Marketing is the frontline revenue driver for any enterprise. Oftentimes we read of the “4 Ps of Marketing” (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) but the marketing discipline has evolved into now the ’14 Ps of Marketing’ or more or less depending upon who you talk to. I will outline the 14 Ps and offer what impact they may have on your personal or professional life:
- Philosophy: Also known as purpose or core values. It’s what the organization stands for and the way it undertakes its work. Impact: You must first have some kind of philosophy or concept in order to then plot out a roadmap to get where you want to go.
- Personality: The mix of subcultures present within the organization that contribute to the organization’s distinctiveness. Impact: You must leverage the competitive advantage of your cultural diversity.
- People: The most important asset. Their importance to the organization’s identity (membership of sub-cultural groups), their interface with external stakeholders, and their role in product and service quality. Impact: Continuous and diligent sourcing for the right people for the right job (i.e., ‘the right people in the right seats of the bus’) is an arduous yet necessary task. The opportunity cost in hiring less than optimum employees can cripple your marketing efforts.
- Product: Or service or idea. What an organization makes or does, its core business or businesses. Impact: Time has no prisoners. You must constantly innovate with new products, services and/or ideas or else you’re losing ground in the marketplace. Value-add differentiation is the key to sustainability.
- Price: What it charges for its products and services, including the goodwill element in the valuation of its corporate and product brands, stock price, and employee compensation. Impact: Careful analysis must be performed before setting your price points or else you’ll miss your mark with the opportunity.
- Place: Locus of control. Distribution channels and logistics, organization’s relationship with middlemen, franchising arrangements, etc. Impact: You can’t be at all places for everybody; therefore, you must systematically examine what ‘weddings’ you can attend and which ‘chaffeurs and limousines’ can most efficiently get you there.
- Promotion: A concern with Total Corporate Communications (e.g., public relations, advertising, direct, and e-commerce) includes visual identification and branding policy. Impact: A myriad of vehicles are available but can blow a budget out of whack. You must judiciously calculate which elements of your promotional mix will be best suited to draw in your prospects to be first time customers and increase repeat client ratios.
- Performance: How the organization’s performance is rated by its key stakeholders and against competition (market share, profit, revenue, etc.). Impact: When all is said and done the numbers don’t lie. Positive bottomline results enable you to be flexible to do other things to further grow your business.
- Perception: Equals reality, i.e., ‘what you think is, is’. Corporate image and reputation, and industry/country of origin. Impact: Be in the right prospect and client’s face often and shower them with kindness. People buy from people they like and can remember how to quickly get a hold of them when the need and/or desire arises. You don’t have to have all the answers on hand but need to be accessible, available, and resourceful enough to know how to turnaround effective solutions fast.
- Positioning: Derived from segmentation and targeting. Specific relation to relevant stakeholders, competitors, and the external environment. Impact: What’s your niche in the marketplace? Do you fill a current or impending void?
- Packaging: We are drawn to items by the way they are packaged…size, design, and hues.
- Process: Day-to-day operational efficiency drives productivity which, in turn, ignites #8 above: Performance.
- Programs: Tactics, activities, and behavior execute overall strategy.
- Partnerships: We can’t do all these Ps alone…so we seek strategic alliances, joint ventures, etc.!
Adhering to the above 14 Ps will enable you to grow your business exponentially.