The 10 P’s of Marketing [2nd Edition]

It’s NOT 4,5 or 7 – It’s the 10 P’s of Marketing, Or is it!!

I am sure you have heard of the 4 Marketing P’s – Product, Price, Place and Promotion and then came the 5th, People. Personally I am not sure how this could have been left out of the original 4 as without people you have no audience! Then it went to 7 with Processes and Packaging and now you have my full set of 10 – the 10 P’s of Marketing.

These 10 elements are your formula to marketing success. See them, as if they are 10 different musical instruments in an orchestra, no one instrument is more important than the other, each has a part to play and it is when they all come together in a symphony that beautiful and powerful music is made.

Just so, the key to your marketing mix is to remember that no one element of this formula is more important than any other. They each have a different role to play in a dynamic and sustainable marketing synthesis. The 10 P's of Marketing should all work in symphony to establish your brand and its unique selling point, and to ensure you are pitching to the right prospects in the right market.

Get this right and your product will surely be music to their ears. Get it wrong and your product will just be disjointed sounds that will be lost in the noise of the market.

So here are your 10 Instruments to an Excellent Marketing Symphony. The 10 P's of Marketing

1. PRODUCT – 10 P's of Marketing

Your product – What you are selling? This is the primary element of your marketing.

Once you have your product, ask yourself three questions:

“what are the features that are most likely to appeal to your target audience”?. Consider how, looking from the outside in, your product compares to that of your competitors.

“what are the benefits that will appeal to your target audience”? Make a list of all the benefits that your product has that can help your audience. Benefits are even more important than features.

Features explain what your offer has for your customer and often is the way in which someone  justifies buying or spending their time on what you are offering. Benefits are the emotional reasons why you would spend the time or money. Benefits are the real reasons why your audience or customer will buy or spend time.

Be clear and ask  “Is my current product or service, or mix of products and services, appropriate and suitable for my market and my clients of today?”

Be your client; do your products or services solve their problem?

Remember too, what is unique about your product?
How is it different from others?
What is your unique selling point?

A few things to think about for your product are..
Design,
UX and CX (user experience and customer usability)
Usefulness,
Value and comparative Value
Quality,
Guarantees.

2. PRICE – 10 P's of Marketing

The price that is set for a product determines the amount of profit the business will be able to make and how many units that will need to be sold to be in profit.

Price affects the value of the product as perceived by your clients and customers. Many consumers will use the product’s price as a means of judging its quality. Most will compare the price with that of similar products, before purchasing.

Perceived value is the worth that a product or service has in the mind of the consumer. For the most part, consumers are unaware of the true cost of production for the products they buy; instead, they simply have an internal feeling for how much certain products are worth to them.

Are you offering a premium product or service and are you charging a premium price? If not, why not? Make sure the price of the product or service is congruent with its value. If it is premium charge premium, if it is an entry level product charge accordingly.

Think about the following: – the value and perceived value of your product, it’s congruency with your offer, the psychology and your strategy.

Price one of the most important of the 10 P's of marketing when it comes to profitability

Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or will a small increase be indiscernible, and so gain you extra profit margin? Or is the price too low for your market?

What discounts should be offered, if any, discounts to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?

Why are you selling this product, is it as a loss leader or even a freebie to generate leads and interest. Even with a freebie you will need to market that freebie. Because it is free does not mean that it is not valuable – make it very valuable. 

Remember, if you know your target niche and you are solving the exact problem of those prospects, then price will not be an issue, The value of fixing the problem for them will greatly exceed the price.

One note here on value and price – there is an equation we use, for any service industry that you should use too.

If you have service based products make the price Value x 10.  This means always strive to offer 10 times more value than the price expected for the product. Value x 10 = Price.

3. PLACE – 10 P's of Marketing

Products are sold everywhere – in shops, via sales people, online, in magazines, at trade fairs and live events. Services from offices, therapy rooms, your home, online, live events  and JV’s. How are you marketing your product or service?  Are you marketing in a retail or wholesale format, on the internet, by direct sale. Is it B2B, B2C or multi-channel?

Think where will the exact location be that your prospective client will first meet your product or service. Is this location the right place for your prospects to be introduced to your product or service? Are you offering your product in a place or platform where your ideal customers hang out?

For instance if you are offering your product through a JV, a joint venture partner, is that partner the right persona for your product? Does the JV add or distract from your credibility?

Likewise there is little point marketing products and services to pregnant women at a men’s gym!!

Also consider here, the many options where you could offer your product or service, think outside the box a little. You could be marketing your product through a channel such as Social Media, webinars, Video Series?  What is Your Conversion Channel?

How are you attracting your prospect and converting them to a customer?

4. PROMOTION – 10 P's of Marketing

Promotion covers all the ways that you can publicise your product or service so that it is in front of your prospects. It includes all the media, advertising both direct and indirect, public relations, sales funnels and lead generation funnels.

Consider here your content marketing Strategy.  Content marketing where you are continuously giving away valuable information to get your name/brand in front of your prospect,  before you offer then anything.

