How To Use The 7 Ps of Marketing Effectively
What Are The 7 Ps of Marketing?
While many blogs devote too much time to the 4 p’s and 4 c’s marketing mix, the reality is these concepts were initially created in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy , and I believe that spending time discussing what was relevant in the 60’s doesn’t help the modern marketer. Primarily since the marketing mix has evolved multiple times since then.
The current tactics of the marketing mix are as follows.
1. Product
A product can pretty much be anything. It can be manufactured goods; it can be a service, it can be software there is no real limit to what a product can be.
However, it has to answer a fundamental question. How does this product fulfil the needs of my customers? If you can’t answer this question, then you don’t have a good product.
While years ago it made sense to spend entire marketing budgets on market research to see if you could turn an idea into a product, this isn’t necessary with most businesses. In fact basic market research anyone can do for free.
The tactic is called keyword research. Keyword research allows you to find out the size of a market, geographic location, buying habits and more, and the best part is, it’s free.
Understanding keyword research means no one should ever go to market without knowing what his or her customer's needs are and how to answer them. Your product should always be crafted around what your customers want, not what you think is a good idea.
Finally, be sure to pay attention to shifting trends. People change their minds a lot. What they need/want today may not satisfy their needs tomorrow. Be sure to use customer service skills effectively to listen to what your customers are telling you.
Feedback will always carry you forward. Another great tactic is to use social listening to find out what is being said not only about you but about your competitors as well. Social listening is a great way to stay ahead of changing markets, which will help you adjust your product to meet market demands.
2. Price
The price equates to how much is a customer going to pay to use your product or service. This part of the marketing mix is probably where most businesses find problems because a business isn’t the one that determines a fair price, the market is.
Remember a product is only worth what a customer is willing to pay. Due to this fact it is best to look at this tactic like this Price = Value. What value are you bringing to the customer? Now remember this when creating a pricing strategy in a effort to create a value brand.
No matter what the price is if a customer can’t see the value at that price point, they will never pay.
A price that is to low usually means that the customer will perceive the product as cheap, or that it isn’t an excellent service. On the other end of the spectrum is the item is too high, it becomes difficult for the customer to see the value.
Finally, remember that this part of the marketing mix is the one that directly brings profit into the business. So make sure to pay attention to how much it costs to create your product, or how much it costs you to deliver your service.
Your cost of product creation should be your starting point when discussing pricing. Once you have done, this revisits the steps in the product section about researching your market.
Find out what your competitors are pricing. I don’t recommend pricing precisely like your competitors. Competitor research is about determining if your value is more or less than what exists in the market.
3. Place
Think about every product or service you have ever purchased. Now think about how you bought them. Was it a catalogue? Was it in store? Phone order? Online?
Every product or service gets delivered differently, and you have to determine which way you are going to offer your product or service to your customers. In most cases, your business model and product will determine the best way to distribute your product or service.
As with every other tactic in the marketing mix, your place (location) should not be focused on what works best for you, but more focused on the easiest way for your customer to shop and buy your product or service.
Next, make sure your place isn’t set up just because it’s what everyone else does. Even if everyone else is selling through a popular social media site, like Facebook, that doesn’t mean that it is where your potential customers are, or that this is how they want to buy.
One final point to highlight is that depending on your business, and your market, you may have the ability to sell through multiple channels/locations. While this will present a few challenges, it can also provide you with some competitive advantages as well.
4. Promotion
So by now, we have looked at what we are selling, how much we are selling it for, a where we are going to sell the product. Now the question is how do you let people know all of those things? How are you going to make the world aware that you are a competitive business with a competing product to sell at a competitive price?
Promotion can be difficult if you make it, or it can be the most fun part of the entire process.
Promotion, for the most part, breaks down into two elements
1. What do you want people to know about your product or service?
2. Which channels are you going to use to tell people what you want them to know about your product or service
What do you want people to know about your product or service?
