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In the event the business or firm produces a product or service, it has to take a bold step of availing the product to the customers. Considering current stiff competition in the market and the fact that the firm is determined to make the sales, it is necessary for the firm to devise marketing strategies that will help to differentiate its products and service which ultimately create competitive advantage as well as adding a volume of the sales. Netflix has several rivals such as HBO, Hulu, Showtime, YouTube, Amazon and VUDU and so many others and in order to for Netflix to strive and succeed in the market proactive marketing strategies. With a view of this, in this milestone focus is given to the Netflix marketing mix. The marketing mix is a marketing strategy which comprises of the 4ps where first p- prices, second p-place, third p-product and fourth p-promotion.

Product

Product refers to something that is produced to meet the desires of the product. Customers have different wants and they have various desires that they want to be satisfied. Netflix has clearly established itself and providing a different selling proposition. It began by providing a DVD rental business in 1997 (Osur, 2016). It is the leading online streaming media and entertainment business in the world. It has the website where customers get to register, and they pay so that they can access TV shows, movies and documentaries. One unique thing about the service offered by Netflix is that when the customers get to stream online, there are commercial adverts that get to interrupt them. From the year1999 to 2007, Netflix was the period of the great success for the Netflix where it delivered DVDs to the homes of the customers which provided the Netflix with a competitive advantage against its competitors (Osur, 2016).

Another feature considering the products of Netflix, there are three typed of the products that are offered by Netflix. First, using internet, customers and clients of Netflix enjoyed Online streaming service where they enjoyed videos and other online content products. This is a non-tangible product because the customer does not come into contact with it. The second nature of the products is the DVD which is delivered to the customers where can watch movies without going to the theatre (Chao, Hegarty & Fray, 2016). The last type of product is a DVD which is online inclusive. The diversified nature of the product attracts a large pool of the customers which they serve.

Another important feature about the Netflix product is that customers have three choices to make about subscription they want which can be a basic plan, standard or premium. This offers a variety of opportunity about the type of subscription they want to choose which is important because customers are excited about when they have a variety of options.

Price

Price is the payment that is charged to the customers or service. Netflix uses a value-based pricing strategy. This means that Netflix price to the products based on the production cost, but they use the value of the product to determine the price of the product. According to Netflix, it has various features that differentiate its products which they use to price the product. According to Netflix, it has different price entry points in different region and countries (Rodriguez, 2017). The type of pricing strategy that is used serves best to the Netflix against its competitors because the price is charged according to the subscription while its competitors charge price per show or movie.

According to Netflix, different prices was charged in different countries and across three different plans as shown in the table below per month.

Place

This refers to where the product or service can be accessed by the clients. For the Netflix, mailed DVD was delivered to the customers directly used the following channel, producer to Netflix and then to the consumer. For the online streaming, the following platforms were used by Netflix where the customer could access its services and product-Play stations, Xbox, Nintendo and Wii. Netflix has leveraged on the use of technology now through its website, clients can access its services. Web-based applications is another platform where the services of Netflix have availed its products and services. Lastly, Netflix makes it services available through mobile applications, computers and laptops when they are internet, enabled (Osur, 2016). Wide range of the applications and avenues where the products and services of the Netflix can be accessed by the clients, this creates a competitive advantage because they are readily reachable at a reduced cost of the accessibility.

Promotion

This the marketing strategy where the firm gets to communicate and advertise its products and services to the customers. Promotional strategies and tools used by the firm may create a competitive advantage to the firm through increasing the sales volume enhance generating higher profit margins. For Netflix, it uses almost all the social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, TVs and others to create awareness of its products and makings it's content available (Tryon, 2015). Second, in the first month of the registration, clients enjoy free subscription and only pays in the second months which is also a method of creating awareness of its products and increasing the customers’ retention rate who have to subscribe to continue enjoying the service.

Third, Netflix makes use of commercial billboard in the offline mode to market and advertise its products and contents it offers. Promotion is a strong tool that Netflix uses to create awareness its product and through use of this strategy, customers who are persuaded about the product and since they have a good taste of the product and service, they get to refer to other people about the product or service.

In summary, 4ps are marketing strategies that Netflix uses to increase its sales, hence generating higher profits. Effective use of the 4ps which is promotion, place, price and product are significant for the growth, expansion and development of the firm. It is therefore important for a firm to leverage the use of the 4ps to create a competitive advantage over its competitors.

References

Chao, C. N., Hegarty, N., & Fray, I. (2016). Impact of Movie Streaming over Traditional DVD Movie Rental—An Empirical Study. Journal of Industrial and Intelligent Information Vol, 4 (2).

Osur, L. (2016). Netflix and the Development of the Internet Television Network.