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Using Marketing Mix to Effectively Differentiate and Position Your Product or Service.

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How can the marketing mix be used to effectively differentiate and position your product or service?

What exactly is this Marketing Mix? Borden (ND) first coined the term following a discussion with one of his colleagues, Professor James Culliton, in 1948 regarding one of his manufacturing costs studies. In Bordens paper he identifies twelve pertinent points that form the marketing mix for manufacturers :

Product Planning
Pricing
Branding
Channels of Distribution
Personal Selling
Advertising
Promotions
Packaging
Display
Servicing
Physical Handling
Fact Finding and Analysis

This was narrowed down around the 1960’s by Edmund Jerome McCarthy to the 4P’s which are used to this day. McCarthy et al (2002) state these as being :

Product - the goods or services offered by an organisation that can satisfy the needs of the end customer.

Place (Involves channels of distribution, logistics and distribution customer service) - essentially making the product available to the end customer.

Promotion - providing the information to the potential customers so that can make an informed decision and, hopefully, make the purchase.

Price - inclusive of all costs prior to reaching the end customer including transport overheads, margins etc, this is the price the customers pay for the goods.

Differentiation of your product or service can take place within any of the 4P’s,

From a Product point of view you may be offering one that outperforms the competition or has greater performance benefits / longevity. It could be placed as a low end / entry market product through to a high end exclusive item that will provide everything that the end client needs in the product. In a market that is flooded with many different versions of the same product you may make it look more aesthetically pleasing or provide more features than those of the competition.

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