You may have spent a lot of time marketing.

The Marketing Mix is a collection of variables that can control and influence consumer reactions. It represents the four pillars of any business strategy. This set of variables has changed over time, due to technological advances. It is important to understand that these elements are essential for a successful brand.

Clients are increasingly asking about the importance of the Marketing Mix in a digital world. Clients who sell products online often don’t know how to create a sales and marketing plan while they are still in the business planning phase. It is possible that these clients created a business plan, but did not consider the new pillars and how they were applied to digital strategy.

Marketing is not just about the promotion of a product. Marketing is, above all else, the result of extensive, high-level planning.

Understanding the origin of the Marketing MIX

Neil H. Borden was an advertising professor at Harvard who created the Marketing Mix in the late 1940s. He was inspired by James Culliton’s article about marketers, who described them as “ingredient mixers”.

Although the idea was popular, mixers became a common term among marketing professionals. There was no consensus about the ingredients that made up the mix until 1960. Edmund Jerome McCarthy, a professor, and author proposed the idea of “Marketing Mix 4Ps” in Basic Marketing – A Managerial Approach. He wanted to show, through the four great pillars, why certain brands are more costly than others, which brands sell better, and which ones are better promoted.

Philip Kotler was the one who helped to spread the idea. Kotler’s subsequent studies helped spread the marketing mix around the world. They complemented McCarthy’s theory and gave it a more realistic character. The four pillars were intended to be used in corporate marketing. He also explored the argument in books. Many believe he is the one who invented the 4Ps.

The importance of your marketing mix

A company must maintain its competitive edge by achieving a high standard of products and services. This is especially important considering that customers are becoming more demanding over time. Companies must be able to meet their customers’ changing needs. Armstrong and Kotler (2010) state that “the key to achieving your organization’s goals is to identify the needs and wants of your target consumers and to satisfy them more effectively than the competition.”

Starbucks coffee is still very popular and more expensive than its competitors. It all comes down to brand identity and the ability to communicate its differences to the public, such as the customer experience. Starbucks’ real secret lies in its interior design. It features a moody playlist, comfy furniture, plenty of outlets nearby, free wifi, and the possibility to personalize your drink with a name.

It sounds very familiar and can be copied easily by other coffee shops. What makes the brand unique is its ability to replicate this experience in every store around the globe. This makes it easy for the customer to feel like he or she is part of a group that gathers in the coffee shop to study, work, and host meetings. Combining these features creates a better experience than coffee at a bakery counter.

The four P’s of marketing are always changing and adapting to ensure that both customers as well as businesses benefit. It is important to find out how the company has been generating customer satisfaction by using the marketing mix when creating a strategic plan. Companies should adapt to customers’ needs and interests and not to their customers.

The Evolution of the 4 P’s in Marketing

1. Product

This pillar helps to define and understand the characteristics, differences, and attributes of what is being offered to satisfy consumers’ needs and desires. This means that the product is not just an asset but also anything that can be offered as a business to add value and meet the needs of a particular group.

Philip Kloter described a product as “something that can offer to a market in appreciation, acquisition, usage or consumption and that can satisfy a want or a need.” (Kotler & Armstrong 2010, 2010). In the last decade, it has been more important to meet consumer needs than ever. Many marketers have changed product P from problem P to product P. This is because a product can solve customer problems.

You should always be aware of the questions you need to ask your marketing team and other consultants if you are planning to create a new product.

• Concept: Why is this product needed? What does the product do to meet their needs? Is your target audience interested in what you have to say?

• Functions: What are the requirements to meet expectations? What, where, and when will the customer use this product?

• Appearance: What are its shape, style, and size? Do you see any variations?

• Name: Is it possible for a domain to be registered and a profile on social media without changing the brand?

• Differences: What makes it different from other products or services on the market? What unique feature, function, or quality does it provide?

Product P is all about developing new products according to consumer demand. Crowdsourcing is a great example of how digital media is changing the development process. It allows potential consumers to collaborate on creating products. The data gathered through surveys online and statistical analysis is the foundation for any new product development.

