Marketing Mix PaperWhat are the elements of the marketing mix? There are four elements: product, place, price and promotion. Organizations use these four elements of the marketing mix to make a profit on the product or service they offer. Below we will discuss the four Ps of marketing and describe how each of the four elements of the marketing mix impacts the development of a specific organization's marketing strategy and tactics. Four Elements of the Marketing Mix To start, the first P in the marketing mix stands for product. Products are the things that organizations sell to people (ABC of Small Business, 1999-2003). This area is about creating the right product or service for the target population. The product or service should meet the needs of the target population. For this reason it is very important to know the wants and needs of the target population. The second p in the marketing mix indicates location. “Place concerns all the decisions involved in bringing the “right” product to the target market” (Perreault & McCarthy, 2004, Ch 2, Pg 39). This is how an organization delivers the product to the customer. There are many different ways to offer a product or service to the customer, so it is important for the organization to know whether the customer wants to see or touch it before purchasing it. The product or service reaches the target population through distribution channels, which are a series of companies or individuals that participate in the flow of products or services from producer to consumer. The third p in the marketing mix stands for promotion. Promotion is about communicating the right product to the target population or others in the distribution channel. It includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, personal selling, branding and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand or company (Wikipedia-Marketing, 2008). Promotion can be focused on acquiring new customers or sometimes on retaining current customers. The last p indicates the price. Marketing managers must also decide the right price for their product or service. “Price setting must consider the type of competition in the target market and the cost of the entire marketing mix” (Perreault & McCarthy, 2004, Ch 2, Pg 40). The price does not have to be monetary; it can also be what is exchanged for a product or service.