What is the marketing mix and how can you use it?

The marketing mix is a strategy for considering the different elements that go into promoting a brand and its products. 

It offers broad guidelines for putting the right products in the right place, at the right time, and price. 

Originally comprised of 4 key basic marketing categories known as the 4 “P”s (product, place, price, and promotion), it lays out the foundation needed for marketers to determine a brand’s place within the market, and build out the best marketing strategies from there.

How the marketing mix has changed

The marketing mix, now more than ever, is rooted in a deep understanding of your target audience.

The explosion of digital marketing and the rapid rate at which consumer trends now change has transformed the face of social media and marketing efforts.

Modeling your business using consumer insights ensures you deliver at each stage of the marketing mix.

This has spurred the creation of an extended 7 (and even 8) “P” system, founded on a deeper understanding of the consumer processes and the trends that shape their behaviors, attitudes and perceptions.

Let’s dig down into the 7 “p”s of the marketing mix.

1. Product

Question to consider:

• How will the product help your consumer achieve their goals? Are they aspirational? Status-seekers? Family-oriented? Do they seek value over quality?

Finding the answer:

• Look to concept testing with survey data to assess the reaction to your product or concept before going to market.

2. Price

Question to consider:

• What income bracket does your customer sit in? Are they affluent consumers or students, for example?

Finding the answer:

• Start by creating your audience, adding all the relevant attributes to paint a clear, defined picture of who these people are, and their spending habits.

3. Place

Question to consider:

• What online channels and social media are your target market using the most? Where are they engaging with similar brands?

Finding the answer:

• Gathering data from your own onsite and social media marketing analytics and combining that with regional behavioral and psychographic data builds a picture of what your target market does online, whilst highlighting key trends.

4. Promotion

Question to consider:

• How do people expect to be approached on the channels you’ve identified? How can you speak to them in a way that resonates?

Finding the answer:

• It starts by creating detailed audience segments, and digging down into each to cross-examine what motivates your customer – not just to purchase products – but in daily life. Identifying the lifestyle indicators and broader perceptions of each segment is key to unlocking the marketing plan that will deliver results.

5. People

Question to consider

• What kind of marketing people would best align with your consumer’s values and realize the vision?

Finding the answer:

• Deep dive into how your customer sees themselves in relation to brands. Running a custom survey will identify their personal perceptions, specifically the ones you as a brand can appeal to, and help you determine the right kind of people to deliver your message.

6. Processes

Question to consider:

• How can you increase brand equity at every stage of the buying process, from brand awareness to product delivery?

Finding the answer:

• Making the purchase journey as swift and pleasing as possible, again, means delivering on consumer demands while maintaining a profitable process. Start analyzing the purchase journey touchpoints within the platform to get a better understanding of what marketing tactic works best for your target consumer at every stage. 

7. Physical Evidence

Question to consider:

• What kind of content do my target consumers best respond to?

Finding the answer:

• Discover what motivates consumers to build long-term relationships with brands by analyzing brand loyalty and brand trust data points.

Example: Anytime Fitness’s marketing mix

With over 5,000 locations in 50 countries, Anytime Fitness has gained a huge market share with three hundred thousand people joining clubs each year.

Let’s look at how their business model fits into the 7p’s marketing mix.

Product:

They offer a no frills approach with use of the gym equipment, classes and facilities. 

The equipment is basic but plentiful, making the time spent in the gym practical and efficient for customers with little extra incentive to do anything other than exercise.

Price:

Anytime Fitness is certainly competitive in the low price gym market – typically costing $41 a month. 

It’s able to charge slightly more costly because of its plentiful locations, making it a more convenient option for customers. They also use a dynamic pricing strategy depending on the affluence of location.

Place:

You’d find Anytime gyms across the US and because of its no frills approach, it’s able to set up shop in a variety of buildings. 

With no swimming pools or sports pitches to take up space, it can use old offices in dense urban areas at lower pricing.

Promotion:

Research revealed that consumers found typical gym sales promotion centered on physically fit, attractive models to be intimidating. This isolated less fit consumers who actually make up the majority of the population. 

Anytime Fitness adopts a more personal selling tone, featuring people of more shapes and ages than other gyms, urging them to improve their health through exercise. 

Paradoxically, Anytime Fitness found its niche amongst the majority of the population by being attentive to their opinions and offering a safe space for anyone to exercise, not just the very fit.

People:

Anytime Fitness employs very few people to help deliver their product, especially when it comes to the day-to-day running of the gyms. The majority are freelance personal trainers who generate revenue from customers that request their services. This helps keep the business model lean. 

By employing fitness professionals, they ensure the continuity of their health and fitness message throughout all arms of the business, whilst giving consumers something to aspire to

Process:

It’s a frontrunner in the digitization process, making signing up, booking exercise classes, and contacting staff simple through their app. Customers are given autonomy over their memberships, with the flexibility to cancel and freeze with the possibility of re-opening at any time.

Physical Evidence:

Being a high street-based service, Anytime Fitness has a strong physical presence, coupled with the on-brand personnel who help deliver the service. Combining this with the wealth of digital media creates a more rounded experience for the customer.

Key takeaways

Today’s consumers are more empowered than ever, with greater expectations for brands to meet their requirements with relevant, easy-to-use content, and to provide a product offering that meets expectations.

The marketing mix breaks down what’s needed to make a business work, but success isn’t attributed only to modeling theory templates like this one. It’s attributed to the depth of consumer insights used to develop each stage. 

Businesses that can deliver on what their consumers truly want, and showcase how their brand will enrich their lives, will see the best results.