Marketing Mix Demisted By Dr WG Murinda (Ph.D. Bus Admin)

Introduction

The global dynamics are now multifaceted and the marketing executives need to continue to watch the trends on the technological, social, cultural and economic fronts in general in order to remain informed of the market trends. The nature and the processes of creations and or recreation seems to be on going and brings about different social thinking, new challenges for business people, marketing practitioners, global, regional and local leaders alike regardless of whether they are in public or private commercial practices.

The marketing executives must widen their scope and identify where they fit, where they want to be and how they want to be at what ever level they envision. Some marketing executives are at micro level, that is at company level with a single firm, some are at group level where the entity has branches in the metropolitan area, district and or province and some are very macro, as they are across boundaries and influence marketing events across countries, regions and even continental.  Some executives are satisfied with international perspectives, the Google, Face Book, Toyota, KFC and SUMSANG, just to mention few, serve the whole globe.

The approach to tackle the market situation, marketing processes, marketing challenges posed by the processes  of nature such as out breaks or pestilence, hurricanes, volcanoes, weather and tropical disasters and manmade challenges such as competitors, unpredictable consumers, regulatory processes  such as trade agreements, sanctions and restrictions, trade disputes,  technological developments and failures or such as advances as the advent of the mobile phone, battery powered vehicles, nanotechnology and biochemistry, must give optimum  challenge to any marketing executive who wants to save his business from decline or ultimate closure in at least five years. As such, as early marketers have coined the terms, they called the Marketing Mix. Some have called it Marketing Strategy.  In this write up I want to try demist the concept of marketing mix and suggest what a marketing executive needs to look at.

What is Marketing Mix?

Let us start with key terms! Market, this is the group of people, community, entities countries or regions or the nations of the world who are willing to buy a specific product at a specific price and some specific conditions. The willingness to buy a product must be coupled with the capacity to pay for the product using agreed or given method and mode of payment.  A person who is merely willing to buy a certain product without capacity to pay for it does not constitute the market of that product. Our Zimbabwean millionaires may have the capacity to buy the Zimbabwe beverage Chibuku, but may not be willing to buy and as such may not be part of the market.

The other term we must be clear of is marketing! Marketing is the process that defines how we tackle market needs, market conditions, market developments and allied dynamics. Therefore, the marketing mix appears to be more leveraged on the marketing process as opposed to the market. Again, the early marketing theorists have come up with the marketing strategies or mix namely, the product, price, promotion place. These strategies have been extended recently by addition of People, Process and Physical Existence! The Seven Ps as they are often called, are explained, applied and, demisted as below.

PRODUCT (Strategy)

The marketer with other entity executives even at entrepreneurial stage needs to have product ideas which are well developed. A product is any thing tangible or intangible that is capable of providing a utility to customers, meet the market need or motivate the market’s favorable desires. It must be remembered that demand can truly be motivated by desire and emergence of product. The product question is much bigger and must be well thought of, in terms, of the type of product, is it consumable, who consumes, how much, for how long and where and when., is it an industrial product, for  which industry, where is the industry, is it a convenient good, for whose convenience,

On the product strategy we need also to look at the product features, design in line with local ethical or desired market ethical values. It must be born in mind that shapes, designs, colors, presentations can be sensitive to beliefs of some markets or laws and public morals and values. So, the appearance of the product must not offend the market players. Some product features may need regulation or may invite regulatory measures. When Econet started the mobile business in Zimbabwe, the country did not have regulations to govern mobile phones and such regulations where promulgated as a result.

The market of today is sensitive to quality! And the future market will be much more sensitive to standards of product performance, efficiency and effectiveness as well as fit for purpose in a haze of competing products. The best product will emerge in global market! It is the business of the marketing executive to see to it that he helps and encourages the production and other support executives to be innovative in product designs, presentations, performance and packaging. The life of a man is becoming more and complicated and qualitative, and as such, products that fail on timeliness, quality, performance standards and cost effectiveness will not make it or last in a competitive market. So, Africa has most of the resources needed in this world to manufacture most of the products used and needed by the whole global market, but perhaps lack of entrepreneurial native intelligence is the missing link in the continent! Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong are very small countries, but Japan in particular markets automobile products to all continents of the world. True, the Americans invented the car, as led by Henry Ford, but today, Japan is currently leading with the highest number of utility vehicle models. European renaissance and industrial revolution have been superseded by Japanese’s KAIZEN production techniques and its recovery is no longer guaranteeably possible.  

Therefore, the marketer must know the product he intends to market very well and build competitiveness over its rival products.

PLACE

The place is not necessarily something physical like the open ground! The place is an environment! As a marketer where do you do your marketing? Where do you interface with your market, what platforms are at your disposal for promotion of your brands, your products, or institutional brand. Some entities market products in and for mines even under the earth’s crust. The marine business is prevalently on the water bodies oceans, seas, canals or rivers like the Nile, the Amazon, Mississippi and our Zimbabwe, especially the Victoria Falls and lake Kariba for bungee jumping and tiger fishing tournaments. There is marketing in the forests and mountains, really! Yes, the Zimbabwe eastern highlands comprising of the Nyangani mountains, the Vumba mountains and the botanical gardens, the Chimanamini and Lower Sabi River conservancies, the nature and game reserves, think of Hwange or Wankie.

