The 7P’s of the Marketing Mix

Part 1.

Questions 1. How Previous Feedback Has Informed Essay 4.

One of my strengths is the use of appropriate business and academic language. I will improve on this by striving to use even more appropriate language. I will also ensure that my essay gives deeper insights into understanding the areas covered in the essay. Furthermore, after reviewing the articles found at The Open University (n.d), I am confident I can now develop stronger arguments. I will follow the guidelines in the article, like examining competing positions while developing arguments and incorporating well-balanced and well-argued cases. I will also explore all concepts in the argument.

Part 2.

Question 2: Marketing Mix.

Marketing mix refers to the set of controllable marketing tools that a business uses to address customer and marketing needs (Higgins, 2023). The original elements of the marketing mix (4Ps) are product, price, place, and promotion, where the product can be a good or service. Pericles Café and Bakes have implemented a well-rounded marketing mix consisting of these 4Ps besides people, process, and physical evidence.

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Product: Pericles Café and Bakes’ primary product is luxury artisan flapjack. The company’s flapjacks stand out because of their quality and variety. Quality helps establish its reputation among customers, while the wide variety of flavours caters to different tastes and preferences.

Price

Pericles Café and Bakes is using a competition-based pricing strategy. Its prices are lower compared to prices available online. Prices for smaller flapjacks (120g) range between £2.3- £5 dollars while prices for regular flapjacks can range between £10 and £13.25 (Tesco, n.d). Prices for certain flavours can go up to £20.99 (Blackfrairs, n.d). At Pericles Café and Bakes, the price of three giant flapjacks starts at £14, while gift boxes with personalized messages, jute bags, and designer wrapping paper start from £17.

Place

Pericles Café and Bakes's clean, modern, and friendly location within a coastal town attracts both local residents and visiting tourists. The products are also placed online, and where customers from the mainland UK can order them. The website provides detailed information on the products, ingredients, and customer reviews.

Promotion

The first promotion technique used by the company is a loyalty program in which subscribers are given discounts. The company has also implemented promotional pricing by basing delivery charges on the number of boxes purchased and offering free delivery for orders over £50. Lastly, offering limited edition may motivate customers to seek to taste them before they disappear, thus driving sales.

People.

Being a small company, Pericles Café and Bakes have very few people involved in the delivery of the products to consumers. Felicity and Mike play crucial roles as the owners and operators of the café. Their commitment to offering high-quality products is a sign of expertise and dedication. They employed a new staff member to handle website queries and fulfill online orders, and they work together to ensure an overall positive customer experience and quality of service. Process.

Pericles Café and Bakes follow a meticulous process in crafting their flapjacks to ensure consistency and quality. Furthermore, the online ordering process is user-friendly and has clear information on flavors, ingredients, and delivery options. Efficient order fulfillment and timely delivery are crucial in maintaining customer satisfaction.

Physical Evidence.

The physical evidence for Pericles Café and Bakes includes the café premises, which offers a clean, modern, and friendly atmosphere, and the website.

Question 3

a. How the Pericles Café and Bakes’ extended marketing mix (7Ps) is suitable for the purpose of attracting and keeping customers.

Pericles Café and Bakes have an almost perfect marketing mix. The business offers highquality products at very affordable prices. Artisan craftsmanship and attention to quality set the company's flapjack apart from mass-produced alternatives. Furthermore, the products are made with carefully sourced ingredients to give consumers the impression that the company cares about them. The long shelf life of the products reduces wastage, makes distribution easier, and makes online sales convenient. Since the prices are at par with competitors, but the quality is higher, customers are likelier to buy products from Pericles Café and Bakes. The company also has very well-suited promotional techniques. Firstly, the quality of the products aids in promotion through referrals. When customers are satisfied with a product, they are likelier to talk positively about it and recommend it to others, and this helps in building brand equity (Higgins et al., 2023). Loyalty programs and promotional pricing are also very effective. The location also offers an advantage. The clean and relaxed atmosphere can easily attract tourists. b. Strengthening the extended mix. a. Marketing communication mix meaning. b. Suitable communication mix.

One weakness of Pericles Café and Bakes' mix is its lack of marketing communication. Besides renting a stall at the regional farmers market, the company has no other way of reaching out to new clients. Even though the enterprise has a website, there is no mention of whether it is optimized to outrank other websites offering flapjacks. The limited marketing communication has led to limited reach and awareness, which is another weakness.

Felicity and Mike can strengthen the mix by increasing the website’s visibility on search engines. They should also add the business on Google My Business, Google Maps, Yelp, or TripAdvisor so that tourists looking for cafes in the area can locate it. They can partake in local events like food festivals and cultural events to spread awareness.

Question 4: Marketing Communication.

Marketing communication mix refers to specific strategies a business can use to promote its products to customers. The strategies a company uses to promote its products depend on the types of products it produces, the target market, and the industry in which the organization operates (Higgins et al., 2023). Internet and social media are some of the most convenient ways through which businesses can cheaply communicate with their customers. Traditional advertisement techniques like television, radio, billboards, etc., are restrictive because they are expensive and only offer one-way communication. Besides being cheap, social media allows two-way communication, which enables businesses to see what customers think about their products.

Pericles Café and Bakes should enhance its online marketing through SEO and social media marketing. The company should use these strategies to showcase its customer’s feedback and convince customers that its products are among the best. A website cannot promote a product if it is not optimized and its contents are not appealing. There are several websites offering the same products, and it takes a great effort to have a website outrank the ones offering competing products. The company can generate organic traffic to the website through SEO or inorganic traffic through paid promotion. Paid promotion can also make social media channels reach larger audiences. These techniques are convenient because they are cheaper and allow for feedback.

Traditional advertising techniques like billboard, television, radio, and cinema advertising would not suit Pericles Café and Bakes. This is because they are too expensive, and the company cannot generate enough income to recover advertisements expense. Sales promotion targeting tourists intending to visit the town or people looking for flapjack within the UK can also help the business. The business can do this by paying Google to display their products on other websites to people searching for the flapjacks and those who want to visit the town.

Part 3

Question 5.

I participated in session 13, Sharon's bakery case study, whose purpose was to apply the concepts introduced in sessions 12 and 14. I participated by contributing my thoughts on how Sharon could enhance her bakery's social media presence. I recommended that she should create visually appealing content about her products, share them on various social media platforms, and engage the audience through comments and messages. I also asserted that changing the venue of a bakery and introducing new staff can affect consistency and dynamics, which may cause customer attrition or dissatisfaction. I learned that effective and clear communication is very crucial in marketing.