Marketing mix is a concept which was first established for E. Jerome McCarthy in the book ‘Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach’. McCarthy introduced this framework to aid marketing managers in marketing decision making rooted in the 4Ps, namely, product, price, place and promotion. Later on, the 4Ps were expanded to 7 to include people, processes and physical evidence. Since then, all marketing research and academic work has been leveraging this framework to make competitive strategies and successful campaigns.
The digital world has revolutionized and redefined the marketing landscape and customer preferences, the 7Ps have evolved to accommodate the changing needs of the hour.
Here is a look at how 7Ps can be leveraged in the digital era.
- Product: A product is what a business offers its customer and the birth of a product is when it is first ideated. In today’s day and age, the digital medium is not only a platform for marketing products but also where businesses can identify whitespaces, test their products, receive feedback, improve and iterate. In addition to online surveys, social media has enabled brands and businesses to meet their customers, listen in to their conversations and improve their products.
- Price: With the faster adoption of internet, online browsing and purchases, pricing strategies have significantly evolved. The digital age has opened doors for data and algorithm driven real-time pricing adjustments. Availability of data and faster computational systems is helping businesses leverage several nuanced pricing strategies such as dynamic pricing, personalized pricing, pay-per-use and location-based pricing.
- Place: Place refers to the various distribution channels and locations through which products and services are made available to customers. Digital evolution has given rise to different types of distribution channels and logistics. Some of the significant changes include online marketplaces, e-commerce, m-commerce, direct-to-customer channels (think Whatsapp channels, Telegram) and peer-to-peer platforms. Today, virtual reality and augmented reality platforms have also evolved to create their own marketplaces and define unique customer interactions.
- Promotion: Older millennials, GenZ, GenAlpha and all future generations are digital, and to meet the customer where they are at, businesses have also elevated their promotion efforts with digital. Promotion, similar to pricing, is now using dynamic data and algorithms to meet the customers in the stage of their buying process. Content is able to be personalized, targeted and re-targeted with the help of data. In addition to these, UGC or User Generated Content and Influencer Marketing are also heavily used in promotions.
- People: People refer to everyone involved with the product, from employees to customers. Virtual meetings, webinars, virtual customer service, personalisation and customer insights are all made possible today through digitization.
- Processes: There is no doubt on how heavily digitized today’s processes are. From customer onboarding to retention each step is studded with virtual interactions, forms and e-signatures. Take the case of banking, in several countries, you do not need to walk into a bank branch anymore to open an account. Digital wallets, digital banks and e-payments have become a norm. Compliance and security have become tightly interwoven with automation and digitization.
- Physical Evidence: In the traditional sense, Physical Evidence refers to the tangible aspects of the product or service a customer interacts with. However, in the digital era the term ‘physical evidence’ in the context of 7Ps has evolved to include digital touchpoints and virtual experiences. Digital presence and user experience, in this regard, have become major factors determining the success of any business. A digital presence is now considered a standard of legitimacy while a smooth user experience ensures customer stickiness. AR and VR are also leading the revolution by refining product representation, virtual tours and experiences.
The rise of the digital era opened doors to innumerable opportunities for both businesses and customers. This is the age of trendsetters and innovators, ultimately, the winner in this age would be the one who strategizes the 7Ps to accommodate and explore these opportunities.
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