The marketing mix
Marketing mix refers to the four means of action you can use to gain customers. These are:
- The product,
- The price,
- The distribution,
- And communication.
The first two (the product and the price) allow you meet the needs and fulfill the requests of your customers. To put it simply, they make up the offer made by the company to its customers.
The other two (distribution and communication) allow you to increase sales and to promote your products or services.
All of these variables are interdependent, and as such, your strategy needs to take all of them in consideration.
All your approach should be centered on the customers’ needs.
Summary
- Define your product or service offer
- Set your selling price
- Choose the most suitable distribution methods
- Make yourself known as quickly as possible
Define your product or service offer
To address this topic, you can start by asking yourself the following questions:
- What is the product or service that the customer is willing to buy?
- What need does your product or service meet?
- What is your added value compared to your competitors?
There are two ways to define a product:
- With the traditional approach: “What is sold to our customers?”
- Or with the commercial approach: “How to meet the expectations and needs of the consumers and users?”
The product plays a fundamental role in the creation and especially the success of a company. If it does not meet any need of any consumer, it will obviously not sell, since it basically has no reason to exist.
In other words, a bad product is nothing more than a product that does not match the expectations of the demand.
The product policy is based on two fundamental notions:
- The notion of the “life cycle of the product”,
- And the notion of the “range of the product”.
Find out more about defining your offer!
Set your selling price
To set your price, you should start by asking yourself the following questions:
- How much would the customer be willing to pay for your product or service?
- How low can you set the price before the customers considers it a product of poor quality?
- How high can you set the price before it is deemed too expensive?
For the customer, the price is a way to differentiate between multiple companies offering a similar product, or the same brand.
For the company, the price makes it possible to position the product in a range on the market. It is also one of the first elements that will enable the company to measure the adequacy (or inadequacy) of its commercial policy with customers.
Pricing is an integral part of Marketing Mix. You should not hesitate to spend some time on this issue. Indeed, pricing is a very important strategic action that will inevitably influence the purchase decision of your potential customers.
And yet, business creators often set their prices by taking into account nothing but the cost of the product for the company (production, distribution, …). This is explained by the fact that this method is incredibly easy to use.
The price helps to position your product. Indeed, if your strategy is to “pick” your customers, setting a high price will help you to strengthen your image.
However, it is important to remember that the company operates in a market. You must therefore also take into account:
- The prices of competition,
- The study of the tariff expectations of the customers.
To set the correct price, it is therefore necessary to know your customers, your competitors and your production costs.
Find out more about setting prices!
Choose the most suitable distribution methods
Should you prioritize selling in a store? Selling on the internet? Both? The distribution policy you choose should allow you to put in place the best means of delivering your products and/or services to customers, while facilitating and optimizing your sales.
The choice of the distribution channel has to be made taking into account the habits and behavior of your customers, and not on how practical or cheap it is for your company.
To make such a decision, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of:
- Existing distribution networks (see how your competitors are doing),
- The means available, financial or human,
- The typology and expectations of the clientele.
Find out mre about distribution methods!
Make yourself known as quickly as possible
Communication must be part of a homogeneous and coherent whole.
The primary goal is to promote your products and your business. Communication allows you to spread the image you want your company to have to your customers, your partners and your competitors.
As such, to communicate well, it is necessary to:
- Build a simple and clear message, and to make sure it is told as much as possible,
- Set precise and definite objectives,
- Make sure no incorrect or misleading information is given,
- And most importantly, to choose the right online and offline communication media to reach your customers. For example if your customers mainly read the newspaper “Le Parisien”, it wouldn’t help to communicate in the newspapers “L’ Express” or “Le Monde”.
In terms of platform, it is thus important to make the difference between: “media” communication and “non-media” communication.
Find out more about communication!
