Comprehensive Report on Contemporary Issues in Marketing Mix

This report provides an overview of contemporary issues in marketing, focusing on how businesses adapt to meet evolving customer needs. It discusses market segmentation, niche marketing, and personalized approaches, highlighting the importance of positioning and the marketing mix (product, pricing, place, and promotion). The report delves into product development, packaging, branding, and service marketing, emphasizing the need for customer-centric strategies. Pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional tactics, including social media and e-commerce, are examined. The role of public relations and sales promotions are also highlighted. It concludes that understanding and adapting to these contemporary issues is crucial for both profit-driven and non-profit organizations, with social media playing a pivotal role in modern marketing efforts. The report references several academic sources to support its analysis.

Contemporary
Issues in Marketing

Introduction
Marketing's purpose in profit-driven businesses is to profitably address needs. As a
result, companies must first assess which expectations — and which desires — they
can satisfy. The personal transportation market, for example, is made up of people
who value the cost, speed, safety, status, and styling of a car. There is no single
vehicle that can precisely meet all of these requirements; compromises must be made.
Furthermore, some people may opt to use a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a bus or other
form of public transportation rather than a car to suit their personal mobility needs. A
car manufacturer must identify the numerous client preference groups, or segments,
and determine which group(s) they can profitably target as a result of these criteria.
Market niches
By breaking segments into smaller groups, niches or sub-segments can be created. A
niche is a small target group with specialised requirements. A bank, for example,
might specialise in serving the financial needs of senior citizens, particularly those
with high incomes and possibly even specialised investing preferences. Larger
companies are more likely to cater to broader market groups (mass marketing) while
ignoring specialisations. As a result, smaller enterprises that are intimately familiar
with a particular industry and specialise in meeting its needs tend to emerge.
Marketing to individual
A growing number of companies are attempting to cater to "one-person industries."
They make an effort to customise their offer and communication to each customer's
individual demands. In the case of huge industrial enterprises with a small number of
major consumers, this is understandable. For example, the Boeing Company (United
States) customises its 747 planes for each of its major customers, including United
Airlines, Inc. and American Airlines, Inc. Individual customer service is becoming
more practicable with the introduction of database marketing, which preserves
individual consumer traits and purchase histories in company information systems.
Even mass-marketing companies, such as big box stores and catalogue houses, collect
a lot of information on their clients and can tailor their products and communications
to them.
Positioning
Positioning is a vital phase in marketing strategy that involves the formulation and
transmission of a message that clearly establishes the company or brand in relation to
competitors. As a result, Volvo Aktiebolaget (Sweden) positioned its vehicle as the

"safety leader," while Daimler AG (Germany), the maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles,
positioned its vehicle as the "best engineered." In some cases, a product can be
described as "great" in multiple ways. Claiming supremacy across several dimensions,
on the other hand, may jeopardise a company's credibility because consumers would
not believe that a single solution can work across all dimensions. Furthermore, as a
result of their actual experiences with the company's product or through word of
mouth, clients may have a different perception of the organisation.
Marketing mix planning
Following the creation of a strategy, a company must determine which approaches
will be the most effective in achieving the plan's goals. Tactical marketing comprises
assembling a marketing mix of four elements—product, pricing, location, and
promotion—that meets the strategy for a specific set of customer needs.
Products development
The first marketing-mix element is the product, which refers to the offering or
collection of items that will be made available to customers. In the case of a tangible
product, such as a vehicle, a company will gather information about the features and
benefits required by a target market. Before the product or service is assembled, the
marketer's role is to express client wishes to the engineers who are developing it.
Engineers used to build a product based on their own preferences, interests, or
expertise, and then expect marketers to sell it to as many people as possible. In today's
society, customers' input, rather than engineers' ideas, should be used to develop
products. Food, clothing, and housing are frequently produced and used in the same
way from generation to generation in traditional economies. The variety of
commodities accessible and the products themselves vary as economies evolve. In
modern industrialised cultures, products, like people, have life cycles: birth, growth,
maturity, and decline. As a result of the constant replacement of old products by new
or redesigned ones, professional marketers face serious consequences. All aspects of a
company's operations are involved in new product development, including
production, financing, research and development, and even personnel management
and public relations.
Packaging and branding
The packaging and branding of a product are both significant parts of its marketing.
Simple packaging can be seen in consumers carrying long loaves of untied bread in
France or small food vendors in Italy wrapping vegetables in newspapers or placing

