2 management - School of International Business and ...

391 What is marketing?
status? What do they look for in a car or fashion accessory?
Your product might be a car with highly innovative safety features or new performance technol-
ogy. Or you might market a handbag made from recycled materials to appeal to an environmen-
tally-concerned crowd. Either way, you'll need to differentiate your product from the competition.
Cars and fashion are both highly competitive markets, so something unique (price, features, or
aesthetics, for example) and differentiating is very important to get noticed
What price will you charge? Your price can be determined by a number of factors. Likely, your
target market will have a heavy influence on your price. If you're selling to the luxury car market,
your price may be on the higher end. But if your marketing tactic is to bring luxury at a lower price
point, you will adjust likewise.
Where will you sell your product? Will your BMW be available to all dealerships or exclusively built
to order? Will your bag be available at Coach online, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Zappos? Again,
your target market will be a key consideration, as you want to make the product as accessible as
possible (without wasting money).
How will you make potential consumers aware of your car or bag? What is the best way to reach
your target market? If your target market reads Business Week or GQ, you may want to consider-
ing a print advertisement. Perhaps your environmentally-friendly purse will sponsor an Earth Day
event or donate a percentage of proceeds to a charity. This would be a good utilization of public
relations as a promotional tool.
Sure, bags and cars are very different products, but by combining them here, you now understand
how vital the 4 Ps are for marketers - regardless of what they're promoting.
How would you use the 4 Ps to sell a luxury timeshare to consumers? Or haircuts? Or legal ser-
vices? Or convince voters to elect a candidate? Each »product« will have a different optimal mix
and strategy.
The 4 Ps are what marketers can control. There are plenty of factors that marketers can't control.
For instance, an economic downturn, the discovery of a new technology, or federal legislation
over a particular market are out of their hands. However, by monitoring these »uncontrollable«
factors, marketers can then adjust and rework their marketing mix to keep their product in the
game.