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Once you have decided on your overall competitive marketing strategy, you can then focus on planning the details of your marketing mix. A marketing mix is a set of controlled variables that formulate the strategic position of a product or service in the marketplace.

The primary goal of marketing is to optimise the marketing mix, offering the best possible combination of the four P's to maximise the effectiveness of marketing efforts. The variables known as the four P's of the marketing mix are: 1) Product, 2) Price, 3) Place and 4) Promotion. 

Product

Product is the mix of all the features, advantages, and benefits that you offer to your target market. It may include certain characteristics such as quality, packaging, after sales support, customer services etc. In order to ensure that your customers are gaining the full benefits of your product, you can consider the following questions.

• What is the core benefit your product offers? For instance, customers who purchase mobile phones buy more than just a phone; they purchase the ability to keep in touch.
• What does the actual product include? This includes branding, additional features and benefits that provide differentiation and ensures that customers will purchase your product over the competitors.
• What non tangible benefits can you offer? Factors to consider at this point may include after sales service, warranties, delivery etc. 

Price

Price relates to the pricing strategy of your products or services. It may include discounts, trade in allowances and credit terms to adjust for the competitive situation in order to bring the price into line with the buyer's perception of the value of the product.  Businesses may use different pricing strategies based on different situations. These are listed following:

• Premium Pricing - is used where a business may feel that there is a substantial competitive advantage for its products. Such high prices may be charged for luxurious products such as rare automobiles, first class airline services etc.   
• Penetration pricing - may be used where a business would set a price lower than the general market price in order to increase sales and market share. Once this is achieved, the prices would be increased. Penetration pricing would normally be most suitable for products with high price sensitivity whereby a small change in price would result in a large change in demand. 
• Skimming Pricing - involves setting a high initial price relative to the prices of competing products.  Price Skimming works best for prestigious products since buyers tend to be more prestige conscious rather than price conscious. Due to the initial high prices, the skimming strategy may also enable the organisation to recover its product development costs at an early stage. Once the product has been in the market for a short period, most businesses tend to lower prices over time making the product available to a wider market. 
• Competition Pricing - involves setting prices in comparison with your competitors. This pricing strategy is one of the most common strategies used by small retail businesses as an attempt to avoid price wars and still maintain a stable level of profit.

Place

Place refers to where the sales are to be made and how the products will be distributed. It includes: channels of distribution, the extent of market coverage, managing inventories, transportation and logistics. Put simply, Place involves all activities that deliver the product to your target customers.

Organisations that facilitate the movement of products from the manufacturer to the final user of the product are known as intermediaries. The common types of intermediaries include:

• Retailers: Those companies that sell mainly to consumers and determine the final selling price of the product.
• Wholesalers: Those companies that purchase merchandise in bulk from producers and resell mainly to businesses, the government and other retailers.
• Agents and brokers: Those firms do not take the title or ownership of goods and services but facilitate the sale of products from the manufacturer to the end user and take a commission upon the sale of goods.

With the rapid advancement of internet technology and increasing broadband uptake there is currently a move towards selling goods online particularly with the increased use of e-commerce technology. As the internet facilitates a geographically dispersed market, firms are now able to reach a wider audience with a low setup cost.

Promotion

Promotion refers to the promotional activities that communicate the merits of your product to your target market in an attempt to persuade them to purchase it. It may include various methods of promotions such as direct marketing, advertising, personal selling, sales promotions etc.