Every successful business is centered on the 7 Ps of marketing. It used to be called the 4 Ps of “marketing mix” because all the four elements must be complete for a business to succeed, but over the years it advanced to the 7 Ps due to changing customer needs, emerging trends, and sophisticated market technologies.
The existing 4 Ps of a marketing mix are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion; but today, the trio of People, Process, and Physical Evidence has been added to complete the 7 Ps. Let’s examine these 7 Ps of marketing mix in detail with a view to determining how they can be effectively incorporated into your overall marketing campaigns:
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Product
The commodity or service you offer for sale is technically your product. It is the offering that people are willing to pay for and which serves their basic needs or wants. Your product must hold value for it to be appreciated and bought for money over a long period of time. The more your product meets the needs of targeted consumers, the more revenue your business generates.
According to a famous US marketer, Brian Tracy, one of the major ways to evaluate the critical values of your product is to imagine yourself as an external consultant who asks if “your product or service is appropriate and suitable for the market and the customers of today.”
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Price
Many factors go into determining the appropriate price for your product and services. The amount of effort and resources that go into producing a product will be reflected by its price tag. Your price must not only reflect production efforts and resources, but it must also reflect current market rates so you don’t price yourself out of the market.
To this end, you may come to a point where you determine to either lower the price of your products or even increase it. Your price must always be revised to remain competitive in a fast-changing market situation.
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Place
This third element of place is the location where customers meet the sales representative to acquire the product. Depending on your type of product, you may choose to sell it online, in supermarkets, at dealer outlets, at trade shows, through mail order and catalogs, as well as through direct selling. The place where you choose to make your product available to buyers must be convenient for all parties and not incur unnecessary costs.
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Promotion
The idea of raising awareness and creating demand for your product is called promotion. It is part of a marketing strategy that informs your target audience of the availability of your product and how to get them. This can involve radio and television advertisement, internet publicity, flyer distribution, and hiring social media influencers. All the marketing campaigns aimed at increasing product sales are called promotions, and they are necessary to get your product into the hands of consumers.
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People
All business activities center on people – they are made by people for people and through people. The most important people to your business are your customers – they are the reason you are in business, and the families of your employees are able to thrive because your customers do business with you. When thinking of people or customers, you must get them involved in the ideation and creation process so you come up with products that have value to them. It is this singular truth that makes some companies outsell their products even before they are produced.
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Process
It is not enough to think of the customers while creating and marketing the product, you must get the right people to help with the process of creation and distribution in order to build a successful company. To succeed in business, 60% lies on your employees and 40% on your consumers; so you must be able to select, recruit, hire, and retain the right people to get the job done – up to the point of getting consumers to buy the product. This is the whole essence of process – getting the right people into the right positions to do the most good for your business.
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Physical Evidence
The physical evidence element comprises two other Ps – packaging and positioning. These include the physical evidence that your business exists through packaged products and marketing positioning. It also relates to physical proofs of the business facility, employees, website presence, and product distribution. It also includes proof that actual sales took place with evidence of inventory, receipts, and business cards. Any physical evidence that potential customers require to believe in the genuineness of your business is key to your overall success.