Marketing Mix: apply the four elements to Toyota Scion and Subway Sandwiches

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The concept of marketing has been derived from the basic concept of sales which evolved from the concept of exchange. This has an origin in terms of people trying to get hold of items which they wanted to have in exchange for other types of items which they had in excess but were in demand among certain sections of people who did not have these items. The position has now changed to a certain extent as the society now has more elements of products than they need and this is inevitable in the days of mass production using the concept of power which has been generated from natural resources like water, coal, wind, oil and other similar materials (Is Anybody Out There? The New Blueprint for Marketing Communications in the 21st Century).

The marketing environment has changed tremendously in the last five years when compared to the last fifty years. Consumers have also changed beyond doubt. Their behavior is considered to be more complex, their media habits have now become varied, and they are found to be more outspoken than ever before. In most instances, their demand is considered to be defined in terms of "brands" which are being identified with certain levels of quality and types of images and the manufacturers, in order to sell their brands, use modern methods of marketing (Is Anybody Out There? The New Blueprint for Marketing Communications in the 21st Century).

The marketing mix approach to marketing is one model of creating and implementing marketing strategies. It stresses the "mixing" of various decision factors in such a way that both organizational and consumer objectives are attained. The most common variables used in constructing a marketing mix are price, promotion, product and distribution (also called placement).

Product: Defines the characteristics of your product or service that meets the needs of your customers.

Price: Decide on a pricing strategy - do not let it just happen! It means deciding the price the consumer has to pay including discount structure.

Promotion: This includes all the weapons in the marketing armory - advertising, selling, sales promotions, Public Relations, etc.

Place (or route of distribution): Some of the revolutions in marketing have come about by changing this P. Think of telephone insurance and the Internet! A bit of ...