Essential Standard: / 3.00 Understand market planning and business law.
Indicator: / 3.01 Develop marketing strategies to guide marketing tactics. (MP:001)
a. Define the following terms: marketing mix, product, place, promotion, price, goals, strategies, and tactics
- Marketing Mix – A combination of the four elements of marketing (product, price, place and promotion).
- Product – The goods, services or ideas a business will offer its customers.
- Place – Getting a product in the right location at the right time, creating convenience for the customer.
- Promotion – The various types of communication marketers use to inform, persuade, or remind customers about their products. This includes: advertising, personal selling, publicity, and public relations.
- Price – The amount of money a firm asks in exchange for its products.
- Goals – Objectives you plan to fulfill.
- Strategies – Plan of action for achieving your goals and objectives.
- Tactics – Short term actions used to carry out strategies.
b. Identify the components of the marketing mix.
c. Describe the importance of each of the components of the marketing mix.
- Product – The starting point of the marketing mix. Marketers conduct research and use their creativity to figure out what customers need and how they will meet those needs. Questions to be asked/considered include:
o Should we offer one product or more?
o Is the product a good, service or idea?
o Does the product have special features?
o Does the product have multiple uses?
o What resources are necessary to research and develop the product?
o What level of quality should be produced or provided?
o Which brands should be used?
o How should the product be packaged?
o How might the product affect the firms image?
o How might customers view this product in relation to others?
o Should we offer a warranty, maintenance contract or other support services?
- Price – Marketers must find a good balance between customer value and satisfaction AND between company cost and profit. To achieve this balance, marketers identify their pricing objectives which may include one or more of the following:
o Getting the product into more customers’ hands (ex. lowering prices).
o Helping customers view their firm as distinct from competitors (ex. offer payment plan)
o Bringing in the amount of income they need or want (pricing the product high enough to cover expenses)
o Raising the products value in the customer’s eyes (asking a higher price – as customers relate price to quality)
o Matching the product’s value with what customers expect to receive (high quality matches high price )
- Place – This can make or break the buying experience. Marketers must ensure product is placed in the right location and available in the right amount. Marketers must consider the following:
o Which firms to buy the product from?
o When to buy the product?
o How much of the product to order?
o Where to make the product available?
o How to process customers orders?
o Which firms to involve in the process?
o How to answer customer questions?
o How to coordinate all the steps involved?
- Promotion – Letting customers know a product’s value and its benefits. Marketers must consider the following factors:
o Which message to send?
o Which media to use?
o When should the message be delivered?
o How often should the message be delivered?
o How should communication efforts be coordinated?
o How should results be evaluated?
d. Explain the relationship of goals, strategies, and tactics.
- Goals = Strategies + Tactics
- A goal is a destination. To get to the destination, one must identify the route to get there (strategy). Once a strategy is identified, one needs to identify the small steps needed to make it happen.
- Example:
o Goal: A bowling alley seeks to increase sales
o Strategy: Promote party/group packages
o Tactic: Offer birthday party challenges/games, coordinate pizza/cake/refreshments, assemble a “free gift” for the guest of honor
e. Describe the importance of marketing strategies.
- Marketing strategies are important because they show how goals will be reached. There may be more than one option to achieve desired goals.
- Marketers must consider the following when choosing a strategy:
o How the marketing concept applies to their situation?
o When they want to reach their goal?
o Which resources are on hand?
f. Explain the factors that may cause marketing strategies to change.
- Hearing about a new product with better features
- Figuring out that the price is slightly high for customers
- Seeing the firm’s ad in the back of the newspaper instead of intended section
- Learning of new government regulations that impact the business
- Watching the economy improve or worsen
g. Explain the importance of strategies in the marketing mix.
- Marketers combine marketing elements differently to produce strategies appropriate for reaching assorted marketing goals.
- The marketing mix differs among companies – to meet their designated goals.
Curriculum Guide: 5-69 to 5-73
Text Resources:
MBAResearch and Curriculum Center. (2011). Pick the Mix (Marketing Strategies) [LAP: MP-002]. Columbus, OH: Author.
**** See also pages 5-71-5-73 in the curriculum guide