marketing mix 7ps essay

• Validity of the Marketing Mix Model Words: 15103
• Service Marketing and Product Marketing Definition Words: 691
• Overview of the World of the Marketing Words: 585
• The 7P Marketing Mix for Customers Words: 550
• Service and Product Marketing Words: 597
• Apple Company’s Innovations and Marketing Mix Words: 667
• Managing the Marketing Environment Words: 743
• Wal-Mart Business Strategy and Marketing Mix Words: 1686
• The 7Ps Marketing Model Evaluation Words: 1511
• Product Portfolio Management for Marketing Words: 2960
• The Wilson Company’s Marketing Mix Words: 1164

7Ps of the Marketing Mix

A marketing strategy is a company’s battle plan in the struggle of market competition. However, its task is in effect to outline the way the company plans to act in the market, which is made in a general way. To realize the marketing strategy, a company develops a marketing mix, which is a set of marketing tools used to influence the demand for the product (Kotler et al 2008, p.49). The first formula of the marketing mix included four elements, so-called 4Ps, which were: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Gradually the notion of the marketing mix has been extended to 7Ps by adding such elements as Processes, Physical Evidence, ad People (Schneider & Bowen 1998, p. 213).

Product is a service produced by the company; it can be tangible or intangible, produced on a large scale or individually. Each product has its life cycle, which includes the stages of development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline (Kurtz, MacKenzie & Snow 2009, p.341). Each of the stages requires specific marketing decisions. Another important point is a product’s competitive advantage, which also defines the product’s marketing: it helps to expand the company’s market segment and to increase the price.

Price is not simply the cost of the product for the buyer; it is a point of communication between the producer and the customer. Price defines the product’s position in the market, informing the client about its quality and originality. Depending on a good’s parameters and the life cycle stage, different pricing strategies can be used (Bangs 2002, p. 72): premium pricing (high quality or unique products), penetration pricing (lowering the price when entering the market), economy pricing, and price skimming (the product is new or has a strong competitive advantage). There are also some alternative approaches, such as psychological pricing ($99 instead of $100), optional product pricing (setting price for the additional services), etc (Armstrong et al 2009, p. 328).

The element of Place outlines the approach of the product’s distribution and includes the distribution chain which delivers the product from the manufacturer to the customer (Kotler et al 2008, p. 50). The product can be sold directly to the customer or the dealer; the shop can be physical or virtual. The place is defined according to the peculiarities of the product sold.

Promotion is a set of tools that help to communicate to the client, which is to attract his attention, provide information about the product, and stimulate the decision to buy. The company can use such tools as direct selling, personal selling, public relations, advertising, sponsorship, etc. As a rule, they are used in complex (p.51).

Schneider and Bowen emphasize the meaning of the last 3Ps: these factors help to overgrow the marketing of products and services and embrace marketing of the whole organization with its attributes, such as people, tangibles, etc. (1998, p. 213).

The component of People includes the company’s staff with its skills and knowledge. The staff which has appropriate interpersonal skills and attitude to the work, as well as the professional competence, creates an additional competitive advantage, becoming a face of the company.

Processes also make the company competitive, increasing the customers’ loyalty. They include efficient service delivery which meets the needs and requirements of the clients, for ex., preparing a burger the way a client wants (Strydom 2005, p. 196).

Physical Evidence implies taking care of the services’ performance which influences the judgments about the company. Providing a clean environment of the restaurant or comfortable accommodation for the college students, as well as the website and brochures about the company’s service or a logo at the ticket, are examples of this element (Strydom 2004, p. 197).

Some attempts to extend 7Ps to 9Ps take place (Dacko 2008, p. 335); however, the additional elements are disputable: for example, Packaging can be considered a separate element or be included in the category of the Product, and Professionalism can be combined with People.

• Armstrong, G et al 2009, Marketing: an introduction. Harlow, England, Financial Times Prentice Hall.
• Bangs, DH 2002, The market planning guide: creating a plan to successfully market your business, product, or service. Chicago, Dearborn Trade Pub.
• Dacko, SG 2008, The advanced dictionary of marketing: putting theory to use. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press.
• Kotler, P et al 2008, Principles of marketing. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson Prentice Hall.
• Kurtz, DL, MacKenzie, HF & Snow, K 2009, Contemporary marketing. Toronto, Nelson Education.
• Schneider, B & Bowen, DE 1998, Winning the service game. Boston, Mass., Harvard Business School Press.
• Strydom, J 2004, Introduction to marketing. Lansdowne, Cape Town, S.A., Juta.

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How to use the 7Ps Marketing Mix

What is the 7Ps Marketing Mix and how should it be used?

The marketing mix is a familiar marketing strategy tool, which as you will probably know, was traditionally limited to the core 4Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It is one of the top 3 classic marketing models according to a poll on Smart Insights.

It's an essential part of a marketing plan structure that defines the tactics to be used to implement the marketing strategy.

The traditional 7Ps of marketing consist of:

• Physical evidence

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Who created the 7Ps marketing mix model?

The 7Ps marketing model was originally devised by E. Jerome McCarthy and published in 1960 in his book  Basic Marketing. A Managerial Approach. 

We've created the graphic below so you can see the key elements of the 7Ps marketing mix. More details are provided in the next visual.

The 4Ps vs The 7Ps

The 4Ps marketing mix was designed at a time when businesses were more likely to sell products, rather than services. The 4 Ps represented an early focus on product marketing, when the role of customer service in helping brand development wasn't so well known.

Over time, Booms and Pitner added three extended ‘service mix P’s' : Participants or People, Physical evidence, and Processes. Later 'Participants' was renamed as 'People' - the marketing mix covering marketers, customer service reps, recruitment, culture, training and remuneration.

Today, it's recommended that the full 7 elements of the marketing mix are considered when reviewing competitive strategies - across product, customer service and more.

The 7Ps helps companies to review and define key issues that affect the marketing of its products and services. A popular marketing model, the marketing mix is can also be referred to as the 7Ps framework for the digital marketing mix.

In Dave Chaffey's book: Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice , this model was refreshed and applied to online channels to give a practical approach which works well for multichannel businesses. An eighth P, ‘Partners’ is often recommended for businesses to gain reach online (first mentioned in Digital mMarketing Excellence by Dave Chaffey and PR Smith although some would argue it's part of Place). 

How can I use this marketing model?

Although it's sometimes viewed as dated, we believe the 4Ps are an essential strategy tool to select their scope and is particularly useful for small businesses. For startups reviewing price and revenue models today, using the Business Model Canvas for marketing strategy is a great alternative since it gives you a good structure to follow.

Companies can also use the 7Ps model to set objectives, conduct a SWOT analysis and undertake competitive analysis. It's a practical framework to evaluate an existing business and work through appropriate approaches whilst evaluating the marketing mix elements.

What are the 7Ps of marketing?

• Products/Services:  How can you develop your products or services
• Prices/Fees:  How can we change our pricing model
• Place/Access: What new distribution options are there for customers to experience our product, e.g. online, in-store, mobile etc
• Promotion: How can we add to or substitute the combination within paid, owned and earned media channels
• Physical Evidence: How we reassure our customers, e.g. impressive buildings, well-trained staff, great website
• Processes:  Are there internal process barriers in the way to delivering the best customer value
• People:  Who are our people and are there skills gaps
• Partners: Are we seeking new partners and managing existing partners well?

An example of a company using the 7Ps marketing mix in their strategy

Take a look at HubSpot as an example, which was founded in 2006; Hubspot now boasts over 86,000 total customers in more than 120 countries. Comprised of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and a powerful free CRM, HubSpot adds value for customers in every aspect of the 7Ps.

What does an example of a successful marketing mix look like?

This is a top-level overview; you would take this into greater detail and ask the following questions:

1. Products/Services:  Integrated toolset for SEO, blogging, social media, website, email and lead intelligence tools.

2.  Prices/Fees:   Subscription-based monthly, Software-As-Service model  based on number of contacts in database and number of users of the service.

3. Place/Access: Online! Network of Partners, Country User Groups.

4. Promotion: Directors speak at events, webinars, useful guides that are amplified by SEO. Social media advertising, e.g. LinkedIn.

5. Physical Evidence: Consistent branding across communications.

6. Processes: More sales staff are now involved in conversion.

7: People : Investment in online services.

8. Partners: Hubspot looks to form partnerships with major media companies such as Facebook and Google plus local partners including Smart Insights who it is collaborating with on research in Europe.

What to watch for

When using the 7Ps as a model to conduct a marketing audit, I look at each of the Ps. It’s unwise to ignore an area unless it is completely outside your control.

We are now seeing AI and machine learning techniques informing more developed Marketing Mix Modeling techniques such as regression and forecasting. Note that this is different to the different elements of the marketing mix described in this article and focuses more on the mix of budget investment in different media.

9Ps of marketing?

