Marketing Mix

            
             Marketing has been around for many years but it wasn't until the 1950's when organisations began to focus on consumer orientation that it started to play a larger role in society. Marketing orientation is still evolving and is now entering a New Era orientation. It is important because it encourages businesses to produce and sell goods that meet the needs of consumers and society efficiently. So what is marketing? It is "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives" (Solomon & Stuart 2000). .
             Marketers undertake a number of stages during the marketing process. These are the planning stage, the implementation stage, and then the control and auditing stage. During the planning stage "a product must be invented or developed, assigned value and meaning, and made available to interested customers" (Solomon & Stuart 2000). How does a marketer go about doing this? The marketer has a number of strategy tools which he/she uses to help make decisions. These tools are collectively known as the marketer's mix.
             The Marketing Mix.
             The purpose of this essay is to explain the concept of a marketing mix. In order to do this the components of the mix, namely product, price, promotion and place will first be outlined. An explanation for why this collaboration of elements is called a mix will then be given. Following this, details will be outlined of how marketers use the mix to achieve their goals. In conclusion, circumstances under which the marketing mix alters will be delineated. It is the intention that at the essay's conclusion, once all these topics have been covered, the reader should have a clear understanding of the marketing mix concept.
             The marketing mix is made up of the four P's, product, price, place and promotion. Product is the most important element of a marketing mix as essentially it is the item being offered for sale, whether it be a good, service, idea, place or person.