What is your Inbound marketing strategy, and don't forget Outbound marketing especially applicable in some industries.

JV’s again are another way to promote yourself to another database, this will increase your visibility and expertise.

User Trials if you have a product or service for instance a marketing program where your customers or clients can trial the product or program for 30 days, this takes away the risk of buying the product outright and builds trust.

Software companies often use user trials but this strategy can be used in several industries.

Of course the best type of promotion is by referral from a happy client/customer.

5. PEOPLE – 10 P's of Marketing

When you’re a soloist, your service is synonymous with you and you alone. You may be a therapist working from home, this means that you need to ensure you develop good relationships with your clients. Their personal experience will determine whether or not they’ll use your services again, and importantly whether they recommend you to others.

If you are more than one or a company then your ability to select, recruit, hire and retain the proper people, with the skills and abilities to do the job you need to have done, is more important than everything else. You will need to get the right people on your team and make sure they are in the right positions.

However by far the most important aspect of all the P’s and is in this element is the Person you are selling to, your prospect,client, customer. Knowing your customers is the linchpin of a successful marketing strategy, it is the master key to any marketing.

You could have all the other P’s at 100%, but if you are marketing to the wrong prospect then all your efforts will fall on stoney ground and will come to nothing.

Know your avatar, your buyer persona. Know your clients problems better than they do, know what they want, who they are.

Whether you are marketing a product or service you are still solving a problem for them, what is it?

I cannot stress how vital it is for you to know exactly who you are selling to.

In my blog Stranger to Raving Fan I explain how to build your relationship with your prospect and convert them into a fan. Click here to read.

You need to be delivering the Right Message to the Right Audience at the Right Time in the Right Place.

 

6. PROCESSES – 10 P's of Marketing

If you want to provide a consistently high level of service, you will need to implement some processes. These processes should be a well oiled automated system. Not like the image above!

In this wonderful age of technology there are apps, systems and programs to ensure that your business runs smoothly and consistently. Get this right and your clients will know what to expect, which they’ll greatly appreciate. Get this wrong and you will lose relationships with your prospect, you will find it almost impossible to build a tribe and ultimately you will be throwing away revenue.

Processes ease the customer experience. You should be striving to make the customers experience with you and your company as frictionless as possible.

How will you achieve this process?

Automate your systems, automate your program, your delivery, your emailing and your follow up. Automate your content building and posting. Do this and you will be saving time and money.

Consider VA’s Virtual Assistants a super way to move you business and marketing forward.

Processes are systems, ensure you have them in place so that it Saves You Stress, Time, Energy and Money.

7. PACKAGING – 10 P's of Marketing

If you have a tangible, physical product, packaging refers not just to the way in which it is wrapped, but also to its overall presentation, and the way in which it's physical arrangement is designed to attract the customer.

Look at every visual element in the packaging of your product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect. Remember, people form their first impression of you within the first 3 seconds of seeing you or some element of your company. They make instant judgements. Is your packaging congruent with your product or service?

Your packaging is your Brand and is very important. Just think Apple and their packaging and how it makes you feel.

Packaging refers to the way your product or service appears from the outside but also refers to your people, how they dress and are groomed. It refers to your offices, your waiting rooms, your brochures, your correspondence and every single visual element about your company.

Everything counts.
Packaging will help or hurt your marketing.
It all affects your customer's confidence.

As a great many products or services are sold via the internet and your website it is vitally important to ensure that your website is great, it looks good, functions well, and has excellent SEO, search engine optimisation.

Think of everything your client or customer sees the moment they land on your website. Here you have even less time to impress, you have only seconds to get their attention.

It is worth remembering that your website may be the first place a potential prospect comes across you on the internet, so does your website make a good impression and is it easy to navigate? If not change it.

Keep one thing in mind, what emotion does your packaging cause in your prospective client or customer and is that emotion what you want them to feel? Again it is all about attracting your prospect and converting your clients, building relationships.

8. PROOF – 10 P's of Marketing

Proof can come in many different forms.

For instance, even if your service is not tangible, your marketing may well benefit from providing something tangible, like brochures, stationery or fact sheets about your services. Well branded physical evidence of your service can be highly reassuring and persuasive to potential customers.

Then there are testimonials from previous clients, or customers who have benefited from your products or services. There is nothing more convincing to prove that you are who you say you are and that you do what you say you can do than social proof.

Clients who are happy to give you a testimonial and share their success with others because of your service or product are the best social proof. Video testimonials are excellent.

Then there is the proof you provide by the information you give, your content. Think of your website, your blog, articles, books and all the other ways that you can offer valuable content that shows you as an expert in your field.

Do you write articles for other publications, do you have a lot of views and share on your blogs and articles. Social Media proof today is one of the best ways to show your credibility and influence.

Are you a guest speaker at events, have you done TV or Radio? All of this goes toward proving you are an expert.

