TABLE OF CONTENTS A marketing plan relies on how the four Ps' are used in its support. Different products and markets call for different mixes, but these elements must be applied to a marketing situation whatever the emphasis given to each of them. A product strategy is especially important and it presupposes the existence of something to take to the market . It is the principal focus of the marketing mix because this is what is ultimately delivered to the consumer. The product or service ( product and service being interchangeable words in this discussion) is that which gives satisfaction to the consumer, fulfilling the overall aim of marketing.
Product policy or strategy is concerned with how the product is presented to the consumer and how it will be perceived.
Although consumers or customers (again, interchangeable terms) pay for something specific and identifiable, they are really paying for something that incorporates promotion, availability and perceived value. This is termed a bundle of satisfactions' that can be tangible and intangible (see Figure 6.1). Marketers must understand and utilise this broad view of the product or any strategy is likely to be disjointed, poorly targeted and unsuccessful. The marketer's task is to organise the marketing mix in such a way as to present consumers with an assortment of satisfactions' identified as being appropriate to their needs. The marketing mix creates the product in this wider sense, and all its efforts are devoted to delivering something that most exactly matches defined consumer...