As the scope of marketing continues to develop, so does the marketing mix. Since 2007, Larry Londre's 9Ps of marketing has included:

• Planning, Process or Marketing Process
• People/Prospects/Potential Purchasers/Purchasers (Target Market)
• Price/Pricing
• Place/Distribution
• Partners/Strategic Alliances
• Presentation

Original References and sources of 7Ps marketing mix

Bitner, M. J. and Booms, H. (1981). Marketing Strategies and Organization: Structure for Service Firms. In Donnelly, J. H. and George, W. R. (Eds). Marketing of Services, Conference Proceeding s. Chicago, IL. American Marketing Association. p. 47- 52.

McCarthy, E. J. (1964). Basic Marketing . Richard D. Irwin. Homewood, IL.

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Annmarie Hanlon PhD is an academic and practitioner in strategic digital marketing and the application of social media for business. Dr Hanlon has expertise in the strategic application of social media for business and the move from digitization, to digitalization and digital transformation for business. Her expertise spans consumer touch points, online customer service, the use of reviews, the role of influencers, online engagement and digital content. You can follow her update on Twitter https://twitter.com/annmariehanlon

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Table of Contents

Top 12 marketing models , 7 ps of marketing, importance of 7 ps of marketing, steps to develop a successful marketing mix, what are the 7 ps of marketing.

Marketing communicates the value of goods and services to the customers. While marketing is often thought of as the end promotional activity, marketing is a combination of activities that delivers an optimal mix of pricing, product development, distribution, and advertising for a business to achieve success. It is both a science and an art, and overlaps, but is not synonymous, with the concepts of advertising , promotion, market research, and sales. Several marketing models are available that help develop and implement the marketing strategies as per the business requirements and customer needs. To begin with, here are some of the most common marketing models.

Some of the popular marketing models that have stood the test of time and are relevant in today’s era of omnichannel marketing have been listed below:

• 7 Ps of marketing 
• USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
• Boston Consulting Group Matrix
• Brand positioning map
• Customer Lifetime Value marketing models
• Growth strategy matrix
• Loyalty ladder marketing models
• PESTLE (Asses impact on political, economic, social, technological, legal, and economic factors)
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Product Life Cycle
• Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
• PR Smith's SOSTAC (Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Actions, Control) model

In this article we will learn about one such commonly used marketing model mix, i.e., 7 Ps of marketing! 

The 7 Ps of marketing is a set of recognized marketing tactics, which can be used in any combination to satisfy customers in the target market. Combining these marketing tactics to meet the customers' needs and wants is known as using a 'tactical marketing mix'.

This marketing mix is a familiar marketing strategy tool that was traditionally limited to the core 4Ps - Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In the 7 Ps, the new additions are People, Process, Physical evidence. 

Let's dive into these marketing tactics, starting with the most important one, product.

It definitely goes without saying that your product must be at the centre of your entire strategy. The entire marketing mix is about the product itself. Concentrate on what is the pain point that your product or service is solving. How your product is more efficient than other similar ones in the market. 

You can use research and development to help your company develop new products or create awareness about the existing one. The digital marketing mix is ideal for showcasing your products, such as through SEO , blogs or articles, paid advertising, influencer marketing , and viral video campaigns.

This refers to your pricing strategy for products and services, as well as how it will affect your customers. You should determine how much your customers are willing to pay, how much you need to mark up to cover overheads, your profit margins and payment methods, and other costs. You may also want to consider the possibility of discounts and seasonal pricing, subscription and membership programmes, or email marketing of promotions and sales to attract customers and maintain your competitive advantage.

The location of your products and services is where they are seen, made, sold, or distributed. Customer access to your products is critical, and it is critical that customers can find you.

You can distinguish yourself from the competition by designing your retail space and employing effective visual merchandising techniques. Even if you are not a retail business, location is an important part of your marketing strategy. Your customers may require a quick turnaround or prefer to purchase locally manufactured goods.

Finding the right business location will be an important marketing tactic if you are starting a new business.

All promotional activities across the marketing mix, including advertising, direct marketing, and in-store promotional activities, are included in successful marketing strategies. Digital promotion is only limited by your imagination and can include online events, chats, social media groups, and livestreams.

People refer to the employees and salespeople who work for your company, including you.

When you provide excellent customer service, you create a positive experience for your customers and, as a result, market to them. As a result, current customers may spread the word about your excellent service, and you may receive referrals. 

Give your company a competitive advantage by hiring the right people, training them to improve their skills, and retaining good employees.

The process of getting your product to the consumer should be designed for maximum efficiency and dependability, but it should also include features that are consistent with your brand, such as being environmentally or sustainably focused.

With the rise of online shopping, digital partnerships and logistics have become critical components of the marketing mix. Having a good process in place ensures that you consistently provide the same level of service to your customers while also saving time and money through increased efficiency.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence includes elements that demonstrate your brand's existence and that a purchase occurred.

A physical store or office for your business, a website if your business only operates online, and printed business cards that you exchange when meeting people are all examples of proof that your brand exists. Physical or digital receipts, invoices, or follow-up email newsletters sent to customers as a retention exercise are all examples of proof of purchase.

Your marketing mix must also account for everything your customer sees, hears, and sometimes even smells in relation to your product or service.

This includes, of course, packaging and branding , but it should also include how products are displayed in stores, where they are placed, and the context in which they sit, as well as digital placement, such as on your website and social media.

The marketing mix of 7Ps is the mix of tactics applied and coordinated that positions the organization clearly in the minds of the customer. 

The 7Ps model helps us to:

• Set objectives and provide a roadmap for your business objectives. 
• Conduct SWOT analysis , and undertake competitive analysis. 
• Review and define key issues that affect the marketing of its products and services. 
• Evaluate existing business and work through appropriate approaches whilst evaluating the marketing mix elements.
• Market the right product, to the right people, at the right price and time.
• Help develop products and services that better serve the wants and needs of the target market.
• Help customers understand why the product or service is better than those of competitors.

The advantages of using the 7Ps model can be achieved only if each of the Ps is correctly understood and appropriate strategies are devised for them. It will be unwise to ignore an area unless it is completely outside one’s control.

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The following 10 steps will assist you in developing the perfect marketing mix:

Step 1. Set the Goals and Objectives - Clearly define the required result. For example, more customers, brand awareness, higher sales, etc. Every marketing plan will have its own marketing goals. Set a specific time frame in which to achieve the results.

Step 2. Prepare the Budget – Identify the amount that will be spent on product innovation, consumer research, product promotion, etc.

Step 3. Determine the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) - Identify the benefits users will experience from using your product or service.  Also, determine the unique problem that the product/ service is solving better than anyone else.

Step 4. Identify the target Target Market – Understand the target audience and know who they are and how they prefer to be communicated. Create an in-depth  profile of the ideal customer . 

Step 5. Seek Customer Feedback – Understand from the customers what they think of the product, how satisfied they are with the quality, is the product effectively meeting their needs, etc. This will help to make the products more relatable and approachable to the audience.

Step 6. Define the Product in Detail - Describe the specific qualities and value of your product. Look for the unique features that define the product’s worth.

Step 7. Know the Distribution Channels - Identify the places your product will be marketed and which distribution channels you’ll make use of. This will influence your pricing and your promotion decisions. 

Step 8. Create Pricing Strategy - Discover ways of differentiating your product on price. Know the competitors and make sure the customers are not overcharged. Also, understand what the target audience might be willing to pay and what it costs to produce the product.

Step 9. Choose Promotional Techniques - The target audience needs to be made aware of the product offering. Successful promotion of the product includes various elements, like direct marketing, public relations, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, word of mouth, etc.

Step 10. Use Inbound Marketing - Inbound marketing  also plays a vital role in developing your marketing mix.An effective inbound marketing mix includes a website, email marketing, social media , and blogging .

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The 7Ps of The Marketing Mix: Streamline your Strategy

As marketers, we should never underestimate the power of planning. For most of us, that means creating a water-tight marketing strategy, informed by analysis and data - one that has objectives, a target market, and proven tactics. 

We all use different blueprints depending on our industry, our target audience and our products and services. But there’s one, timeless model that any marketer can utilise regardless of their field of work and that is the marketing mix.

What is the marketing mix?

Traditionally, the marketing mix is a framework for your marketing strategy containing four key elements: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Then we have the extended marketing mix - or the 7Ps - which contains the first four elements, plus Physical Evidence, People and Processes. 

It’s important to note that while the marketing mix can influence your strategy and provide a greater understanding of the wider market, as well as your business internally, it doesn’t work in isolation. The marketing mix is a tactic that works best when it’s implemented regularly or semi-regularly as a structure for planning, executing, evaluating and re-evaluating your marketing activities. 

Who created the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is a concept developed by professor and academic, Neil H. Borden , who elaborated on James Culliton’s concept of business executives being mixers of ingredients - ingredients being different marketing features and practices.  The marketing mix was later refined by professor and author, Jerome McCarthy, to specifically include four key components: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. McCarthy wrote about the 4Ps in the 1960s in his book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach .

