right balance between factors (which are controllable).

Note that the entire marketing mix does not anticipate revenues but only costs except for the price (which obviously generates income).

Jerome McCarthy theorized and studied the 4Ps (the four factors we were talking about), also defining them as decision-making levers.

The four factors of the marketing mix are:

• Product (Product)
• Price (Price)
• Place (Distribution)
• Promotion (Promotion and communication)

Product: the center of the company

The product is the focus of a company’s marketing choices. For years now, a good product alone is no longer sufficient; it is fundamental to create a product system (which includes packaging, brand creation, and ancillary services).

Price: Ideally Positioning in the Market

The price is also an important element for a company's success. It is indeed crucial to establish oneself in the market with a clear and well-thought-out price.

Depending on the product life cycle stages, the company can apply different types of pricing policies such as:

• market skimming (skimming pricing), where the product is mature and the price is high, but the company wants to standardize on a "loyal" brand target 
• market penetration (penetration pricing), aggressive pricing to make the product known
• price differentiation (segment pricing), useful when there are many products available

Place: How to Distribute the Product

Once the product has been created and its price set, it needs to be distributed.

The Placement is based on the strategic choice of distribution channels (the channel management), logistics and warehousing.

For an effective Placement strategy, it is essential to have a basic understanding of commercial contracts and knowledge of the documentation specific to the product in question. Placement often goes hand in hand with merchandising.

Promotion: The Lifeblood of Marketing

Finally, promotion. Here we could really open a separate chapter. It is the fourth and last decision-making lever of the marketing mix. Promotion and communication are perhaps the most interesting aspects of the entire marketing mix journey.

Included are:

• Advertising (advertisement), whether traditional or more advanced like ADS campaigns on social media and Google
• Sponsorships, essential for making oneself known to the widest audience
• Public relations (PR)
• Merchandising, as mentioned, linked to Placement

To better understand what we have discussed so far, let's take the example of a major brand that has managed to balance the four factors of the marketing mix expertly.

Ford Case Study

Ford, the very famous American automotive company, has devised a classic but very effective marketing mix model:

• Product: Ford, like all car manufacturers, divides its fleet of cars based on types and target markets
• Price: each car has a specific price, carefully studied also through psychological techniques such as reducing the final price by a few euros to create a better emotional impact on the customer (an example is the classic €9.99 instead of €10.00)
• Place: Ford's distribution is extremely complex but is based on proprietary showrooms
• Promotion: like many major brands, Ford also invests heavily in television and film promotion, focusing on local and global sponsorships to increase the fame of their brand.

This practical example, which could be applied to many other companies, helps us understand the strategic importance of the marketing mix.

In conclusion, here are some famous corporate flops resulting from an incorrect marketing mix (even just one poorly studied decision-making lever can cause failure).

• Texas Instruments Incorporated: in the '90s, the famous multinational semiconductor company had to exit the personal computer market, a choice that would cost them as much as 600 million dollars in losses. This was all due to a wrong marketing mix that led the brand to face a period of severe crisis.
• BMW: the very famous German car manufacturer has tried, on several occasions, to enter lower market segments (especially in terms of price), investing millions of dollars with poor results, as it would have diluted the brand too much.

Mondadori: not everyone knows that the Italian publishing house tried in the '80s to enter the television market by managing Rete 4. This choice was the result of a terrible marketing mix that led to the sale of the network in favor of Fininvest (the same Mondadori would later be acquired by Berlusconi's company).

In conclusion, therefore, the marketing mix is a crucial part of a company's analysis. The marketing mix is not theoretical but extremely practical (it is part of what is called operational marketing), but a single mistake in this phase could really cause big problems for the company or, on the contrary, it could be an element that will lead it to success!