Gemma 0:31
Yes, it’s that time again. I hope you’ve had an amazing working week, amazing week over all. So now that means it’s time to put your feet up and sit down and enjoy.

Now today for the next instalment of Marketing 101, it’s time to introduce to you the now seven P’s of marketing, also known as the marketing mix. Now, that’s right, back in the olden days of when I was studying marketing, they were only four P’s. But like anything which evolves, especially in today’s thriving world, it’s now known as the seven P’s of marketing.

Now, the four P’s and the marketing mix was originally created when most businesses were selling something that were products. So back in the day, there weren’t as many service businesses selling and advertising and marketing like today. But for service businesses, a deeper mix and understanding is really needed. So let’s dive in.

Now, a marketing mix is what I think is a brilliant tool for small businesses, and especially for startups, particularly. Now, while it’s completely essential for new businesses to develop their products and services, it’s also really essential for existing businesses to evaluate and relook at things from time to time. Now, as I said before, we’re in an ever evolving marketplace. So you can use the seven P’s model and the marketing mix to set objectives, to conduct a SWOT analysis, to do competitive analysis. It really is a practical framework to evaluate an existing business and work through some appropriate approaches moving forward.

What is it? Okay, let’s dive into this one. So originally, the four P’s of the marketing mix were product, price, place, and promotion. And the promotion part of it, to me is the little gold nugget, which I love dearly. But now we make up, like I said, seven P’s. So we’ve evolved from product, price, place and promotion, now to people, process and physical evidence.

Now, I believe the two most important principles of marketing are promotion and people, which means how you’re selling your service, and especially these days, a lot of the time, it generally tends to be through compelling words. And the way to do that is to deeply understand people, of course, and ensure the people behind your brand are what they say they are. So let’s dig in again and begin with the four P’s.

So product, what is product. Now, this is an evaluation of your product or your service, and of course, what you’re selling. So it’s basically the pretences behind your entire business and why you’re in business. Now, the product, of course, should do what the customer wants or needs it to do. Okay, it should live up to the expected level of quality of what people are expecting when they receive this product or service. Now, whether you’re looking at launching a new product, if you’re evaluating existing products or services within your business, you really should conduct thorough research into the tastes and requirements and thoughts and feelings and the buying habits of each of your product or service’s target audience. Okay, so you really, really need to delve deeply into this. And the way I like to conduct this sort of research around the product and service of what you’re selling and each of them, of course, is ask yourself some questions.

Now, for example, you can think about, is your current product or service, or your mix of products or services appropriate and suitable for the market and customers of today? So, like anything that evolves, even this marketing mix, right? Sometimes products and services and people will evolve as well. If you’re an established business, it’s always good to revisit the services or products which you’re selling, and make sure that it’s still appropriate for customers of today, okay, because of course, everyone changes, things change, people have different needs and wants. So it’s really good to do a regular evaluation of your product.

Now, whether you’re having difficulty selling as much of your products or your services as you like, so if this you’re finding is a problem, then it’s really good to revisit this product or service that isn’t selling as well and start to do some research and ask yourself some questions around ‘why?’ Is there any product or service you’re offering today? Knowing what you now know? Should you get rid of it? Okay, so again, evaluating your product, if you’re having difficulty selling it, perhaps maybe you should get rid of this? Or should you evolve that particular product or service?

You can also conduct some competitive research around your product and service. So for example, compare to your competitors, is the product or service superior in some way? Is it different to other products? Is there a significant difference? So really test your product and service against your competitors and see where you really differentiate in that area. And of course, you can even look at things like should you be offering this product or service at all, in the current marketplace? So it’s really important to always evaluate your products and services, as that is the base of your business, and hence why it’s a number one of the marketing mix.

Now, number two is price, and really develop the habit of examining the prices of the products and services in your business, again, to make sure that they’re still appropriate in the current market. Now, of course, during this 2020, a lot of things have shifted and changed due to COVID. And, you know, many businesses having to shut down. But apart from that overall, in general, things in the economy can shift and change, perceptions can change. So it’s really important to make sure they’re appropriate to the realities of the current market that we’re in today.

So for example, put simply, the product should be sold at a price, which the target audience thinks is value for money. And that’s the same for services as well. So if you’re pricing too high, then you’re going to have a problem. If your pricing too low, then you can run into some problems as well. So it’s really important to really do some thorough research and you know, here and there regularly, as much as you can to make sure that your price is still priced appropriately as sometimes you may need to look at lower prices, for example, other times it may be appropriate to raise your prices.

Okay, so understanding your market, the economy, and everything around your business and industry, you’ll be able to make these changes and know what’s appropriate. For example, is it competitively priced? Is it appropriately priced for what it is? Is it a luxury item? If so, again, is it appropriately priced? So really make sure your pricing part of your marketing mix is correct, because you will run into problems.

Now the third is place. Now place is where you’re selling your product or service. So for example, these days, it’s generally for service businesses going to be online, okay, but the product or service, of course, should be made available where the customer or client expects to find out. If it’s luxury clothing, then they may expect it online and in a boutique. If it’s a fast moving consumer good, they’ll probably expect it in a supermarket. If it’s an online business, then of course they’re going to expect to find it online. So you really need to have your product or service in the correct place. Of course because if you really do misplace where your product or service is being sold, it’s going to mean that you’re targeting the wrong market.

So number four is promotion. And like I said before, promotion is my little golden nugget, I love it. And as the same with place, the product or service, or all of them within your businesses should be promoted to the appropriate target audience, of course, and through the right channels and medias, of course, if you’re placing your ads, your marketing, your promotion, your PR, if you’re putting it in the wrong places, then of course, the wrong people are going to see it.

