The basics of marketing mix and the 7Ps of marketing – template included
The marketing mix and the 7Ps of marketing
The marketing mix is part of a comprehensive marketing plan. The term refers to a particular framework that leads to organizing your marketing plans often denotes a common classification began as the 4Ps: product, price, placement, and promotion.
Marketing frameworks are indispensable in strategically organizing your work. You want to outline strong groundwork before implementing your marketing activities. When you have a compact foundation built on strategy, then you increase your probability of success that your work is on pace with your corporate mission. Having an approach reduces waste of resources and better use of your marketing plan including the budget.
The marketing mix is the combination of elements used by a business to enable it to meet the needs and anticipations of customers. If the term marketing refers to “putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time; whereas, the term marketing mix refers to the way you get desired goals of sales and marketing with a particular strategy framework. There is a number of essential frameworks existing in the industry that you can apply to market your products and services.
7ps of the marketing mix is one of the most using frameworks that have been accepted as a marketing toolkit of the period. 4Ps of the marketing mix is the base model which has been developed by Edmund Jerome McCarthy in 1960. The structure includes 4PS: product, price, place, and promotion. This framework was an appropriate framework for the time which focused on products. As the economy developed and more service-based organizations were in progress. The 4Ps of the marketing mix got an extension from Booms and Bitner in 1981. This is the updated version of 4PS, added three more elements in the mix known as 7PS of marketing.
Successful marketing combines too many tactics and strategies instead of a single model. Different levels of study help reach a wider audience. Instead of basic 4PS, 7ps of marketing enables businesses to get more range of action plans by incorporating 3 added elements. Focusing on a marketing mix aids organizations make strategic decisions when launching new products or revising existing products. Depending on the industry and the objective of the marketing plan, marketing managers may take several methods to each of the 7Ps. Each element can be examined individually, but in practice, each element is interwoven or dependent on one another.
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The 7PS of marketing mix includes:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
- People
- Processes
- Physical evidence
Product
This denotes an item or service aimed to satisfy customer needs and wants. To effectively market a product or service, it’s significant to identify what differentiates it from competing products or services. It’s also important to determine if other products or services can be marketed in conjunction with it.
Price
It refers to the value of the product/service. The sale price of the product reveals what consumers are willing to pay for it. This is an important factor for the buyers to decide whether an order has to be placed or not. The business would have to do a study on the ideal pricing of their product/service based on value to the customer. Marketing specialists need to study costs related to research and development, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution—otherwise known as cost-based pricing. Pricing based chiefly on consumers’ perceived quality or value is known as value-based pricing.
Place
Where do buyers look for your product or service? It may be in a store, e-commerce platform, or at a hyper mall. This is the physical address of the business where your product/services interact with your customers. Basic consumer products, such as FMCG, often are readily available in many stores. Premium consumer products, however, normally are offered only in selected stores. In short, place refers to how the product is distributed to the customer.
Promotion
Promotion refers to the marketing campaigns or PR strategies in the mix. Activities might comprise publicity, sales promotion, personal selling, and advertising. Crucial consideration should be for the budget allocated to the marketing mix. Marketing professionals sensibly make a message that often integrates details from the other six Ps when trying to reach their target audience. It is the way how the consumer is found and persuaded to buy. Using the marketing funnel is the best way to screen your potential buyers and loyal buyers. Promotion embraces all of the implements available to the marketer for marketing messages.
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People
Without people, all these other Ps will not work as an effective marketing formula. This element refers to those who are engaged by the company to design, develop, and manufacture the products; do market research to establish demand and define customer needs; manage the supply chain to guarantee timely delivery; provide support services, and serve as touchpoints for customer interaction among others. The company needs to hire the right people that would fit your corporate culture.
Process
The processes are the steps that are compulsory to deliver the product/service to a customer. Now, organizations are looking for process development initiatives as a part of business operation procedures.
Physical evidence
Physical evidence denotes everything your customers see when networking with your business. It is a mixture of the environment and branding where the product/ service is provided to a customer by a sales representative. It also supports the positioning of the brand and for targeting the right kind of customers. This includes:
- The physical environment where you provide the product or service
- The design or internal plans
- Your packaging
- Your branding.
The 7Ps of marketing is just one of many lists that have been developed over the years. Sometimes, it may be the prominent marketing mix platform that has provided an extended view including the service section. However, more studies are required to create a perfect marketing strategy in the midst of the high competition.
