Marketing in the 21st century is no longer limited to the traditional 4P formula but has been expanding to 3P to form the 7P Formula. Marketing efforts will be more empowered and beat competitors with this new formula.
Once you have developed your marketing strategy, the 7P formula should be used to continually evaluate and re-evaluate your business activities. The 7Ps are Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and…Packaging, Positioning, and People. Marketing: How much P is enough? Marketing in the 21st century is no longer limited to the traditional 4P formula but has been expanded to 3P to form the 7P Formula. Marketing efforts will be more powerful and beat the competition with this new formula. Once you have built your marketing strategy, the 7P formula should be used to continuously evaluate and re-evaluate your business activities. The 7Ps are Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and more… Packaging, Positioning and People. In the context of rapidly changing products, markets, customers and needs, you will have to constantly pay attention to these 7 Ps to make sure you stay on the right path and achieve the best possible results for your business in the market.
1) Product – Product To start, develop the habit of looking at your product as if you were an outside marketing consultant hired by your company to help you decide whether or not to bring it to market at this time. There are important questions to ask, such as: Is the current product or service relevant and appropriate to today’s market and customers? The habit of honestly evaluating your product or service and asking: Is this the right product or service for my customers? is important. Compare it to your competitors. Is your product or service superior in some way? If so, what is it? If not, can you build it into your product or service? Should you be offering this product or service in the current market?
2) Prices – Prices The second P is Price. Develop the habit of regularly reviewing and re-examining the prices of your products and services to ensure that they remain in line with current market realities. Sometimes you may need to lower your prices. Many businesses find that the profitability of a product or service does not match the effort and resources that go into producing it. By raising prices, businesses may lose some customers, but the remaining % customers can generate a profit on each sale. Is this right for you? Sometimes you need to change the terms and conditions of sale. Sometimes by spreading your prices over a period of months or years, you can sell more. Sometimes you can combine products and services together to create special offers or promotions. Sometimes you can throw in a little promotion or two that costs little but makes your prices more attractive to customers. In business, as is the nature of it, whenever you see resistance or frustration with any part of your sales or marketing activities, be prepared to review that part. Be prepared for the possibility that your current pricing structure may not be appropriate for the market at the time. Be prepared for the need to re-evaluate your prices in order to remain competitive, survive, and grow in a rapidly changing market.
3) Promotion – Promotion The third habit of marketing and sales is to think about promotion at all times. Promotion includes all the ways you tell customers about your product or service and how you market and sell it. Small changes in the way you promote and sell your product or service can lead to big changes in your business results. Even small changes in advertising can lead to immediate increases in sales. Experienced copywriters can increase response rates on ads by up to 500% by making small changes to the headline on their ads. Businesses large and small are constantly experimenting with different ways to advertise, promote, and sell their products or services. And here's the rule: Whatever marketing or sales method you're using today will stop working sooner or later. Sometimes it stops working for reasons you know and sometimes it stops working for reasons you don't. In any case, your marketing and sales methods will eventually stop working, and you will have to create new marketing, sales and advertising strategies, offers and methods.
4) Place – Location The fourth P in the 7Ps of Marketing is the place where you actually sell your products or services. Develop the habit of considering and thinking carefully about the exact place where your customers meet your salespeople. Sometimes a change in location will result in dramatic sales growth. You may sell your products in a variety of locations. Some companies use direct selling, sending salespeople out to personally meet and talk to customers. Some use telemarketing. Some sell through catalogs or mail order. Some sell at trade shows or retail locations. Some sell in alliances with similar products or services. Some use sales representatives or distributors. And many use a combination of several of these selling methods. In each case, you must make the right choice about the most appropriate sales location for customers to receive the essential purchasing information about the product or service needed for purchasing decisions. What is your location? What changes do you need to make? Where else can you present your products or services?
5) Packaging – Packaging The fifth P in the 7Ps of Marketing is Packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at each visual element of your product or service packaging through the eyes of your key prospects. Remember that people form their first impression of you within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of your business. Small improvements in the packaging or appearance of your product or service can lead to completely different reactions from customers. When it comes to product or service packaging, you should think about all the elements that customers see first in their interactions with your company in all the different ways through the purchasing process. Packaging refers to the appearance of your product or service. Packaging also refers to your employees and how they dress. It also involves your office, your waiting room, your marketing materials, and every visual communication about your company. Everything counts. Everything has a positive or negative impact. And everything affects the confidence that customers have in dealing with you. When IBM started under the leadership of Thomas J. Watson, he realized that the image a customer had of the company was through IBM salespeople. Because IBM sold high-tech products, Watson knew that customers would have to have a high level of confidence in their salespeople. So he established dress and communication policies that became immutable rules at IBM. As a result, every salesperson was required to look like a professional in every aspect. Every element of their clothing (including dark suits, black ties, white shirts, neatly combed hair, polished shoes, clean fingernails) and many other features created an image of professionalism and competence. One of the highest compliments a person could receive was: “You look like someone from IBM.”
6) Positioning – Positioning The next P is Positioning. You should develop the habit of thinking about how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers. How do people think and talk about you when you are not around? How do people think and talk about your company? What positioning do you have in your market, in terms of the specific words people use when they describe you and your offerings to them? Al Reis and Jack Trout in their famous book, Positioning – Positioning has shown that what customers think and feel about you is a key determinant of success in a competitive marketplace. Attribute Theory says that most Customers perceive you in a single way, positive or negative. Sometimes it is “service.” Sometimes it is “excellence.” Sometimes it is “quality engineering,” as with Mercedes Benz. Sometimes it is “the ultimate driving machine,” as with BMW. In all cases, the degree to which these attributes are imprinted in the minds of customers determines how likely they are to buy your product or service, and how much they will buy. Develop the habit of thinking about how you can improve your positioning. Start by defining the position you would like to have. If you could create the right impression in the hearts and minds of your customers, what would it be? What would you need to do in every interaction with your customers to make them think and talk about you in the way you want them to? What changes would you need to make in the way you communicate with customers today to be seen as the best shopping choice?
7) People – People The final P is People. Develop the habit of thinking about the people inside and outside of you who are responsible for every element of your marketing or sales strategy and activities. It is surprising how many business owners and entrepreneurs spend so much time thinking about every element of their marketing strategies that they pay little attention to the fact that every decision and policy is implemented by specific people in specific ways. The ability to select, hire, and retain the right people with the right skills and abilities to get the job done is critical. In his best-selling book, Good to Great – From good to great, author Jim Collins discovered that the most important factor applied by the best companies is that they consistently put the best people on the bus and the worst people off the bus. Once these companies have hired the right people, the second step is to put the right people in the right seats on the bus. To be successful in business, you must develop the habit of thinking about exactly who will perform each task and responsibility. In many cases, a business will not move forward until you can attract and place the right people in the right seats. Many of the best business plans are written and then put in a drawer because the people who wrote them cannot find the people who can successfully execute the plan.
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