Identify the different elements of the promotional mix that meadowhall itself uses. The marketing mix is a business tool used to carry out objectives it will be considered especially when trying to achieve a firms marketing objectives. The marketing mix consists of four common factors which are: – Product Price  Place  Promotion The amount of importance that each individual element holds within the business will depend in several factors for example the type of market and industry that the business is in and the actions of competitors.

Meadowhall has developed a year round marketing campaign to continually promote the centre; this is one element that has contributed to meadowhalls success as it is constantly keeping the centre in the public eye. The product or service that the centre actually offers is that the centre is making shopping more convenient to customers by situating all of the well known shops together under one roof. Meadowhall does do enough advertising so that tenants do not have to do their own advertising.

The centre has eight anchor stores, which are stores that bring in custom in their own right so customers would come to meadowhall just because they know that these anchor shops are situated here, this will contribute to the appeal of the centre and promote it. The centre have launched a new campaign to promote the products and services available to customers called ‘always something new’ this is designed to inform the market of the constantly evolving variety of shops, services, catering and entertainment facilities which are available.

This is because the centres customers needs and requirements are continuously changing. Meadowhall offer a wide range of products at varying prices to cater for the large market. The place element of the promotional mix will have been extremely important for meadowhall when choosing a suitable site to build the centre on as this would have affected the ease of access of the site to potential customers and whether or not there were suitable transport links which would in turn affect the amount of repeat visits that people would make.

The location/place of the shops within the store will be especially important to meadowhall as the design of the centre is based around the right location of each tenant to coincide with the way they have segmented the market. This will increase the convenience of the shopping experience to the customer as similar shops are grouped together which makes it easier to find your way around. Meadowhall has built up a well-established loyal customer following.

As well as advertising to the existing customer base meadowhall are also trying to target the sections of the market that they haven’t yet been able to attract, this is one of the aims of the ‘always something new’ campaign. The centre promotes themselves in many ways using both above the line and below the line forms of advertising. They advertise on vehicles and sponsor local events as well as running extensive TV and radio advertising all designed to get the centre recognition and more custom.

Strategically placed sign posts also contribute to the promotion of meadowhall, signs can be seen from the M1 advertising the centres location this could help to draw in first time visitors. This combined with a good first impression could create more repeat visits Meadowhall still consider word of mouth to be the best form of promotion, it is also the cheapest. This, therefore, makes first impressions very important, as this is what will be relayed to people.

Meadowhall have to create the type of environment that will encourage repeat visit. Meadowhall is known for its cleanliness and the recent change in smoking policy of the centre is there to improve this. The price element is not as relevant to meadowhall as the other three elements. This is because the tenants will set their own prices. The mall is split up into six sections each associated with a different price band for example park lane has been modelled towards the higher classes who tend to spend more money.

There are several things that differentiate meadowhall from other similar centres and these all contribute to the value added of visiting the store, it also enables them to appeal to certain segments that other competitors may not be able to as easily. For example meadowhall recycles a lot of the waste from its tenants therefore they are able to use this as a means of promoting themselves to the area of the market that this may appeal to.

Meadowhall have won numerous awards, which will give another angle of advertising and again differentiate themselves from competitors and contribute to building a good reputation it creates a unique selling point for the centre. Free parking will be another way of attracting custom as it increases the convenience of this shopping experience and does not imposes a time restriction on the amount of shopping that customers are able to do.