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EFG Marketing Solutions, Inc. – Boost Business Quickly
The marketing mix is the first thing taught in most business classes, according to EFG Marketing Solutions. One cannot run a successful business without knowledge of it. However, many small business owners or entrepreneurs have not had the formal training to know what is meant by this term. The phrase was invented fifty years ago to describe what should be instinctual for those in business. The phrase is still used today, though the definition and its importance will never be replace or irrelevant.
In simple terms, the four P’s defines the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Some argue that the fifth P is ‘packaging, ‘ but for the sake of brevity, we’ll focus on just the four. The product is exact what one’s business sells or provides, be it a good or service. Price is what you charge for this good or service. Place refers to where it can be bought and where it would be most needed. Promotion is how you get word out about your product.
One must start with the product. You’ve got to find something that no one else is selling and then figure out how to get started. Is there something you think would be useful that you can’t find anywhere? There is your product. Products are difficult because they’re always evolving and competition is stiff.
Price is where things get really complicated because there is so much to think about. How much does it cost you to make or provide the product? If you’re going to make a profit, you have to charge more than what it costs you. But how much is too much? If there is competition, do you sell your product cheaper than there’s? How does that reflect on the quality of your product? How do consumer expectations fit in? Are there cheaper alternatives for customers?
The placement of your product is important to the customer. If you’re selling something geared toward Senior Citizens, would you sell it at an arcade or at the mall? You must figure out first who you are selling it to and then figure out where they go and where they look when they’re shopping.
Promotion involves advertisements for the product. It also means getting people talking about it. Viral advertisement is often worth more than any TV commercial could be. Once again, one must think of their target market and how they will learn about the product in the first place.
The four Cs are staging a coup of the four P’s. The Cs are: consumer, cost, convenience, and communication. Cost and communication are no different than price and promotion. Consumer forces the supplier to look less at themselves and what they can provide and more toward who is buying the product and what they need.
Convenience is a terribly important part of the marketing mix –one that was not addressed in the four P’s. It is even more important than place because placement of a product is only one part of the convenience of an item. Yes, the customer has to have easy access to a product in order for it to sell well. Products should be placed in areas where the types of residents will be likely to buy them. But one must also consider how convenient a product is to someone. In India, for example, the mindset is that smaller sized food packages are more convenient. They would rather pay more for a smaller bag of chips that they could eat in one sitting than pay less in the long run for a large bag that would last them several days.
Since 2005, EFG Marketing has been providing professional results for their Fortune 500 clients. With advice from EFG Marketing, their clients have been improving their bottom line for over 5 years.
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