The Seven P Formula is a way of continually evaluating business activities. This marketing mix example strategically puts a business into the market to ensure their audience is satisfied and their perceived value is accurate. It also helps them stand out from the competition.
What Are the 7 Ps of Marketing?
The marketing mix is a valuable strategic tool, usually limited to the four core Ps of product, price, place, and promotion. Taking a more expansive view, the 7 Ps of marketing are:
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
- Place
- Packaging
- Positioning
- People
As the market changes, you must revisit each of these seven Ps of marketing to achieve maximum results in today’s marketplace.
Product
Look at your product as if you were a marketing consultant you would hire. Ask yourself questions like:
- Is this the right time to offer this product?
- Are the products and services we offer appropriate for our customers right now?
Be honest with yourself when answering these questions, and make a habit of asking them often. If you can not think of good reasons to offer the products you are offering, it is time to reevaluate whether you should continue to provide the product in its current state.
Think about how you can improve your product to give it a competitive edge against your competitors. How can you make it superior? Does it already excel in a way that you can rework to your advantage?
Price
Take a look at your current pricing model for products and services. How do customers react to it? Are your products and services priced too low, making customers question their value? Evaluate your current discounts, warranties, fees, and terms. Look at competitors and their pricing structure.
You could consider transitioning to a monthly pricing schedule for larger items and services at a slightly lower price point. Interest and fees over time with increased sales will more than makeup for initial cash receipts.
Look into the production of a product and see if the effort it takes to make and sell it at its current price point is worth it. Raising the price might mean fewer sales, but the increased price might make up for it if the effort-to-value ratio increases.
Always be willing to revise prices as needed to remain competitive. The market changes fast, and you need to make sure you can roll with the punches to stay profitable.
Promotion
Promotion is something you should have on your mind at all times. Think of all the different ways you can tell your customers about your products or services. Think of how to make those ways more efficient by enacting small changes. The smallest of changes can make a huge difference in how well a promotion works.
Experiment with advertising, use experienced copywriters, and be willing to stop a marketing method as soon as it becomes ineffective as it will always become unusable at some point. Being adaptive and proactive will help you develop new sales more than hanging on to stale promotions for the sake of justifying their costs.
Place
Place is all about where you sell your products or services. Always keep in mind where your customers meet your salesperson or marketing. Making a slight change in place can lead to a dramatic increase in sales.
Do not be afraid to sell in multiple places at once. Look into mail order or joint ventures selling complementary products and services. Keep an ear to the ground and both eyes on competitors to see where and how their products sell.
It is up to you to choose the best locations to offer your products or services so customers can receive the information they need to decide on whether or not to make a purchase. What are your current locations? How well do they perform? Do you need to make a change? These are questions you need to ask yourself regularly.
Packaging
Get into the habit of taking a few steps back and evaluating every aspect of how you package your product or service. A first impression only takes around 30 seconds, so you want to make sure you capture a customer’s attention within that time frame.
Think about how customers see your product or service from their first moment of contact until they purchase it. Packaging also deals with the way you sell your product. Are your salespeople well-dressed and groomed? Does your sales floor correctly reflect your company? Everything or everyone a potential customer interacts with during the process of shopping for your product or service will color their decision on whether to purchase or not.
Positioning
How well is your company positioned in your customers’ hearts and minds? How is your company talked about by the general public or in niche circles? What words do people use to describe your company, products, and services?
Develop the habit of continually thinking about this and what you can do to improve your positioning. How can you ensure you instill the right thoughts and feelings about your offerings to customers, and what can you do to drive those home with every interaction?
People
Always keep the people involved in your business process in mind. It takes people to enact all the other Ps in this list. People make your products or present your services, package them, market them, sell them, and purchase them.
The way you choose to recruit and hire, and the people you select from that process go a long way in determining your success. Always make sure the right people are where they need to be, and anyone who can not enact the desired outcomes gets moved to where they can be more valuable.
Without the right people on your team, you will never get your products or services into the hands of the people you are targeting. Think about every aspect of what needs doing and the right person for the job, and never stop evaluating every position and person it takes to get your offering into the hands of those who need it.
Contact Gold Promotion for Help With the 7 Ps!
At Gold Promotion, we can apply the 7 Ps to your business to help you increase revenue and expand your client base. As a performance-focused internet marketing company based out of Boston, MA, we know how to manage local, B2B, and e-commerce. Give us a call today at 800-476-3094.
We built a performance marketing system for small business owners. Cutting-edge technology and tactics power revenue-focused digital marketing
programs for local, b2b, and e-commerce.
- How to Select a Promotion Agency - July 25, 2021
- Top Promotion Tools for Sales & Marketing Success - July 25, 2021
- Event Promotion – Strategy & Tactics - July 25, 2021
Leave a Reply