Marketing Mix

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Marketing can be simply defined as putting the right product in the right place, with right price and on right time. For this purpose a tool is used to implement this definition. A tool used for this is known as Marketing mix tool which refers to the set of actions or tactics a company uses to promote their product. This tool contains 4 typical element known as 4 Ps that is Product, Price, Place, Promotion (D'Esopo and Almquist, 2007). According to the case, Less-win, a protein shake product has been designed by the company which is needed to promote in the market. For this purpose, company has used the tool of marketing mix.

Product is a first element of the marketing mix. It can be either tangible good or intangible service which meets the specific need of the customer. All other elements of the mix revolve around the product. It is the basis for marketing mix. In this case, Less-win is a product which is a protein shake. It has been designed in order to lose the weight or gain muscle which is meeting the specific need of the customers (Martin, 2009). The product has been made after doing the market research and after the analysis of the research, product has been made. Customer has a need of protein supplements for losing weight. Accordingly, the product has been designed. For example, product has been kept in powder form so that customer can intake it with any of the beverages of their choice ranging from water to milk and it is also available in several flavors so that according to the taste they can buy and use the product. Product has been offered by the company an elements for burning excess sugar to burn fat during workouts. It contains healthy mixed ingredients of amino acids and proteins.

Price which is a second element of the marketing mix is a value which is put for a product. The price of the product can be set according to the industrial norms and also as per the usage of the product. There are two types of pricing strategy one is skimming pricing strategy in which high price is put on the product while introducing it in the market. Other strategy is penetration pricing in which low pricing is done in order to penetrate the product. Penetration pricing is done for Less-win product during seasonal times else competitive pricing is done. The company's strategy is to capture the large share of market as losing weight and gaining muscle is now days a basic need of every people between the age of 18-55 (Rosenbloom and Dimitrova, 2011). Company has done the pricing of products as follows.

1 KG - £15.99
2 KG - £25.99
5 KG - £49.99

By keeping low prices during seasonal times company can capture large market share. For example, if company cuts down its price and keep the profit margin low at the time of Christmas period then sales can increase and ultimately leads to profit generation.

Third element of the mix is place which is also known as distribution or point of sale. Aim of distribution or place strategy is to make avail the products to the ultimate consumers conveniently. The distribution channel of the company should be effective so that the product can be made available to the consumer at right time and at right place. Less-win product can be made available at the factory outlet or at warehouses all over UK. It will be cost effective if the company sets their own warehouse or outhouse (Tapp and Spotswood, 2013). The firm has their own logistic department and packaging machine which can save the cost to the company. For example, if company can hire a scientist which can mix the ingredients and make it for the target market then the need of the target market can be satisfied. If they deliver directly to the retailers than this will be cost effective because middleman has been excluded. This will enable them to get the demands for the product and the firm can easily meet out the demand on time. Less-win can be made available at shops like Holland & Barret, Tesco and other protein shops which will make the distribution of the product easy. If company provide the products to gyms that will also increase the sales of the Less-win and target market can be easily achieved.

Last element is promotion which is a crucial element without which the product cannot be sold even though all other Ps have been efficiently applied. It is undertaken in order to make the product known to the target market. All types of marketing communication techniques fall under this category (Bowman and Gatignon, 2010). This element include advertising, sales promotion, door-to-door selling, public relations, social media marketing, etc. The channel or media used for the promotion should be suitable for the product. Less-win has been promoted by the company through TV advertisement in order to expose the product to whole market. This will help the company to do the mass marketing. Company has also used the billboards which is put on roads and in inner city to promote their product. Flyers is distributed in the gyms which has complete description about the Less-win and guide to use the product. In this reviews of customers is also included which will influence the people to use Less-win as a protein supplements. Promotion has also been done by putting a stall at supermarkets and outside gyms to provide free samples to the target market. This will be helpful in promoting the products in better manner. By using Facebook-twitter, digital marketing has been done and on YouTube a fitness blogs have been made so that customers can be influenced in a better manner. Customer interact with the company by using social networking sites and responses of the people can be checked and judged accordingly. For example, feedback form the customer can be taken by chatting with them on the Facebook (Codita, 2011). During seasonal time if company apply the sales promotion techniques such as buy 1 get 1 free and providing 25% extra at same price this may result in higher sales. Every tool of promotion should be evaluated on the basis of cost and time.

Marketing mix is highly useful in reaching the target market and satisfying the needs of them (Richter, 2012). This enables the marketing managers and operations manager to describe the essential elements of the marketing strategy. Marketing mix thus help a business to determine the suitability of a product for a particular target segment. Marketing mix enables the company to identify the solutions of certain questions such as what to offer, at what price to offer, where tom offer and what price to offer.

For evaluating the level of critiques a competitor product has been taken. The name of the product is Syntha-6. It is also a protein supplement which is used to build muscle. The product is in a powder format exactly as Less-win and available in various flavors like Less-win. The price of Syntha-6 product is higher than Less-win. 1 KG bottle of Less-win is available at £15.99 but that of Syntha-6 is available at £26.23. Less-win can mixed up in water or milk but Syntha-6 can be mixed in only milk. Less-win is also beneficial for the people who wish to lose their weight but Syntha-6 is only for those who wish to build the muscle.

Thus, it can be interpreted that Less-win has more features in it as compared to Syntha-6. This may provide more benefits to the target market than its competitor's product. But Less-win needs more improvements in its quality and features so as to grow in the dynamic market (The Marketing Mix (4 P's of Marketing), 2010). This can be done by modifying its product as per the customer's need and providing additional benefits to the target market by satisfying their needs.

Read also: Principles of Marketing - Sony Play Station

CONCLUSION

After preparing the report on marketing mix of a Less-win product, it can be concluded that marketing mix is essentially required in order to market the new product in a competitive market. According to the needs of customer and identifying the target market, product has been manufactured at a reasonable price which is much lower than the competitor's price. The product provides several advantage to those people who wish to lose weight and gain muscles. The unique ingredient mix have helped the product to reach their target market. Promotional tools used by the company is evaluated on the basis of cost and time and then it has been applied.

REFERENCES

• Brooks, N. and Simkin, L., 2012. Judging marketing mix effectiveness. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 30(5).
• D'Esopo, M. and Almquist, E., 2007. An approach to mastering the marketing mix. Business Strategy Series. 8(2).
• Martin, M. D., 2009. The entrepreneurial marketing mix. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. 12(4).
• Rosenbloom, B. and Dimitrova, B., 2011. The marketing mix paradigm and the Dixonian systems perspective of marketing. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. 3(1).
• Tapp, A. and Spotswood, F., 2013. From the 4Ps to COM-SM: reconfiguring the social marketing mix. Journal of Social Marketing. 3(3).
• Books
• Bowman, D. and Gatignon, H., 2010. Market Response and Marketing Mix Models: Trends and Research Opportunities. Now Publishers Inc.
• Codita, R., 2011. Contingency Factors of Marketing-Mix Standardization: German Consumer Goods Companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Springer Science & Business Media.

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