The marketing mix and the four p

The marketing mix combines the Four Ps: product, price, place and promotion. Its correct set-up is a synonym of success for the company through the creation of value for the client and their satisfaction.

What is the marketing mix

It is no secret to anyone that the success of a company is in fully satisfying customers, they are the main reason for the survival and proper functioning of any company, and to make them feel comfortable and therefore get a response favorable that results in benefits for the company, what is commonly called Marketing Mix is used

Surely you have heard many times everything that has to do with this term and all its divisions, however, it is not enough to remember some very important aspects that will be explained in a simple way for the correct understanding of the subject that is being exposed.

First, we will start by clearly defining what the marketing mix is, understanding it as " the whole set of marketing variables that a company prepares to produce a desired effect on consumers ". Logically, this desire is to influence the demand for the product to be offered, seeking to acquire more and more and by a greater number of people.

Here is a mini-video course in which the concepts of the marketing mix and each of its variables, the 4 Ps, product, price, place and promotion are clearly presented. (5 videos, 52 minutes)

What are the Four Ps?

Within the set of this mix are the so-called Four P's which, as you will remember, mean Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Likewise, each of these divisions is made up of all the marketing variables that a company analyzes and develops in order to seek, as we said before, to change consumption habits in favor of it.

The Product is the good or service that you consume, it is the Coca-Cola that you drink in the afternoon, the CD that you bought from your favorite group, the meat that they sell in the square of your neighborhood; Likewise, it is the attention you received on the plane on your last vacation, the dedication that your appointment to the dentist was as pleasant as possible and how good you felt upon arrival and being very well attended at the hotel where you stayed on your trip To the coast.

But the above would not have been complete if you did not perceive the quality of what you received, the options you had to choose from, the recognized brand of a certain product and everything concerning the service offered after having made your purchase or received the attention. This is all that has to do with the idea of a product in the Marketing Mix and any company must strive to ensure that all of the above is fully complied with and do everything possible to make its product the best.

The Price is what you pay daily for your transport, what you gave to get to the movies and what your dad paid to buy that car that he likes so much. Likewise, within this classification are the possible discounts when buying something or the payment facilities found when acquiring a product of a high value. In this sense, the price must correspond to the perception that the buyer has about the value of the product and it is the company's decision to determine what should be sold with a price accessible to many people or, on the contrary, to establish an exclusive price, for a certain consumer segment.

The Plaza is the shopping center where you met your friends for an ice cream, the dealership where you bought the spare part for the car, the bakery where you got the bread for breakfast and the bar where you had a few drinks at night. For the sale of a product to be in accordance with the policies of a certain company, it is very important to determine the location of the point of sale, the coverage that is going to have, the inventories that are going to be handled and the transportation that is needed to the correct traffic of the product to offer, this determined by the own needs of each company.

Finally, there is the Promotion, within which is the commercial that impacted you so much on TV, the billboard of that beautiful woman offering a beer, the advertisement you heard on the radio promoting a play and the press ad for a page to publicize the latest model car. Within the above, there is also room for discount coupons to buy a pizza or the sample that came to your house of the new conditioning shampoo.

The center of any marketing mix is the customer and its goal is customer satisfaction

The four Ps of the marketing mix. Source: Kotler and Armstrong, p.52

The previous description of each of the Four Ps, was made in the simplest way possible to understand much better everything concerning the Marketing Mix. It is the decision, therefore, of each company to be able to combine these variables in the best way for a correct operation of the same and achieve the total satisfaction of all consumers who will buy if we are comfortable with the product, its price, the place where we can acquire it and we like how it is presented to us.