Marketing Mix

Question 1

What choices do businesses have when it comes to marketing their products?

Answer 1

All businesses have choices to make when it comes to marketing their products:
• How much should the product sell for?
• What features should be added to the product?
• What distribution channels should be used to reach the customer?
• Is a television campaign the best way of promoting the product?

Question 2

What is the marketing mix?

Answer 2

The marketing mix is a tool combines different marketing components like product, price, promotion and place to positively influence consumers and help to maximise sales.

Question 3

What is the marketing mix a reminder of?
What does a business have to consider in relation to the chance of commercial success?

Answer 3

The marketing mix is a reminder that there is a need for an integrated approach for a business to succeed. A business has to ensure that all elements are carefully considered to maximise its chances of commercial success.

Question 4

What is the 7P’s Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 4

1. Product
2. Price
3. Promotion
4. Place
5. People
6. Process
7. Physical environment

Question 5

What is Product in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 5

Product:
• Quality
• Design
• Specification
• Warranties
• After Sales Service

Question 6

What is Price in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 6

Price:
• Skimming
• Penetration
• Dynamic
• Costs
• Elasticity

Question 7

What is Promotion in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 7

Promotion:
• Special offers
• Advertising
• Endorsements
• Positioning
• Branding

Question 8

What is Place in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 8

Place:
• Internet
• Wholesale
• Direct Sales
• Multi-Channel

Question 9

What is People in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 9

People
• Employees
• Management
• Business Culture
• Customer Focus
• Training

Question 10

What is Process in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 10

Process:
• Service Delivery
• Uniformity
• Bureaucracy
• Queues?

Question 11

What is Physical Environment in the 7P Marketing Mix Model?

Answer 11

Physical Environment:
• Facilities
• Infrastructure
• Service Delivery
• Location
• Elasticity

Question 12

What did the historical 4P consist of?

Answer 12

Historically the focus was upon the 4P’s of Product, Price, Promotion and Place but to accommodate the growth of the service economy, Process, People and Physical Environment were added.

Question 13

What is the market that a business operates within?

Answer 13

It is always important to remember that the market a business operates within is dynamic.

Question 14

How does a business risk failure?

Answer 14

A business that remains static when all around them are changing risks losing market share very quickly and ultimately even risks failure.

Question 15

Why do businesses need to monitor the marketing mix?

Answer 15

As such, it follows that businesses need to monitor the marketing mix for their products and services and to assess whether any elements) require modifying in the face of changing market conditions.

Question 16

What are examples of Internal Change Factors?

Answer 16

Internal Factors:
• Budgetary constraints
• Recruitment and retention
• Manufacturing capabilities
• New ownership/objectives

Question 17

What are examples of External Change Factors?

Answer 17

External Factors:
• Political influence
• Economic cycle
• Social change
• Technological change
• Competition

Question 18

What are influences on a marketing mix?

Answer 18

Influences on a Marketing Mix: The exact make-up of the marketing mix is influenced the type of product that is being marketed. Consumer Products and Industrial Products

Question 19

What are Consumer Products?

Answer 19

This marketing format occurs when a business aim their products or services specifically at the general public for their own personal consumption.

Question 20

What is the size of a customer base?
What techniques will a firm use to attract and engage potential customers?

Answer 20

Consumer products: The size of the customer base is extremely large and a firm will use a variety of both persuasive and also informative promotional techniques to attract and engage potential customers.

Question 21

What are types of consumers products?

Answer 21

Types of Consumer Products: Consumer Goods: Convenience, Shopping, Speciality

Question 22

Information about Convenience Goods:

Answer 22

• A key characteristic of convenience products is their wide availability
• Brands must be distributed effectively or else customers are likely to switch to alternation
• Customers put little time into buying decision (impulse buy) as the item is low priced making brand loyalty hard to maintain with convenience dominating choice

Question 23

Information about Shopping Goods:

Answer 23

Price is a key factor as customers choose between brands and seek out information to help them make a more informed choice
Customers are brand loyal but seek out the best deal including payment terms e.g. credit
Customers expect the staff to hold a good brand knowledge and this can influence their purchase

Question 24

Information about Speciality Goods:

Answer 24

Speciality products involve a large investment of time by the customer into the purchasing decision
Whilst price is less important; customers are looking for bespoke products that reflect their own status.
Branding plays a key role in any decisions and customers need time to contemplate their choices in physical surroundings that exemplify what the brand stands for

Question 25

What is marketing

Answer 25

Industrial Products: Not all marketing is aimed at the end customers and instead is aimed at attracting other businesses to purchase their products and services.

