MARKETING MIX AND STP: A SYNERGISTIC APPROACH

The assignment discusses the concept of marketing mix and STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) as a business tool to achieve a successful marketing strategy. The marketing mix consists of four components: product, price, place, and promotion, which are interrelated with each other. The paper also presents examples of companies that successfully use the marketing mix and STP concepts, such as Apple Inc. and Samsung, and an example of a company that does not use these concepts effectively, such as Nestle. The conclusion highlights the importance of the marketing mix in taking decisions for introducing new products and developing effective distribution channels.

Running head: MARKETING MIX AND STP
Marketing Mix
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Introduction
In this present paper we will discuss the interrelated activities of segmentation, targeting and
positioning which helps to achieve a successful marketing mix. We will also discuss the
companies who are using these concepts and the companies who are not using these concepts.
Marketing mix is defined as the business tool which is used to market the products and services
to the customers. The components of marketing mix include product, price place and promotion.
The segmentation is used to divide the large target market into subsets which helps to identify
the target audience and the positioning is used to position the image of product in the eyes of
consumers so they are interrelated to each other.
Marketing mix
The marketing mix is a marketing strategy to control the marketing tools. The components of
marketing mix are explained below:
1. Product
The objective of the product is to satisfy the need of consumers. It includes the variety of
products and services provided by the organization. It includes both tangible and
intangible products. The products are diversified on the basis of product concept which
includes actual, core and augmented products which helps to analyze the products to
increase its efficiency by extracting the benefits of a product. The core includes essential
benefits of the product. The actual include level of quality, branding, packaging and
others. The augments products include intangible benefits such as after sales service,

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guarantee, warranty, on time delivery and others. The product life cycle helps to analyze
the different challenge faced by the company at every stage.
2. Price
The objective of price policy is to cover large number of audience and increase in
shareholders wealth. The price mix is used to decide the price of the product by
considering the important factors such as profit margin, competitors pricing, pricing afford
by the target audience, demand and supply of the product, perceived user value, number of
suppliers and others. The pricing strategy includes price skimming, market penetration
pricing and normal pricing (Helm et al., 2014).
3. Place
The objective of place mix is to provide the product and services to the large number of
consumers with effective distribution channel. The channel strategy includes channel
selection, distribution intensity and channel integration. The various channels are used to
provide the product to the end users such as distributors, digital plazas, multi-brand
retailors and dealers. The offline and online medium is to deliver the products. The
selection of distribution channel considers various factors such as cost optimization,
inventory management, risk, which helps to provide efficient and effective flow of
distribution channel.
4. Promotion
The objective of promotion mix is to communicate the products and its benefits to the end
users. The communication of product helps to create awareness and interest to but the
product which helps to increase the sales volume. The communication helps to create a
brand image in the eyes of consumers which impacts on the perceived user value. The

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increase in perceived user value helps in building the brand image which helps in sakes
increment. The various methods are used to promote the product such as advertisement,
discount and promotions, personal selling, public relations, promotional events,
sponsorship and direct marketing (Koo et al., 2016).
Application of Marketing Mix and STP
The marketing mix is used as a marketing tool by various companies to enhance the desired sales
volume by ensuring the smooth running in business activities (Kotler et al., 2015). Following are
the example of the companies that are successfully using STP and Marketing Mix:
1. Apple Inc. used the marketing mix elements to ensure the smooth running of day-to-day
activities. The product mix helps the company to analyze the expansion of product line by
considering the factors such as exploitation of branding, positioning of the product,
allocation of resources, configuration of product mix and others. The product development
strategy is used by apple and the prices are generally high so the premium pricing strategy
is used because the company has high perceived user value so it does not needs high
investments on promotional activities. The distribution channel is also specific according
to the target market audience. Apple is segmented market on the demographic factors and
target the upper-middle class and position the product through product differentiation
strategy.
2. Samsung used marketing mix for the decision taking of launching new mobile phone. The
product decision includes the branding, styling of product, packaging, level of quality. The
Samsung used product development strategy to enter with new product in the existing
market. The decoy pricing strategy is used to increase the sales. The company used push

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strategy by various promotional activities such as advertisement, personal selling,
discount, coupons, and percent-off deals to attract large number of consumers. The
distribution channel is also very effective by using various channels such as digital plazas,
distributors, retailers, multi-brand retailors who are supplied by clearing and forwarding
agents. Samsung has segmented the market on the basis of demographic factors and
selected target middle-class audience then position the product through cost leadership
strategy.
Following is the example of company who is not using marketing mix:
The Nestle is a global leader in food manufacturing industry. Despite of getting higher
profits the brand is underperforming because the company is not focusing on the branding
and promotional activities so the company needs rebranding to increase the performance
of brand. The company is unable to inter-relate STP due to which it is not successful in the
implementation of marketing mix.
Conclusion
Marketing mix acts as a marketing tool which helps the company to select right product, at right
price, at right place with the suitable promotional activities. It helps to take the decision for
introducing the new product in the existing product line. The product development strategy is
used develop the new product in the existing market. The pricing strategy includes skimming,
penetration, and others. The place mix is used to select the suitable distribution channel from
various channels such as digital plazas, distributors and others. The promotional mix is used to
select the promotional activities from various methods such as advertising, discounts,
sponsorship and others.

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References
Helm, R. and Gritsch, S., 2014. Examining the influence of uncertainty on marketing mix
strategy elements in emerging business to business export-markets. International Business
Review, 23(2), pp.418-428.
Koo, K.R., Kim, S.J. and Kim, K.H., 2016. The effects of internal marketing capability on export
marketing strategy, B2B marketing mix and export performance. Journal of Global Scholars of
Marketing Science, 26(1), pp.51-65.
Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015. Marketing. Pearson
Higher Education AU.