The 4Ps vs the 7Ps

These original 4Ps of the marketing mix covered the fundamental factors of business and marketing at the time.  But as we know, marketing and business as a whole have evolved exponentially since then, so it was only a matter of time before the marketing mix needed to be expanded.  In 1981, the 4Ps were built upon by two modern academics, B.H. Booms and M.J. Bitner, who identified three additional elements they saw as key to the marketing mix: Physical Evidence, People, and Process, thus providing us with what we now know as the 7Ps of the marketing mix.  And it makes sense that these three were the elements Booms and Bitner added to the marketing mix framework. People are at the heart of every business. Without people, you have no one to market to; no one is there to buy your product or make use of your services. It’s a no-brainer.

What are the 7Ps of the marketing mix?

Now that you know what the 7 Ps of the marketing mix are and their origins, let’s dive a little deeper into the definition of each aspect.

Product refers to what is being sold - a physical product, service, or experience.  No matter how you position yourself as a brand, your product or service is always going to be at the centre of your strategy and will influence every aspect of the marketing mix. When you think of your product, consider factors such as:

• Specific features
• Packaging/presentation
• The problem that it will solve for your customers

Product in this case, then, is about crafting something that meets the needs and desires of your target audience. This means understanding their preferences, pain points, and aspirations. By meticulously aligning your product with customer expectations, you create a solid starting point for your marketing endeavours. Over 30,000 consumer products are launched yearly. Out of these 30,000 new products, 95% of them fail woefully without having any significant impact on the market. 

Choosing the right distribution channels significantly impacts your product's accessibility and visibility. Effective placement ensures your product is available when and where your target audience needs it. Place in the marketing mix doesn't just mean physical locations—it encompasses websites, catalogues, social media, trade shows, and brick-and-mortar stores.

Source: Zippia

Place covers all distribution channels. Factors like your target audience influence your choices. Selling via a single high-street store won't work if your audience is mostly online or global. Test options—could an eCommerce site or a pop-up store work? A mix might suit your business. Understanding your target audience is vital for the right distribution. To profit consistently, distribute where your brand fits and your audience can access. Make your presence felt where it matters most.

The right pricing strategy is critical for a product's success. A misstep in pricing can jeopardize your ROI. Bain & Company research found that 18% of companies lack internal processes for pricing decisions. Your price should mirror customer perception, align with your budget, and ensure profitability. Pricing significantly impacts your business's success, affecting marketing, sales, and demand. Various pricing strategies exist , each with unique benefits and considerations, depending on your product and brand image.

6 Common pricing strategies:  

• Price Skimming : Begin with a high price, gradually lowering it over time.
• Competition-Based Pricing : Set prices above or below competitors' rates.
• Economy Pricing : Target budget-conscious buyers with lower prices.
• Premium Pricing : Attach a high price, emphasizing product quality.
• Value-Based Pricing : Determine price based on perceived customer value.
• Cost-Plus Pricing : Set price based on production cost plus markup.

Whatever your pricing strategy is, ensure it aligns with your brand, appeals to customers, and maintains profitability. Monitor the market, economy, and competitors to adjust as needed.

4. Promotion

Promotion is at the core of our marketing expertise. Whether through direct marketing, PR, advertising, content strategies, or in-store presentations, as marketers, we excel in raising awareness and engagement. Promotion involves telling a compelling brand story that resonates with consumers, guiding them to consider your offerings. Effective promotional strategies achieve various goals, from elevating brand recognition to driving sales and revenue. Addressing key questions sets the stage:

Where is your audience able to find you? Online or in a physical store? 

Does seasonal impact influence your business?

What is your brand personality and how does it shape your messaging and design? 

• How do competitors promote themselves? A SWOT analysis helps here.

Promotional tactics fall into two categories: traditional and digital . Traditional methods encompass print media, broadcasting, mail, billboards, and word of mouth. Digital avenues include email, social media, content marketing, SEO , mobile outreach, and paid ads. Digital marketing generates 50% more customer interactions than traditional methods.

Source: MarTech Alliance

The way you communicate and promote directly affects your brand's success. Misplaced messages or poor timing can negatively impact sales. Understanding your audience through segmentation and targeting, along with integrating marketing data, helps cater to their needs and ensures seamless omnichannel campaigns.

5. Physical Evidence

Physical evidence means more than just proof of purchase - it encompasses the overall existence of your brand. Think website, branding, social media, the logo on your building, your store’s decor, the packaging of your product, the post-purchase thank you email, even the ambience of your store. All of these elements offer your customer the physical evidence they need to be certain that your business is viable, reliable and legitimate.  For consumers to truly be comfortable with you, to complete a purchase, remain loyal and advocate for your brand, they need to be confident that you’re legitimate and worth their time.

To create a well-crafted strategy that ensures you offer great customer support, be sure to deliver products and receipts efficiently and reliably, and provide a customer experience that is seamless across each and every touchpoint. 

6. People People, in the marketing mix, refers to anyone directly or indirectly involved in the business side of the enterprise. That means anyone involved in selling a product or service, designing it, marketing, managing teams, representing customers, recruiting and training.  It’s critical to the success of your brand, and the satisfaction of your customers, that everyone who represents the company (including the chatbots) is polite, professional, knowledgeable and fully trained. Employees need to be able to solve the problems that customers have, so as a business, you need to offer training, good working environments and anything that will safeguard the contentment of your employees. 

50% of consumers will switch to a competitor after a single bad experience, while 80% will switch after multiple bad experiences. Excellent customer service is a must for any brand operating in today’s customer-centric market.  Digital strategist, Dave Chaffey, says that people buy from people because of the human connection that we all typically crave. When marketers create a strategy that’s highly tailored and personalised, they can be as influential as the best, most persuasive salesperson. Having the right people is key for both long and short-term success. Each part of the marketing mix can help your customers see you as reliable and dependable, which is crucial to any branding strategy.

Process encompasses what goes into every step of the customer journey - from making an enquiry to requesting information and making a purchase. The efficiency and consistency of your processes can significantly impact your overall effectiveness. From lead generation to customer support, having well-defined and streamlined processes ensures a seamless customer journey.  The more intentional and personalised your processes are, the happier your customers will be. Even with the best product in the world, your business can be let down by processes.

You want your customer interactions to be seamless from beginning to end, so think about things like:

• Your customer response time
• The time between booking with sales and actually having a meeting
• What happens once they make a purchase
• How to generate positive reviews after purchase
• What tools can make your processes more efficient i.e. AI, CRMs, email clients, KPI tracking , etc.

Source: Oracle

Marketers who plan their projects and campaigns against their strategy are 365% more likely to report success. Regularly assessing, adjusting and adapting your processes will help to structure your business efforts so that you can function at optimal efficiency. 

Why are the 7Ps of the marketing mix important?

In the dynamic realm of marketing, where strategies evolve and consumer behaviours shift, having a reliable and comprehensive framework is essential. The 7Ps of the marketing mix provide precisely that – a versatile toolkit that empowers intermediate marketers to construct impactful strategies and achieve sustainable success. At the core of the 7Ps framework lies a profound focus on understanding and catering to the needs of your target audience. This customer-centric approach is a cornerstone of successful marketing. By delving deep into your customers' preferences, pain points, and aspirations, you gain insights that guide your decisions across the 7Ps. This empathetic understanding ensures that your product is tailored to meet specific demands, your pricing resonates with perceived value, your distribution channels are optimized for accessibility, and your promotional efforts strike a chord. The 7Ps framework also equips marketers with the agility to respond to shifting market dynamics. Whether it's adjusting pricing strategies to remain competitive, leveraging new promotional platforms to reach wider audiences, or refining product offerings based on customer feedback, the flexibility inherent in the 7Ps allows marketers to stay relevant and effective. Additionally, the 7Ps facilitate measurement and optimisation, a key element of any successful marketing strategy. Each "P" provides distinct metrics that can be tracked and analysed which allows marketers to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. This data-driven approach enables informed decision-making, leading to continuous refinement and enhanced results.

How can I use the 7Ps?

The 7Ps marketing mix is more than just a theoretical concept; it's a versatile toolkit that can be wielded by intermediate marketers to create impactful and effective strategies. Here's a concise guide on how you can leverage this model to your advantage: 1. Start with Solid Research Understanding your target audience is paramount. Conduct thorough market research to unearth insights into their preferences, behaviours, and needs. This foundational knowledge will inform every decision you make across the 7Ps. 2. Tailor Your Product Offering Craft your product or service with your audience in mind. Strive to meet their unique needs and desires, differentiating yourself from competitors by adding value and addressing pain points. 3. Pricing Precision Develop a pricing strategy that aligns with customer expectations and provides a clear reflection of the value you offer. Consider factors such as production costs, competitor pricing, and perceived value when setting your prices. 4. Strategic Placement Determine the optimal distribution channels to ensure your product or service reaches your target audience conveniently. Whether it's through physical stores, online platforms, or a combination of both, choose avenues that enhance accessibility and visibility. 5. Powerful Promotions Craft compelling promotional campaigns that resonate with your audience. Utilize a mix of advertising, public relations, social media, and other marketing channels to amplify your message and create a buzz around your offering. 6. Prioritize People Invest in your employees and ensure they are well-trained and aligned with your brand's values. Their interactions with customers can significantly impact their experience and perception of your brand. 7. Streamline Processes Efficiency is key. Optimize your marketing processes to ensure a seamless customer journey from awareness to purchase and beyond. This includes lead generation, customer support, and post-purchase interactions. In the ever-evolving landscape of marketing, a robust framework is essential, and the 7Ps of the marketing mix offer just that. As marketers, this versatile toolkit empowers us to craft impactful strategies for enduring success. By delving into customer preferences, pain points, and dreams, we tailor our decisions across the 7Ps. Harnessing the power of the 7Ps, allows us to shape strategies that resonate, adapting to the ever-shifting marketing landscape, and ensuring lasting success.

