Contemporary Issues in Marketing: Exploring the Nature and Importance of Marketing Mix and Key Marketing Theories

This report explores the nature and importance of the marketing mix within the marketing process of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. It discusses the four elements of the marketing mix: product, price, promotion, and distribution, and their importance in planning appropriate marketing strategies. The report also discusses the impact of the marketing mix and other key marketing theories on the success of marketing activity with reference to customer satisfaction.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
IN MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Explaining the nature and importance of the marketing mix within the marketing process.......3
Discussing how the marketing mix and other key marketing theory that can impact the success
of marketing activity with reference to customer satisfaction. ...................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Contemporary issues can be defined as the current issues that are affecting the
work operations, and are unresolved. In context of marketing, the contemporary
marketing issues are the result of changing global economies and are the indications for
the need of finding interactive ways to connect with the customers and upgrade the
current strategies (Pinarbasi, 2019). The present report will explain the nature and
importance of the marketing mix within the marketing process of the “Enterprise”- Rent-
A- Car. It will also discuss the marketing mix and other key marketing theory that can
impact the success of the marketing activity particularly referencing the customer
satisfaction.
MAIN BODY
Explaining the nature and importance of the marketing mix within the marketing
process.
Enterprise Rent- A- Car is an internationally recognized car rental company that
was founded in 1957 by Jack Taylor. The organization provides its services in more that
100 countries with a motto- “take care of the customers and your employees first, and
the profits will follow”. It aims at sustainable development considering the environmental
factors and customer centric marketing philosophy. Hence, the nature and importance
of the marketing mix within the marketing process becomes crucial (Thabit and Raewf,
2018).
Nature of the Marketing- Mix:
Product- It is the good or the service that is provided to the customers. The
product component involves planning, developing and producing the right type of
products and services. It deals with the quality of the products/ services, its influence
and permanence and other qualities. The product policy also deals with advertisement,
presentation of the features of the product.
Price- The pricing strategies have a big influence on the sales and profits of the
business. The revenue of the business highly depends on the price decisions and
certainly the success rate of the enterprise. The price factor cannot be directly decided
but is rather determined by adequate market research and competition in the market. It
require a detailed analysis of the market for deciding the right cost or price in the

market. The factors that may impact the price are- demand, taxes, cost, competitions in
the market, discount, credits and other operational costs.
Promotion- It is the stage of the marketing mix where the products and services
are demonstrated in front of the customers and convincing them to utilize them. The
promotion may include multiple channels of interaction with audience and may
sometimes involve huge budget depending on the type of channels and strategy. In
today's marketing environment, a single type of marketing cannot be enough and
hence, the firms tend to utilize multiple channels. The nature of the promotion strategy
is that it demonstrates how the product/ service can solve the problems of the
customers and how it provides the best value of their money (Mahmoud, 2018). The
promotion policy considers the social values along with the competition in the market to
create a positive brand image.
Distribution- It can be defined as the place where the goods and services are
exhibited and made accessible for the customers. It is concerned with different channels
through which it can reach out to the customers. It is important to decide the right
audience for the particular services at the right place where the customer can easily
access the services (Hanssens, 2018). The place of distribution includes efficient
management of the services and the movement of the products and services from the
firm to the consumers in the end to end business services.
Importance of the Marketing Mix:
The marketing- mix helps the organization to understand what are the benefits of
the product and services that they are offering to the customers. It analyses the problem
solutions that the products will offer for the existing problems that are there in the
market. It basically helps the firm to analyse the need of the services for the customers
and how it can make their lives easier. After analysing the benefits that the firm will
offer, it can plan an effective presentation of the product/ services. It is important to
display the product in an influential manner to be able to drive maximum attention from
the crowd. Marketing- mix also helps in planning appropriate marketing strategies and
executing them effectively. It helps to identify the culture of the market, social values
that can influence the minds of the customers, analysing the competition and planning
effective strategies that set the product apart from the competition (Stead and Hastings,

2018). It also helps in identifying the channels of marketing that can be most reliable
and help it to reach to the maximum audience.
Some of the other main importance of the marketing mix in the marketing
process is that it helps the businesses to make use of their strengths to the highest level
and try to avoid unneeded costs. The organization can identify its strengths that can
prove to be advantageous for them and analyse how and where they can apply them. It
also helps in identifying the unnecessary factors that can be skipped in order to reduce
burden. It is important to be proactive with the risks. It is important to consider the risk
factors especially when the firm is deciding to introduce new products in the market.
Apart from providing the services, marketing mix is also important in determining
whether the product or service is suitable for the customers in the existing market or
does it require a modification. It is important to first understand the requirements of the
customers and the demand in the market (Purohit, Paul and Mishra, 2021). The
demands may be influenced by a number of factors such as the present firms in the
market, changing dynamics of the market, available resources and other factors and
hence, marketing mix becomes very crucial in understanding the current market
environment and the lack of services that can be fulfilled.
The most important part of the marketing mix is that it helps to identify the right
customers for the right market at the right place. It also aims at providing the best value
of money for its customers and monitor the quality factors regarding the products and
services. Apart from the business perspective, marketing mix also discuss the internal
employee environment and the employees related concerns as well.
Discussing how the marketing mix and other key marketing theory that can impact the
success of marketing activity with reference to customer satisfaction.
The Marketing- Mix plays a big role in impacting the success of the marketing
activities and has a big influence on the customer satisfaction rate (Hutauruk and et.al.,
2020). Various elements of the marketing- mix impact the customers in their own way.
Product- These are the actual goods and services that reach to the customers.
The product has certain features such as quality and durability and the when the
customers utilize the products, these features become the prime reasons of the positive
and negative impact on the customers. Hence, the product and services can sometimes

