The traditional Seven Ps of Marketing

In addition to the traditional four Ps of marketing (Product, Pricing, Promotion and Placement), customer services marketing brings in an extra three, making seven in total. They are collectively known as the extended marketing mix. The extra three Ps are:

People: Anyone coming into contact with customers will have a definite impact on overall customer satisfaction. They may be part of a supporting service or directly involved in a total service. People are always very important because in the eyes of the customer, they are inseparable from the overall customer service . Because of this, they must be well trained, well motivated and be the right type of person for the job. Customers are also referred to under 'people', as they can have an effect on the customer's service experience, (eg at a sponsored event).

Process: This is the entire process in providing a service and the specific behaviour of the people involved, all of which can be crucial to the customer's satisfaction.

Physical evidence: Unlike product evidence, a service cannot be actually experienced before it is supplied, which makes it a very intangible item. This means that prospects could think that there is a greater risk in deciding whether to use a particular service. To reduce this perception of risk, and also to improve the opportunity for success, it is vital to provide potential cnew ustomers with the opportunity to see what the potential service would be like. This is normally done by providing physical evidence like as case studies or magazine articles.

The traditional Four Ps of marketing

In the 1960s, the Harvard Business School in the USA discovered a number of company actions that influence the decision to buy goods or services. They suggested that the actions are a “Marketing Mix”, containing four marketing elements: product, price, promotion and placement.

Product: The product aspects of marketing cover the specifications, and how they relate to the end-user's different needs and wants. The scope of a product normally includes supporting elements eg warranties, support and guarantees.

Pricing: This covers the process of setting the best and most effective price for a product, including discounts. The price does not necesarily need to be monetary - it can be what’s exchanged for the product or service - eg time, energy, or a measure of attention.

Promotion: This covers web advertising, sales promotion, traditional advertising, publicity, and face-to-face selling and branding, and refers to the various methods of sales promotion.

Placement (or distribution): covers how the product or service gets to the customer eg distribution or retailing. This fourth P is also called Place, referring to the different channels through which it is sold (eg online or retail etc), which region or industry and which market segment (eg teenagers, families, business people etc).

These four marketing elements are very often called the marketing mix, which can be used to create a marketing plan. The four Ps marketing model is very useful for B2B both products and services. High-value consumer products require some refinements to this model. Services marketing must also take account of the unique nature of the services.

B2B marketing must also take into account long-term agreements which are typically found in supply chain contracts. Relationship marketing also attempts to accomplish this by looking at all aspects of marketing from a long-term relationship-building angle rather than simply looking at individual transactions.