Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix

One vital aspect of any organizations marketing plan is the marketing mix. The marketing mix is a careful combination of four major pieces; product, place, price, and promotion. Understanding how each of these pieces relates to one another is essential to creating a successful marketing campaign.

Fleet Gas (FGI) is an organization with focuses on payment processing and fleet management. Their fleet fueling cards are accepted at over 90% of the fuel retailers in the country and 45,000 vehicle maintenance locations (Fleet Gas, 2012). As a leader in their industry FGI is continually expanding products and services they offer to their clients and partners.

The following will discuss the four elements that make up the marketing mix, how each has affected the development of FGI's successful marketing strategy, and how they are implemented.

The Four P's

The elements that make up the marketing mix are known as the four P's. A good marketing strategy will center these four factors on the chosen target demographic. If successful, the strategy will create perceived value and generate a positive response from customers.

Product

The first element in the marketing mix is product. This deals with a physical good or service that will be sold. Some examples of the decisions being made by a marketing manager at this stage are what packaging the product will go in, whether or not to offer warranties and what period of time to cover, the quality of the product or service, functionality, and safety. A first step in developing a product is investigating the market to ensure there is a need for it. As the design process takes shape, a practical balance between the quality and price of the product or service will need to be found (Marketing Teacher, 2012).

Example. In 2006, Fleet Gas began researching the fleet services market to see if a need existed for a support team gears specifically toward the needs of large fleets. They wanted to create a specialized team of support specialists that were a hybrid of customer service and sales representatives. Having recently signed a contract with Exxon/Mobile and Lowe's, FGI wanted to ensure they were at the forefront of delivering top quality services. However, they were unsure if businesses would be willing to pay a premium for this specialized service. Once they received positive feedback on the idea, they proceeded to assemble a team called Strategic Support.

Price

After a product or services has been created, the next element of the marketing mix is to set the price. It is important to find a balance between a price that attracts business and a price that provides significant profits. The organization must decide on several pricing aspects that may include volume discounts, price flexibility, bundling, and early payment discounts. If there is a demand in the market for a luxury item, the company may choose to sell lower quantities at a higher price (Marketing Teacher, 2012).

Example. Once the demand for a specialty service team was established, FGI had to decide on an effective pricing strategy. The strategic support team was a service that would be offered only to FGI's largest fleet accounts. It was decided that the service price would be based on the average number of active fueling cards used by