Weaknesses in the marketing mix

Customers do not judge product, price, place and promotion one at a time — they see the whole mix as a single offer. Getting one element wrong weakens the whole mix, because customers weigh all four together when they decide whether to buy.

Why one weak element drags the rest down

• A poor product is still seen as poor, however well it is promoted. Customers judge the product itself when they use it, so a big advertising campaign only tells more people about something that will disappoint them.
• The wrong price can stop a good, well-promoted product from succeeding, because customers may see it as too expensive for what it is, or too cheap to trust.
• The wrong place can do the same. If the product is sold where your target customers do not shop, or in an outlet that does not fit its image, they may never come across it — or may think differently about it once they do.
• Weak promotion leaves a strong product unnoticed, so the other three decisions never get the chance to work.

A worked example

A small business launches a range of school backpacks aimed at Year 7 to Year 11 students. The bags are tough, waterproof and well designed, and the short videos on social media are lively and skilfully made. But the price is set at £95 and the bags are sold only in an outdoor equipment shop on a retail park outside town. Few students browse that shop, and most families think £95 is far too much for a school bag, so sales stay low. The good design and the clever promotion cannot rescue the mix: price and place pull against product and promotion, and customers end up seeing the whole offer as poor value.

A weakness in any one element therefore damages how customers see the product and reduces sales. The elements have to support each other so that the mix works as a whole.