Esther
Good morning and welcome to the Monday morning marketing podcast. I'm Esther and
Melanie
I'm Melanie.
Esther
And today we're talking about the marketing mix. Is it still relevant today?
Melanie
So what is the marketing mix? Well, what it includes is the four P's of marketing, which is product, price, place and promotion. Is it still relevant today, Esther?
Esther
Yes, 100 percent still relevant. And we see it each and every day. OK, so we see it everywhere. We see it in those lovely ads that we see on all our social media platforms and on TV. We see it when we walk into the local supermarket. We are being marketed to by using the four P's every single day
In all fearness, it doesn't have to be just product. It can also be service. But that really messes up the whole P thing, doesn't it?
Esther
It does. We prefer to keep things clean and. Yeah, but yeah. I mean so right. Let's, let's think about it. Right. So you walk into the supermarket, I'm not going to name any names, but if any of the local supermarkets, you know, are bigger brands would like to be mentioned on our podcast, we are accepting and promotion.
Melanie
Do you imagine us "hi, welcome to our sponsors. And today our sponsor is ... One of the greatest chicken in town".
Esther
But only in my town, not yours. And so, yeah, you walk into your local supermarket and what is the one of the first things that you see when you're going around to do your your weekly shop? You see the stuff that is on offer,
Melanie
brightly coloured stuff.
Esther
Yeah. And it's not just the brightly coloured I mean first thing that you come to and it's also the placement of it. So all the fruit and vegetable are obviously together. Right. So that's your placement. I never understood why that's the first thing that is there. They should really start with heavy objects first.
Melanie
I agree. Right. And the bread is first as well. That makes no sense at all to me.
Esther
Yeah. Because then everything else that you gather, you either have to start at the far end of the shop or everything else that you gather squishes the fruit and veg in the bread. But that's, you know, it has worked.
Melanie
Do you want to put your clothes on top of fruit, though?
Esther
OK, so you're buying clothes in a supermarket? We have bigger issues to talk about here then.
Melanie
OK, sorry.
Esther
I know needs must at the minute, but you know, on a normal non covid day, let's, let's just sweep that one. We're moving past that one but. Right. So you come on. All the fruit and vegetables are together, all the dairy products are together, all the meats together and the non meats are together and then all your breads and everything.
Melanie
And I think they I think they've got the placement thing now. We can move on.
Esther
Yeah, right. OK, so you got it. But anything that they have on offer is at the start of the placement. So it's at the top of the aisle. It's at the ends, it's on a brightly coloured stand.
Melanie
It doesn't have to be because the other placement. See you. This is your fault for picking up the old supermarket.
Esther
Well, all depends which supermarket you go to and how big it is
Melanie
At eye level. They will have sort of the pricier items. And then if you want the cheapest stuff, it's normally lower right down the bottom. Actually, you know, where three year olds can pick it up.
Esther
And that's also where they put the tastier in terms of what children like cereal is at the kid's eye level. Right. But when it comes to promotion, that's where your bright yellow labels come in and your brightly coloured like not so much flashing neon signs, but almost. Right. So they've got that and they promote it in a way that, you know, buy one, get one free, buy two for whatever, you know, insert your money mind here. So you've got all these things going on and you're standing. Do you never find yourself standing there going, but which one actually works out cheaper? Does it work out cheaper for me to buy three packets of cornflakes? When I only ever need one, you know, are you really making a saving anyway that's in the supermarket when you're talking about your online brand or your small business that is promoting itself online at the same idea works. So you have your product, you have your let's for argument's sake
Melanie
They'll have a sale section on the website, they'll sometimes have a sale section entirely dedicated to everything that's on sale.
Esther
Yeah. So you're talking online clothing, which is where you could be buying your clothes Melanie, not in the supermarket.
Melanie
We obviously have far superior supermarkets down here in the republic,
Esther
obviously, obviously no doubting it at all and. But you have yes, so your online clothing or your online, you know, products, but you also saying about services and that can include a course. So if you have a course that you're wanting to promote, that you're wanting people to buy, then essentially you need the four P's of marketing. You need your product, which is your course. In this case, you need a price. How much you're going to charge people. You have your placement, whether that's on your full website, you build a different landing page for it. You have it inside some other website. You know that there are lots of courses being built on lots of platforms at the minute, and then you promote it out through your email, marketing, your ads, word of mouth. There are so many places that you can do this. Now, my question to you, Melanie, is, is it a one and done sort of thing?
Melanie
Well, I don't think necessarily. I think each time you add a new product or new service or maybe you're changing location, you know, we're adding a new location. I think it's a very valuable awareness tool. And as part of that awareness, you have to help people take them through a sales funnel to take them through to conversion. So I think it depends on the calls to action and also whether it's fleshy bits of neon coloured or whether it's an online offer.
Esther
Yeah, and it's also, you know, if it's a seasonal thing that you're selling, if it's you know, you've got your online clothing business and it's coming to the end of the season, you're going to want to get rid of those before the next season's clothing comes in. So
Melanie
A clear out.
Esther
Yeah, it's a clearance to clear out a restocking of other things, you know, so it wouldn't just be a once and done because we do know a lot of people who think that you can only or you should only use the four P's when setting up your business. And that's not, you know, it's not just for that one time and then you're done. We also know of other people who think there should be other things included in the four P's that, you know, essentially are covered in the product price placement and promotion. So instead of being called promotion, then they might call it ads or be more specific and do just Facebook ads, you know. So, you know, this is this has been around for years. I mean, I studied this at university. I have you know, it's something that you always see
Melanie
It must be ancient
Esther
and it really is. It really is. But it's one of those things that has. It has moved with the times in that previously, you know, that
Melanie
But it hasn't become dated, has it?
Esther
It Has not because promotion before might have been more newspaper articles or the man standing with the spinning sign that you would have seen in movies and stuff like that, which does actually still happen in some countries.
Melanie
You use some great analogies there, Esther. You really are showing your age.
Esther
I'm really am. But, you know, I have lived it. I have lived places where there are still men and boys spinning signs to get you to go into places, so. Yeah,
Melanie
fair enough. But what we're trying to put across here, OK, this is what we need to take away from today, is the four Ps still have a relevant part in marketing? It may be a relatively outdated model, I suppose, in some people's eyes, but we're actually already doing it when we're doing our ads, whether it's Google ads or, you know, Facebook or Instagram, we're actually already implementing it, which is calling it something else. But I think it's better and easier to remember as the four P's of marketing that in altogether is called a marketing mix. So why don't we stop trying to reapply this today in order to boost our business on a regular basis instead of just like we said before, being a one and done? Do you reckon?
Esther
Yeah, definitely. And if you have more than just one product or one service, then it can be something that you're promoting more regularly. It doesn't have to be when you're changing a price or when the season changes or when the wind changes, you know, it can be something that is more frequent and you just change the place where you're promoting it, you know? So instead of talking about it only on one social channel, you move and talk about it on another social channel and you are in ads from time to time as well. So it's not something that you have to go, "OK, now I have to do my four p's and I have to do with them all the time and always do it here and always", you know, mix it up as well. It's called a marketing mix at the end of the day. So that's all we have time for today. Guys, we have kept it short and sweet like you like it. And we hope to hear how your marketing mixes are going and which one you are maybe having trouble with. We love to hear from you and send us a little message on any of our social channels and we will be happy to get back to you. Thanks for joining us today, guys. Bye-bye
Melanie
Bye now.
