“The 7Ps of the Marketing Mix” has been around for many years. It is a classic strategy for constructing a marketing plan, used by marketers worldwide in every industry.
But does it go digital?
One of my bug-bears over the years has been how “digital” often gets in the way of getting stuff done. Nothing could be done (it seemed) without finding – or even better, developing – an app, a database, a spreadsheet:
I want to start doing time sheets – we need an app – all the apps are crap – need to build an app – that will be 3 months – need a spec – need meetings – need a team – need a budget – need an app to manage it – all the apps are crap … aaarrrrgghhhhh – NO – I JUST WANT YOU TO WRITE DOWN WHAT TIME YOU’RE SPENDING ON THINGS. The Egyptians built the pyramids without apps!!!
OK – sorry. Obviously the therapy didn’t work!
Is this the same with marketing? Obviously, there are massive opportunities to be had with marketing online. But has the way that we do things fundamentally changed from pre-tech days, or do we use the same principles but in a different way?
The 7Ps Marketing Mix model is interesting in that the 7 Ps focus on specific things that need to be done rather than a deep psychology of buying.
They’re intended to form a toolkit of all of the things that you need to think about and do to make sure that you attract customers and ensure that they keep coming back.
And given the fact that they’re so widely used, they obviously do a decent job of this.
There are countless blogs explaining what the 7Ps of Marketing are – have a look at MailChimp’s blog for a decent overview.
What I’m interested is how they relate to digital marketing. So here we go…..
1. Product
When I think what a product looked like when the model was first developed in the 1950’s, I somehow think it might have been easier to define.
We make tools/watches/dresses/bread. We’re a solicitor/accountant/doctor. We sell toys/vegetables/hats…..
I don’t know if life is ‘more’ complicated now. I do know that life is complicated – or at least, business is.
Defining what our product is can be hard, and often a company doesn’t really know themselves. They know what they do, but how can you present that as a product?
My previous company used to do all sorts of software development, training, consultancy, databases, intranets, information management… In the early days, we were happy to do anything as long as people paid us a decent day rate, and sometimes we didn’t even insist on that!
The problem was, it was difficult to define this, and so it was really, really hard to market it. “Whoever you are, whatever you do, we can help in some way”. Hardly a differentiator.
Do what you enjoy
It was only when we created a ‘product’ that we started to move forward. We took our favourite service and gave it a name. We created some specific web pages for it, built a Google AdWords campaign, and the leads started to come in. We weren’t delivering anything different to what we were before, but we found we could charge more for it, sell it more easily, and deliver it more efficiently.
Advertising space is no longer a premium. You can host a 50 page website for the same price as a 5 page website. You can create hundreds of online ads for all sorts of things and scatter them far and wide.
All well and good, but the easiest way to success is to be known for a “thing” – any”thing” – but a “thing” that defines who you are, what you enjoy and what you are good at. This then gives a laser focus to all that you do – product development, aftercare, financial planning, marketing, recruitment – and you start to get a reputation (hopefully good!) for being the best at the “thing” you love.
So, for point 1 of the 7Ps of Marketing – yes – Product is absolutely relevant – if not more so – in the digital age.
2. Price
It’s been interesting as I’ve been looking around at services to support my new business.
Almost all of the sites that I’ve been on – whether it’s for finance tools, SEO, CRM, graphic design, website hosting – have been totally transparent about their pricing.
This is only observational, but this seems as though it’s shifted from a few years ago. I remember being routinely frustrated when I was looking for tools to help my business that the pricing was always hidden and I had to make an enquiry – giving away my email address, or even worse, phone number, to get a price.
I’m an introvert. I am never, ever going to pick up the phone, deal with the excruciating awkwardness of being given a price that is massively more than I anticipated, and then have to manoeuvre myself out of the conversation. Never. Ever.
And I don’t particularly want to give away my email address or phone number either.
