Marketing is performed within a certain environment which itself is always changing. The marketing activities have, therefore, to change accordance with environmental changes. In order to appreciate this process it is easier to divide the marketing activities into four basic elements, which are together referred to as the marketing mix. These four basic elements are:
1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion
As all these four start with the letter `P' they are, at times, referred to as the four Ps of the marketing mix or the 4Ps in marketing. The word product stands for the goods or services offered by the organization. Price refers to the money value that the customer has to pay. The product has to be adequately priced. This involves considerations of the profit margin, the cost, the possibility of sales at different prices and the concept of the right price.
Promotion is the aspect of selling and advertising, or communicating the benefits of the product or service, to the target customers or the market segment involved in order to persuade them to purchase such products or services. It includes selling through advertising as well as the sales force. Besides, a certain amount of promotion is done through special seasonal discounts, competitions, special price reductions, etc. collectively called sales promotion. Finally, physical distribution refers to the aspect of the channels of distribution through which the product has to move before it reaches the consumer. It also includes the logistics aspects of distribution such as warehousing, transportation, etc.
