Did you ever wonder how some businesses are able to reach huge success with their marketing campaigns? It’s a question that many entrepreneurs have found themselves asking.
The answer lies in the seven Ps of marketing: product, price, placement, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. If you want your business to succeed on a global level, then learn more about these seven Ps and implement them into your marketing strategy. They will help you create a better customer experience and generate more revenue in the process.
Product
The first addition to the marketing mix is Product, this exists in both the 4ps of marketing and the 7ps marketing model, throughout multiple marketing theories, physical products have always had a noteworthy space when it comes to a successful marketing strategy.
The product you create will determine the success of your business. It must be a quality that is worth buying, and it needs to have a marketable value. A product, or offering, is a tangible thing that your business sells to consumers. It could be an online product or physical one. For example, if you owned a dance studio and your product was dance classes, then the “product” would be the dance classes that you teach. However, some products are more physical such as Clothing, shoes & toys.
Often the product is the first thing you think of when creating your new business, you’ll need to evaluate your competitor products against your actual product and attempt to understand the overall value of what you have created, determining the product quality and what it possess for your potential customers.
Price
The price tag on your product or service should be market-friendly, and it should not overwhelm consumers with its sticker shock. The price you set for your product or service will be contingent on your target market. For example, if you sell high-end luxury items, then your price should reflect that. If you want to sell a cheap product and meet a certain profit margin, then that’s something else entirely. The price of your product quickly determines who your main target audience will be. However, there are some few products that have a price that is ‘universal’ and affordable by all.
Pricing strategies can become quite tricky to master, as you want to find the perfect balance in your competitive marketplace, as you’ll want to offer your customers the best possible value for money, without under-pricing your product.
That’s why competitive analysis is most important during the price stage of your marketing plan, and should remain an annual business plan in the future going forward with your business to understand whether or not your product is being viewed as an ‘appealing price’ and whether or not it is a viable option.
Placement
All marketing efforts need to be focused at the right audience. Placement can help you reach your target audience by targeting their location or demographic. Market research will help your company determine where and how to sell your products, whether in brand-specific stores, on your company’s website, through third parties or partners like sales forces. It is also important for you to consider the type of direct interaction with customers that you want – if customer service is handled by channel partners.
When it comes to placement you do not want to focus all of your energy on an over crowded marketplace, meaning if other businesses are operating all in one small area, why not search for opportunities elsewhere?
The marketing mix and digital marketing mix is all about making marketing decisions that best suit your business activities, and how your business management can help sustain your business against the rise of larger more dominative competitive companies. Your physical environment has to be beneficial to your digital promotion and print promotion, this simply means make sure your advertising where your customers are looking.
Promotion
Promotion is the way you get the word out about your business and its products. You do this by advertising, marketing, selling and any other means that gets people to learn about what you have to offer.
In order to maximize your promotion efforts, strategize a plan of action for every step in the process. This ensures that you’re constantly moving forward with your goal of reaching as many of the right people as possible.
Promotion strategy can include advertising approaches such as social media, online content, app advertising, traditional media and more. In the 21st century, you’re almost expected to offer a multi-channel marketing approach which means that you’re branding across communication channels in order to reach a wide audience table.
Your promotional activity is also dependent on your budget, as some promotional channels are free such as social media, however other methods of promotional efforts may come with a price. Some of the latest popular advertising techniques involves influential marketing.
Influential marketing is when a popular ‘influencer’ will use direct marketing and indirect marketing tactics to discuss your brand to their large online following.
People
The term ‘people, in the extended marketing mix‘ refers to all of those people involved with selling products or services and managing teams. It also includes designing a product and promoting it as well as recruiting and training staff.
The people behind the product often have a large impact on how customers will perceive the brand and understand the company. This is why in the 21st Century we see such an emphasis on customer service, politeness, professionalism and knowledgeable attitudes in the work place, this in itself creates a brand image that employees strive towards and follow.
The people involved in your company with provide consistent branding, giving target customers the opportunity to get to know your brand, through them. The role of customer service is extremely important here, as any customer interaction will determine the value the customer believes your product has. If the customer has excellent customer service, there is more chances of the customer becoming a ‘brand advocate’ and having ‘customer satisfaction‘.
Process
The marketing mix process suggests that overall the experience with your business should be easy.
One of the fundamental strategies for customer service is to provide a process that is seamless and personalised so as to make your customers happiness. If you have products which are of good quality, then chances are you won’t hear any complaints. However, you will likely receive complaints if your process is difficult, long or confusing, there’s so many different pieces of process to consider in marketing strategy that it can lead to complaints! Customers typically feel frustrated or dissatisfied when late shipping, additional cost/s incurred from not knowing what they’re paying for upfront (e.g., unexpected demand) and poor communication or lack of support is introduced into their experience with your company.
To avoid process issues, the best practice is to be completely transparent in your operations, laying out a roadmap for your customers to follow. ‘Click Here to Order’ ‘Verify Your Email Address Here’ all directional language designed to navigate the customers in the right direction, holding their hand along the customer journey.
The entire customer journey refers to how your customers discover your company and continues throughout the entire scenario until we reach the customer-end delivery, after purchase. The ideal process and customer journey will see the entire brand involved in the customer satisfaction, from the first initial search where the customer discovers the brand, to the interactions with the sales team, to the relationships with customers and finally to the marketing activity post purchase.
Physical Evidence
Your product must stand out from the competition in a tangible way to be successful. This means that your product must have features that make it different and unique by itself. Physical evidence whilst referring to your product means providing something unique to your customers, and being able to show them exactly what it is that makes it unique.
However, physical evidence isn’t just attributed to your product, it needs to be applied across you entire platform, outstretching to your brand, your values and your presence. Your physical evidence needs to indicate how you are important, a valid choice and better than your competitors.
Start by taking a look at your websites, your stores, your social media accounts and even the packaging of your products, think of ways to improve your overall experience, make customers feel safe and secure whilst shopping with you.