The marketer must think of the place in many aspects such as the culture prevailing, the rules of the place, the players in the place, the modes and channels of distribution, the mix of the elements in the market place. Understanding the place of the market is important and helps to develop strategies to serve the market, protect the market and understand the market, maintain effective public relations and publicity programs. Above all, understanding the economics of the place of marketing helps to plan the level of investment, timing of the investment and the determination of synergies and arrangements which the marketer may desire to achieve effectiveness in his marketing initiatives.   

Facebook markets on the internet! So also Twitter and other conglomerates are adopting this place strategy and concept. During the era of mail order business, the print medium, especially magazines and news papers were the place. So, place is an important strategy, in terms of where to advertise, where you hold trade shows, where you do displays, where you handle products, or identify prospects and so on! Do you know your market place?! 

PROMOTIONS

This is another very difficult area for the marketer. Few businesses excel by charisma of the executives or association of the industry. The rest, if not the majority must excel through real performance. But, for performance to take place, qualitative processes must first take place of which promotion is among them and is very important.

There is a difference between promotion and publicity and advertising although they may have a common purpose ultimately! Promotion is a series of communication processes which an organization applies or uses to inform, remind, entertain the market, about its brands, products, activities, tournaments which are meant to enhance sales levels and market position.

So, what does the entity do to inform the market, what marketing methods are used, what marketing communication tools are applicable, what communication gadgets and equipment are application to the market place, market conditions, and market players and market regulations as well as market ethics.

For marketing promotion an entity may choose any or both, pull strategy and or push strategy approach. With the pull promotion strategy, the entity produces, identifies, channels, and establishes distribution centers for its products. So, the marketer must know how to get his products to the licensees, wholesalers, importers and so on. The strategy required is how do you make Mohammed Mussah of Harare become your big customer, what do you show him, present, tell them or convince them to stock pile your products and do secondary promotion by exciting the retailers like Makomva and Machipisa who would in turn excite the common consumers who ultimately use the product.

The promotion has a mix which covers the advertising which can be informative, educative reminding, reinforce or persuasive for the market to remain linked up. The other element of promotion strategy mix is personnel selling which covers the type of communication which the entity’s sales representatives uses to communicate with the prospects. When do you talk to prospects, how do you interface with the market?

Finally, the promotion strategy may need sales promotion, a sub promotion in the main promotion covering what you do to stimulate purchasing by the customer, how do you do tournaments, shows deals. The promotion strategy may end with publicity and public relations which are favorable stories or write ups on paper, artefacts, buildings or vehicular bodies or mass media to enhance awareness of the market.

We come to know of Econet, Delta, Spar, Food Lovers and so on because of promotional activities which took place over time over the years.

PEOPLE

The bulk of the marketing population is natural but the word population fits well in this as well. The marketer needs to know the culture, mix behaviour, language, ethical values, living styles and general beliefs. Culture must be emphasized because it includes religion which affects what people eat, dress code, how to relate, what to believe in and so on. In Zimbabwe, it is well known that we believe in education and as such it is believed every employer will insist on qualified recruits, parents will strive to send their children to school. As such, educational products are highly priced because the people will buy, pay fees, buy uniforms for their school children! By the way school uniforms are apparently more expensive than work suits or protective or safety clothing used production systems.

The Muslims are particular in their dress code for the women in particular. The Covid19 pandemic has brought about another protective dress…the mask! The mask is more expensive than an average man’s head cap. The level of incomes and general mindset of the public is very critical in marketing! An average Zimbabwean no longer builds just a hut but a house and a gazebo. So, the construction industry has been thriving even at the times Zimbabwean economy was experiencing hyperinflation. The marketer do you know your people?

PHYSICAL EXSITENCE

Here physical existence is not limited to availability but includes the shape, the size, portability of the product, modes and methods delivery, proof of ownership of the product, mobility or immobility of the product, the packaging, operational instructions, colors and designs. The marketer does shows, displays, demonstrations and tournaments or competitions to provide physical existence of a product. Motor vehicle traders offer test drives, merchandisers offer and give sampling or tasting. Wines are tested in restaurants. You get to know the goodness of your pudding because you have tasted it before. The marketer must identify how he intends to distribute, present or avail his products to the market, is it display, testing arrangements, its temporary use and try and return if unsuitable.  

PROCESS

The process is the sequence of activities that produces the product. The market is so much concerned about hygiene and safety. Life is too precious; the people want guarantees that they will not be harmed by the products they buy. Dehumanization and inhuman conditions may make the product unattractive. Bottled water from liquid disposal waste is not attractive to any buyer if the buyer knows even if the water is treated thoroughly.

Processes provide bases for checking quality and compliance with standards of hygiene, safety and health regulation. Nowadays the laws of conservation cover antipollution of water bodies, the environment, the skies  and so on. The markets must be aware of that fact; market deals can be lost if the processes of product production, extraction and delivery fail to meet some standards or values. For example, meat products or milk cannot be sold without a container or cover of some sort. So, the process of production, process of packaging, process of labeling and process of product presentation is very important for the marketer to know.

I suppose the Marketing Mix is demisted.!