1. BBI2O - Marketing Unit: Part I
1. What is Marketing?
Marketing can be defined as “the sum of all the activities involved in the planning, pricing, promoting,
distributing and selling of goods and services to satisfy consumers’ needs and wants.” (The World of
Marketing: A Canadian Perspective, 2003; p. 3)
2. What is the Purpose of Marketing?
For any business or event, the purpose of marketing is to:
i) generate brand-awareness
ii) increase sales and profits
For a non-profit organization (i.e. charities), the purpose would be to:
i) generate greater awareness of its cause (e.g. Canadian Red Cross and blood donations)
ii) increase donations
3. The Marketing Mix
Think of the last time you made a recipe. Did you follow the recipe line by line? Did you add all of the
listed ingredients and in their indicated quantities? Perhaps you forgot an ingredient or two! How did
the dish taste? A missed ingredient here or there might lead to a final dish that still tastes good, but
could have tasted better. Or, the dish may be a huge disappointment.
In business, marketers need to know the best recipe of marketing elements to differentiate their
product/service from their competitors.
“The success of any marketing strategy depends on whether or not the entrepreneur has planned the
right combination of marketing elements. These elements are referred to as the Marketing Mix, or
often the Four Ps of Marketing. The elements are: Product (or Service), Place, Price and Promotion.
To establish a successful marketing mix, an entrepreneur has to ask the right questions.”
(Entrepreneurship, Creating a Venture, p 181)

2. 4. The Four Ps - Questions to ask
Element of Marketing Mix Questions that are asked
Product (or service)  Is the product or service something customers will want to buy?
 Will it be of benefit to them?
 Will it meet their needs?
Place  How will the product or service get to the customer?
 What channels of distribution are needed?
 When should the product or service be in stock or ready?
 Where will the product or service be made available?
Price  How much are customers willing and able to pay?
 What is the best price to charge to earn a maximum profit?
 What pricing strategy will be used (i.e. skimming, penetration,
competitive)?
Promotion  How will customers be made aware that the product or service is
available?
 Which of the following promotional activities will be best for this
venture: advertising, personal selling, publicity, sales promotion or e-
marketing?
5. A Marketing Mix Activity
1. a. Complete a marketing mix for both the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry (use the most
recently released versions).
b. For each “P”, which product is superior? Explain.
2. Complete a marketing mix for any two other competing products of your choice. Then, for
each “P”, which product is superior? Explain.
6. Which of the 4Ps is Most Important?
In general, no one P is most important. As stated earlier, the successful marketing of a product relies
on “the right combination of marketing elements”. For example, Michelle has a revolutionary product but
not enough money for proper promotion. Hence, consumers won’t know about it. Ahmed’s product is
so amazing but he overpriced it, leading to very poor sales. Tameka’s cool product is priced and
promoted effectively, but she just can’t find distributors to carry her product to market (thus, consumers
can’t buy it).
(As an aside: Think about why entrepreneurs go on the CBC show Dragons’ Den. Most need money in
order to better promote their product or get access to improve production and distribution sources.)

3. Here are various examples of products that have failed outright or haven’t met corporate expectations.
Company / Product The 4P that failed Reason
Research in Motion – Product and Price  delay in releasing tablet due
Blackberry Playbook to software issues; business
users lacked certain important
functions (e.g. problems
retrieving emails)
 poor reviews and delayed
release led to poor comparisons
to its most direct competitor,
Apple’s iPad
eventually, RIM reduced the
price of its tablets by $300, with
its 16GB version available for
only $200
McDonald’s pizza (mid-1990s) Product and Place  customers believed they could
get better pizza elsewhere (i.e. at
their local pizza joint)
 required franchise owners to
make expensive upgrades to
their locations (i.e. overs, larger
drive-thru windows)
 took longer to cook and
didn’t fit into the idea of “fast-
food”
Finally, ever heard of “New Coke”? What about “Coca-Cola Classic”? Here’s the background story of
these two drinks.
1. Animated History of Coca-Cola
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdrr3ZxZUOc&feature=player_embedded
2. The 1985 Launch of New Coke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6t7deaplgY&feature=player_embedded
How did Coke’s 4Ps evolve over time?
 product: contoured bottle to provide unique look (to differentiate from competition)
 promotion: expanded market places outside of North America
 place: bottled in various countries to sell to local
7. The Two Cs: Consumer and Competition
In addition to the Four Ps, there are two other elements to consider: The Two Cs: Competition and
Consumer.
In developing a marketing mix, an entrepreneur is able to identify its Consumer (i.e. what they want
in their product/service) and who their Competition is (i.e. how they are differentiated; what their
strengths and weaknesses are).