MARKETING MIX

Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix

Marketing decisions generally fall into the following four controllable categories:

Product

Price

Place (distribution)

Promotion

The term "marketing mix" became popularized after Neil H. Borden published his 1964 article, The Concept of the Marketing Mix. Borden began using the term in his teaching in the late 1940's after James Culliton had described the marketing manager as a "mixer of ingredients". The ingredients in Borden's marketing mix included product planning, pricing, branding, distribution channels, personal selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, and fact finding and analysis. E. Jerome McCarthy later grouped these ingredients into the four categories that today are known as the 4 P's of marketing, depicted below: (Jerome , 2009)

The Marketing Mix

These four P's are the parameters that the marketing manager can control, subject to the internal and external constraints of the marketing environment. The goal is to make decisions that center the four P's on the customers in the target market in order to create perceived value and generate a positive response.

Across the country, indoor climbing gyms have become a popular location for adults and children to exercise and socialize. One of the key attributes of a climbing gym is that a person does not need to have previous climbing experience in order to be a customer. This allows climbing gyms to draw customers from nearly every demographic.

Igneous Gold Gym recognizes the need for a climbing gym in the greater Igneous, Oregon area. A climbing gym is a destination business, therefore it is realistic to include the greater metropolitan area when looking at potential customers. According to the U.S. Census report found on www.census.gov the greater Igneous area has a population of 354,669. 

When looking at the potential market for a climbing gym in Igneous, it is important to analyze the number of children in the total population. Climbing gyms make a large portion of their profits from running children's programs and hosting birthday parties. 27% of the town's population is under the age of 18, which compares favorably to other current climbing gym locations.

Igneous Gold Gym will service the recreation and climbing needs for individuals and families in the greater Igneous area.  Customers will be broken into three focused segments consisting of children, college students, and adults 18-44.  It is important to note that experienced outdoor climbers will not be the focus of marketing for Igneous Gold Gym.  This is for two primary reasons.  First, as the only indoor climbing gym in the area, any outdoor climbers wanting to climb inside will naturally gravitate to Igneous Gold Gym. The second reason is that the total population of outdoor climbers is quite small compared to the total population of the area.

Children between the ages of five and 18 represent the greatest potential for revenue. The Igneous area has approximately 70,000 children in this age range. This compares favorably to the nearby metropolitan areas which are currently able to maintain a successful rock climbing gym. The metro area has a total of 52,000 children between the ages of five and 18.

College students are another focus group for Igneous Gold ...