When it comes to developing and promoting products or services, many businesses don’t exactly know where to start. From my experience, a majority of business owners look into SEO or paid advertising strategies before they even consider defining their brand. But this can hinder their short and long term goals due to lack of clarity. Understanding a marketing mix and all it entails gives business owners an sense of direction and purpose.

Positioning a brand effectively on the front end enables growth on the back end – no matter how sticky the competition is. Let me explain..

Understanding What a Marketing Mix is.

As defined by the Business Dictionary, a marketing mix develops the overview of your product or service’s location, price, and promotability. Simple market research can help you determine a general snapshot of what this looks like and how you should approach it with a plan. You can pay someone to analyze the market for you, but it’s important that you understand the findings. Not taking this seriously can literally leave opportunity on the table – or under it.

The Advantages of Mixing Up Your Marketing.

Understanding your marketing mix gives you a chance to magnify your brand voice, culture and definitive value. Every channel and message on it is purposed and cohesive. Even the flow of internal functions line up. It’s a lot easier to be transparent with brand standards when a quality market mix is involved. Synergy throughout the business generates a peace of mind for customers, employees, partners and prospects.

Invest Heavily in Every Single First Impression.

Now that the digital age is a decade in, consumers are beginning to value genuine content that speaks to their obvious and hidden needs – not just address them cheaply. If you’re looking to achieve your business goals and reach sustainability, it’s important to identify with the market you currently dwell in.

Jumping right into persuasive tactics can leave you disconnected with your audience. If you’re not in tune with (or even considering) the actual people in your marketplace, then failure is inevitable. Let’s look into every facet of the mix in order to explain the why..

1. Marketing Location & Logistics.

Although it may sound cliche, location is everything. For example, pitching flip flops in the Alaskan wilderness can be an uphill battle. But, if you provide specific value in that location (like creating a campaign for Alaskans traveling to Hawaii), you’ll be happily surprised by the results.

Considering the location plays a big role in the messaging of the campaign. You just can’t market the same value in different areas and across different cultures – it’s just not intelligent. When developing a marketing mix, take advantage of geographical targeting and use relevant, unique content to speak to people – not at them.

Changing Up Messaging and Delivery.

Is your product or service offered in different parts of the United States? Don’t market the same message to every region! Define the elements of each location and use it in your marketing efforts. This takes a lot of organization but is always worth the return.

In reality, every business should be able to paint a clear picture of how each market acts, thinks and even believes. Living in the Bible belt is a lot different than the west coast! A poorly curated message can detour credibility (or even trust) and ruin perception altogether.

Getting a better understanding of your locational marketing mix really helps creative teams during the planning process. People are able to think ahead and attend meetings with great ideas or even fresh taglines for certain locations.  

2. Strategically Setting Prices.

Determining the pricing of a product or service is one of the hardest decisions a new company faces. There are a number of factors that reside in price positioning. Within the process, an operation is forced to consider manufacturing, development, promotion, salaries, other expenses, setbacks and even goals.

Overthinking your pricing strategy can make or break your business quickly. No matter the approach, your ability to plan with contingency is imperative. Although some of you may be looking for a definitive solution to this problem, every business (industry and market) is different. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Product pricing can range depending on value, functionality, uniqueness and quality.

Considerations for Price Positioning.

When you think of the service industry, for example, nearly every cost and offer has the potential to be customized. In most cases, competition plays a big role in the final strategy. Nonetheless, it’s important that you position your business with realistic standards.

When building a market mix and establishing pricing, consider these three questions:

• How am I going to scale? Is there an opportunity to drive down costs in the future?
• Am I selling affordability or quality? Do I need to price high or can I afford to wait?
• Is there opportunity for return customer sales or is my foundation new acquisition?

More Value Should Cost More Money..

Whether your a large or small operation, taking the time to develop value propositions will help properly valuate the offer. If you’re really above average, then you need to be able to define why and how. No matter what the competition is doing, if you’re better, you’re better.

In other words, be confident in the outcomes that you plan for. Don’t settle for less, trying to increase profits. This sets a low bar – especially when you’re just getting started. On the flip side, if you don’t plan with purpose, then your expectations shouldn’t be too high. Price accordingly.

3. Appropriate Brand Promotion.

Your marketing mix cannot be complete without a vision to promote your product or service with intention. Even if your locational message is precise and your prices are on point, your marketing strategy needs to make sense. This is the final piece of the marketing mix puzzle that so many businesses screw up.

For whatever reason, it’s extremely tempting to duplicate what similar companies are doing to drive revenue instead of brand awareness. Poor marketing typically leads to the lower prices and more agressive sales. This usually takes a business off track. Although a lot of stuff plays into a promotional strategy, I thought it’d be a good idea to highlight channel and timing.

Where to Place a Marketing Campaign?

If you’re looking for a starting point, social media has pretty much emerged as a go-to platform for promoting anything. But before you jump in head first on every channel, you’ve got to find a sweet spot. Which platform best suits your brand voice and best represents the customer base that values you the most? Finding 1-2 channels that your target audience enjoys is enough.

Although it may sound odd, not everyone is on Facebook. Your most loyal customer may not even be on social media. Are you considering your current base when making decisions? Even though Twitter is growing, a lot of it’s users don’t even understand the structure and algorithms within. You could publish hundreds of posts on each platform and never gain any traction.

Getting Specific and Not Complacent with Ads.

If you’re thinking about advertising in a publication, don’t let viewership possibilities or sales charisma sway you. A magazine or local paper that’s rarely used as a phone book and loaded with competitors is not a good option for quick leads.

Even if you don’t care about a fast return, awareness campaigns aren’t for everyone. Publications with an ideal readership still can’t promise you anything. Besides the quality of the ad, placement and consumer behaviors all play a role. If your ideal audience uses Google or Siri for help, the paper ad is obsolete. Understanding your marketing mix helps you avoid these kinds of out-of-touch decisions.

Any advertising option needs to be able to at least guarantee some sort of snapshot. There has to be data on similar companies within your market and expected actions of potential users. If they can’t even describe what their subscribers or readers look like, they can’t help you. Your money will be spent better elsewhere.

Be Certain About Your Content and Adspend.

Brands are able to promote their value accordingly when they’re able to find their place – on or offline. There are so many different ways to generate recognition and present a solution. Finding the best ways to reach people in specific areas with the right price and message is the key to sustainability. Throwing too big of a net (or fishing in) the wrong places causes you to work backwards and lean on chance over reason.

Little Details Springboard Marketing Campaigns.

Even after you’ve configured your position, you can still fine tune your approach by identifying relevant dates, seasons, events and holidays that boost the relevance of your product or service. Functional positioning can also help you pinpoint certain causes that align with (or even enhance) your voice and value.

If you’re going to pay a social media manager, then make sure they’re tracking relevant trends and topics that support the message you relay. Cheap service and inexperience never pays off. Understanding a marketing mix is rarely on the mind of task-pushers. Forcing a rushing a marketing campaign just because it’s a holiday is extremely wasteful.

Understanding a Marketing Mix Takes Time.

Although brand promotion is a key factor of success, you must align this strategy with the locations you serve and the prices you provide. Every marketing decision ought to If you’re unable to make sense of it all then you’re setting yourself up for failure. Why wouldn’t you want to maximize opportunity and returns?

If defining and understanding a marketing mix is important to you, you’re already on the right track. But don’t rush the process. Take the time to find clarity and only settle on certainty. Vision and purpose make any kind of strategy a whole lot better.

If you’re ever interested in hashing anything out, your first consultation is always free.