The 7 Ps of Marketing is a set of marketing strategies, which you can use in any combination to satisfy customers in your targeted market. The 7 Ps of Marketing are – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Process, and Physical Evidence. These elements constitute the service marketing mix. Sometimes, also known as ‘tactical marketing mix’. This mix is strategically used to set the business in the desired market and ensures that your product is meeting the customer’s needs, the audience that will be targeted is satisfied, and stands out from the competition.
A Little History
In 1960, American Professor of Marketing Jerome McCarthy developed a four-element traditional marketing mix. These four elements are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
In 1981, Bernard H.Booms and Mary J. Bitner further introduced three more elements into the traditional marketing mix. These elements are People, Process, and Physical Evidence. These elements help us to meet the challenges of marketing service. With the emergence of the notions of the internet, social media, and online marketplace, Some observers started to question the relevance of the concept of vintage four elements of the marketing mix to the current scenario. Some thought that the classic four elements of the marketing mix are dead. As the popular brands don’t advertise and after the rise of e-commerce, physical stores are losing their relevance, and the place factor is not much relevant.
However, Philip Kotler, known as the Father of Marketing, firmly defended the concept of the traditional marketing mix. With the dawn of Digital media, the marketing mix that was first conceptualized in 1960 is so perfect that it is still relevant and considered an important part of any marketing strategy.
The Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response.
– PHILIP KOTLER
Know Your 7 Ps of marketing
Product
The first P stands for Product. It also can be any service that the company provides or a mix of both. It consists of all of the features and advantages that customers will get. While marketing your product and service, you needs to think about the key features including various aspects like styling, quality, etc., and also what customer needs or want. One has to add to the ‘pack of benefits’ to improve the product and service, create new versions of existing products, or launch a brand new products or services.
The digital marketing mix is perfect for displaying your products, through blogs, articles, viral video campaigns, and digital marketing.
Price
This refers to the pricing of the products and services. It generates the revenue as all others costs. So, it becomes very important to get the right price that not only covers costs but also generates profits. One needs to research how much customers are willing to pay and make an understanding of the demand in the market. Price indicates the position in the market as low prices are equal to value brands. Prices should be set keeping competitors in mind.
Place
The place is where customers purchased the product or services. For new businesses finding the right place to market their products or services will be a key marketing tactic. One has to ensure that customers find their products and services with ease.
You can consider selling your products and services through a physical store, e-commerce website or any third-party means an app or website.
Promotion
Promotion is generally marketing your products and service directly to the customers. It covers making your product and services known to the public. This could be achieved through forms of advertising or you can explore the possibilities of digital promotion like SEO, social media marketing, group chats, and online events.
People
People not only include the customers that buy your product. It also includes the staff, salespersons, customer service team, or anyone involved in the sales and marketing process. Good customers or staff members not only convert to sales but can also increase the customer base through referrals.
Process
This step includes the delivery of your product or services to the customers. Having a good process in place ensures that you will repeatedly deliver the same standard of service to your customers. It will also save time and money by increasing efficiency.
As e-commerce is rising nowadays, digital partnerships and logistics becomes an important part of the marketing mix.
Physical Evidence
Physical evidence refers to anything that customers interact with. It gives validation of purchase to customers. It could be your store, your packaging, branding, including digital placements like on social media or websites. Marketing mix must consider that anything a customer sees, hears, – sometimes even smells, is in relation to physical evidence. People like to receive something that evokes their sense to confirm that they have received the product or service, even if it is just a receipt or follow-up a newsletter that you sent to customers.
When it comes to creating a solid and strategic marketing mix, it gets very important to understand the 7 Ps of marketing and how they fit in the whole picture.
Pixel Ideas is a digital marketing agency based in Ahmedabad, and we can show you how including the 7Ps of marketing into your marketing strategy can actually translate into increased sales and more effective marketing campaigns.