be the key in maintaining the customer satisfaction rate and impact the success of the
marketing activity (Mohammadi and Sohrabi, 2018). This element of the marketing mix
becomes important for the firms to maintain customer retention rate and produce the top
quality services.
Price- This component of the marketing mix refers to the pricing policy of the
goods and services. The price includes the sum of all costs incurred by the company
from production to the delivery and calculating the discounts and offers and any other
factor that influence such as taxes and duties. The pricing strategy impact the marketing
activity a lot especially in competitive market environment and the position of the brand
in the market. If the price is too high, the medium budget customers may no able to
utilize the benefits and if the price is too low, it may compromise with the quality of the
services. Therefore, the price must be well appropriate along with the quality to ensure
customer satisfaction.
Promotion- The promotion is one of the most important component of the
marketing mix as it relates to displaying the brand in front of the customers. Displaying
the most beneficial aspect of the services and the advantageous that can influence the
minds of the customers is done by effective promotion strategies. It includes using
different channels to demonstrate the products in front of the audience. It also considers
the social and cultural values that the brand possess in order to frame a positive image
(Mohammadi and Sohrabi, 2018). Make the customers feel satisfied by creating value
promotions in which the brand is displayed as a problem solver and a helper and satisfy
the desired needs of the customers.
Place- It is the location where the products and services make actual contact
with the customers. There can be various distributions that a firm may use to reach to
the customers. It is an important factor of the marketing mix because, if the place is not
customer centric and inconvenient for the customers to reach to acquire the services, it
may negatively impact the marketing activity and result in bad customer satisfaction
rate. It is important for the firm to ensure that the place and the distribution channels are
easily accessible for the customers to comfort them.
There are different key marketing theories that can impact the success of the
marketing activity and customer satisfaction such as the consumer decision- making

process. It is a process that evaluates the customer purchasing decisions ( Bangsa and
Schlegelmilch, 2020). Firms use this theory to analyse and identify the components or
factors that impact the consumer behaviour and trends in the market. It has basically
five steps-
Problem recognition- It recognizes the need of the service in the lives of the
people. Building a brand recognition so that the customers know about it and try to build
trust in their mind. The firms may recognize specific problems that may be already
existing and then offer the most convenient and beneficial solutions for them.
Information research- The firms may perform research about various factors
related to the business and the customers including the past performance, current
market, competitions and trends (Zuschke, 2020). The information research allows the
company to figure out all the pros and cons of the of their strategies and understanding
its position in the market.
Alternatives evaluation- This step of the theory comes when the buyers have
developed the idea of they are looking in a product. They start to look for different
alternatives in the market that provides the best value for their money. The companies
can use various ideas that can put the product apart from the competition by success
marketing activities and improve the customer satisfaction. These ideas can be social
contribution, sustainable products and services etc.
Purchase decisions- It is a situation where the customers are ready to make the
purchase. All the information of the product and services including substitutes, past
reviews and performances etc. are gone through by the customers (Zuschke, 2020). If
the firm has done the fob properly, it may bring positive results for it. It can also be
referred as the situation where the result of the efforts will be seen.
Post purchase- At this part of the theory where the interaction and review
process comes. The company analyse its service performance on the basis of the
feedbacks that are provided by the consumers. The customer satisfaction is analysed at
this stage and the areas of improvement.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that contemporary issues in a
company can negatively impact the performance, and they need to be solved as soon

as possible. For a sustainable development of a company and to analyse the different
factors of the marketing and process, it is important to understand the nature and
importance of the marketing- mix within the marketing process. The report also
concludes that the marketing mix elements and other key marketing theory can impact
the marketing activity and how the firms may use these theories for a positive customer
satisfaction.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bangsa, A.B. and Schlegelmilch, B.B., 2020. Linking sustainable product attributes and
consumer decision-making: Insights from a systematic review. Journal of
Cleaner Production. 245. p.118902.
Hanssens, D.M., 2018. The value of empirical generalizations in marketing. Journal of
the Academy of Marketing Science. 46(1). pp.6-8.
Hutauruk, M.R. and et.al., 2020. Marketing mix and customer satisfaction in its role
toward customer loyalty through environmental accounting
moderation. International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research. 9(3).
pp.996-1001.
Mahmoud, T.O., 2018. Impact of green marketing mix on purchase
intention. International Journal of Advanced and applied sciences. 5(2). pp.127-
135.
Mohammadi, M. and Sohrabi, T., 2018. Examining the Effect of Marketing Mix Elements
on Customer Satisfaction with Mediating Role of Electronic Customer
Relationship Management. Industrial Engineering & Management
Systems. 17(4). pp.653-661.
Pinarbasi, F., 2019. Contemporary Issues and Challenges in Marketing Environment
Worldwide. Handbook of Research on Managerial Thinking in Global Business
Economics. pp.22-40.
Purohit, S., Paul, J. and Mishra, R., 2021. Rethinking the bottom of the pyramid:
Towards a new marketing mix. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 58.
p.102275.
Stead, M. and Hastings, G., 2018. Advertising in the social marketing mix: getting the
balance right. In Social Marketing (pp. 29-43). Psychology Press.
Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case
study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies. 4(4).
Zuschke, N., 2020. An analysis of process-tracing research on consumer decision-
making. Journal of business research. 111. pp.305-320.

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