“Marketing Mix”, a term coined by Neil Borden, represents the ingredients that capture and promote a brand or product’s unique selling points, those that differentiate it from its competitors. The ideas behind Borden’s model were refined over the years until E. Jerome McCarthy reduced them to 4 elements called “The Four Ps.” This proposed classification has been used by marketing companies, branding agencies and web design companies throughout the world.
McCarthy came up with this model way back in 1960, long before the Internet was born. So much has changed since then, with online marketing growing in leaps and bounds. So can businesses still use this model today? Let’s look at how they still apply:
Before the age of the Internet, people visited a physical location and dealt face-to-face with salespeople. There were not nearly as many options available to consumers. At the click of a button, people can shop and compare online at lightning speed. They have the capability to not only find businesses that provide what they are looking for; they can see what other customers have to say about their products or services.
As a result, consumers expect more and are less willing to settle for less than the best. They can express their opinion with the entire world through positive or negative reviews. Companies, in many ways, are held more accountable for their shortcomings through the medium of the Internet.
In the digital age, your “Product” must do more than meet a demand. It must reflect the various experiences and wishes of your customer and do it better than your competitor.
However, if you are a local business, you probably want to attract customers within a certain geographical radius. This is where Local SEO comes into play–to promote your product to local customers at exactly the time they’re looking for your type of business. Local SEO has become one of the most important and effective strategies for businesses to gain an edge against their local competitors.
Inbound marketing and online presence are crucial in getting found online by the right customers. It takes a lot of time, the right tools, and considerable expertise to create an effective online presence. Using free tools might be a great place to start, but they are limited in their capabilities. In order to be found online, you need to have a strategy and an integrated set of online assets that are created to amplify each other for maximum effect.
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