Track and visualise your KPIs in real-time with Hurree. Try Hurree today and discover how to truly harness the power of analytics and transform your company reporting using cross-platform dashboards. If you have any questions then feel free to get in touch ! 

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• Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix (7Ps of Marketing)

The classic marketing mix, as established by Professor of Marketing at Harvard University, Prof. James Culliton in 1948 and expanded upon by Jerome McCarthy, incorporates Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion into a theory of marketing that has been important to the industry for more than 70 years. Since then, the theory has been expanded into the 7 P's of marketing. Which are: Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Packaging, and Process.

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Today, we refer to these interchangeably as the 7 P's or as the Marketing Mix. Here, we will discuss this concept, its components, and answer some common questions about the marketing mix and its applications.

Marketing mix is a selection of marketing tools that include several areas of focus that can be combined to create a comprehensive plan. The term refers to a classification that began as the 4 P’s: product, price, placement, and promotion, and has been expanded to Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Packaging, and Process.

What are the 7 Ps of Marketing?

The 4 P’s marketing mix concept (later known as the 7 P’s of marketing) was introduced by Jerome McCarthy in his book: "Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach". It refers to the thoughtfully designed blend of strategies and practices a company uses to drive business and successful product promotion. Initially 4, these elements were Product, Price, Place and Promotion, which were later expanded by including People, Packaging and Process. These are now considered to be the “7 P’s” mix elements.

It can be difficult for a small business owner or marketing manager to know how to establish a unique selling proposition or to reach the right customers, especially on new platforms like the internet, with digital marketing.

Fortunately, the 7 Ps of marketing give you a framework to use in your marketing planning and essential strategy to effectively promote to your target market.

You can also take into consideration elements of the mix in your day to day marketing decision making process with the goal to attract the right audience to successfully market to through your marketing campaigns.

The 7 elements of the marketing mix include the following:

Your customer only cares about one thing: what your product or service can do for them. Because of this, prioritize making your product the best it can be and optimize your product lines accordingly. This approach is called “product-led marketing.” In a marketing mix, product considerations involve every aspect of what you're trying to sell. This includes:

• Market positioning

There are five components to successful product-led marketing that are important for product marketers to take into consideration:

• Get out of the way. Let your product or service sell itself . Focus your marketing efforts on getting consumers to try what you have to offer so they can learn its value for themselves.
• Be an expert (on your customers). Know your customer's needs and use that knowledge to help communicate your product's value.
• Always be helping. Position yourself as an ally by creating informative content that meets your target customers’ needs, and they'll be more likely to buy from you. (This is also called content marketing .)
• Share authentic stories. Encourage happy customers to share their experiences and tell others why they appreciate your brand.
• Grow a product mindset. Focus on your product before you consider how to sell it. Invest in development, and the product quality will take care of the rest.

Many factors go into a pricing model. Brands may:

• Price a product higher than competitors to create the impression of a higher-quality offering.
• Price a product similar to competitors, then draw attention to features or benefits other brands lack.
• Price a product lower than competitors to break into a crowded market or attract value-conscious consumers.
• Plan to raise the price after the brand is established or lower it to highlight the value of an updated model.
• Set the base price higher to make bundling or promotions more appealing.

Consider what you're trying to achieve with your pricing strategy and how price will work with the rest of your marketing strategy. Some questions to ask yourself when selling products:

• Will you be offering higher-end versions at an additional cost?
• Do you need to cover costs right away, or can you set a lower price and consider it an investment in growth?
• Will you offer sales promotions?
• How low can you go without people questioning your quality?
• How high can you go before customers think you’re overpriced?
• Are you perceived as a value brand or a premium brand?

3. Promotion

Promotion is the part of the marketing mix that the public notices most. It includes television and print advertising, content marketing, coupons or scheduled discounts, social media strategies , email marketing , display ads, digital strategies , marketing communication, search engine marketing, public relations and more.

All these promotional channels tie the whole marketing mix together into an omnichannel strategy that creates a unified experience for the customer base. For example:

• A customer sees an in-store promotion and uses their phone to check prices and read reviews.
• They view the brand's website , which focuses on a unique feature of the product.
• The brand has solicited reviews addressing that feature. Those reviews appear on high-ranking review sites.
• The customer buys the product and you’ve sent a thank you email using marketing automation .

Here are the ways you can use these channels together:

• Make sure you know all the channels available and make the most of them to reach your target audience.
• Embrace the move toward personalized marketing .
• Segment your promotional efforts based on your customers' behavior.
• Test responses to different promotions and adjust your marketing spend accordingly.
• Remember that promotion isn't a one-way street. Customers expect you to pay attention to their interests and offer them solutions when they need them.

Where will you sell your product? The same market research that informed your product and price decisions will inform your placement as well, which goes beyond physical locations. Here are some considerations when it comes to place:

• Where will people be looking for your product?
• Will they need to hold it in their hands?
• Will you get more sales by marketing directly to customers from your own e-commerce website, or will buyers be looking for you on third-party marketplaces?
• Do you want to converse directly with your customers as they purchase, or do you want a third party to solve customer service issues?

People refers to anyone who comes in contact with your customer, even indirectly, so make sure you're recruiting the best talent at all levels—not just in customer service and sales force.

Here’s what you can do to ensure your people are making the right impact on your customers:

• Develop your marketers’ skills so they can carry out your marketing mix strategy
• Think about company culture and brand personality .
• Hire professionals to design and develop your products or services.
• Focus on customer relationship management, or CRM , which creates genuine connections and inspires loyalty on a personal level.

6. Packaging

A company's packaging catches the attention of new buyers in a crowded marketplace and reinforces value to returning customers . Here are some ways to make your packaging work harder for you:

• Design for differentiation. A good design helps people recognize your brand at a glance, and can also highlight particular features of your product. For example, if you’re a shampoo company, you can use different colors on the packaging to label different hair types.
• Provide valuable information. Your packaging is the perfect place for product education or brand reinforcement. Include clear instructions, or an unexpected element to surprise and delight your customers.
• Add more value. Exceed expectations for your customers and give them well-designed, branded extras they can use, like a free toothbrush from their dentist, a free estimate from a roofer, or a free styling guide from their hairdresser.

Prioritize processes that overlap with the customer experience. The more specific and seamless your processes are, the more smoothly your staff can carry them out. If your staff isn't focused on navigating procedures, they have more attention available for customers—translating directly to personal and exceptional customer experiences.

Some processes to consider:

• Are the logistics in your main distribution channel cost-efficient?
• How are your scheduling and delivery logistics?
• Will your third-party retailers run out of product at critical times?
• Do you have enough staff to cover busy times?
• Do items ship reliably from your website?

If you get more than one customer complaint about any process, pinpoint what's going wrong and figure out how to fix it.

Understanding marketing mix and the 7 P’s can bring up a lot of questions. Below, we’ve answered some frequently asked questions to help you identify and establish your own marketing mix.

What is a marketing mix example?

A good example of the marketing mix might be a convenience store. In this instance, we might consider a chain of convenience outlets that provide a wide range of products including fresh and packaged food, tools, household, and kitchen items, novelties, magazines, etc.

• Product : Chiefly, foods and various items located and packaged in a way that provides convenience and utility.
• Price : Pricing will be considered competitive with supermarkets, with some exceptions where convenience, novelty, and fun add special appeal.
• Place : Locations should be amenable to the value proposition of convenience. As such, locations should be strategically positioned near residential areas, shopping centers, educational centers, etc.
• Promotion : Advertising will be largely constrained to posted promotional material, the outlet buildings themselves, local social media pages, and so on.

Here, we will consider the customer experience as the opportunity to access simple food items, snacks, and a range of useful products for home, recreation, and more.

Another example might be a streaming service. Here our 4 P's are as follows:

• Product : Original quality entertainment and convenient viewing access.
• Price : Free trial offer, premium packages, and a commercial free subscription level.
• Place : The subscriber's digital device.
• Promotion : Extended advertising across a range of channels and platforms, including high-value metropolitan billboards, magazines, and word of mouth.

Here, the customer experience is appealing, long-form video content primarily in the form of popular TV, films, comedy specials, and more with an emphasis on convenient home viewing.

What are the types of marketing mix?

