All companies and organisations, be it big or small, conduct or follow through with a series of activities that are meant to promote their products/ services for more people to buy/make use of. This is known as marketing and it also includes studying consumer behaviour and analysing the commercial management of companies. Marketing is present in all from beginning to end in the stages of the business or organisations and includes, professionals working in the organisation advertising and promoting their services/ products with the intention to seek the attention of potential audiences along with a long-term goal of strengthening brand loyalty and increasing sales by demonstrating product value via high-quality messaging. The broader goal of marketing is to help organisations achieve their pre-set objectives by implementing various strategies to improve the quantity and quality of services being provided by the organisation to the consumers.
To identify and work with the essential elements of a well developed make Keri go strategy, E.J. McCarthy mentioned the 4 Ps of marketing, namely- product, place, price and Promotion
Product
It refers to the product/ service being sold by the organisation including all features, benefits and advantages that the customers can enjoy from those. A crucial part to consider while marketing products is to keep in mind the needs of the customers along with the quality, accessories, style and services of the product.
Another thing to understand is that a product may be an idea, a product as in a physical entity or service or any combination of the mentioned three, but this concept of product exists for the organisational objectives and satisfaction of individual consumers.
Place
Synonymous with the term ‘distribution’, place/ distribution is used to describe the market coverage for a given service/ product. It is where the products/ services of the organisation are made, seen and distributed and encapsulates the goal of enabling easy access of products/services to potential clients/ customers as well as an easy experience throughout the process of purchasing.
Price
It has various factors under it such as the financial goals of the company, trends, increasing price to improve the perception/ image of the brand/ organisation, the target market and the margin the organisation wishes to obtain. The use of surveys could also be used to get an idea of the extent to which the ideal customer would be willing to pay. Pricing it too low would lead to loss, whereas, pricing it too high would make the organisation lose out on a lot of customer base. All in all, organisations need to analyse the market and all aspects to price their products in a good range.
Promotion
It includes all advertisements- print as well as online ones along with events or even discounts and other offers that are created by the team in the organisation to increase the awareness of the product/ services. Promotion includes communication in the form of PR campaigns, social media posts and advertisements to encourage short-term purchases and influence the trial and quantity of purchase, share and profit.
However, in addition to these four, organisations must also consider three more Ps i.e people, process and physical evidence.
People refer to the salespeople along with the staff that work for the organisation including the founder. Recruiting the right people and providing the right training to develop their skills could prove to be an added advantage that could help create a better experience for the customers, thereby, marketing the organisation to them and winning referrals via word of mouth.
Process refers to all the underlying processes involved in delivering the final product/ services to the customer while maintaining a good standard of quality as well as efficiency.
Lastly, there comes physical evidence that deals with all that the customer faces/ witnesses/see while interacting with any part/ aspect of the organisation. For example, the environment where the products or services are provided, the interior design, the layout as well as the branding and packaging.
The 4 Ps and the 7 Ps are two of the marketing strategies that are followed by various organisations for successful marketing. To know more about the types of marketing and their importance, stay tuned!
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