Marketing Essentials Revisited: The 7 Ps' Timeless Impact on Your Marketing Strategy
In the world of business, standing out and reaching the target audience is crucial for success. This is where marketing comes into play, serving as a roadmap to boost brand awareness, consumer engagement, and build relationships and trust.
Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the head of IBM, understood this well. He emphasized professionalism and competence in the appearance of salespeople, setting a high standard for businesses to follow.
The marketing mix, often referred to as the Seven P Formula, is a tool for evaluating and reevaluating business activities to ensure marketing efforts reach the target audience. The formula includes Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Packaging, Positioning, and People.
The Product section encourages businesses to critically assess their offerings to ensure they are appropriate and suitable for the market and customers of today. The Prices section emphasizes the importance of continually examining and reexamining pricing strategies to remain competitive in the current market.
Packaging refers to the visual elements of a product or service, including branded packaging, logo, and social media handles. Improvements in packaging can lead to different reactions from customers. The next P is positioning. How a company is seen and thought about by customers is crucial for success in a competitive marketplace. Positioning refers to the specific words people use when they describe a company and its offerings to others.
The Promotion section emphasizes the importance of thinking in terms of promotion all the time and experimenting with different ways of advertising, promoting, and selling products and services. In 2022, the top five advertising techniques included Programmatic Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Google Ads, and Automated and Personalized Email Marketing.
Programmatic Advertising uses AI and algorithms to automate digital ad buying, allowing precise targeting and real-time bidding to optimize ad delivery and cost-efficiency. Social Media Marketing leverages platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to connect with audiences, build brand awareness, drive sales, and run targeted ads. Influencer Marketing partners with influencers to promote products authentically through trusted voices on social channels, enhancing brand credibility and outreach. Google Ads, including Search Ads and Performance Max campaigns, reach customers actively searching for specific products or services using keyword and location targeting, automated campaigns, and multimedia ad formats across Google’s network. Automated and Personalized Email Marketing sends triggered, personalized emails to engage customers effectively, improving response rates and building customer loyalty.
Additional rising trends included AI-powered marketing for data-driven insights and creative targeting, as well as emerging formats like shoppable ads in connected TV environments that facilitate direct purchases from ads.
Everything about a company's appearance affects the customer's confidence in dealing with the company. The choice of location for the customer to receive buying information is crucial for entrepreneurs. The ability to select, recruit, hire, and retain the proper people is more important than everything else in business. The final P of the marketing mix is people, thinking in terms of the people responsible for sales, marketing strategies, and activities is important for business success.
Remember, marketing takes time, effort, and sometimes budget, but it can pay huge dividends. So, gear up and let your marketing strategies work their magic!
[1] [AdAge] (https://adage.com/article/digital/top-five-advertising-trends-2022/2367107) [2] [Forbes] (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/01/25/the-top-5-advertising-trends-to-watch-in-2022/?sh=7473432073f3) [3] [Marketing Land] (https://marketingland.com/5-advertising-trends-to-watch-in-2022-379033) [5] [Entrepreneur] (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/416311)
