MARKETING MIX
7 P’s
Crash course by SurgeYour
What is marketing mix? Factors that a brand can control and use to reach out to its potential customers, and drive purchase behaviour. Hence, make a sale.
But what are these factors?
4 P’s of marketing
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
4+3 P’s of marketing
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
People
Packaging
Process
The new 3 P’s came into play as marketing evolved.
These 7 P’s drive business and product promotion
Product (or service) -This is the most important aspect of your business. This is what your customer will buy (or not buy). Focus on continuously improve your product in terms of design, performance, quality, features etc. Discontinue products that won’t sell. When your brand’s primary focus is product, you are essentially doing “Product led marketing“. You let your product be your brand’s USP. Example - Apple. Apple ads focus on nothing but the product and product features.
2. Price - This focuses on your brand’s pricing strategy. A brand could price a product higher to appear luxurious or high quality. A product can also be priced lower to break through the competition. A brand can also -
Offer discounts
Provide “bundle pricing”
Raise the price once the brand is more established
Raise the price due to inflation
3. Place - Important questions that any brand must answer to make itself more accessible and convenient for the customer - “Where should the product be sold?” ”Where does my customer want to see my brand/product/service?” ”Where will my customer use my product/service?” Depending on the product/service, a brand might choose to sell online only, have a physical store, have multiple branches, have a pyramid scheme (for example - Tupperware and Avon), have both - a physical store as well as an online store (for example- Apparel brands like Zara and HnM).
4. Promotion - This refers to the marketing and communications aspect. Where you choose to promote your brand can make or break your marketing strategy. It could be email marketing, social media, SEO or any other form of digital marketin. It can also be the traditional channels like newspapers, magazines, radio etc. You might even consider Omni Channel or Multi Channel Marketing. The message you communicate, the keywords, the colors, frequency of communication are all a part of your promotional strategy.
People - All the “humans” related to your brand. This not only involves your customers but also the workforce that your brand has, including everyone involved in the marketing and communications, salespeople, customer service, the product designers, IT team etc. It is very important that a brand hires the right workforce so that the vision and goal of the brand is not hampered, the right message is being conveyed to the audience and the core values of the brand are not jeopardised. The HR department has a lot of responsibility when it comes to maintaining the right workforce in any company.
Packaging - Aesthetics matter! As humans, we like what pleases our eyes. That’s why brands focus on the product packaging. The packaging speaks volumes about what a brand wants to communicate. Looking at the packaging, one can tell if it’s a luxurious and expensive brand or an affordable one. Consistency in packaging design helps with brand recognition as well. A brand can choose to keep every aspect of the packaging consistent and change just the packaging shade/color to communicate a different flavou. Providing valuable information like product ingredients, method of preparation, usage instructions etc. are all a part of packaging.
7. Process - This focuses on improving every process between manufacturing your product and delivering it to your customer and also the customer service post sales. Making processes like the supply chain and logistics, maintaining the quality, keeping the online and physical store updated and error free, improving the customer service, handling negative criticism well etc. makes the customer experience seamless and helps in increasing the customer retention.
Author : Nikita Mathur
28 January 2023
