What is the role of the marketing mix today?

What is the role of the marketing mix today?

Knowing the B2B market, but also the consumers, allows you to establish the best possible strategy to promote your offers, products and services. With the marketing mix, you set up an overall strategy to achieve your goal.

What is the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is the set of marketing decisions and actions that you implement to achieve your objective (or objectives): the success of a product or service or the visibility of your brand or brand in its sector.

The marketing mix is based on the 4 Ps (with reference to their English names):

• Product policy (Product);
• The price policy (Price);
• The communication policy (Promotion);
• Distribution policy (Place).

The balance of the 4 Ps in the marketing mix strategy

How to implement the 4 Ps within your strategy? And what are the advantages?

Let's start by defining the 4 Ps:

Product policy (Product)

Marketing mix and product are obviously linked. This point could be summarized in one question: What makes my product different from others?

Take the time to analyze its strengths, weaknesses and especially those proposed by competitors. Your product must stand out from the crowd, offer something that its competitors do not have.

And most importantly, it must meet a customer need! Take stock with a market study.

The price policy (Price)

Your pricing strategy is always defined according to the market you are targeting, hence the importance of analyzing the market to measure what your competitors are doing.

Your price must also be consistent with the target you want to reach. For example, if it is too low, it may lead to mistrust. On the other hand, if it is too high, your target will not buy it.

Communication policy (Promotion)

Here, you have to ask yourself two main questions:

How do I communicate about my product? Which channels should be preferred?

Analysing the different options to determine the best approach is an essential step. Your product must be visible to buyers, and also generate desire, make them want to be bought.

Distribution policy (Place)

The success of a product also depends on its distribution, so this point is not insignificant.

Which platforms should I use to sell? What is the best platform?

Think about all the details that will appeal to potential buyers: the availability of the product, the delivery methods offered...

Marketing mix strategy: the advantages

What are the advantages of the 4 Ps for your strategy?

Here are the ones to remember:

• Strategy adapted to your company's target and resources;
• Improve the consistency of your strategy;

Improve the effectiveness of your strategy;

• Allows you to differentiate yourself from the competition;
• Allows you to measure your risks.

In short, the 4 Ps is to have a more effective strategy, which means profitability and success.

The evolution of the marketing mix: the emergence of the 7 P

No effective strategy is fixed in time, it can always be improved, and above all, to remain effective it must adapt to market and societal changes. Yes, the marketing mix is constantly evolving!

This is how we naturally moved from the 4 Ps to the 7 Ps, an extensive marketing mix.

The definition of the 7 P marketing mix is therefore a strategy that integrates the first 4 Ps and includes 3 new ones:

• Staff (People) ;
• Process (Processus) ;
• Physical evidence (Proof matérielle).

Here we are more interested in the service aspect, which is why we are talking about the marketing mix of 7 P services.

PEOPLE

How does the work of your teams affect your results?

Each employee reflects the image of your company. Intensive and continuous training of your teams on how to manage customers and deal with unexpected events is crucial to your success.

PROCESS

In 7 P marketing, the process (or process) represents the entire period between the first interaction with the customer and the total end of the service.

How to have a clear process? How can clear processes facilitate the work of your teams?

Customers can be patient, but the trend is more towards speed of service, whether it is to get a product or even to reach your customer service.

The longer the duration, the more likely the client will go elsewhere, where things will go much faster. Especially if there is no logical reason for this extended duration.

The more structured and efficient your process is, the more your teams will be able to satisfy the customer. By optimizing the process, you optimize your sales.

Physical evidence

How important are customer recommendations in your strategy? How does this affect customer satisfaction?

Customers need concrete clues to judge an offer. With the Internet, they only need a few clicks to get an idea of what your company and products are worth.

If they discover negative criticism, or even simply no consumer opinion, they will be suspicious. It is therefore in your interest to have an excellent e-reputation.

How the marketing mix went from 4P to 10P

After the 4P strategy and the 7P service marketing strategy, here are the 10Ps!

Still with a view to evolution and efficiency, the marketing mix has been added 3 additional Ps:

• Partnership (Partenariat) ;
• Permission to solicit the customer (Permission Marketing);
• Purple cow (Purple Cow).

An 8th P: partnership

This is co-branding: the co-development policy between two companies or two complementary brands. This type of partnership is already developing naturally, as it can be a great communication tool for brands, in addition to offering customers attractive products.

The 9th P, as a Marketing Permission

The objective of Permission Marketing is to encourage the consumer to enter into a direct relationship with the brand. Consumers have grown tired of the brands that are required of them, for example with the constant calls home to offer services.

This strategy is in line with Inbound Marketing: let customers come to you (by subtly directing them).

To finish the 10th P: the innovation "purple cow"

This funny name perfectly illustrates this point: in a field, a cow among cows is nothing more than a cow. But comb it purple and we'll only see her!

The same is true for your products: they must be remarkable to be noticed in the ocean of the existing offer.

That's why you need to create a product that will touch the customer's emotions, attract his attention, engage him, etc.

The marketing mix is constantly evolving according to technologies and customer expectations, which are increasingly "customer centric". To work, the marketing mix must take into account all the Ps. They complement each other and cannot have value alone.

The three key points to remember:

• The marketing mix structures your strategy and increases its performance.
• The marketing mix has evolved from the classic 4 Ps to 7 Ps and then 10 Ps.
• Each of the P's in the marketing mix plays an important role in ensuring that the entire strategy is coherent and effective. Don't neglect any of them.