Marketing is more than promotion
When people think of marketing, the first thing that often comes to mind is promotion – ads, social media posts, and emails trying to sell something.
But marketing is not just about promotion. It's a broad strategy that includes everything from what you're selling to how you're selling it.
At the heart of marketing is the “marketing mix,” a concept that lays the foundation for making strategic decisions in marketing.
It involves understanding and optimising seven key elements
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
- People
- Process
- Physical Evidence.
Each marketing P plays a role in creating value for both your clients and your business, making marketing more than promoting your business, products, or services.
The marketing mix
The marketing mix is a fancy term for all the things you can control to meet your clients and ideal clients needs and reach your business goals.
Let’s look at each in a bit more detail:
1. Product
This is what you're selling. It could be a physical item, a service, or even a digital product. It's important to understand what makes your product valuable and desirable to your target market. And your product/service should not only meet the needs of your ideal clients it should also exceed their expectations in terms of quality and usability.
2. Price
How much your product/service costs plays a significant role in whether people will buy from you.
Pricing strategies can vary, from competitive pricing to premium pricing, depending on what your ideal client (aka target market) is willing to pay.
It's important to strike a balance between being affordable for your target market while still making sure your business is profitable.
Additionally, pricing strategies can significantly impact how your product is perceived in the market.
3. Promotion
This involves all the ways you tell people about your product and convince them to buy it. This includes advertising, sales promotions, social media, and more.
Effective promotion increases visibility and drives demand. But you need to be promoting in the right place and to the right people (aka your ideal clients).
And, it's absolutely crucial to remember that promotion is just one part of marketing – it’s not the be-all and end-all.
4. Place
This is about how and where people can buy your products or access your services. It could be in a physical store, online, or through a distributor. The easier it is for people (your ideal clients) to find and purchase your product or service, the better.
5. People
Everyone involved with your business, from employees to yourself, affects how your product or service is made/delivered, sold, and experienced by your clients.
Good customer service can often be a strong selling point because the level of service and interaction your ideal clients have with your team can greatly influence their satisfaction and loyalty
6. Process
Process refers to the methods and procedures involved in delivering your product or service to the customer. It's how the service is provided and the behaviour of those who deliver it.
People today aren't just buying a product or service; they're investing in the full experience from the first time they hear about your business, through to purchase, and beyond. How you deliver what you're selling, and how the people delivering it act, is key to making sure your ideal clients are happy.
7. Physical Evidence
Physical evidence is the tangible aspects of your product or service. It helps in building trust and credibility with your customers.
This could be the packaging, your store's layout, or even the website design. For services, in particular, physical evidence means anything tangible that shows the quality of the service, like the cleanliness of a restaurant or the user interface of an app.
Why Knowing Your Market Matters
Understanding your marketing mix is vital for any business owner because it covers all the bases of how you present and sell your product or service.
But what's even more important is knowing who your target market is – who your ideal clients are.
If you don’t have a clear understanding of who you’re aiming to sell to, it’s highly likely that your marketing efforts—and by extension, your marketing mix—won’t hit the mark.
Without knowing who your ideal clients are, you won't be able to tailor your product, price, place, or promotion effectively, and your efforts may not resonate with the people you're trying to reach.
Essentially, getting your target market right is the first step to getting your marketing mix right, setting the foundation for all your marketing strategies and actions.
If you know your ideal clients well, you can tailor every part of your marketing mix (those seven marketing p’s) to better match what your ideal clients are looking for. On the flip side, not understanding your ideal clients can lead to missed opportunities and time and money wasted.
You can learn more about understanding who your target market is here.
The Bottom Line for Businesses
Marketing is much more than just promotion.
At the end of the day, marketing is all about covering every base—from making and pricing your product or service to getting it out there and selling it.
When you think about marketing being more than just advertising and consider everything involved in marketing, you can really meet what your customers want, stand out from the crowd, and hit your business targets.
