20 CHAPTER1 INTRODUCING MARKETING
thewayinwhichanorganization's broadmarketingstrategiesaretranslated intomarket-
ingprograms foraction.
Product Products(andservices)-theprimarymarketingmixelement thatsatis-
fiedcustomerwantsandneeds-providethemainlinkbetweentheorganizationand its
customers. Marketingorganizationsmustbereadytoal terproductsasdictatedbychanges
incompetitivestrategiesorchangesin otherelementsoftheorganization's environment.
Manyorganizationshavea vastarrayofproductsintheirmix.Ideally, eachoftheprod-
uctsisprofitable.Butthisisoftennotthecase, so sometoughdecisionsmustbemadecon-
cerningthelengthoftimeanunsuccessfulproduct i s keptonthemarket.
Distribution Theorganization'sdistribution systemmovestheproductto the final
consumer.Becausetherearemanyalternatives whenselectinga distributionchannel, mar-
ketingmanagementmusthavea clearunderstandingofthetypesofdistributors,ofthetrends
influencingthosedistributors,andofhowthosedistributorsareperceivedby customers.
Communication(Promotion) Theproduct's benefitsmustbecommunicatedtothe
distributorsandtothefinalcustomers. Therefore, the marketing organizationmust provide
marketinginformationthatis receivedfavorablybydistributors andfinalcustomers.Mar-
ketingorganizations,through pro motion,provideinformationbywayofadvertising, s ales
promotions,~alespeople,publicrelations, andpackaging.
Price Fi'lally,marketersmustpricetheir productsinsucha waythatcustomersbelieve
theyar~receivingfairvalue.Priceis theprimarymeansbywhichcustomers judgetheattrac-
tivenessofa productorservice. Moreover,priceis a reflectionofalltheactivitiesofan
organization.Finally, priceis acompetitivetool, inthatit is usedasa basis forcompari-
sonofproductandperceivedvalueacrossdifferent organizations.
Decisionsaboutthemarketingmixvariablesareinterrelated.Eachofthe marketing
mixvariablesmustbecoordinatedwiththeotherelementsofthemarketingprogram.Con-
sider,fora moment,a situationinwhicha firmhastwoproductalternatives(deluxeand
economy),twopricealternatives($6 and $3), twopromotionalternatives(advertisingand
couponing),andtwodistributionalternatives (departmentstoresandspecialtystores).Taken
together,thefirmhasa total of 16possiblemarketingmixcombinations.Naturally,some
oftheseappeartobeinconflict,suchasthe"deluxe" product/lowpricecombination.Nev-
ertheless,theorganizationmustconsidermanyofthepossiblealternativemarketingpro-
grams.Theproblemismagnifiedbytheex istenceofcompetitors.Theorganizationmust
findtherightcombinationofproduct,price, promotion, anddistributionsothat it can gain
a differentialadvantageoveritscompetitors.(Allthe marketingmix elementswillbedi s-
cussedinmore detailinlaterchaptersofthis book.)
Evena well-designedmarketingprogramthathasbeenthrougha thoroughev alua-
tionofalternativeswillfailifitsimplementationispoor.Implementationinvolvessuchthings
asdeterminingwhereto promotetheproduct,gettingtheproducttotheultimateconsumer,
puttinga priceontheproduct,andsettinga commissionrateforthesalespeople.Oncea
decisionisnade,a marketingmanagermust decidehowtobestimplementthe termsof
theplan.
Scandim:.vianAirlines(SAS)provides agoodexampleofanorganizationthathassuc-
cessfullyimplementedtheirmarketingstrategy.SAShadgoodon-time performance, a good
safetyrecord andmanyservicesdesignedtomakeflyingeasierforits customers.How-
