Most of the people who are familiar with marketing strategies heard about the 4 P’s of Marketing Mix – Price, Product, Promotion, and Place. You remember it, right?
Well, nowadays, the point is the 4 P’s of Marketing Mix have turned into the 7P’ of the Marketing Mix.
Which are the new elements of the mix?
First of all, the marketing mix, also known as the 4P of Marketing, is one of the most popular marketing concepts, at least in the academic environment. The concept is pretty simple. Think of it as the ingredients we use in a recipe – the marketing mix represents the operational and tactical part of a whole marketing plan.
So, this concept refers to 4 important levels in this field: product, price, promotion and placement (distribution).
Let’s take each level and see what it means:
Product
In marketing, a product is any good, service, or idea that can be offered to a market that can satisfy a desire or need.
Whether we’re talking about a physical or intangible product, you can’t do anything unless you know very well what you need to sell. We need to know exactly what the product is, what it does, what its benefits are and how it is differentiated from the competition.
Unless you know all that, you cannot properly say you know your product, nevertheless sell your product.
Price
Pricing is often one of the most complicated things to get right in business. There are several factors to consider when setting a price, like competitors, the costs of production, the state of the economy, and the potential buyers of the product.
Once we have learnt the product very well, it’s time to make a decision about its price. “How much should my product cost?” is a question a little changed these days. Now we have to ask ourselves “How much would people pay for my product?” or even better “How does my product worth it compared to the others on the market?”
The profit margin, the demand and supply, marketing costs and many other factors must be taken into account when we decide upon the price.
Promotion
The promotion in relation to the marketing mix refers to the ways we can find to bring the product to the attention of the target audience and to differentiate it from the similar products of our competition. The promotion can include elements such as Advertising, Public Relations, Social Media, Search Engine Marketing, Video Marketing etc.
Distribution
Distribution is the component of the marketing mix that refers to the places where customers can find our products. Whether we are talking about an online website or e-commerce platform, or a physical location, we need to understand how customers prefer to search for our products or services and the way they prefer buying our products.
…and now, the 7’s P of Marketing Mix
Nowadays, especially in the sales field, there are 3 additional Ps added, so we have 7Ps of the marketing mix. The additional ones: people, process and physical evidence.
People
Every company is based on its people. From the sales representative who is in direct contact with the customers or the customer support service to the CEO of company, the right people are the essence of the success. So it has been added to the marketing mix. Remember: people represent one of the most important Ps added to the 7 Ps of the marketing mix.
Process
The main difference between a professional and an amateur is that the first can consistently deliver good results. Therefore, as a business, we also need to develop and implement proper systems to make sure that we deliver the best results in marketing efforts.
Each company needs to implement its own system in order to be able to satisfy the desires of each customer.
Physical evidence
Even if we offer a good or an intangible service, there are some physical components of them.
For example, do we offer life insurance? The customer will have a physical copy of the contract.
Are we a hair salon? The client can go home with a small presentation brochure. Generally, we should think of a physical proof that the service has been delivered.
In addition, for business with an active physical presence, such as a restaurant, this component of the marketing mix is essential and must play an important role in branding process.
This is, in short, the marketing mix. As we mentioned earlier, we consider it as being a useful concept. But, at the same time, we think that improvements can be made.
Maybe the marketing mix is no longer enough
One of the first limitations of the marketing mix is that it does not say how to optimize the 4P or the 7P.
So…for example, if we take the price, what options do we have? Should we raise it or reduce it? How do we find the right price to allow us to better conquer the market?
Secondly, it’s clear that we must pay attention to each and every element in the mix, but what should we begin with? Where to focus the most?
For example, wherever you read about the product within the marketing mix, you only find references to branding, guarantees, packing etc. But what is the product which can play a more active role in the marketing efforts?
This is why, in our opinion, the 4P or the 7P model should already be improved. Experience will add great value to these models, for sure!