In reality, there are as many types of marketing mixes as there are functioning businesses in the world. To make things simpler, we might try to make our model fit within one of 7 common, established marketing mix types as listed below.

• Product Mix
• Product Progression and Product Life Cycle
• Market Coverage Mix (aka Positioning Mix)
• Service Mix
• Marketing Program Mix (or Promotional Mix)
• Channel Mix/Vertical Integration
• Global Marketing Mix (or International Marketing Mix)

As you can see, making a given company's value proposition and promotional needs fit into one of these categories might not work well. Our convenient store example might fit into the service mix since convenience is the primary value we would be offering. But our streaming service might also be called a "service mix,” or even a "product mix."

In most cases, it is best to generate an original marketing mix that describes the marketing needs of a real life organization.

What are the 4 P’s of marketing mix?

The 4 P's are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

• Product : The product is an item or service for sale. For marketing purposes, we should consider who it is for and why they would want it. We should also consider and compare our offering to that of the competition.
• Price : This is the amount customers will be willing or required to pay. Often, making prices competitive is a significant challenge. In cases where prices cannot be lowered below the market benchmark, additional value may need to be added to the offer.
• Place : This is the location/s where the product or service can be accessed and where it is used. For a restaurant, location is everything. For a streaming service, it is the user's home or the location where they buy computer devices and services.
• Promotion : This describes how, where, and how frequently advertising materials will be produced and where they appear. With our convenience store, the promotional material is largely on and in the store itself. With our streaming service, it would be in locations all over the web and any other appropriate location/media.

The takeaway

The marketing mix and the 7 P's of marketing are a guide to drafting and creating an outreach campaign for any given commercial enterprise. They are guidelines that help us cover all of our bases when it comes to brand outreach. It should be borne in mind that branding considerations are not covered in the concepts covered by these promotional frameworks.

The elements of these guidelines work together to create a functional framework for the creation of a complete marketing plan.

Develop your marketing mix and integrate it into your marketing essentials. As you develop your marketing mix, consider how each element affects the rest to create a unified brand experience for your consumers, from the user experience to the perceived value of your product. Think about how a product's price changes its promotion strategy, how specifications will contribute to pricing, and how your people carry out processes. Ensure that your people and the tools they use can communicate with each other, and use the right tools to reach the right people.

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7 Ps of Marketing and How They Apply to Your Marketing Mix Looking for picture perfect marketing formulas that will likely outlast and adapt to any trend? Read on.

By Brian Tracy Apr 26, 2023

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

No matter what industry your business operates in, there is competition to outperform and ever-evolving trends to keep up with.

You must find a way to get your business to stand out. Whether you are trying to build a name for your business or maintain its stature, marketing is the key to getting people's attention and showing them what you can do.

Marketing strategies are roadmaps that allow your company to grow brand awareness and boost consumer engagement, relationships, and trust. It takes time, effort, and sometimes budget to build a marketing plan; however, it can pay huge dividends.

Once you've developed your marketing strategy, there is a "Seven P Formula" you should use to continually evaluate and reevaluate your business activities. The formula can help you create a system of checks and balances for physical evidence that your business is constantly evolving to ensure your marketing efforts reach your target audience .

With technology as an ever-evolving factor, updating your marketing campaigns to include more than just word of mouth is essential. Nowadays, you can use many distribution channels, like digital marketing, social media, and podcasts.

No matter which platforms you choose as your marketing tools, the seven Ps can serve as tried and true basic marketing tactics that you can adapt into your marketing efforts to best fit your business.

The 7 Ps of Marketing include:

• Positioning

Read on to learn more about the 7 Ps.

To begin with, develop the habit of looking at your product as though you were an outside marketing consultant brought in to help your company decide whether or not it's in the right business at this time. Ask critical questions such as, "Is your current product or service, or mix of products and services, appropriate and suitable for the market and the customers of today? Is this product offering any remedy to a customer's pain point?"

Whenever you're having difficulty selling as much of your products or services as you'd like, you need to develop the habit of assessing your business honestly and asking, "Are these the right products or services for our customers today?"

Is there any product or service you're offering today that, knowing what you now know, you would not bring out again today? Compared to your competitors, is your product or service superior in some significant way to anything else available? If so, what is it? If not, could you develop an area of superiority? Should you be offering this product or service at all in the current marketplace?

The second P in the formula is price. Develop the habit of continually examining and reexamining the pricing strategy of the products and services you sell to make sure they're still appropriate to the realities of the current market. Sometimes you need to lower your prices. At other times, it may be appropriate to raise your prices.

And other times, you need to research the competition to see what similar products in your industry space are going for, to ensure you are listing competitive pricing. Many companies have found that the profitability of certain new products or services doesn't justify the amount of effort and resources that go into producing them. By raising their prices, they may lose a percentage of their customers, but the remaining percentage generates a profit on every sale. Could this be appropriate for you?

Sometimes you need to change your terms and conditions of sale. Sometimes, by spreading your price over a series of months or years, you can sell far more than you are today, and the interest you can charge will more than make up for the delay in cash receipts. Sometimes you can combine products and services together with special offers and special promotions. Sometimes you can include free additional items that cost you very little to produce but make your product prices appear far more attractive to your customers.

In business, as in nature, whenever you experience resistance or frustration in any part of your sales or marketing plan, be open to revisiting that area. Be open to the possibility that your current pricing structure is not ideal for the current market. Be open to the need to revise your prices, if necessary, to remain competitive, to survive and thrive in a fast-changing marketplace.

Related: How to Create a Marketing Plan - Entrepreneur.com

3. Promotion

The third habit in marketing and sales is to think in terms of promotion all the time. Promotion includes all the ways you tell your target market about your products or services and how you then market and sell to them.

Small changes in the way you promote and sell your products based on segmentation can lead to dramatic changes and booms in your results. Even small changes in your advertising can lead immediately to higher sales. Experienced copywriters can often increase the response rate from advertising by 500 percent by simply changing the headline on an advertisement.

Large and small companies in every industry continually experiment with different ways of advertising, promoting, and selling their products and services. Right now? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) , is meant to improve the quality and quantity of traffic to a website.

But no matter what the favored method of the time, there is one tried and true rule. Whatever method of marketing and sales you're using today will, sooner or later, stop working. Sometimes it will stop working for reasons you know, and sometimes it will be for reasons you don't know. In either case, your methods of marketing and sales will eventually stop working, and you'll have to develop new sales, marketing and advertising approaches, offerings, and strategies.

While many might guess that email marketing and Facebook ads are today's most popular marketing activities, much of the market has already moved on to new methods.

The top five advertising techniques in 2022 include:

• Sound-free, short-form video ads.
• Advertising on mobile games.
• Machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• Collecting and advertising third-party data.
• LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

The fourth P in the extended marketing mix is the place where your product or service is actually sold. Develop the habit of reviewing and reflecting upon the exact physical location where the customer meets the salesperson. Sometimes a change in place can lead to a rapid increase in sales.

You can sell your product in many different places. Some companies use direct selling, sending their salespeople out to personally meet and talk with the prospect. Some sell by telemarketing. Some sell through catalogs or mail order. Some sell at trade shows or in retail establishments. Some sell in joint ventures with other similar products or services. Some companies use manufacturers' representatives or distributors. Many companies use a combination of one or more of these methods.

In each case, the entrepreneur must make the right choice about the very best location or place for the customer to receive essential buying information on the product or service needed to make a buying decision. What is yours? In what way should you change it? Where else could you offer your products or services?

5. Packaging

The fifth element of the marketing mix is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of your physical product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect. Remember, people form their first impression about you within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of your company. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of your product or service can often lead to completely different reactions from your customers.

With regard to the packaging of your company, your product or service, you should think in terms of everything customer experience —what they see from the first moment of contact with your company through the purchasing process. Consider branded packaging to make an impactful first impression.

If your customer begins experiencing your brand with an eye-catching design, they are more likely to remember that experience with fond associations. Including your business logo and social media handles is another great addition to custom packaging that can invite customers to engage with your brand and promote repeat interactions.

Packaging refers to the way your product or service appears from the outside. Packaging also refers to your people and how they dress and groom. It refers to your offices, your waiting rooms, your brochures, your correspondence and every single visual element about your company. Everything counts. Everything helps or hurts. Everything affects your customer's confidence about dealing with you.

When IBM started under the guidance of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., he very early concluded that fully 99 percent of the visual contact a customer would have with his company, at least initially, would be represented by IBM salespeople. Because IBM was selling relatively sophisticated high-tech equipment, Watson knew customers would have to have a high level of confidence in the credibility of the salesperson. He therefore instituted a dress and grooming code that became an inflexible set of rules and regulations within IBM.

As a result, every salesperson was required to look like a professional in every respect. Every element of their clothing-including dark suits, dark ties, white shirts, conservative hairstyles, shined shoes, clean fingernails-and every other feature gave off the message of professionalism and competence. One of the highest compliments a person could receive was, "You look like someone from IBM."

