Marketing Mix Analysis: Tangible Product vs. Service Marketing

This essay analyzes the marketing mix, comparing and contrasting its application to tangible products and services, with specific focus on the 7Ps of marketing. It begins with an overview of the marketing mix and its importance for marketers, then delves into the characteristics of both products and services, highlighting their key differences. The essay then explores the specific Ps that constitute the marketing mix for each category, including product, price, place, and promotion for products, and expanded elements for services. The analysis includes real-world examples, such as Vodafone, to illustrate how companies utilize the marketing mix to achieve their objectives. The assignment meets the requirements of the London School of Commerce's Marketing Management module (BABMS 2020), addressing the differences and similarities between the marketing mix for tangible products and services, emphasizing the importance of a well-defined strategy for business success.

MARKETING
MANAGEMENT

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
Discuss and explain the difference and similarities between the marketing mix for a tangible product
and the marketing mix for services..........................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing mix affect the company directly. If the company is following marketing mix
they can get lot of benefits out of it. It helps the company to do the task in hand with efficiency
(Anitsal, Girard and Anitsal, 2012). In the report mentioned below Vodafone company has been
taken and few points related to marketing mix are thoroughly discussed. The essay is started with
general overview of marketing mix and what benefit it gives to marketer. Characteristic of
product and services is also discussed in the report. The report will give the management about
importance of 7P’s in the business and how it can be used in welfare of the company so that
more business can be achieved.
MAIN BODY
Discuss and explain the difference and similarities between the marketing mix for a tangible
product and the marketing mix for services
Marketing mix help the company to promote its brand and the products. All the factors
are considered so that a company can get the most from its products. It originally comprises of 4
factors which are price, place, product and promotion. It helps the marketers to build the product
and promote it by using various marketing strategies. Marketing mix mainly focus on
understanding the target audience. With the introduction of digital media taste of customer keeps
on changing rapidly. Marketers use promotion mix to get more and more from the product and
try to increase the market of the product by using various factors. Herein Vodafone, the company
uses promotion mix to promote the product and services to different part of the globe using
digital media and advertisement. The company knows that competition in telecom industry is
immense and to overcome that company uses the marketing mix to get the attention of as many
customer as possible and increase the business (Gilaninia, Taleghani and Azizi, 2013). Vodafone
is getting benefitted by marketing mix as they are using it properly all the 4 segment of
marketing mix are handed carefully by the company.
Product is a very important component for a company as it has various characteristic. Some of
them are as follows:

It is one of the elements of marketing mix; different people have different expectations
with product say management, society and consumer. Product is the combination of both goods
and services. Product need to be modified continuously so that satisfaction level of the consumer
can be increased, company sell the product to get profit out of it that states product is a source of
revenue for the company. The company should know that the product is the base for the entire
marketing programme which is set by the company, so each and everything need to be done
according to the product requirements. It includes tangible as well as intangible offer and
benefits. Products offer benefit as well as satisfaction to consumers (Singh, 2012). Company
need to understand one thing that it’s services attached with the product that matters, customer
buy product to avail those services not just the physical object. Product helps the company to
gain revenue as well as sustain in the competition. Product helps the company to grow
financially as it gets revenue for the company which increases the size of the company.
Characteristics of services are as follows:
Company need to keep in mind that services are highly perishable in nature and time
plays a very important role in service marketing. Demand for services is highly fluctuating in
nature. Most of the services have peak demand at seasonal time and less demand at the time of
off season. Services are intangible in nature, unlike product they can’t be touched and it is an
abstract phenomenon. Another characteristic of services are their pricing decision are determined
by perishability, fluctuation in demand and inseparable nature. Demand and competition also
determine the pricing of services (Ismail, Mubarack and Thulkifly, 2015). Services can never be
measured in statistics form. It can be measured in form of reliability, empathy, responsiveness
and assurance all these factors are in control of the employee, the way employee direct or treat
the customers. Employee interacting directly with customer should work on customer
satisfaction and detail explanation of the things asked. Vodafone knows that telecommunications
industry is all about services so they focus on gaining customers through proper services. The
customer is dealt properly and all the queries are handled through phone or personal so that they
can visit the company again and can spread positive word of mouth which will result in
publicity.
Product, price, promotion and place are 4 marketing mix for product. Various products
offered by Vodafone are prepaid, postpaid and VAS. Vodafone also provide smart phones,

