The Marketing Mix Recipe

The "Marketing Mix" or the marketing program or the Four Ps was gathered by E. Jerome McCarthy, an American marketing professor and author, in his book: "Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach" (1960).

The "Marketing Mix" contains "Product", "Price", "Promotion" and "Place".

Product

It might seem obvious but the first thing we need to figure out is what is our product or service we want to offer and what differentiates us from other products in the same category.

It's not enough just to create a chocolate bar because it seems like there are quite a few of them already.

Instead, we should think how we can make our chocolate bar different from the rest, whether by adding some special new ingredients like a chocolate bar with M&Ms or a chocolate bar with sweet corn.

Price

The second thing we need to consider is the price.

One of the biggest chocolate factories is called "Elite".

"Elite" is very innovative and constantly trying to come up with new initiatives like a chocolate bar with M&Ms inside.

When they come up with an idea, like a chocolate bar with M&Ms for example, the first thing they figure out right after the concept idea is the price.

They try to figure out how much money their target audience will be willing to pay for this specific chocolate bar with M&Ms.

Then they see if the making prices of this chocolate bar will be profitable enough and how expensive the making process of this bar is. There are quite a few times in which ideas get off the table because the ingredients are simply too expensive.

Most chances are, people will not be willing to pay 45 bucks for a chocolate bar even if it's with Brazilian special almonds or any other expensive magic powder.

I'm not saying the price is supposed to be low but the price has to be a right fit for the target audience.

If it's a luxury watch, for example, the price should definitely be high because there are no cheap luxury watches, right?

Place

The channels by which we are going to deliver our business and our marketing materials.

Is it going to be online or a physical retail store? What kind of environment will our product be exposed to?

Fast food restaurants like McDonald's quite often use the place for their benefit.

McDonald's usually tries to find the best place for a billboard ad on the way where people drive back home and see a huge McDonald's sign.

It could be very convenient to have dinner at McDonald's on your way back home.

Promotion

Promotion is actually the advertising strategy or marketing strategy for our business.

Is it going to be promoted by printing ads in a newspaper, a television ad or maybe even a physical salesperson that will go door-to-door and sell our products?

Times have changed dramatically since the days of the printing press and one-channel TV but human beings still feel, think and operate the same way.

Even if we're creating an online business or a "Skype Calls Consultancy" agency, we still need to consider the same things.

What is our product or service or offering?

What is the price people will be willing to pay for it?

What place are they going to meet us?

And how will we promote it?