6. Positioning

The next P is positioning. You should develop the habit of thinking continually about how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers. How do people think and talk about you when you're not present? How do people think and talk about your company? What positioning do you have in your market, in terms of the specific words people use when they describe you and your offerings to others?

In the famous book by Al Reis and Jack Trout, Positioning , the authors point out that how you are seen and thought about by your customers is the critical determinant of your success in a competitive marketplace. Attribution theory says that most customers think of you in terms of a single attribute, either positive or negative. Sometimes it's "service." Sometimes it's "excellence." Sometimes it's "quality engineering," as with Mercedes Benz. Sometimes it's "the ultimate driving machine," as with BMW. In every case, how deeply entrenched that attribute is in the minds of your customers and prospective customers determines how readily they'll buy your product or service and how much they'll pay.

Develop the habit of thinking about how you could improve your positioning. Begin by determining the position you'd like to have. If you could create the ideal impression in the hearts and minds of your customers, what would it be? What would you have to do in every customer interaction to get your customers to think and talk about in that specific way? What changes do you need to make in the way you interact with customers today in order to be seen as the very best choice for the customer needs of tomorrow?

The final P of the marketing mix is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales, marketing strategies, and activities.

It's amazing how many entrepreneurs and businesspeople will work extremely hard to think through every element of the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and then pay little attention to the fact that every single decision and policy has to be carried out by a specific person, in a specific way. Your ability to select, recruit, hire and retain the proper people, with the skills and abilities to do the job you need to have done, is more important than everything else put together.

In his best-selling book, Good to Great , Jim Collins discovered the most important factor applied by the best companies was that they first of all "got the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus." Once these companies had hired the right people, the second step was to "get the right people in the right seats on the bus."

To be successful in business, you must develop the habit of thinking in terms of exactly who is going to carry out each task and responsibility. In many cases, it's not possible to move forward until you can attract and put the right person into the right position. Many of the best business plans ever developed sit on shelves today because the [people who created them] could not find the key people who could execute those plans.

Excerpted from Million Dollar Habits

The Ps of marketing

Marketing is essential whether you run an eCommerce business, a physical store, a small business, or a large corporation. While trends may evolve, the 7Ps of marketing will likely remain true and evolve with any new trend.

Remember, as products, markets, customers and needs change rapidly, you must continually revisit the seven Ps marketing model to ensure you're on track and achieving the maximum results possible for you in today's marketplace.

Looking for more marketing resources? Explore Entrepreneur's Marketing Hub here to help grow your business .

Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, Speaker and Author

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Customer Service Excellence and Customer Satisfaction

• Subjects: Business Management
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Home Marketing Strategy The Marketing Mix: Building a Strategy With the 7Ps

The Marketing Mix: Building a Strategy With the 7Ps

“The marketing mix” aims to provide a complete framework for modern business models and marketing strategies across the entire customer journey.

While there are many variations of the marketing mix, the most common framework consists of seven elements, collectively known as the 7Ps. The idea is that a business can adopt the 7Ps principle and use it as a seven-step framework for building a successful marketing strategy that covers every stage of the buying process.

In this article, we look at how you can use the marketing mix to build a complete strategy, plus a few tips for improving the 7Ps model.

What is the 7Ps model?

The 7Ps marketing model is a framework designed to help businesses build a complete marketing strategy, from start to finish. In theory, a new business should be able to use the 7Ps model to devise an entire marketing strategy from scratch.

The name derives from the seven elements outlined in the 7Ps model, which all begin with the letter “P”:

• Physical evidence

The 7Ps model is an evolution upon the 4Ps model originally founded by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960, in his book Marketing: A Managerial Approach . The original marketing mix concept was created during a time when the majority of businesses sold physical products and it was updated in the 1980s as more service-oriented businesses started to emerge.

The evolution from 4Ps to 7Ps

As mentioned in the previous section, Jerome McCarthy’s 4Ps model was created for businesses selling products to consumers.

As Smart Insights explains:

“The 4Ps were designed at a time where businesses were more likely to sell products, rather than services and the role of customer service in helping brand development wasn’t so well known.”

The original 4Ps included:

These same four elements still exist as the primary components of the 7Ps models. As business and consumer markets have evolved, the application of the marketing mix has adapted, too. In 1981, Bernard H. Booms and Mary J. Bitner expanded McCarthy’s model into the 7Ps marketing mix we know today.

While the original 4Ps remain in place, Booms and Bitner added a further three Ps in the mix:

The 7Ps model was created to reflect the emergence of service-oriented businesses where “Product” can mean either prospects or services. The expanded model also increases the emphasis upon customer service, as a result of increased consumer power and competition in every industry.

Like its predecessor, the 7Ps marketing mix has adapted to the evolution of consumer trends and new technologies.

In his book, Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice , digital strategist and co-founder of Smart Insights, Dave Chaffey, refreshed the 7Ps model for the modern digital age.

Some marketers argue that the 7Ps model is outdated but, even in 2021, it’s the backbone for business models and marketing theories. In fact, even the older 4Ps model is as relevant today as it was in 1960, even if it doesn’t cover the entire marketing mix in the modern, digital age.

This will become more obvious throughout the rest of this article as we look at each of the 7Ps individually and, later, assess whether there are any gaps or weaknesses in the model.

Applying the 7Ps to digital marketing

Now that you understand the basic premise of the marketing mix, let’s take a closer look at the 7Ps model that’s most widely associated with it today. Let’s start by reminding ourselves of what the 7Ps stand for and explain a bit about what they actually mean.

• Product: The product or service, including its features, unique selling points and the overall quality on offer.
• Promotion: The methods used to promote the product across multiple channels.
• Price: The long-term pricing strategy of the product in question, including sales, discounts & deals.
• Place: Where people find your product, learn about it and, ultimately, buy it.
• People: The people who come into contact with your target customers – both directly and indirectly.
• Process: Your methods for delivering the product to customers and providing the best possible experience.
• Physical evidence: Tangible items and experiences that tell customers your offer is real – for digital, this can include website visits, confirmation emails, testimonials, customer reviews and more.

Now, it’s worth reaffirming the point that the original 4Ps are solid figures in the updated 7Ps model but you will find some variation in the three additional Ps added into this model, depending on where you get your information from.

We’re sticking to the original 7Ps model for this part of the article but we’ll look at ways you can adapt and expand it even further to meet the needs of your business later on.

#1: Product

The first P in this marketing model is “Product” and this is almost unanimously featured as the first P in all versions of the marketing mix. This is because one of the core principles of this theory is that marketing begins with your product.

At the end of the day, if you’ve got a lousy product – especially in this day and age – you’re going to have a hard time marketing it.

The key elements of the product in your marketing mix can vary, depending on which market you’re and who your target audiences are. But, at the very least, you should invest good resources into the following:

• Quality: Higher product quality makes everything else you do in marketing and sales so much easier.
• Image: This refers to how people see your product and this is what separates products like the iPhone from Android devices or sports cars from cheaper, more practical vehicles.
• Branding: Closely linked to “image”, this is the brand story you build around your product and how it incorporates with your wider brand image.
• Features: The features of your product or service, which should place a heavy emphasis on USPs and benefits for your target customers.
• Variants: The different versions of your product or service, who they target and how you differentiate them.

The list could go on-and-on for Product and if you go back to Dave Chaffey’s version of the 7Ps we looked at earlier, you’ll see this is the longest list in his visualisation.

His list isn’t definitive or complete either; it’s up to you to decide which items belong on this list for your business. The point is that your product (or service) is the focal point of your marketing strategies and you want to do everything you can to ensure the right level of quality is there.

Take TrueNorth for example. The first thing you see on the homepage is the Product; It’s branding (both the name and visual style), product imagery, and a video walking through the product features.

#2: Promotion

Promotion refers to your marketing, advertising and sales activities across all channels. Once again, your channels of choice will vary depending on the nature of your business. For example, a B2B company may prioritise account-based marketing while a B2C company in the same industry might focus more on direct marketing methods.

Above all, you need to be present where your target audiences are active and interested in a brand like yours.

Given the rapid evolution of multi-channel marketing, this is one area where a version of the 7Ps model from as recent as five years ago can quickly look dated.

Here are some key elements to consider:

• Multi-channel marketing: The consumer journey takes place across more devices, sessions and platforms than ever before, making it all the more important that you’re present on the channels that matter most to your target audiences.
• Personalised experiences: The more relevant you can make experiences to individual users, the more engaging your messages become and the more “locked-in” customers are to your brand.
• Integrated marketing & sales: Today’s brands need seamless integration between marketing and sales strategies to prevent leads getting lost along the funnel.
• Lead nurturing: A lot of brands make the mistake of focusing all of their attention on lead generation without dedicated enough resources to lead nurturing – especially customer retention.
• Branding: Today’s consumers want authentic experiences and brands are scrutinised for their ethical practices, making brand image more important – and fragile – than ever.
• PR: Brands don’t always give PR the attention it deserves in the digital age but it’s an invaluable tool for building, maintaining and even changing your brand image.
• Automation: As the digital marketing workload increases, brands need to automate as many repetitive tasks as they can to manage multi-channel campaigns successfully, maintain costs and achieve the fastest possible growth.

