I hear many people talk about the “Marketing Mix” A lot of them get very confused about the definition of the marketing mix. Hopefully the following will clear the air for some people.

What exactly is the Marketing Mix?

Most people define the marketing mix as the 4 P’s of marketing: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. These 4 P’s will guide you through the basics of your marketing or action plan.

The first step consists of Market Research. Competitor research is a must in regards to product and pricing. You need to determine where you sit in the marketplace in relation to these two areas.

Nate Stockard has given a great overview of each of the 4 P’s.

P #1: Product

The product or service or selling must be defined first. What are you selling? How will it be packaged? Determine your product’s features, and then build the benefits from them. At this point, you will make all of the decisions relating to your product or service: style, quality, packaging, warranty, etc.

P#2: Price

Pricing actually plays a vital role in the branding and image of your product. Determining your price can be difficult, especially if you product is in a widely-variable industry. You must determine pricing strategy, retail and wholesale pricing, possible bundling, and any type of discounts.

P#3: Place

Place refers to how you will distribute the product. Will you sell to retail stores, or will you sell directly to customers? Is your product a wholesale item? The decisions made about distribution will affect your marketing mix in terms of how you will warehouse your products, how you will process orders, what types of channels will you use, and how will you cover the market.

P#4: Promotion

Promotion is the area where you will make decisions on how people will learn about your product. What types of sales strategies and promotions will you use? What kind of sales force will you need to sell your product? How will you use public relations and publicity to support your product? There are many aspects of the promotion element of your marketing mix. In fact, the other three P’s will affect your promotion strategy.

Decide on the first three P’s before you tackle Promotion, but ultimately, each P will coordinate with the others. Once you complete your marketing mix decisions, review the entire plan to make sure you have a consistent and precise marketing mix plan in order to properly sell, distribute, and promote your product.

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Ok, so all we have to do is link to them via a blog post.

Now if you want all the details, I’m not going to post them here, you can pop on over and check them out and be in the running yourself!

  http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/flip-me-a-link-win-a-1200-prize/ 

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With Micro Business Ownership on the rise, business owners need to make their advertising as effective as possible to ensure they

stand out from the crowd.

Step 1.   Why are you advertising?  Ascertain why you want to advertise. What you want to achieve from your advertising.  Is it to raise awareness of a product or your brand or to increase your database? Do you want a certain amount of sales?

Step 2.    Know your target market.   If you sell products or services that suit a range of markets, make sure you create your advertisement to suit only one market.  Trying to cover all bases with one advertisement will lead to less profit. By highlighting your most profitable market and targeting them you will increase your bottom line profit rather than just increase sales.

Step 3.     Write your advert correctly.   Be sure to capture the readers attention with a headline that stands out followed by a “hook” to keep them reading.   Make the advertisement clear, bold and be sure to outline the benefits – not the features.

Step 4.      Include incredible offers.   If you want to attract new clients then make it worth their while.  Give them something they can’t resist! You need to make them want to come and visit you right then and there. Team up with some other businesses as part of a strategic alliance and give away one of their products. That way, you both win.

Step 5.      Choose where to submit your advert.  Put yourself in the shoes of your target market.  Read what they read, visit websites they visit.  Spread your advertising around so you are not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Step 6.      Test your advertising and measure your responses. Before you commit to a large advertising budget, test a few different methods to see if they work. I.e. - before sending 5000 inserts into a magazine, ask them if you can send around 300 to test. If this doesn’t get any kind of response, then you’ve saved yourself a bit of money! Always ask your clients where they heard about you.

Step 7.       Final word   Remember that marketing and advertising is ongoing.  People need to see your business a number of times before they will make the decision to buy from you.  Your marketing and advertising plan should be comprehensive.  Be prepared for the long haul and always budget for advertising.

A great way to find out more advertising strategies and to learn how to track and measure your sales is from the Diva Promotions Start Up Marketing Kit. www.divapromotions.com.au or click the picture on this page!

From Emma Rhoades, Diva Promotions.

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You don’t even have to be able to write! There are plenty of resources around to teach you the best way to write articles.

Have a read of the full post here - http://www.marketing-ideasblog.com/marketing-ideas/article-marketing-secrets-6-creative-article-marketing-ideas-to-get-more-traffic

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By Medha Behera

Marketing professionals and specialist use many tactics to attract and retain their customers. These activities comprise of different concepts, the most important one being the marketing mix. There are two concepts for marketing mix: 4P and 7P. It is essential to balance the 4Ps or the 7Ps of the marketing mix. The concept of 4Ps has been long used for the product industry while the latter has emerged as a successful proposition for the services industry.

The 7Ps of the marketing mix can be discussed as:

Product - It must provide value to a customer but does not have to be tangible at the same time. Basically, it involves introducing new products or improvising the existing products.

Price - Pricing must be competitive and must entail profit. The pricing strategy can comprise discounts, offers and the like.

Place - It refers to the place where the customers can buy the product and how the product reaches out to that place. This is done through different channels, like Internet, wholesalers and retailers.

Promotion - It includes the various ways of communicating to the customers of what the company has to offer. It is about communicating about the benefits of using a particular product or service rather than just talking about its features.

People - People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people’s hands.

Process - It refers to the methods and process of providing a service and is hence essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such things.

Physical (evidence) - It refers to the experience of using a product or service. When a service goes out to the customer, it is essential that you help him see what he is buying or not. For example- brochures, pamphlets etc serve this purpose.

Medha Behera

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TIPS FOR MAXMISING THE RESULTS OF YOUR PUBLIC RELATIONS

• After distributing a media release, make sure you are contactable at all times on the number/s you have provided on the release. Journalists will only try to contact you once or twice, and if you are not available, will run with another story instead – your opportunity will be lost!

• It is preferable you do not contact the journalist/publications yourself to follow up – leave this to the professionals. You could risk ruining your chances at publicity if handled the wrong way.

• Journalists work to tight deadlines and under a great deal of pressure. Do not come across as aggressive or demanding – always be courteous and helpful if contacted.

• Provide the information they request as quickly as possible, bearing in mind their tight deadlines.

• If you have agreed to offer a media release or story to one particular journalist or publication as an exclusive, don’t contact other publications with the same/similar story. This will just spoil the rapport you are forming.

• Remember that advertising and editorial departments are entirely separate in media outlets, and usually have little or no knowledge of what the other is doing. Therefore, it is pointless to mention to the journalist any advertising dollars you may have spent with the outlet in the past.

• If in doubt about a question/request from a journalist, rather than making something up off the top of your head that may not be accurate, ask them if you can find out and get back to them – then do so ASAP!

• Make sure you have a News Room on your website that journalists can refer to, and ensure it’s kept up to date. For further information, contact Kerry McDuling at Diva Promotions.

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Time

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If you are seriously considering adding more strategies into your marketing mix, read the below article from over at the Hansis Blog.

by: Rodney Rumford

Copyright 2005 Rodney Rumford

Leveraging podcasting technology can give you a marketing edge that will allow you to increase your online visibility, increase your client acquisition rates and improve customer loyalty. The smart businesses and marketing companies will add podcasting to the marketing mix for their business. Adding podcasting to your marketing mix can have tremendous positive impact on your business.

Many small and large businesses are still trying to understand the basics of podcasting technology. There are many articles and white papers that can educate people on the basics of podcasting 101. If you are looking to educate yourself more on podcasting for your business you can read the 6 blogs that are available at http://blog.podblaze.com.

Read the rest of the article over here…

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