13 + 1 P's of Marketing

Effective marketing has little to do with placing an ad in your local newspaper, industry magazine, posting on your favourite social media platform, and then hoping that someone will see it and do business with you. It has everything to do with knowing exactly who your choice-rich, time-poor customers are, where they come from, what they want, what price they are prepared to pay, and what it takes for them to keep doing business with you, verses the countless options they have available to them in today’s crowded marketplace ... especially your closest competitors.

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” (American Marketing Association)

Marketing 101 traditionally cites 4 P’s; Product, Place, Price and Promotion. I like to add another nine, plus one, for your consideration. 

1. Purpose. Why are we in business? What is our core purpose? What business are we in What are the end result benefits our customers receive from us? What value do our products and services add to our customers lives?

2. Planning. “If you fail to plan…you plan to fail.” Just as any good business has a well thought out business plan, it is essential to have in place an equally well-constructed Marketing Plan.

3. Product (and/or service). What is our primary product? What primary service do we provide? What are the features and benefits of our product and/or service offering?

4. Positioning. Where in the market place do we wish to play; at the commodity bottom-end focusing on cost and lowest prices, or the multi-sensory experience top-end giving laser-like attention to quality, service and value? Who is our target market? Who will buy from us?

5. Point of difference. How does our product or service differ from our competition? What is our niche, our specialist area of expertise? What makes us unique? What are we famous for?

6. Prospecting. Developing an effective lead generation system. What prospecting method(s) are best for our business? Identifying opportunities that best match our core competencies?

7. Price. What are our products and services worth? How much are our customers prepared to pay? Remember that one of misguided myths in business today is that customers won’t pay a premium for quality service.

8. Packaging. How will we package our product or service? Physical packaging, choice of materials, choice of colours, availability of sizes, model options, optional extras, as well as intangible warranties and guarantees, delivery options, payment plans, and access to product or service information.

9. Place. Where is the best place to operate from? How can customers most easily avail themselves of our product and services? CBD or suburbia? Retail? Wholesale? Online? Franchise? Single or multiple branches? Local, national, international?

10. Promotion. How does the marketplace know we exist? What is the best medium to tell people who we are and what we do? Press, radio, television advertising, brochures, published articles, newsletters, networking events, seminars, product showcases, websites, blogs, and/or which social media platform?

11. Programming. What is the time-line for ALL events and activities as scheduled in our marketing plan?

12. People. Who is on our team? Who will assist us? Reality says you cannot do business on your own. Recruit the very best talent you can find. Seek out the best external advisors; accountants, lawyers, advertising agencies, IT experts, web-designers, SEO experts, corporate training professionals, and business coach.

13. Performance. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Assign Objectives/Key Results (OKR’s), or Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), to each P to enable accurate          assessment and measurement of business results on a monthly/quarterly/annual basis; and to further analyse these metrics in greater depth at every 90-day future-storming session.

+1. The Final P - Persistence. The final P is the glue that holds it all together. Every business has its ups and downs. Every market behaves in unpredictable ways. The key is to persist, to hang in there, to hold the line, staying focused on what it is you do best. 

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