The real point is, though, that your price defines who you are, just as much as your product, and putting this onto your website gives your prospects a key insight into what they can expect from your product.
Does price define you?
It’s difficult to buy a watch that doesn’t keep accurate time. To illustrate how price defines a product, I’ve just gone to Amazon and typed in “Watch”.
- Biden Chronograph Stainless Steel waterproof analog watch – £30.39. 4.3 stars from 7,020 reviews
- Tommy Hilfiger Analogue Multifunction Quartz Watch with Gold Coloured Stainless Steel – £84.00. 4.6 stars from 1,216 reviews.
- Boss Chronograph Quartz Watch with Silver Stainless Steel Bracelet – £182.97. 4.7 stars from 143 reviews.
Reading the blurb, there’s nothing that stands out on the Boss watch. It talks about “quality materials”, but there’s nothing about what this means, and it only has splash-proof water resistance.
Alongside the brand, the only thing that is marketing this watch is the price. It’s £182, and so therefore it must be a desirable thing. I would hope, for the price, that it would indeed be a quality piece of kit, and the reviews seem to bear this out.
On the other hand, I look at the Biden watch, and I automatically thing “ooh – that looks cheap, I wouldn’t wear that”. Weird, because I know absolutely nothing about watches or high street fashion. I have no idea what a “good” watch looks like, but I do know I wouldn’t buy a £30 Stainless Steel watch (yes, I’m that shallow!!!)
But strangely, I do wear a £10.99 Casio. Why – because that says “Cheap, and proud to be cheap” rather than “Cheap, but pretending to be expensive.”
Price is so much more than the best value you can offer to tempt people to use your product/service. It defines you and positions you in the market.
They think you’re out to con them
Another important aspect of price is that, obviously, people won’t give you lots of hard won cash until they trust you. If you are selling a high-cost product or service, you need to build that trust.
There are various ways to do this. Brand and familiarity is one – and this is where your hard work writing blogs (!) and doing your socials brings rewards.
A carefully thought-through sales process where you go the extra mile to talk to prospects, give demos, send professional proposals and provide lots of testimonials pays dividends.
If possible, the easiest way to earn trust is by offering low value “foot in the door” products. A free or low priced product that can be approved by a less senior person that gives them real value and allows you to build a trusted relationship. The ubiquitous “Free half hour consultation” is a perfect example of this. The aim isn’t really to give useful advice; it’s to give the customer a chance to meet the person they will be working with and see if the get on, and hopefully build some sense of obligation.
Why waste everybody’s time?
The final reason for letting people know your price is that it saves you time. If your basic intranet is £75,000 – you don’t want your sales team spending time on the phone having awkward conversations with 5-person companies who want somewhere better to store their documents. So save everybody a bit of time, and let them know where you’re pitched.
2 out of 2 – so far, so good for the 7Ps of Marketing!
3. Promotion
(Ok, I have “new watch” craving now🙄)
Promotion is the easiest one – of course Digital Marketing is all about Promotion.
It’s worth spending a moment to think about how promotion works in a digital world.
Firstly, and obviously, your website is massively important. Every marketing channel ends up at your website. Your website needs to give a clear insight into your business and what you represent. It needs to present your products clearly, explaining in as few words as possible what people get from working with you.
It must give easy routes for people to engage with you or get in touch.
Your website is the modern equivalent of a corporate brochure.
So here’s another thing from my old business. We used to love a corporate brochure. We went though various iterations – different designers, different branding, different message. We were extremely proud of every single one.
We’d get them produced, hand them round the office, maybe hand a few out at a trade show we were going to. Sometimes we’d even include one alongside a paper proposal that we were sending out. They’d have pride of place in our stationery cupboard. And there they’d stay, totally stationary, until we decided they were out of date and had to do the next version.
As a marketing tool they were useless, because nobody got to see them. If somebody did get to see one, it would be meaningless because there was no context, and it would no doubt end up on a pile or in the big round filing cabinet by the door.