There’s no doubt that the Promotion aspect of the 7Ps model is getting more challenging with every year that passes, as technology and consumer trends become more complex.

The days of running a few TV ads and blasting out some unsolicited email campaigns are long behind us.

Today’s brands need to use the right marketing and sales software to maximise productivity, automate repetitive tasks and manage campaigns across an ever-growing number of channels.

Take a look at some of our software recommendation articles for help with this:

• 30+ Best Free Marketing Tools
• 10 Best All-in-One Email Marketing, Automation & CRM Platforms
• 53 Business Automation Tools That Skyrocketed Our Growth by 330%

Price is pretty self-explanatory but the mistake companies normally make is underestimating the amount of detail that goes into pricing a single product – let alone an entire range of products or services.

Here’s a list of just some of the things you need to strategise:

• Positioning: Where do you see your product, service or brand positioning in the market?
• Competition: The price of rival products, brand image of rival brands and competing quality of the products on offer.
• Justification: As soon as someone spends money on goods or a service, they instinctively spend time trying to justify the expense – and you need to make sure the result is worth the asking price.
• Discounts: Discounts should be strategic and planned out to maximise interest, demand and sales – not to clear unwanted items off the shelves.
• Credit: Are you going to offer credit options to make large purchases and expenses more manageable for your customers?
• Payment methods: Which payment methods are you going to provide your target customers?
• Free or value-added elements: Which freebies, value-added elements and incentives are you going to use to sweeten the deal for your prospects.

Value is highly subjective and the happiness of your customers with their purchases is determined far more by emotion than logic. As we’ve explained before in our articles on cognitive biases , you can influence consumer perception with simple psychological techniques.

A common example of this is software pricing pages where companies start with the most expensive price on the left side of the page. This exploits a cognitive weakness known as anchoring bias where people instinctively set the first piece of information they see as default, meaning any lower prices that follow naturally feel like good value.

Place is the final P in the original 4Ps model and this traditionally refers to the place where customers physically buy products and services. Of course, in the digital age, things are a little more complex and we have to expand the concept of place across multiple channels throughout the customer journey:

• Discovery: The “places” both online and offline where potential customers discover your brand and its products/services.
• Browsing: The locations where prospects can browse through your offers alongside competitors (e.g.: an online store) or within your own domain (e.g.: a product category on your website).
• Learn: Places where target audiences can learn more about your products or services, such as third-party reviews.
• Comparison: Where potential customers go to compare your offers against rival brands.
• Physical interaction: Any place where prospects are able to physically touch the product or service (if relevant) although this could apply to free trials and demos for digital products, too.
• Purchases: Online and offline locations where your customers can purchase from you.
• Customer services: The channels where customers can reach out for care after making the initial purchase.
• Retention: The channels you use to target customers after the initial purchase to entice further sales.

Place in the digital age refers to every strategic location where potential customers engage with your brand and its product or services – both before and after the sale.

The point is, you need to control these locations, which starts with choosing the right channels of discovery to capture new leads and then nurturing prospects along the sales funnel with targeted interactions.

In today’s customer-centric approach to marketing, you might assume “People” refers to your target audiences, buyer personas and customers. However, the People in the 7Ps model actually refers to the people within your organisation that interact with your customers – both directly and indirectly:

• Marketers: The 7Ps model highlights the importance of hiring the best talent for every position on your marketing team.
• Sales team members: These are the people who typically handle the first person-to-person interactions with your customers – and often seal the deal.
• Customer service team: The individuals tasked with keeping your customers happy, even when things aren’t quite going to plan.
• Recruitment: Hiring the best talent starts with having quality recruitment personnel.
• Training & skills: The people responsible for ensuring all of your team members encompass the brand ethos and meet your requirements.
• Managers: The people with people skills to manage teams, get the best out of everyone and ensure you hit targets.

Chances are, you’ll have several other groups or teams included in your People. Here at Venture Harbour, we’ve got the developers who build and test our products, designers who create the best possible experience for our customers and a pool of freelancers we turn to for a range of different tasks.

Everyone in our team contributes to building and delivering the best product and experiences we can to our customers – and it’s important we recognise the value in that.

For more information on how to build and manage a marketing team effectively, you can read our guide:

• Marketing Teams: How to Structure & Manage Them Effectively

#6: Process

Process in the 7Ps model refers to your processes for delivering the product or service to your customers, as well as any additional customer service and post-purchase systems you have in place.

At the very least, you should have processes in place for the following:

• Customer-end delivery: The customer’s process for attaining your product or service, whether it’s ordered online and delivered via a courier, bought in-store, downloaded from your website or accessed through an online sign-up process.
• Business-end delivery: Your processes for facilitating customer-end delivery and safeguards for resolving any potential issues (e.g.: technical issues preventing online purchases).
• Customer service: Your processes, systems and channels for providing customer service beyond the initial sale.
• Resolutions: Your processes for dealing with problems that prevent usual delivery systems from completing successfully and instances where customers are unhappy with the process/service received.
• Incentives: Measures designed to keep unhappy customers engaged with your brand so you can keep them on board and win them over.
• Returns & refunds: Your systems for dealing with returns, cancellations, refunds and any other processes for customers who refuse to stay on board.
• Feedback: Your processes for collecting customer feedback and applying these insights to product/service improvements.
• T&Cs: The terms and conditions that your customers agree to, specifying your processes and protecting your business in any instance where things don’t go to plan.

You have to carefully and strategically build processes for every customer interaction, down to the finest detail. When your primary method of delivering products or services to your customers fails, you need a solid backup plan – and another one for when your Plan B fails, too.

Today’s customers have more options than ever and modern businesses need to satisfy these expectations – from delivery methods and payment options to customer service channels and financial guarantees.

If you’re doing this properly, you’ll be forced to make some difficult decisions and it’s not always a question of doing what’s best for the customer. For example, you don’t want to make it too easy for customers to seek a refund, return items or close accounts. You want to carefully add some friction here and there to provide crucial time for resolving issues and encourage continued use.

Likewise, your customer service processes need to be effective in terms of keeping customers on your side but they also need to be affordable and it’s not always realistic to have an in-house team of customer care staff sitting by the phones every day.

Once again, technology can help you strike the right balance between customer care and profitability – for example, using chatbots to handle the first interactions with customers. Likewise, personalised automated email responses can cut the perceived time it takes for human team members to contact customers directly.

#7: Physical evidence

The final P in the 7Ps stands for Physical evidence and this used to refer to actual physical items and forms of interaction: products, stores, receipts, packaging, bags and other branded items that could be seen and touched.

Of course, these are all forms for physical evidence today but, in the digital age, we have to reconsider our definition of “physical”.

So what does physical evidence really achieve?

Well, on one hand, it helps customers feel more confident that they’re dealing with a legitimate business before they make a purchase. A company with stores across the country, great products and nice packaging must be doing pretty well for itself and, surely, this wouldn’t be possible if they weren’t taking good care of their customers – right?

The second key role physical evidence plays is after the initial sale by providing customers with evidence that the transaction took place, their payment was received and their products or services will be delivered.

• Places: This was the fourth P on our list of 7Ps and these locations act as physical evidence – whether it’s your website, physical stores or trusted third-party platforms.
• Third-party evidence: Customer reviews, press coverage in major publications and positive press are especially important in the digital age where simply having a website doesn’t provide the level of physical evidence real-world stores.
• Online experience: That said, the quality of your website and the user experience it provides are crucial forms of physical evidence in the modern consumer journey.
• Feedback: Sales staff provide all kinds of feedback through conversation, facial expressions and body language, which is lost in the online experience. So it’s important to design intuitive feedback into the experience – everything from click confirmations and animations to on-page feedback when forms are completed and payments are submitted.
• Order confirmation: Whether it’s physical receipts or confirmation emails, customers need to know their transactions are successful.
• Product packaging: Both the physical and digital packaging/branding of your products or services.

Physical evidence is primarily about easing consumer concerns and purchase anxieties by reassuring potential customers that your business is legitimate, their money is in good hands and the purchase is going to go smoothly.

By providing feedback across the entire customer journey, you can confirm that every little interaction is successful and build reassurance as they get closer to putting their money on the line.

What are the limitations of the 7Ps model?

There’s no such thing as a perfect marketing model and, no matter how comprehensive a list we make for each of the 7Ps, there’s no way it can cover every aspect of a digital marketing strategy.

In fact, there are various different versions of an 8th P added to the model of seven, depending on which marker you speak to. As Smart Insights explains in this article , “An eighth P, ‘Partners’ is often recommended for businesses to gain reach online… although some would argue it’s part of Place.”

Other incarnations of a proposed 8Ps model may include Performance, Productivity, Packaging or a range of other alliterated alternatives for the enigmatic title of the eighth P.

If this debate tells us anything, it’s that the 7Ps model clearly has its limitations and there have been plenty of expansions or alternatives proposed in the past.