So you’ve set up a business, and you have this product, but what makes it so unique? More appropriately, why should someone give you money for it? Why shouldn’t they give their money to a competitor? Understanding the answers to these questions will help you to build a solid promotional strategy.
Always remember that the customer's primary concern is “what’s in it for me?” If you can’t communicate how the customer will benefit from using your product or service, then everything else is a waste of time.
Which channels are you going to use to tell people what you want them to know about your product or service?
There are many channels to use to help let people know about your product or service, but in today's marketplace, there is one that rises above all others. Your Website. Too many times business owners focus more on their social media platforms then they do on their websites, and then they are surprised when they don’t get the results they are after .
Out of all of the promotional channels available to you, your website is the one that you have the most control over, and due to this fact, it should be treated with the most respect. A site works in every market.
Any other promotional approaches will be determined by where your customers are and how they like to receive information. For example, if you are in landscaping, then leaflet drops in a new neighbourhood can be a very effective strategy.
However, if you are a builder, then leaflet drops in a new housing development doesn’t make much sense.
Once again the market dictates the best type of promotion to use, make sure to research where your customers are what channels they are using, and what approach your competition is using to create the most reliable promotional strategy.
5. People
As they say, people buy from people right. Well not exactly. If you are doing face to face sales, then yes this applies, but what if you are an online retailer or a software company?
Well, the reality is all businesses have people, even if you are a one-person company. How you interact with your target market matters. As well how your staff communicates matters.
Customer service isn’t a department in a company it’s an organisational mentality.
With so many businesses automating many of the ‘people’ tasks it is more important than ever to ensure that your customers are informed about your product and your company. Your job and the job of many people associated with the company (even if you outsource) is to help you build credibility and trust in the eyes of your potential customers.
You should spend as much time as possible focusing on your after sales care, trying to build longterm relationships no matter what the price point of the product with your target audience. One happy customer can easily be worth five more sales if you take the time to care.
I would urge any modern marketer or business owner to start thinking of their website as an employee as well. One of your most trusted people. It is the first and sometimes the last interaction a customer has with the business. Shouldn’t you take the time to make sure all of your people are trained to deliver the best service possible?
6. Process
Let’s keep this one nice a simple. How do you do what you do? What steps go into delivering your product or service to your customers? Asking these questions is only a start. Your process will clearly define not only how your business will run, but also how it will grow.
How efficient your organisation runs is essential to getting new customers and keeping the current one. Every company will have multiple processes that help lead to customer satisfaction.
While determining your business processes ask your self these questions. How will I source my product? Do I need more People? What will my people do each day? What does the sales process look like for my customers? How do I get feedback from my customers? How do I handle complaints? Etc.
While the process section of this mix will take the longest, it might also be the one section that makes sure you have a sustainable business years down the road.
Be sure to continually review every business process to ensure that you are operating at maximum efficiency. It might even be worth having other professionals discuss your process for you to keep you more objective if you do need to make changes.
7. Physical Evidence / Proof
8. Planning
The final P in the marketing mix is planning because, without it, everything else fails. If you go back through each area of the marketing mix you will realise that there is a research process that has to happen first. This is before all marketing tactics.
First, you need to plan out how each tactic will work to help you create a sustainable business. Think about it, can you have a product without planning?
Can you promote your business without having a marketing plan? Each section should be thought about in depth and carefully crafted to get the best results, so don’t rush.
Then before completing marketing mix you will need to take all of those individual processes and create an overall business strategy. This strategy will become your guideline of how your business will run. If you’re confused, then think of this as your business plan, because it pretty much is.
So there you have it a complete breakdown of the marketing mix and how to use each section effectively to get the best results for your business.
It is essential to understand that the seven P's of marketing is a formula with no one element being more important than the other.
The more time you invest in planning out each phase, the better the results, you will achieve, so again do not rush as your entire business depends on how you approach each part of the marketing mix.