The digital labyrinth
Websites are exactly the same. Useless if nobody gets to see them, and ignored if there is no context.
This is what SEO, Pay Per Click, Content Marketing, Social Media Paid/Organic, PR and any other channels that you use come into play. It’s a labyrinth where there are countless routes for people to find you and get to know you, and where everything leads back to your website and some form of interaction.
This ties into why defining your product is so important. You need to know who you are, what your value is, who your client is and what they need. All of your public comms then reinforces this story, building loyalty and trust in people who haven’t even spoken with you yet.
Have a read of this blog about how to generate leads from your website.
Farm the fertile ground
Secondly, and also massively importantly, your most fertile prospects are your customers.
Trust is very hard won.
Let’s say 80% of your clients are really happy with your service. That’s 80% of last year’s clients who you have a positive relationship with and probably would prefer to do their next piece of business with you rather than anybody else.
They will take a lot less convincing than a random person from the internet.
If your product is such that you can offer supplementary or follow-up services, your first “promotion” priority should be to your current customers, and this is done by every person in your business.
Everybody needs to know that they are in the marketing business. Every contact with the client matters: how they say hello, how they write emails, how they deal with problems. Everybody needs to be bought in.
Email marketing, social platforms, hospitality – even asking for testimonials and reviews – all tie into deepening your bond with your clients and encouraging them to buy more.
4. Place
Number 4 in the 7Ps of Marketing is Place. Happily, places works too!
There are lots of places in the digital world. Even within, say, LinkedIn, there are lots of places. Groups, HashTags, Company Pages, Followers….
Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance, or something like that!
Your clients don’t necessarily hang out where you do. They may even use platforms that you don’t like or understand.
The important thing, though, is that if you’re promoting yourself in the wrong place, you’re wasting lots of effort.
Personas address this. Spend some time getting into the mind of your clients.
Who are they? What do they do, at work and at home? How old are they? Gender. Family. Background. Income. Hobbies. Dreams. Motivations. Fears. Hates.
Ask you favourite clients what they read, what socials they use, what groups they are in. (By “clients”, I mean the person who first picked up the phone to you, and the person who signed off your first order.)
The more you can focus in on who they are, the more you can focus your valuable marketing resource, putting it where they might see it, and using messages and a tone of voice that will impact.
The Power of Market Research
A long time ago I did some technical work for a leading Market Research firm in London. One of the services that they performed for some of the leading global brands was to estimate, with some accuracy, how many sales a proposed new product would achieve.
They took the new product and gave samples to carefully selected members of the public.
They received feedback about first impression (visual), likelihood to try, how much they enjoyed the product, value for money and so on.
Importantly, they then combined this with the proposed advertising coverage, store availability and prominence. Using some clever maths (and at the time, a very non-clever spreadsheet!) they could predict with impressive accuracy how many sales the product would achieve, and also how many follow-up sales it would achieve.
It wasn’t just about how the product was marketed, or what it tasted like. It was about how many shops it was in and where it was positioned in those shops.
It’s the same online.
It’s not just about how great your website looks or how amazing your products are, it’s about getting your message in front of the right person at exactly the point where they’re ready to take the next step along the purchasing-decision journey.
5. People
“Get the right people on the bus, and get them in the right seats” Jim Collins, Good to Great
This isn’t about the people you are selling to. This is about the people in your business.
To be honest, it’s really about normal, good business sense. You’re only as good as your team, and all that.
But does this relate to Digital Marketing, or does it bypass that and just refer to how your team carries itself day-to-day?
Well, your team is online. They use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. They’re sending emails to your clients. They may be writing blogs, writing reviews for your clients, getting publicity for fundraising events.
Everything that your staff do in the digital world helps to build the picture of what your company is, and what type of service you give.
Ideally, you can engage all of your team in getting online and engaging with your client community.
