Marketing mix The marketing mix was first developed by McCarthy over 40 years ago. It was designed to suggest that you should have a balanced mix of marketing activities within your marketing plan. Elements of the marketing mix The 4 Ps - The main four elements of the marketing mix are described as “the 4 Ps“ product price promotion placeProduct The first P is product. This should define the features and appearance of goods and services. Here are some examples of the product decisions to be made: Brand name Packaging Warranty FunctionalityBrand namePackagingWarrantyFunctionalityPrice The second P is the price of your product and decisions surrounding overall pricing strategies. Pricing can be a very complex area. Most people believe they should undercut their competitors but this is not always a wise strategy. Consumers place value on higher priced products so its best if we test various pricing levels of our products and over time well find the right pricing level that maximizes our profits. Even if we decide not to charge for a service its useful to realise that this is still a pricing strategy. Promotion The third P is about promoting your products and services. This may include advertising, personal selling sales promotions Public Relations is also included within Promotion by many marketing people, although PR people tend to see it as a separate discipline. place The final P is about place the location where the service is actually going to be delivered. Many retailers will tell us its all about “location, location, location“ and this still holds true today.