First, choose which part you will be focusing on in your marketing mix: promotion, price, or product. What is your best starting point?
Product is our top choice for starting your marketing mix.
We need to have the ability and the skill to select and provide the right products to our customers in a market that is competitive.
We chose product over price because it is easier to make decisions regarding promotion and pricing once you have established the attributes of the product.
What elements should you consider when analyzing the product?
We identified the importance of packaging, product name, design, and branding as the elements that should be considered in our analysis.
These three elements all make up the “product”, so the packaging of the product can impact the success or failure in sales.
We believe that design and packaging are what draw consumers to purchase the product.
Many companies do extensive research into the types, colors and designs of packaging that appeals to consumers.
You ask your product research team for different formulas to be developed for Blythe based on the results of your focus test. You are presented with three options.
Formula 2 is our favorite for beautifying the skin and it comes at a fair price. However, it has limited medication benefits.
As it best addressed the number one need the focus group identified–beautifying skin.
Teenagers are not able to afford expensive creams so formula 2 is the best option. Most girls desire a beauty cream.
The best packaging design for Blythe is also important. Three options have been suggested by your design team. What packaging style is best based on the information you gathered from your focus group?
Our packaging was chosen in hot pink. In black letters, print the slogan “Bring Out Your Inner Beauty.” across the top.
Blythe’s slogan makes it the most attractive product for its target market.
Slogans are a key part of marketing.
We think the slogan “Bring out your inner beauty” is catchy and memorable. It also helps to enhance the brand’s identity.
Next, decide on a pricing strategy. When making this decision, keep in mind the product formulation.
We agree with penetration pricing. This is a method that uses a low price initially to capture market shares and then increases sales volume.
Penetration pricing would’ve encouraged consumers to form a buying habit. It would have been a good fit for the teens’ limited budget.
This marketing strategy is based on the belief that customers will be more aware of a product if it has low prices.
Firms with fixed overhead can benefit from high sales volume, as it leads to lower production costs. Also, inventory turnover is higher.
Next, consider how you can best promote Blythe in the market. After a discussion with your boss, your attention turns to advertising. You decide which media is best for you advertising. Keep in mind the product formulation and pricing decisions.
Electronic media: Company web site and online advertising can be used to promote your product. Although costs are rising, they remain low.
We chose electronic media to appeal to teenage girls who are likely active on social media platforms and other electronic media.
This increases brand awareness and creates a loyal following of people who are similar to you. It improves your ROI.
“Out of all the parts of your marketing mix you’ve evaluated, which one should I pay more attention to and study more closely than the others?”
Marketing mix plans would say that we shouldn’t be focusing on one thing, but rather look at them all as part of an integrated strategy. All of these elements must be compatible.
Re-launching a product in the market requires an integrated plan. It is more likely that the product will not sell well on the market if one or more aspects are not considered. This is why we use integrated planning.