In the real world, you’ll have a handful of people who love writing blogs and engaging on your social channels. Most people probably won’t.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t recommend a tone of voice for people’s LinkedIn profiles, ensure that their pictures are appropriate and job titles are up to date. You can regularly ask them to share and comment on key posts. You can coach on email writing style. You can get professional photos of your team in action that send the right messages.
So yes, “people” is vitally important.
6. Process
We’re probably getting a bit more tenuous now, but yes, this does apply.
The purchasing journey itself is a process. It takes at least 7 contacts before somebody will buy from you.
People don’t suddenly have a revelation, type in your company name and jump to your order page. They do a search, recognise your brand, remember that useful article you wrote, browse your website, look up a couple of your team on LinkedIn & Insta, find some reviews, have another look at your website.
Actually, Process is a totally key part of every marketing toolkit, it’s just not specifically about digital.
As soon as they make first contact, another process kicks in. What reply do they get? Who from? How long does it take? What’s the next step – a call, a demo, an information pack? How do you gather information so that you can make an offer? What is the offer – is there a new client discount, or a ‘try before you buy’? If they don’t immediately buy, how are they followed up? If they do immediately buy, how are they followed up? Once you’ve delivered the product, how are they followed up?
Yes, this isn’t specifically about Digital Marketing, but if you’re putting a digital marketing strategy together, you totally need to build in these processes to give you maximum benefit.
7. Physical Evidence
The final P. Or is it…??
You’ve built a great website. You talk the talk. How does your prospect know that you walk the walk?
They need evidence.
This doesn’t just mean they need a demo of your product, and to talk to a couple of your reference clients.
Everything that you say and do from the moment that they first make contact adds to the evidence.
The friendliness of person who first picked the phone up to them. The spelling mistakes in the first email they got back. The professional template that your proposal used. Your team member who won’t put their camera on for the Teams call.
All of this paints a picture for the person who is looking for the right team to work with and the right product to buy.
Buying invokes fear
If it is a B2B purchase, they are spending their employer’s money. They will be fearful of making the wrong choice and looking foolish.
If it is B2C, they are spending their own money, and want to make sure they don’t waste it and end up feeling foolish.
So at every step, you need to give them evidence that you’re good, that you are what you say you are on your website and in your blogs, that you want to work specifically with them – or, in fact, not.
Where this links in with your digital presence is that everything needs to tie in. One style, one brand, one message, consistent across all of your channels. It’s absolutely no good if your website person is casual and friendly, but your web-chat is formal and awkward. Funny blogs and light-hearted socials against a corporate feeling website could cause confusion and fight against each other in their appeal to different personas.
So, is that all?
OK, I think I’ve shown that the 7Ps of Marketing very much apply to the Digital world, But are 7Ps or Marketing all we need in the online world?
More Ps have been suggested over the years – Partners, Presentation, Passion, Personalisation, Positioning, Personality, Precision…
The most I’ve found online is the 44 P’s of Marketing. Obviously not a proponent of KISS;-)
So what’s missing?
Personalisation is absolutely an important P. It would work as a subheading for Place, but personalisation is something that was vastly more difficult in the world of traditional marketing media. OK, you can target a certain demographic by, say using billboards at a football ground. But the level of personalised targeting that you can do online totally outstrips what you could historically do.
Analysis is also something that is an order of magnitude more achievable with digital; being able to trial different versions of ads to different audiences and accurately measure the results is a marketer’s dream. Sadly, it doesn’t begin with P….
I also don’t like the fact that the 7Ps tend to bring focus onto the initial sale and not reputation building, aftersales and recurring business.
However, as a framework for producing a marketing campaign and engraining marketing throughout an organisation, they certainly do stand the test of time.
Right, off to buy that watch…. 😉
About me: I spent my career growing small businesses. I’m now working on my latest venture – helping others to do the same by increasing digital lead generation. If you’d like to have a chat about whether I could help you grow your business, please get in touch:)