Now, you know, as well, you really need to use existing advertising and marketing strategies as well, which resonate with your audience. So you need to make sure the promotion is in the right places, and you need to make sure that you’re using the correct strategies to target your target audience and resonate with them correctly. Now, of course, this can be a mix of everything. It’s not just online advertising. So I’m talking about all kinds of digital marketing, online ads, content marketing, advertising all around, online and traditional medias, talking about your PR that you’re doing, social media, of course, are you doing your content marketing and your ads in the right platforms of social media? And of course, even as far as influence and marketing. This all needs to be done right, and the promotion needs to be put in the right places to target the right people.

Speaking of people, now we go into number five. So this is where we’ve now evolved into our three newer P’s of the marketing mix. Now people, of course, you may think, are your target audience and people which of course, it is, because your business is all about the people you’re selling to or who you’re working with, right. But this is actually the person or the people behind the product or service.

So for all you amazing solopreneurs out there, that means you are the people, right? You are the people behind your brand, behind your product and behind your service. Now, communication and behaviour will really impact your target audience’s perception of your brand. So again, this really goes around to understanding who your target audience are, who you’re marketing to, who you’re resonating with, you know, are you drawing in your people? Are your people feeling you? Are they connecting with you? Do they love you? This is really, really important, I can’t own it enough, being the you in your business. And I’m speaking mainly to solo entrepreneurs here, it really makes all of the difference, and it absolutely can transform your business. If you’re just being yourself and owning it, right? Can I get a hell yeah? That’s right. I’m getting a little carried away, there, I just love being the you in your business. It’s amazing. And it just makes so much difference in everything.

Now, for you non solo entrepreneurs, and business owners, this goes to all the people behind your business. So for example, if you have the ability to select recruit people, hire them, retain the proper people with the right skills to do what you want them to do, then you’ve really done your job here. It’s more important than so many other parts of your business because the people behind your brand are the ones there, doing the work for you. Often they can be the ones communicating with people, your sales people, for example. So it’s really really important to ensure you have the right people within your business, whether it’s you or whether it’s a team of you.

Number six, we now go on to the process. Now this is actually the process of the delivery, okay, of your product or service. Why is this important? Because it really affects the customer’s experience, your client’s experience, their level of satisfaction, and how you value them within your business. So for example, these can really be so many different processes depending on your business, but it goes down to your website’s user experience.

Okay, if you’ve got your website, remember, your website is the heart of your business. It truly truly is. If you have a brilliant user experience across your website and your website pages, it’s really going to make a difference. You’re going to connect with your customers, you’re going to give them a really, really good experience and they’re going to feel valued. For those selling products, the process can include things like delivery time of your products, okay? And the delivery methods and the service of them. Do they match with your brand? Are they delivering a level of satisfaction? Are you giving a good customer experience when delivering your product? Now also communicating with your customers, again, are you showing that they’re valued in your business? Especially this comes with aftercare and customer support as well. And of course, do you have a really good process in place for if something goes wrong? So if it comes a time where you’ve had something go wrong, something’s happened, do you have that process in place where you can act really quickly and do that and still give your clients and your customers a great experience? And try and finish them off with a high level of satisfaction.

Okay, so these processes are really, really important to make sure you’ve got something in place for it, and everything is flowing down, well there. Okay, because remember, we’re in business and we’re selling, and we’re helping people, and we’re working with people. So of course, we really want to make sure we give them the best experience possible, right?

And finally, we come to physical evidence. Okay, so what’s physical evidence? Basically, it’s the things, okay. The things which comes with a product or service. So I’m not speaking about the product or service itself, thinking about the things. So for example, if you’re a product business, this can be things like the receipts that come with the products. Do you have email receipts? Are you sending a receipt or an invoice in the mail? Are you sending out thank you cards or things like that? If you’re a service business, are you sending out any little thank you gifts, confirmation email, PDF invoices? All of these things are physical evidence which go with your brand, it’s all about making every part of your communication, and the extra bits and pieces that are on top of your product or service matches to your brand and your brand values.

So it all is a really, really complete package. And they all go together and mesh really well. And why is this important? I believe it really creates consistency, a really fantastic, convincing and wonderful experience for the customer. Okay, so physical evidence is really something to think about. Because even small little things can really make a difference to your brand.

There you have it. Ladies, that is the seven P’s of marketing, the marketing mix. Of course, why do we do this? Like I said earlier, it really helps to ensure your business is on track, and staying relevant. You’re staying competitive. And of course, you’re staying amazing or becoming more amazing.

Now going back to my podcast of marketing 101, the first one I did of market research, something you all know, really sits deeply in my heart. I love research and everything about it. I think it’s amazing. And it just transforms your business, yourself, your life, everything. So, I digress. I’m sorry. I do love my research.

Now, like I said earlier, this marketing mix is a really good way to look at the seven P’s. If you’re struggling with doing market research within your business, grab a piece of paper, open a Word document, whichever way you work, write in product, price, place promotion, people, processes and physical evidence. And really start to think about these. Ask yourself the questions. Look at your pricing. Look at everything within the seven P’s. And it’s a really effective way of doing research with your business, which we all know is critical to business.

And that brings us to an end, everyone. Thank you so much, as always. I hope you enjoy the weekend, the rest of your week. Thank you so much for listening. Keep being you in your business. Remember, you’re not alone. And we all get it.