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1.2.2 Inputs

Without inputs there cannot be outputs and it is the input side of the process which generates the greatest amount of management activity in terms of planning and executing a marketing program. The content of the marketing program is the next input. This content is usually structured around four tools which make up a firm's marketing mix. The four tools are widely known as the four Ps, namely,

Some texts also recognise a fifth P , people, but as yet this is not widely accepted as being part of the marketing mix. As we will be examining the marketing mix in depth later in this unit, turn for now to the following reading that provides a broad overview of each of the Ps and associated activities making up the marketing process.

Reading 1.2

Quester, P. G., McGuiggan, R. L., Perreault, W. D. and McCarthy, E. J. 2004, Marketing: Creating and Delivering Value , 4 th edn, McGraw-Hill, Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia, pp. 40-47.

The last section of the inputs is the means by which we try to satisfy customers' needs and wants ¾ the product, the service, or the idea we are marketing.

Now for the confusing part. The product, service, and idea are all treated as being implicit in the first of the four Ps, that is, in product . Therefore it is important to remember that when product is used in relation to the four (or five) Ps, that product does not mean just tangible products; the term is being used as shorthand for product, service, and/or idea.

To reduce confusion within this unit we will use the words 'tangible products' to differentiate goods from services and ideas. This distinction will become important when we discuss aspects of services marketing.

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