How does the ‘Marketing Mix’ fit in today’s digital marketing?

Behind every marketing success, there’s a great strategy. Whilst these strategies vary (depending on what’s being promoted), there are some that applies to every form of marketing there is out there. One strategy that applies to most industries if not all, is the use of the ‘Marketing Mix’. As a strategy, the Marketing Mix was first used in 1953 and introduced by a marketing expert called Neil Bordon. Since introduced, the Marketing Mix has been a success for many people and businesses and being improved along the way. Despite being an old model, the Marketing Mix still has great relevance in online/digital marketing, and we’ll explain how.

Using the marketing mix as a plan of action in a campaign (online or offline), allows businesses to make profitable marketing decisions at every level. Focusing on digital marketing, the Marketing mix gives you a head start on planning campaigns (for google and social media platform etc) as it is designed to strengthen your campaign, remove all weaknesses, and make you competitive within your industry. However, the most important question to ask at this point is, what is it exactly and how does it apply to us as digital marketers?

What are the Original 4 Ps of Marketing Mix?

The reason why it’s called Marketing Mix is because it mixes 4 techniques.  A great way of remembering these concepts, is by knowing all 4 techniques 4 starts with the letter P. These are Price, Place, Product and Promotion. Let’s look at each closely and how it is used in digital marketing today:

-Price focuses on the cost or purchase of the product. As marketers, it’s important to know the value of your product and

knowing how much it could be sold for as it could determine its success. Low costs make products easy to buy and accessible whereas higher prices focus on clients who are looking for something unique and exclusive. The best way to go

about this would be to meet both worlds (Which could be quite hard but achievable). As digital marketers, price also means knowing how much you would spend on a campaign, the platform you’re using, how much could you gain or lose if you decide to introduce discount codes etc. With this, you’d know how much you’re looking to spend and gain back as profit.

-Product focuses on the items itself and how it would be accepted by consumers. It looks at the quality of the item and any challenges that may occur and how it could be improved. With digital tools we have today, we’re able to edit pictures of the product to make is look appealing to their target audience.

Also, whilst in the past it would have been essential to see the product itself to find out its features before advertising

it, digital marketing allows us to research the product beforehand and providing accurate information about it for consumers to see and hopefully purchase based on how it is described and presented.

-Promotion looks at the actual marketing and advertising of the item. In today’s world, digital marketing has opened up the world of marketing with various of online communications that can be used. Reporting is also crucial to a business’s success which the online world

provides in abundance. The most successful business will identify the correct online channels in which they can promote to their audience, and also adapt their adverts to the chosen online space. I.E – advertising across various social media platforms will have a different approach due to the social behaviour on each channel.

- Place focuses on where the item could be used, accessed, or bought. The online world, for many companies, means place

may not be an issue if you’re selling a product – as you’d be able to find consumers and ship products easily worldwide. Where place does become relevant though, is through search engine optimisation. A very popular search term is “XXX near me”. This is where online and offline communications work effectively together and where place still have a role to play in the marketing mix. All businesses should also register on Google Places to boost website traffic and to become competitive within the online space.  

What are the extra Ps in the Marketing Mix?

Adding to the original 4Ps, 3 more concepts have been added to this strategy. These are:

Physical evidence – This applies to anything tangible in relation to the product. It includes the packaging of the

item, receipts, sizes etc. Whilst many may not feel physical evidence is something that applies to digital marketing, an argument could be the idea of buying an item based on the reviews and pictures posted by other users. This gives the potential buyer enough evidence to make them decide if they wish to buy the item or not.

People – Applies to anyone involved, including consumers and staff. This concept mainly looks at how employees are

performing, how they appear to consumers and the consumer’s experience. This is something that easily applies to digital marketing as communication between consumers and staff could be easily monitored through chat, phone conversations and emails to improve the customer’s journey. It’s also important for workers as they can feedback certain trends.

Process – Whilst the traditional ‘process’ looks at the stages that occurs before and after there’s been a purchase, digital

marketing is quite similar and provides even more option to this. The digital world has meant that the process of a transaction or an experience has been extended. No longer does a customer turn up to shop and a venue to be a customer, the customer experience now begins on a website or a mobile app and aftersales relationships can be maintained to gain customer loyalty through email marketing, app downloads/notifications or SMS. We’re now also able to track a customer’s journey on our website and make improvements based on what we find to enhance the process of a transaction or an experience.

To conclude, whether you choose to use the original 4ps or all 7 as a strategy, it’s fair to say that the Marketing mix is still very relevant in today’s marketing world. If anything, the internet has only increased the importance of this model and still provides the guidance marketer’s need to be successful. If used properly, the marketing mix should allow you to plan your marketing as well as improve any steps that appears to be a weakness.