Marketing strategy and the law Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies revision

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In plain words

Product, price, place and promotion are called the marketing mix, or the four Ps. A marketing strategy is a plan for combining all four to reach a particular group of customers.

The four must fit together. A luxury watch sold cheaply from a market stall would convince nobody.

5 things to know

  1. A marketing strategy is a plan to achieve a marketing objective, using a suitable marketing mix for a chosen target market.
  2. The elements must be consistent with each other and with the product's image: quality, price, where it is sold and how it is promoted.
  3. The most important element varies: price for everyday goods bought on cost, product and brand for luxuries, place for convenience goods.
  4. Laws protect consumers: goods must be safe, fit for their purpose and as described, and promotion must not mislead.
  5. For a business the laws mean spending on testing and quality, and care over what adverts claim. Breaking them brings fines, refunds and bad publicity.

Tips and tricks

  • When recommending a strategy, cover all four Ps and tie each to the target market in the question.
  • Legal controls are a constraint and a benefit. Customers trust businesses more when they know they are protected.
5 questions, about 2 minutes.

It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.

Marketing strategy and the law: 5 questions and answers

These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.

  1. The marketing mix consists of
    • profit, people, planning and production
    • product, price, place and promotion (the answer)
    • primary, secondary, tertiary and public
    • planning, organising, commanding and controlling

    These are the four Ps.

  2. A company sells expensive perfume. Which marketing mix is most suitable?
    • low price, sold in discount stores, advertised with leaflets
    • high price, sold in exclusive shops, advertised in glossy magazines (the answer)
    • high price, sold from market stalls, no advertising
    • low price, sold online only, heavily discounted

    Each element supports the luxury image.

  3. Which practice would be illegal under consumer protection law?
    • cutting a price for a week
    • advertising on social media
    • claiming that a product does something it cannot do (the answer)
    • selling a product in two sizes

    Promotion must not mislead.

  4. Why do legal controls on product safety raise a business's costs?
    • It must lower its prices.
    • It must test products and maintain quality standards. (the answer)
    • It must stop advertising.
    • It must employ fewer workers.

    Checking and testing cost money.

  5. What is a target market?
    • every consumer in the country
    • the group of customers a product is aimed at (the answer)
    • a competitor's customers only
    • the place where a product is made

    The marketing mix is designed around them.

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