For me, the glaring omission in the 4Ps and 7Ps models is the lack of reference to the end customer in both of them. In fact, on a broader scale, neither model even makes a reference to market research and ensuring there’s a large enough target audience for the product or a demand for it.

I guess you could solve this problem without changing the 7Ps model by simply including customers in People and market research in Product. However, stronger alternatives have been offered in “the age of the customer” while others can be used to expand upon the 7Ps model.

In 1990, Robert F. Lauterborn proposed his customer-centric alternative to the 4Ps model, which we can crudely call the 4Cs:

• Customer needs
• Convenience
• Communication

This offers a more customer-centric alternative to the traditional 4Ps model that feels a lot more suitable for the modern age. However, there are problems with simply replacing the Ps for Cs.

As we mentioned in the Process section earlier, if you only consider the customer in your delivery methods, you can easily overlook the business management side of things. Likewise, if you think of the customer with your customer service processes, then you can end up creating a system that hurts your bottom line – either by being too generous or overspending on your customer care systems.

While it sounds great to talk about the customer experience as the priority (perhaps it should be), it’s not the only factor in a successful business, by any means – or a complete marketing strategy for that matter.

As Hannah Tow suggests in her article for G2 , we might be better off extending the 7Ps even further to include the 4Cs, allowing us to look at Price from the business’ perspective and also the Cost from the customer’s point of view.

Create the model that works for you (and your customers)

The 7Ps model isn’t a fixed framework that you have to follow religiously. It’s more of a template that helps you consider every aspect of marketing across the entire journey – so you don’t overlook key factors like how physical evidence increases confidence and enhances the customer experience.

It’s a model that you should scrutinise, adapt and reshape to suit your business, your target audiences and your customers. Whether this means staying relatively true to the original 7Ps, expanding it with the 4Cs or coming up with your own version is entirely up to you.

Just make sure you cover all of the essential bases to avoid leaving gaps in your marketing strategy and the customer experience.

Getting your marketing mix structured & organised

We’ve broken down a lot of theory, but how do you actually apply this and ensure you have marketing activity across all stages of the marketing mix?

Well, initially you may consider running an audit across all seven areas to identify which areas need attention. From there, you will want to come up with ideas and begin tracking these as campaigns/tasks in whichever tool you use to manage your marketing.

In TrueNorth , for example, you could allocate budget across the 7Ps and even track your marketing activity and results according to the various 7Ps to ensure you are doing enough in each area and to separate the campaigns that are designed to improve each of the seven areas.

While there’s no right or wrong way to do it, the key is to ensure you take stock of where you are and have a clear system in place to constantly improve in all areas of the marketing mix over time.

Aaron Brooks is a copywriter & digital strategist specialising in helping agencies & software companies find their voice in a crowded space.

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Better Knowledge. Your Insight Is Sharper

7Ps Marketing Mix: Importance and Components

Updated: July 8, 2024 · Reviewed by: Ahmad Nasrudin

What’s it:  7Ps is an extended marketing mix by considering the specific characteristics of services. The 7Ps marketing mix consists of:

• Product 
• Place 

Physical evidence

• Process 

7Ps components

7Ps are important. It provides the company with variables to create value and generate a competitive advantage in marketing. In the conventional marketing mix, marketers use four variables: product, price, place, and promotion. Then, they added 3 other variables to consider the service market’s characteristics: physical evidence, people, and processes.

Product refers to something to satisfy consumer needs. That we call goods to refer to tangible products. Meanwhile, we call those who are intangible as services.

To satisfy consumers, the company designs a unique selling value proposition. It is the uniqueness with which the company strives to satisfy customer needs and differentiate its products from competitors’ products. For example, it may be a low price or high quality.

The mass product offers a standardized product and is relatively similar to other products on the market. However, to attract customers, companies offer them at a lower price, so consumers spend less money to buy.

On the other hand, some companies offer differentiated products to accentuate high quality. They offer uniqueness, whether in terms of features, performance, style, or even packaging, as a way to entice people to buy. With this uniqueness, the company hopes consumers are willing to pay a higher price. That way, the profit margin per unit is higher than the standardized products.

Setting the selling price is an important decision for the product to be successful in the market. Companies consider the customer’s willingness to pay. They measure the maximum price that a customer is prepared to pay for the product (we call this the reservation price).

Price represents the product’s monetary value, which consumers see as the cost of satisfying their needs. If consumers perceive the product as having low value, they are reluctant to buy or choose alternative products. Conversely, if the consumers’ perceived value is higher than the price, they are willing to buy and are satisfied.

Under mass marketing, companies charge low prices to attract purchases. They offer standard quality products. Products have a low-profit margin per unit. Thus, to generate the total targeted profit, they are trying to generate high sales volume.

Meanwhile, under differentiated marketing, firms charge high prices. They offer uniqueness, so consumers are willing to pay more. Products have a high-profit margin per unit. Thus, to achieve the same total profit as mass products, the company only needs a lower sales volume.

How low or how high the company sets the selling price requires in-depth research. Whether for mass products or differentiated products, too-high prices will cause customers to switch to competing products. Conversely, a too-low price will result in a less than optimal level of profit.

The company considers various factors to carry out a pricing strategy , including:

• Production costs, covering variable costs and fixed costs per unit
• Consumer profile, for example, whether they are quality conscious or price-conscious consumers
• Types of product, for example, whether a mass product or a differentiated product
• Target market, for example, is it a new market or an existing market
• Competition in the market, including the number of competitors and their strategies
• Price elasticity of demand, how sensitive is the consumer if the company changes the price.

For example, some companies may consider production costs more to determine the selling price. They add a percentage of profit (mark-up) to the average cost to produce the selling price. This method is more straightforward than other pricing methods, such as value-based pricing and competition-based pricing.

Marketers take advantage of promotions and communication channels to inform products, influence consumer perceptions, and encourage them to buy. Promotion strategies can take forms such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing. They are often referred to as the promotion mix.

There are several specific objectives of promotion, including:

• Attract potential customers in the existing market to purchase products
• Communicate and encourage consumers to try new products
• Increase the number of consumers by targeting audiences in new markets
• Inform consumers about product quality improvements
• Influencing consumers to prefer the company’s products over competitors’ products

Place is not just about sales locations. It is broader, namely ensuring the product is available at the right location and time when consumers need it. For goods, selling near the target consumer’s location is one way. Another way is to develop effective distribution channels, both internally and by collaborating with external distributors or retailers.

Meanwhile, service companies have unique characteristics. They do not rely on distributors or retailers to provide services. Instead, they provide it directly through face-to-face interaction or special devices such as software.

For some service businesses, finding a strategic location for customers and the company is critical. Fine dining chooses a busy city center where a large number of potential customers are available. For customers they are comfortable because it is close to where they live or work.

Physical evidence refers to tangible elements that consumers can enjoy when interacting with companies. It may be the physical environment in which the company provides services. Or, it might be where the company sells products like retail space.

Layout, lighting system, or interior design is one way to provide comfort for consumers. They influence the consumer’s emotion when the interaction is taking place. For example, a messy interior design makes consumers uncomfortable. It creates an unpleasant atmosphere, thus giving consumers a lousy experience. Finally, they are reluctant to transact or visit the same location at a later date.

People may refer to staff or salespeople who work for businesses and interact with consumers. When they serve customers, in effect, they are building relationships and trust with customers. If they are proficient, they create a positive impression in the eyes of consumers. Ultimately, consumers are willing to buy and, perhaps, recommend to others.

The quality of human resources determines the success of a company. Education and skills are determining factors. Another factor is attitude and motivation. So, for example, sales staff know what they sell and how to sell it. And they also have to show a good appearance, body language, facial expressions, and compelling speech.

The process represents a series of actions or steps in selling products and providing services to consumers. Right processes allow companies to provide the same standard of service to all customers. Right processes also save time and money by increasing efficiency.

The process includes how companies interact and meet consumer demands. It is at the core of activity in the service sector. In purchasing furniture at a traditional retail store, for example, might include the process of selecting products, interacting with sales staff, paying at the checkout, and delivering the goods home. Because the process is the point of contact between the company and the customer, it is essential to achieve a competitive advantage in the service business.

Processes will vary depending on the nature of the company’s business. However, what is certain is that companies have a unique or special way of serving their customers. Take the restaurant, for example. Some restaurants provide open kitchen facilities. Visitors can see the process of making the food they ordered.

• Understanding the Marketing Mix: Your Essential Guide
• Win Customers: Market, Target, and Product Strategy
• A Comprehensive Guide to Promotion Strategies
• Mastering the Product Mix: Your Guide to Successful Product Marketing
• Pricing Strategy: Types, Factors to Considering
• Mastering Marketing Planning: A Comprehensive Guide 

About Ahmad Nasrudin

Introverted writer with a passion for storytelling. Leveraged analytical skills from financial background (equity research, credit risk) at a leading rating agency to enhance writing with a unique statistical and macroeconomic perspective. Learn more about me