The marketing mix refers to the choices available to a company or organization regarding the promotion or marketing of its product or services. Usually, this process involves considerations regarding where the marketing will take place, the product or the service, the customers, and the best way to carry out the promotion as a whole. Advantages of the marketing mix include the fact that it gives organizations a standard for allocating resources, helps them plan their marketing based on selected criteria, and helps them effectively implement their stated objectives.
One of the advantages of the marketing mix is the fact that it allows various companies to look at the different marketing considerations with a view to finding out how best to allocate their resources. For instance, a company might decide that it will concentrate its marketing efforts on TV, radio and the Internet. Now that the company has an idea of the places it wants to use as a springboard for marketing its goods or services, it will be able to determine the cost for running those adverts in the chosen media formats. Having this information will enable the company to plan a budget for the marketing process and to allocate the funds accordingly. This is in contrast to a company that does not have a clear idea of the preferred methods for marketing and that simply engages in any type of marketing that seems more convenient.
Another one of the advantages of the marketing mix is that when companies know what type of marketing plan they want to implement, they can conduct the necessary research needed to fully implement the plan in conjunction with achieving maximum customer satisfaction. For instance, a company that decides to concentrate on the Internet and TV will know that most of its marketing efforts should be geared toward reaching the majority of its main consumers. Assuming the company produces women products, it will place its adverts in shows and programs that women watch the most as well as the Web sites that the majority of women visit often.
Another of the advantages of the marketing mix is that it allows companies to effectively promote their products and services in the selected places. Promotion practices may include the reduction of the price of the products for a limited period, an offer for the customers to get a free sample product for each purchase, and an offer to ship goods to the customers for free. Such a mixture of marketing practices help the companies to reach their targets or objectives in an effective way.