The Marketing Mix and Three Elements it Should Have

The “Marketing Mix” can be defined as the basic, tactical components of the marketing plan, also known as the Four P’s. The Four P’s include price, place, product and promotion, and some will increase the marketing mix to the Five P’s to also include people.

Designing a marketing mix to support your overall strategy involves more than choosing the appropriate components to build market awareness.  Your marketing mix may consist of a combination of direct mail, email, web site, seminars, public relations and other various tactics you have determined make the most sense given your overall marketing strategy.

Once you have developed your strategy and implemented the marketing mix, you should have some guidelines to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts. It is important to review the marketing mix and ensure your implementation plan includes the following three elements: consistency, frequency and variety.

Consistency

It is very important to your marketing efforts that everything looks, feels and sounds the same way each time. The element of “consistency” is critical to get all of the benefits that repetition provides. If your clients or prospects repeatedly hear the same message the same way each time, they are able to communicate the message the way you want it to be communicated. We recommend that your marketing communication pieces be reviewed for consistency of your message and branding and where it is not consistent, fix it immediately.

Frequency

Frequency makes a difference but you are probably asking, “How often is frequent enough?” This really depends on your market, what you have to offer and your business goals, but there are some minimum guidelines for you to follow. Once you have prioritized your clients and prospects into primary, secondary and tertiary markets, we recommend you ”touch” your primary market at least twice a month, your secondary market at least monthly and your tertiary market at least quarterly. Providing constant reminders to your clients that you have something to offer is necessary to establishing and maintaining brand awareness.  Without this level of frequency, momentum is lost and the impact of your messaging and branding is diminished.

Variety

Consistency and frequency within your marketing mix are necessary, but if they lack variety then your marketing efforts will suffer. If your marketing strategy relies on one or two vehicles (i.e. direct mail and website or advertising and seminars) then it lacks the power of “touching” your audience from many different angles. A combination of activities (i.e. newsletters, webinars, client events, email promotions, public relations and networking) working together allows you to develop a “relationship” with your clients and prospects. We recommend that your marketing activities include both value-add and promotional content and not be heavily weighted on either.

Consistency, frequency and variety are the three elements that every marketing mix should have to build and maintain market awareness. In order to achieve a more effective and efficient marketing strategy we recommend that you periodically audit your marketing mix for these three elements and make necessary adjustments as needed.

The Cola Marketing Group is a results-oriented marketing firm with over 15 years of experience. We provide top talent in all facets of marketing in an efficient, friendly, and affordable manner while focusing on creating measurable change for our clients.

For more information visit  www.colamg.com or contact Najat Cola at (206) 992-9125 or najat@colamg.com.