Answer 26

Industrial Products: There are some important differences in the way in which B2B marketing is carried out. These include:
- transaction sizes are sustainability larger
- promotional methods need to be informative
- the use of specialist buyers and sellers
-quality and price are very important factors
- buyer-selling relationship are established

Answer 27

A product is any good or service offered to sale to customer. This product however, is more than simply an item. A product says a lot about the customer who buys it- lifestyle, income, family, pets

Question 28

What is a Product Portfolio?

Answer 28

A product portfolio is the range of products that a business produces and sells.

Question 29

What does holding a wide product portfolio mix enabling a firm to do?

Answer 29

Holding a wide product portfolio mix enables a firm:
* to spread risk of product failure and market decline
* to benefit from greater economies of scale
* to allow targeting of more markets and customers
* to spread fixed costs out over more units

Question 30

What is a product?

Answer 30

A product is the good or service that a business provide their customers.

Question 31

A product can be tangible or intangible. Give examples of that?

Answer 31

These can be tangible e.g. an actual product that you can touch or intangible e.g. a brand name or service such as a haircut.

Question 32

What should businesses invest into to improve their products?

Answer 32

Businesses invest in research & development to improve their products so as to satisfy the market. They will also attribute great importance to their product design so that it maximises its appeal to the customer and minimises production costs.

Answer 33

Developing New Goods & Services:
1. Ideas Generation
Using a combination of their own market research, investment in research and development and brainstorming activities new ideas for products are generated. Most ideas do not progress beyond this stage.

Answer 34

Developing New Goods & Services:
2. Analysis of Ideas
The next stage is to analyse whether the new idea for a product will fit in with the overall objectives of the business.

Answer 35

Developing New Goods & Services:
3. Product Development
At this stage, the product is created in prototype form and tested via simulation using computer technology.

Answer 36

Developing New Goods & Services:
4. Test Marketing
This saves the business the costs of a full scale launch and allows them to identify potential modifications.
However, it also allows the competition to see your product at an early stage and to respond to your ideas.

Answer 37

Developing New Goods & Services:
5. Product Launch:
After all modifications have been made, the final product might eventually make it to the market. Still, over 70% of new products will fail within 3 years!

Question 38

Product Development Influences

Answer 38

Technology
New technologies have meant:
• More efficient production systems
• The creation of new and innovative products
• Better communication with suppliers and customers
• Bespoke products based upon customer requirements.

Answer 39

Technology has meant that the market is now changing even faster as the customer is much more informed about their choices than ever before. This has implications for consumer loyalty!

Question 40

Product Development Influences

Answer 40

Competitor Actions:
The rise of e-commerce. This has led to competition not just on a local scale but potentially globally!
Competitors may also launch new products onto the market which can take away some of a firm’s market share.
This might also be an indication of changing tastes and fashions within the market, all of which the business will need to respond to.

Question 41

Product Development Influences

Answer 41

Entrepreneurial Skills of Managers & Owners
The managers or owners can be a critical factor in encouraging an entrepreneurial culture within a business.
Spotting an early gap in the market can mean that a firm can benefit from ‘first-mover advantage’. Some firms offer reward incentives for new ideas.
Firms most likely to benefit from the development of new products, invest for the long-term in research and development. Whilst results are not guaranteed, it ensures new processes are being thought through and tested.

Answer 42

Management’s Product Decisions
- Monitor a product’s progress over time and adjust its marketing mix accordingly using the Product Life Cycle model.
- Review how all of a firm’s products fit together and assess their viability using Product Portfolio Analysis
- Consider whether to develop and launch new products as markets change over time.
- The management and development of a brand.