Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix

David Shirazyan

Marketing MKT 421

University of Phoenix

Doug Bottomley

January 10, 2007

Marketing Mix

Marketing is a vital part of any business and is an integral component of selling any product. Whether the business is a small mom and pop operation or a world leader, marketing is a part of the business. Because there are many ways to fulfill the needs of the customer, a straight-forward approach is to consider the four "Ps" of the marketing mix. This paper will examine the marketing mix and give examples of the marketing mix as it pertains to Southwest Airlines.

The four elements of the marketing mix are product, place, promotion and price. Product is the good or service sold to satisfy a customer's needs. Place involves all of the decisions required to make the product or service available in the target market, or customers, place. Promotion is the process of informing the target market of the product. Finally, the fourth element of the marketing mix is price. Price setting includes components such as analysis of price setting by the competition as well as analysis regarding acceptance or rejection of prices by the identified market (McCarthy and Perreault, 2002).

The United States airline industry is very competitive. Following the attacks on September 11th, there have been several airlines that have gone out of business or have filed bankruptcy. Southwest Airlines has been able to stay in business and out of bankruptcy, "southwest Airlines is the only major airline to be profitable for the past 20 years" (McCarthy and Perreault, 2004). This level of success has been achieved in part because of their tremendous marketing efforts. Southwest Airlines is an airline with a creative marketing department.

The airline industry in the United States has seen many changes in the past years. In the early days of air travel, only the wealthy could afford to fly. Flying to a destination was a luxury and not a part of everyday life. Today there is a wide variety of airlines and appeals to a wide variety of consumers. Southwest Airlines distinguishes its products and services from the competition through its marketing campaigns. The Dallas-based airline carved its niche in short-haul flights with low prices, reliable service, and a healthy sense of humor (Armstrong, G & Kotler, P., 2005). This humor is a major theme in the marketing campaign. Southwest distinguishes itself as a "fun" airline, known for humorous in-flight commentary from pilots and cabin crew members (Armstrong, G & Kotler, P., 2005).

Southwest has brought the place aspect of the marketing mix to all consumers. The place aspect of the marketing mix is where and when to deliver the product. Southwest Airlines uses various avenues for this. One area is providing an 800 number for the consumer to check pricing and availability. Another avenue used is the internet. Southwest Airlines has won several awards for their internet site. The internet site allows the consumer to visit Southwest from anywhere there is an internet connection. So, if you are at the library, office, internet caf&eacute, or on a portable device such as a Blackberry, Southwest is there.

Southwest has become known as a low cost airline. Through research, Southwest found there is a need for a low cost, no frills airline. Price was important to the consumer when choosing an airline. A poll taken by Airliners.net surveyed, 31% ranked ticket cost as the most important factor when choosing an airline (Airliners, 2006).

For the price element of the marketing mix to work, Southwest streamlined its operations. By lowering their costs, Southwest can offer lower fares than their competition. For example, Southwest uses one type of aircraft, Boeing 737s; all equipped with the same flight instruments. By doing so, Southwest saves time and money in training their employees on only one type of equipment, also "management can substitute aircraft, reschedule flight crews, or transfer mechanics quickly, the tactic also saves money through lower spare-parts inventories and better deals when acquiring new planes" (Kotler & Keller, 2006).

The final P of the marketing mix is promotion. Southwest promotes its services is a variety of methods. Television commercials air during highly viewed hours such as sporting events or popular television shows. These commercials usually have a humorous tone as well as information on the latest special. Southwest latest marketing