7Ps Marketing Mix

7Ps Marketing Mix Explained

The 7Ps Marketing Mix is a marketing strategy whose origins go back to the 1960s. It evolved out of the 4Ps, a more basic strategy that was in use before the explosion of businesses providing services. This framework helps you define key issues and review these to get better results and improve your relationship with your customers.

The 7Ps are really about asking the right questions and making sure that you create value for your customers. They will help you set realistic objectives and evaluate different areas of your business to improve them.
So, what are the 7Ps of marketing and what should you know about them?

The 7Ps Marketing Mix Explained

Let’s take a closer look at each of the 7Ps and see how you can relate them to your business.

1st P: Product

The first P refers to the product, service, or experience you are offering. Think of product in the broader sense of the word.
Questions to ask:

• Does my product meet the demands of the market?
• How can my product exceed expectations?
• What can I to do develop my product?

2nd P: Promotion

This P is pretty evident, right? It refers to how you advertise and market your product, including all traditional and digital strategies you use to spread the word about it. You want to do your research and know the most effective channels for your product.
Questions to ask:

• Have I done enough research and analysis to discover the right promotional strategies for my product?
• Am I using all online marketing channels effectively?
• Am I using the right marketing tools to reach my target audience?

3rd P: Price

This P is all about setting the right price for your product. It invites you to take into account all the different factors affecting the price, including audience demographics and purchasing power, market segmentation, market competition, and the long-term impact of the price on your brand.
Questions to ask:

• Is my brand affordable, expensive, or in-between?
• Do my customers think that my products are too expensive?
• What pricing strategy are my competitors using?

4th P: Place

This P refers to where customers can buy or access your product. It can be in a supermarket, regular brick and mortar store, high street store, on Amazon, and so on.
Questions to ask:

• Where does my target audience shop usually?
• Where are my competitors selling and how do they do it?
• Is my product available across enough channels?

5th P: People

This P is about all the people who make up your business, including those involved in designing, selling, and promoting your product and providing customer support for it. This is not a P you should neglect as your success will depend on having a skilled and qualified team who knows what they are doing!
Questions to ask:

• Do all the people in my company share the same vision?
• What can I do to motivate and engage my team?
• Do I need to hire additional staff to provide the best customer experience?

6th P: Processes

The actions behind delivering your product to customers—this is what this P is about. It includes customer relationships, distribution, sales funnel, payment systems, and so on. Ideally, each of these should be effective and optimized to run smoothly.
Questions to ask:

• What processes can I improve?
• Is any process slowing me down?
• What investments can I make to optimize these processes?

7th P: Physical Evidence

This P is about building trust and providing evidence to your customers that you’re a legit brand. It includes elements that validate your brand, such as your website, social media pages, logo, business cards, having a physical address, and so on.
Questions to ask:

• Does my website reflect my brand?
• Do I have a Google Business Profile listing?
• Does my physical address appear on my website?

7Ps Marketing Mix – Final Thoughts

The 7Ps marketing mix is a useful framework that can help you zoom in on each crucial aspect of marketing to fix issues and get higher returns for the time and money you invest into it.

If you’ve never used this framework before, you may want to give it a try. It will help you see your marketing with new eyes and consolidate it every step of the way.

At the end of the day, marketing is a multi-faceted, dynamic process, and the 7Ps marketing mix helps you see it that way.