Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix practice is increasingly been adopted in the part of the economy. Marketing mix has been a major determinant of any organizations short run and long run success and differential advantage in any marketing environment (Aremu, Barriduro 2012). If organizations want to be a successful organization it needs to have a good marketing mix. Marketing mix consist of product, price, promotion, and place. The four P's is the elements that form the basis for the marketing plan. Marketing mix is the key principle of marketing. This paper will summarize the marketing mix and explain the importance to the marketing plan. It will also give an example of the Coca Cola Company using the marketing mix within their company and also explain how they are using the marketing mix. Marketing mix is often crucial to determining a products brand s unique selling point. In order to have a marketing plan there has to be a marketing mix in place.

The first of the four P's is product. Product can be defined as a product we buy or sell. Product area having the right product when it is needed. The good is not always a physical good. Product includes things like service, features, benefits, packaging, and branding. To market a product a business must be aware of the products life cycle of its products. The product life cycle have five phases. The five phases are development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Next is Price, it is the goal of the company should be to cut cost by making better the manufacturing and efficiency and most important to increase the benefits of it products and services. When a company set prices for their products, the type of competition and the cost of the entire marketing mix need to be examined. In the process of pricing a few things need to be considered such as flexibility, discounts, allowance, geographic terms, and product life cycle. Price of an item is important in determining the value of sales made. Researching customer opinions about pricing is important as it indicates how they value what they are looking for as well as what they want to pay for an item. The marketer needs to make sure the price will compliment the other part of the marketing mix. The company should take into consideration the profit margins and profitable pricing when making pricing decisions.

Place is the third of the P's. Place is the mechanism through which goods and services are moved from the manufacturer to the user or consumer. The place deals with making sure the right products get to the proper marketplace. The last of the four P's is promotion. Promotion is telling the target market or others distributions about the right product. Promotional mix consist of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relation tools. Promotion includes personal selling, mass selling, and sale promotion. Personal selling is direct communication between the seller and the customer. This may occur on the phone, face- to- face or over the Internet. Good customer service is the key to having repeat business from customers. To communicate with a large group at one time is called mass selling. Advertising is an important part of mass selling. Publicity is another form that is important to mass selling. Newspaper and billboards to the Internet are Medias involved in mass selling. Sales promotion refers to activities other than advertising, publicity, and personal selling stimulates interest, trail, or purchase. This can involve the use of coupons, point-of-purchase material, samples, signs, contests, catalogs, novelties, and circulars (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy 2009).

The following conditions must be met to create a good marketing mix: 1. The product should look good. 2. The price must something that the consumers can afford. For the consumer to make a big profit they must buy in bulk. 3. Everything needs to be in order and in place. The good arriving on time is very important to the success of the marketing mix. 4. The target group should know the availability of the product through promotion. Successful promotion can help an organization to spread the cost.

Dr. John Styth Pemberton established the Coca Cola Company in 1886. This company is known as one of the leading manufacturers in the food and beverage industry. Coca Cola produces more than 35,000 beverages.