headsets and even internet services. The aim of the company is to assist the customers with their
telecommunications needs. The focus of the company is to meet with customer’s needs and
preference. Talking about the Price factor, Vodafone try to keep their price in lower side and
they try to get more and more customer base so that the market can be increased. They try to
improve their network range also so that more and more customers find it comfortable to adopt
the product. The company also gives reward point in the particular amount of money spent. It is
a kind of market strategy to increase involvement of public and their active participation. Even
after that it faces tough competition with other operators around (Mudie and Pirrie, 2012). Next
element of marketing mix of product is promotion. The company frequently uses local number
identification to identify the trusted customer who are using product. Vodafone introduce
Vodafone zoozoo which was a marketing plan and it was a successful plan as lot of people got
attracted for the same. The company uses digital platforms, televisions and email to promote the
product to various part of the company. Promotion helps the company to convince the interested
people to buy the product. The company keep informing about the product. Place is the last point
of marketing mix. The company always works to explore and do better in the product. The
company always tries to improve its services. The company works on answering the question
related to product. Vodafone Telecommunication Company also have physical store to answer
the query so that experience of the customer became more satisfactory. With strong network the
company is focusing service section on various part of the country. The entire factor mentioned
above helped the company to grow globally and the reason why Vodafone is doing well because
they know how much price is required to be quitted for something. The company also does
business in places where they can get audience to initiate purchase.
The first element in the marketing mix is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing
back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of your product or service through the
eyes of a critical prospect. Remember, people form their first impression about you within the
first 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of your company. Small improvements in the
packaging or external appearance of your product or service can often lead to completely
different reactions from your customers (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014). The next P is positioning.
The manager of company should develop the habit of thinking continually about how they can
position brand in the hearts and minds of your customers. How do people think and talk about

company’s offering when you're not present? How do people think and talk about the company?
What positioning do the company have in market, in terms of the specific words people use
when they describe about company’s offerings to others? Company believe that proper practices
like communication and presentation will lead to better discussion. The final P of the marketing
mix is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your
business who are responsible for every element of your sales, marketing strategies, and activities.
The company has done the same and they have bought all the plans and services for benefit of
people and to satisfy them so that they can choose Vodafone over other competitors. It's amazing
how the company will work extremely hard to think through every element of the marketing
strategy and the marketing mix, and then pay little attention to the fact that every single decision
and policy has to be carried out by a specific person, in a specific way (Hollensen, 2019). So it’s
important for the company to do things according to the customers demand. Vodafone uses these
entire elements carefully to increase the services. For the telecom industry services is the most
important thing so it need to be perfect. With the help of all 3 better marketing strategy can be
formed and competitive advantage can be gained for the short term as the competition is huge.
Vodafone believes in positioning and they use various medium like advertising and promotion so
that positioning can be done properly (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014). Positioning is done in a way
by the company so that more and more public can be focused and at the same time public
attention can be gained.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been determined that marketing management emphasize on
the effective allocation of resources, technique and activities in order to promote smooth
business functioning. Marketing mix of product and services focuses on diverse areas like price
of offering and its promotion to build successful image worldwide.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Anitsal, I., Girard, T. and Anitsal, M.M., 2012. An application of services marketing mix
framework: how do retailers communicate information on their sales receipts. Business Studies
Journal. 4(2). pp.77-90.
Gilaninia, S., Taleghani, M. and Azizi, N., 2013. Marketing mix and consumer behavior. Kuwait
Chapter of the Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review. 2(12). p.53.
Singh, M., 2012. Marketing mix of 4P’s for competitive advantage. IOSR Journal of Business
and Management. 3(6). pp.40-45.
Ismail, M. B. M., Mubarack, K. M. and Thulkifly, M. Z., 2015. Impact of service marketing mix
on customer satisfaction.
Mudie, P. and Pirrie, A., 2012. Services marketing management. Routledge.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132).
Springer, New York, NY.
Hollensen, S., 2019. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132).
Springer, New York, NY.

INTRODUCTION
MAIN BODY
Launch a new food and beverage company in highly competitive market
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Baden-Fuller, C. and Mangematin, V., 2013. Business models: A challenging agenda. Strategic
Organization. 11(4). pp.418-427.
Bruneel, J. and et. al., 2012. The Evolution of Business Incubators: Comparing demand and
supply of business incubation services across different incubator
generations. Technovation. 32(2). pp.110-121.
Bridge, S. and O'Neill, K., 2012. Understanding enterprise: Entrepreneurship and small
business. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Fitzgerald, M. and et. al., 2014. Embracing digital technology: A new strategic imperative. MIT
sloan management review. 55(2). p.1.
Clarysse, B. and et. al., 2014. Creating value in ecosystems: Crossing the chasm between
knowledge and business ecosystems. Research policy. 43(7). pp.1164-1176.
Beske, P., Land, A. and Seuring, S., 2014. Sustainable supply chain management practices and
dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature. International
journal of production economics. 152. pp.131-143.

(Baden-Fuller and Mangematin, 2013)(Bruneel and et. al., 2012)(Bridge and O'Neill, 2012)
(Fitzgerald and et. al., 2014)(Clarysse and et. al., 2014)(Beske, Land and Seuring, 2014)