Software such as Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel can record the behavior of internet users. Digital media allows for direct research, which is often done via third-party or proprietary platforms like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and Google Forms.

Understanding the product’s life cycle is an important component of product development. These five stages help to define the life cycle for any product or service: Introduction, Growth, and Maturity. Each stage has its own set of requirements that must be met to sell and market. It allows monitoring of market behavior, customer interest, retention, and pricing strategies.

It is much easier to set up the necessary actions to promote a product or service when you have established these phases.

2. Price

It is difficult to establish a price for a product or service, especially if you launch a new product. Pricing can be difficult for people who have never done it before. However, many strategies and mechanisms can make this easier.

Correctly defining price as the key factor in generating revenue can make the brand more competitive or disadvantageous. The price of a product or service is not just related to its value, but also to how people perceive the brand’s value. Simply put, brands that are more valuable for customers are more likely to be successful, regardless of their higher price.

It is important to ask clients specific questions when developing a strategic plan. These questions may or not reflect the market’s expectations. This will help you to get a sense of where to start.

• Margin: What is a product’s lowest financial value to guarantee a return on investment?

• Value perception: What’s the maximum acceptable market value?

• Competition: What is the product’s price relative to its competitors? What price do market leaders charge?

It is easy to identify the average price charged for similar products by your competitors. This price survey can be quickly completed through other channels, depending on your market.

3. Place and Presence

After the product and price positioning are clearly defined, it’s time to create a distribution plan. Also known as “presence”, this is how and where consumers will be able to purchase the product. The brand’s customers must have easy access to it at this stage.

Before determining the best sales channels, it is a good idea to do a geographic analysis. Online sales are often the best option for universal access. It is important to determine where your target audience lives, how often they use this product, what establishments they frequent, as well as the type of products they are interested in.

There are some questions you should ask to ensure the best distribution strategy.

• Consumer Habits Where is the audience searching for products or services?

• Contacts: What social networks are your ideal buyers using? Do these users prefer to shop online?

4. Promotion with a Purpose

It is important to create mechanisms for brand disclosure online and offline when entering the promotion stage. The message must reach the right people as it is the best way for the brand to be known and the products to continue to be used.

It is no longer enough to highlight the differences between a product. The brand must also be clear about its purpose in today’s market. A purpose that aligns with your values, beliefs, health, environmental sustainability, family connections, and family is important in a purchase decision. No matter how innovative or necessary a product is, it doesn’t make sense to offer poor working conditions for employees.

It is crucial to answering the more important questions to discover the purpose of a brand and make it relevant in everyday life.

• Why is this brand important?
• What role does it play in the lives of customers?
• What solutions does it offer?
• Without it, how would the world look?

Peter Drucker stated:

One can be sure that there will always be some selling. Marketing is about making selling unnecessary. New York marketing company is about getting to know the customer and making the product or service fit him. Marketing should lead to a customer being willing to buy. The only thing left is to make the product/service available.

Data analysis tools today allow for a more confident analysis of the consumer. These questions will help you to create a communication plan for promoting a product or service.

• Budget: How much money does the client have to fund a communication plan?

• Goal: What’s the sales objective? What is the time it takes for the customer to reach this goal?

• Media Plan What are the best channels online and offline? And what public relations activities can be used to promote the product or service.

• Seasonality – Does product sales have a seasonal component?

• Competitor Analysis How does a competitor promote their products or services? What can we learn from competitors’ actions?

Miami Digital Marketing’s magic is its ability to quickly create, test, measure, and adjust communication within hours. This level of detail is almost non-existent when you launch a TV commercial or print advertisement. After a digital communication plan has been developed and tested, businesses can adapt it to other media.

In light of COVID-19, the demand for companies offering their services online has had an unprecedented historical explosion.

A March 2020 study found that 42% of Americans shop online at least once per week. ( Soper 2020). This is a 22% increase from two years ago. Online supermarket sales have doubled daily.