Marketing Mix - 4Ps & 7Ps of Marketing
As a marketing major student, the first topic I learned in my marketing course was the marketing mix, known as the 4Ps of marketing. I was wondering as a young boy why this was an important topic to learn. But now as I have deep-dived into this world, I can certainly tell you the importance of knowing the marketing mix not only for getting good grades in exams but also to make a winning marketing strategy in the real world.
In this blog, I have discussed what is marketing mix, the 4Ps of the marketing mix, and the 7Ps of marketing mix thoroughly, Along with that, I have also given a real-life example so that you can understand the topic better!
What is Marketing Mix? (Definition of Marketing Mix)
Marketing mix is the essential part of introducing a product or service to the public. It’s basically a marketing tool that helps businesses create a comprehensive plan to promote products and services. It’s about positioning a product in the right place, at the right time, to the right consumer.
What are the components of the Marketing Mix?
The basic marketing mix concept includes –
- Product ( or, Service)
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
– Which is known as the 4Ps of Marketing.
However, nowadays, we can see an extended version of this marketing mix which is known as the 7Ps of marketing.
Fear Not! I will explain both the marketing mixes in this blog. Let’s just start with the basic 4Ps!
Components of Marketing Mix – 4Ps of Marketing
As I have mentioned, the 4Ps of marketing consist of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
Product in Marketing Mix
The first element is the product. For creating a marketing plan or launching a business, a basic understanding of the product is necessary. The job of the marketer is to define the product and its qualities and introduce it to the consumer.
The product can be tangible and intangible. If you are in a service business, understand the services.
Remember that, the only thing that customers care about is the product or service that you are providing. Hence, you have to be careful while designing the product. Your product must deliver a minimum level of performance that satisfies the customer.
In this stage, you can keep in mind the following things:
- Different Phases of Product
A product has a certain life cycle that includes
- Growth phase
- Maturity phase
- Sales decline phase
So, a marketer should notice these phases and make changes accordingly to stay relevant and attract the customer.
- Product-led-marketing
Product-led marketing is when you prioritize the product and optimize it to give the best experience.
There are 5 components of successful product-led-marketing.
- Try to market the value of the product to the customer
- Know your customer’s need
- Make informative content to help the customer (Content marketing)
- Share your business stories
- Focus on the product
Price in Marketing Mix
Price is the second element of the marketing mix. Here in this stage, you decide the price of your product. Before deciding the price do thorough research on your competitor’s pricing. Also, try to figure out what your customers are willing to pay for your product.
For example, Suppose you are selling a soap worth $100. Your competitor is selling the same type of soap at $90. The customer may choose your competitor’s product instead of yours. However, it is not always necessary to price the product below competitors’ pricing. A lot of factors are here for consideration.
Marketers also need to determine when and if discounting is appropriate. A discount can draw in more customers, but it can also give the impression that the product is less desirable than it was.
Place in Marketing Mix
The place is considering where the product will be available. Here the product type and pricing play a crucial role. For example, if your product is a luxury cosmetic product, you may place it where people with high purchasing power visit the most. If your product is for mass and general people, you may place the product in a place where it will get the attention of the general people!
The term placement also refers to advertising the product in the right media to get the attention of target consumers. If your target customers are mostly active in social media, you should run Facebook ads, TikTok Ads or do social media marketing. And, if your target audiences are mostly active in offline activities, you should focus on offline activation.
This is how the third element of the marketing mix 4Ps helps the marketers to decide the right place for selling and advertising the product.
Promotion in Marketing Mix
The last element of the marketing mix is promotion. Promotion refers to communicating to the consumers about the characteristics of the product and making them interested in buying it. It includes
- Paid Advertising
- Public Relations
- Social Media Marketing
- Offline Marketing, etc
The goal of promotion is to aware the consumer about the product, letting them know the benefits of the product. It helps to grab the attention of the customer.
How Do You Use the 4 Ps of Marketing?
The classic marketing mix or 4Ps of marketing can be used if you are–
- Planning to launch a new product
- Evaluating an existing product
- Making a promotional plan for a product
- Optimizing sales of a product, etc
Overall, it helps a marketer to analyze the 4 important factors and make strategic decisions.
Now that you know the basic 4Ps of the marketing mix. Let’s move to the 7Ps of marketing.
What is the 7Ps of Marketing?
Nowadays businesses have extended the 4Ps with the new marketing model known as the 7Ps of marketing. Here with the basic 4 elements you can see extra 3 elements which are
- People
- Process
- Physical Evidence
These added 3Ps are mostly applicable to service businesses or where the product is intangible.
Service: It’s a process that creates benefits for customers or provides them with experience. For example, educational institutions, parlors, etc
Intangible Product: When the product cannot be touched. Such as music, video, applications, etc
Let’s discuss the People, Process, and Physical evidence in the marketing mix!
People in Marketing Mix
People represent the culture of a company or business. If the people of the company are well-mannered and interact well with the customer, the customer may consider the business as authentic and build long-term relationships. In a service business, it’s even more important to build this relationship.
Hence, the people should be selected carefully. The company should train them to ensure that customers are getting the superior service.
Process in Marketing Mix
This element of the marketing mix helps to give a better experience to the customer. The more specific and seamless processes are, the more smoothly you can serve your customers. The staff can also carry out the task easily.
Physical Evidence in Marketing Mix
Physical evidence is perhaps the most thoroughly modern of the seven Ps. It’s important to gain the trust of the target customer. Suppose you are an online-based business and have a well-organized website, it indicates that you are a legitimate business. The customer will trust you more. For a product business, you can design the package beautifully so that it gives a premium and authentic vibe. For a service business, you can decorate your service center thoughtfully!
Theoretically, you have learned about the marketing mix– 4Ps and 7Ps of the marketing mix. What about analyzing an existing business using these elements?
Example of Marketing Mix
Let’s take Bangladesh’s popular edtech platform ‘10 Minute School’ as an example!
Here,
Product: The different Courses. The courses are made in a way so that the students from every corner of the country can be benefitted.
Price: The pricing of the courses is convenient for the students and varies from $10 to $20.
Place: It’s an online platform. From their website, you can enroll in the courses
Promotion: As it is an online-based business, it mostly runs Meta and Google ads. It also does content marketing on social media.
People: The teacher and student advisors try to build a long-term relationship with the students
Process: All the processes of the company are written and well organized which enhances their efficiency and allows them to give the best service to the students.
Physical Evidence: Here physical evidence is the classrooms, studios, corporate office, well-organized website, app, and different social media channels.
So, I hope you have cleared out all the confusion about the marketing mix– the 4Ps and the 7Ps of marketing. Get good marks in your next marketing exam, apply it in the real world, and do not forget to say thanks in the comment section!
The 7 Ps of marketing are product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence.
The 4 Ps in the marketing mix are product, price, place, and promotion.
STP in marketing stands for Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning.