In the end the Proof is in the Results you Achieve. Get the results and all the testimonials, recommendations and guest appearances will come.

9. PICTURES – 10 P's of Marketing

Marketing without a picture, photos, images is frankly nonsensical. Did you know that 90% of information transmitted to our brain is visual. Plus we can process images 60,000 times faster than plain text. Not only are images quicker to digest but they are more powerful in creating an instant emotional connection.

In her book “The Power of Glamour”, Virginia Postrel describes how the glamour of an image is in the eye of the beholder. Glamour, she says, is something in our perception that creates a feeling of longing, that fosters hope and ambition. A glamorous image allows us to “imaginatively inhabit the ideal and… to believe, at least for a moment, that we can achieve it in real life”.

This is what makes images so powerful. An image can very quickly tell a story, it is a snapshot of a lifestyle that your products or services will make possible.

Think for a moment, if I say Steve Jobs and Apple, what do you see…..

Or Nike – do you see the tick?

There are many ways pictures can be displayed so don’t forget videos, Slideshares, infographics and quick drawn picture cameos, all brilliant for your marketing.

Put simply – Use Pictures!

10. PERSONALITY – 10 P's of Marketing

Vital to any marketing is You, Your brand and Your Personality. Be authentic, be true and be congruent.

Your Personality is your connection, so let them see you. Include your photo in your profiles, on your website, in your brochure. If you have a team, let them see your team and maybe even a section on what “goes on” behind the scenes, snapshots of events, the likes and loves of team members.

We are a virtual world now, where a lot of our time is connecting through a computer or mobile and not face to face, but people still crave connection. They want to feel part of your community, not just someone being sold too.

You have your special personality, your product or service has it's personality, so show them.

The Importance of The 10 P's of Marketing

By being aware of all the different elements involved in your marketing mix, you can then develop an effective marketing plan, to attract more customers and clients and have a successful marketing strategy.

Don’t just sell to your prospects, connect with them, educate them, learn from them. Have something to offer which solves a problem for them.

Marketing is all about them, your prospect, clients, customers. It is about getting noticed, attracting leads and offering top value. It is fundamentally about building a trail of trust between you, your company and your prospects.

P.S I have a couple more P’s for You that will also help…..

I did imply at the beginning that there were really more than 10, well briefly here are the other 3 P's of marketing…..

11. PERSISTENCE – 10 P's of Marketing, or more…

Being persistent and consistent in your marketing strategy is very important.

Marketing should be incorporated into your working week, every week.  There are two things in any company you should always watch and control, the accounts and the marketing. Basically the accounts, that is the profit you are making, shows you how effective your current marketing strategies are.

If you are not making much profit you have not nailed your marketing.

If you are persistent you will become proficient and then competent and when you become unconsciously competent then you will have mastered your marketing.

12. POSITION – 10 P's of Marketing

Positioning refers to a product’s status in relation to the wider market, particularly how it lines up against competitors.

Where do your products or services stand? How are you positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers? How do people think and talk about you, your company your products?

How you are seen and thought about by your customers is a critical determinant of your success in a competitive marketplace.

Are you strategically positioned?

13. PERSEVERANCE – 10 P's of Marketing

Last but not least is PERSEVERANCE – Don’t give up!, marketing is a big topic, but done well is the difference between a successful business and one that fails.

Thomas Edison said…..
” Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success, when they gave up”

 

If marketing is not your expertise, get help. You can not afford not to be on top of your marketing. 

“Marketing is the difference that makes the difference and is why I love it.”

Since writing this article some 18 months ago or so, it was published on LinkedIn and too date (as at 11/04/17) has had some 9,392 views. There have been some super complimentary comments with people also offering up a few more P's of marketing.

So thank you to Mahbubur Raham who asked me to add Planet to the marketing P's.

Mahbubur said  “You have to take your planet into consideration so that you don't give promote, package, or acquire any place for your product, that may be detrimental for the planet.”

I agree totally we should consider the Planet not just for ourselves but for our children and their children.

Thank you to Gemma Nolan who wrote to me about another P that the importance of Patience.

Gemma wrote..
“Can I add Patience to your list of the P's of marketing? – I learnt the hard way, not being patient and waiting to see the results before jumping in and changing everything. This just resulted in me now knowing what was working for me and what was not. Be Patient wait for enough results before you decide what to do next.”

As I am a great advocate of analytics. Don't make assumptions with your marketing, set up the metrics and analytics for every aspect of your marketing and let the numbers do the talking.

To do this you need to be Patient, so I agree whole heartedly with Gemma, wait until there are enough stats for you to make an hypothesis and then a logical decision what to do next.  Being Patient with your marketing is crucial.

I would like to add here that in life and in business, if we are patient with each other this also results in a better ending!

Now you know all the P's of marketing, did you know that there are 4 G's of marketing – no! then find out by clicking here 🙂 

If you have enjoyed this article there are links to other blogs below which may be of interest.

Please feel free to ask any marketing questions below – have an exciting day.