them in customers' string bags. Merchandise packaging, on the other hand, has
become a significant part of the selling effort in most industrialised countries, with
marketers now specifying the forms of packaging that will appeal to the most
potential customers. Packaging has grown increasingly significant in product
distribution as self-service transactions have become more common in both wholesale
and retail. Packaging is occasionally designed to make a product easier to use, such as
aerosol containers for room deodorants. In Europe, condiments such as mustard,
mayonnaise, and ketchup are typically packaged in tubes. Reusable packaging appeals
to purchasers in less developed countries, where metal containers, for example, are
highly prized. Customers in more affluent countries have the option of asking for
recyclable packaging.
Marketing a service product
The same marketing principles that apply to product development also apply to the
development of service offerings. For example, a health maintenance organisation
(HMO) must write a contract for its members that details which medical procedures
will be covered, how much physician choice will be available, how out-of-town
medical costs will be handled, and so on. While establishing a good service mix, the
HMO must choose features that are desired and expected by target customers;
otherwise, the service will not be appreciated in the marketplace.
Pricing strategy
The demand for the product and the cost of manufacturing dictate the price strategy.
Price, on the other hand, can have a substantial impact on a product's success if it is
out of proportion to the other 5Ps. Too low a price for some products (particularly
service products) may actually hurt sales. A greater price is typically equated with
more value in the service industry. Certain types of specialty products, such as
designer apparel or luxury automobiles, are expected to command a premium price.
Even costume jewellery is routinely marked up more than 1000 percent over the cost
of production due to the image effect of a higher price. Certain factors can also have
an impact on the price.
Place strategy
The location (distribution) strategy determines the means (the channel) by which a
product goes from the producer to the consumer. A lot of the marketing effort is
focused on the location. It includes information about the company's physical location
and characteristics, as well as inventory and control systems, transportation, supply

chain management, and even an internet presence. One part of distribution strategy is
deciding how many outlets and which specific wholesalers and retailers will handle
the product in a given geographic area. Cosmetics, for example, come in a wide range
of shapes. Avon employs hundreds of thousands of salespeople who make cold calls
to potential clients. Clinique and Estée Lauder products are only available at a few
department stores. Coty and Cover Girl.
Promotion strategy
Many people believe that advertising is the most intriguing part of the marketing mix.
A promotion plan may include personal selling, traditional advertising, public
relations, sales promotion, social media, and e-commerce. All of these elements are
referred to as the promotional mix. Each component of a promotional blend is
harmonised with the others. An advertising, for example, allows a buyer to learn more
about a company and prepares them for a sales call. A successful marketing campaign
can considerably increase a company's income. Public relations is important in terms
of promotion. It's used to project a favourable picture of the firm and its products. It
costs nothing to send out poor publicity, but it can cost a company a lot of money in
lost sales. Public relations use a variety of tactics, including public relations, crisis
management, and internal staff communication. Positive publicity can result from a
public-relations department's commitment of time, money, and effort, such as a
television or magazine story about a company's new product. Salaries and materials
are always included in public-relations efforts. Public-relations efforts are the least
"controllable" of all promotion strategies, taking a large amount of time and effort to
establish the ongoing goodwill and networking required to improve a company's
image.
Place
Distribution is the third component of the marketing mix, and it refers to how and
where the product is made available. As it moves from producer to consumer, a
product is said to be on a distribution path. Food processing firms, warehouses,
wholesalers, and supermarkets, for example, distribute a wide range of products.
Sales promotion
Sales marketing is the act of promoting sales directly. Promotional materials include
trade shows, catalogues, contests, games, prizes, coupons, and special deals, to name
a few. The buyer is clearly enticed to purchase the product straight immediately. It

comes in many different shapes and sizes, and it must follow a set of laws and
regulations. For example, some contests and prizes are illegal in all 50 states.
Social media is an integral aspect of the promotion mix in today's society. Most
businesses have a corporate website as well as a presence on social networking
platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Traditional advertising is a less
effective way of getting a company's message out to the target market (or general
public) than social media, especially for some target demographics. Businesses (and
even individuals) can use social media to quickly brand themselves. E-commerce is
the use of a company's website to support and grow the 5Ps' marketing tactics. It
could include actual "buy online" features, as well as the capacity to create online
communities and collect data from present and potential customers. Companies aren't
the only ones who research the marketing environment, seek a competitive advantage,
and design a marketing mix. Marketing principles and practises are also required for
not-for-profit organisations. Non-profit organisations can use marketing to help them
discover target clients and establish effective marketing strategies. Marketing has
previously benefitted symphony orchestras, museums, and other cultural institutions.
Managers in diverse organisations, such as the American Heart Association, have
benefited from marketing concepts and practises. In the commercial sector, the profit
motive serves as both a motivator for action and a criterion for evaluating outcomes.
Profit is not pursued by not-for-profit organisations for the aim of redistribution to
shareholders or owners.

Conclusion
In this respective report it has been concluded that the marketing is the bit difficult
task to be followed and it has some of the major aspects that are the part of the
marketing process and the marketing mix. Also the P’s has the major part to play in
the process of marketing. Use of social media is still the most important part of the
marketing process and it has played the most important role in the market so using
this type of strategy is the most and the best source that can be used to do the best
marketing.

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