Fantastic 7P
Years like 2020 make it very clear that marketing is a discipline in constant evolution and companies that do not evolve at the same speed, run the risk of getting stuck and not being able to evolve as the competition will surely do, as I mentioned in my previous post.
There is a set of tactical techniques or tools such as Marketing Mix, which are a combination that allows us to align our strategy to achieve our objectives through the famous 4Ps introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy in the 60s, which evolved to become what Now they are called the "7Ps of Marketing" or as I like to call them: "Fantastic 7P".
This has not happened now, Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner changed this concept in 1981 when they proposed to apply the concept of the 7Ps since at the end of the 70s the marketing specialists had recognized that the Marketing Mix had to be updated and this new conception reached a high degree of acceptance throughout Europe.
Well-coordinated, the 7P of Service Marketing Mix can be a very useful tool that will help us achieve our goals. Recall that marketing, in a summarized way, consists of analyzing the market to find out what it needs and grouping a series of creative strategies to commercially promote a product and the 4Ps proposed by McCarthy for the Marketing Mix became somewhat obsolete and almost necessarily gave I move on to this new approach from Booms and Bitner.
To this day this concept continues to evolve, but now to apply it to the digital world, focused mainly on e-commerce, although they are basically the same principles as those exposed in 1981.
There are alternative variations of the Marketing Mix such as Robert F. Lauterborn's 4C Consumer-Oriented approach from 1990 or the one proposed by Chekitan Dev and Don Schultz in 2005 called SIVA for its acronym. But before going deeper and looking at other strategies I want to explain what the famous "Ps" are and how they can help us.
To start it is important to perform a SWOT analysis, we have to find out our current situation to create a strategy based on the 7Ps. Later we will create a strategic plan that we will apply to each of these elements.
But what are the 4Ps?
- Product.
- Price.
- Place.
- Promotion.
PRODUCT
As I said before, it is the task of the marketing process to study the market to find out what product consumers want to offer them what they are looking for, a product that meets the wishes and needs of the consumer.
The product, in addition to being a physical good or a service, includes tangible attributes such as its design, packaging, or variety, and other intangibles such as branding and the values that the brand represents.
PRICE
The price of the product must be according to the needs it covers as well as having a perfect balance in the quality-price ratio. This will depend on many factors such as production costs, promotion, distribution, services, after-sales, taxes, etc ... in addition to other factors such as the prices of similar products from the competition. That is why our prices must be competitive without forgetting the main positioning strategy of the brand and the product. If we sell luxury goods at low prices, we may not create confidence in consumers. If we sell low or medium-quality products at too high prices, the competition may perform better at more affordable prices.
PLACE
The distribution strategy is another of the key factors since depending on where the product is available we can reach the consumer or not achieve our objective. It will be useless to have a "very good product" at a "very good price" if the consumer cannot access it. Companies like Coca-Cola are a good example of an excellent distribution strategy, a strategy worth studying and cloning.
PROMOTION
Finally, the promotion strategy will help us to communicate and promote our products, making the consumer aware of the message strategically designed in the marketing plan. Through all communication tools such as branding, advertising, direct marketing, public relations, etc ...
Previously I explained the difference between branding, marketing, and advertising, where I compared these with Matryoshka dolls to explain their relationship in a simpler way.
What are the 7Ps?
To the 4Ps that we have just seen, Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner decided to add other 3Ps that could complement the previous ones to evolve this marketing strategy called Marketing Mix.
They considered it essential to introduce these new three elements to the equation so that it could be considered complete:
PEOPLE
Strategically, the people who work for us are a fundamental part of the offer of the product or service that we make to the market, since having the right people is of vital importance for the development of our product or service, quality standards, etc. ... human resources gained the importance they deserve in the new Marketing Mix proposed by Booms and Bitner.
PROCESSES
The channels that will make our product or service reach the consumer will affect the quality perceived by it, so it is of great importance that the elements that will intervene so that the consumer receives our product are following the philosophy of our brand. They must be accessible, the process must be well focused to treat the customer to make his return for a new sale. The customer must be satisfied with their purchase and at this point in the process, we must try to avoid post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Products are physical evidence by themselves, but for companies that offer services, physically intangible goods, there must be physical evidence that the service was performed. This physical evidence will provide an experience to how the consumer receives our brand, our company.
The context of a physical space where we interact with the consumer to offer them a service must be well planned with the aim of continuing with the strategy of physical evidence and ensuring that our brand experience is perceived as something positive in the consumer's mind.
So is there an 8th P strategy?
Yes, there is an eighth P that is neither more nor less than PRODUCTIVITY and QUALITY.
In short, it is about managing production, optimizing costs, resources, etc ... to achieve the best results at more competitive prices.
It also refers to how we will transmit to our customers the quality obtained in this process of optimization in production to increase the quality of our products.
So thanks to E. Jerome McCarthy, Bernard Booms, and Mary Bitner, we have these ever-evolving tools available to help us achieve our marketing goals.
We must renew ourselves before we die, we cannot get stuck, we cannot be left behind, because our competition will not do it, and we do not settle for a mediocre position, we want to achieve success and be the winning team.
We can help you at IGNITE Global Marketing with your company.
