There are several types of marketing mix, depending on the activities and needs of the business you run. One of them is the concept of 7p marketing mix, which is a marketing strategy consisting of 7 elements to increase sales growth and revenue (income) of the company. The seven elements include: products, prices, promotions, place, people, physical evidence and process.
This 7p marketing mix is a development or extension of the 4p marketing strategy (product, price, promotion and place). These four elements tend to be more product-oriented or product-focused, rather than sales and operating activities. However, along with the development of technology and current marketing trends, the marketing mix has also undergone several changes and the addition of expert elements.
Booms and Bitner were the first to introduce this concept. Both explained a new marketing mix concept that contained the 4P marketing mix with the addition of three other elements. This results in the latest version of the marketing mix concept, which is 7p.
The 7p concept is considered the best choice for developing a new business (startup). For more details, here is an example of setting up a 7p marketing mix on a startup that you should know!
The 7P marketing mix concept for startups
As explained above, 7p consists of 7 elements which are mutually enduring with each other. To help you find out in more detail, here is an explanation of the concept of 7p marketing mix element for startups:
1. Product (product or service)
The product is anything that is the result of the production of a company. In today’s digital age, products are not just limited to goods and services. However, it can also take the form of virtual products, such as websites, applications, etc.
When creating a product, you must first determine the demand for the product. You can analyze using market orientation and apply a customer-centric strategy to uncover customer wants and needs. In addition, you can also find product information or comprehensive customer data information, both customer segmentation, behavior and sentiment.
Its function is to help smooth the product development process in order to create a quality product that engages the audience before launching it (product launch). To minimize the possibility of product failure in the marketplace. Especially for those of you who want to highlight the benefits of products (product-driven growth) as the backbone of the business.
Next, don’t forget to determine the target market you will target through market research. Then you can analyze the competitors to know the competition in terms of market share or market share. You need to do these things first to ensure that the product you make meets the wants and needs of today’s consumers. By creating products that the target market needs, the opportunity to increase sales growth and competitiveness will be wide open.
Also offer unique selling points so that your product has its own characteristics or uniqueness. This strategy can make the branding process easier while increasing brand awareness.
2. Price
The next 7p concept is price. It is the amount of money that consumers spend to buy products from your brand. Remember that price is a crucial element that you cannot determine arbitrarily. You need to make the correct calculations so that the price of the product does not have a negative effect on the development and growth of your business in the future.
To determine the selling price of a product, you should not set a nominal that is too high as this may affect the buying interest of consumers. On the other hand, you also cannot set the price too low as this can affect the revenue of the business. So when determining price, focus on how you can make the prospect feel like they’re paying a price that’s balanced with the quality of product they’re getting.
Also pay attention to prices based on discounts or promotions. For example, promotions in certain seasons (seasonal marketing), where you need to sell seasonal products at lower prices to attract more customers.
3. Location
When making a product, a businessman usually has a business place or location so that every business activity can run smoothly and efficiently. However, there must be a special strategy to choose the right location with the product or service.
Indeed, the location of the place of business and the strategic regional conditions also have a significant effect on the development of a company. The more strategic the location of your business, the greater the profit you will derive from it.
In addition to an actual location, you also need to find a digital “place” to market your product. The point is through digital media (digital marketing) such as the use of social media and social messaging.
You can also advertise using paid media and media buying to reach more potential customers. Another trick you can try is to leverage the Google Business Profile to make it easier for customers to find your business through the search page. Also, optimize SEO and SEM so that your product ranks high on Google and is easy to find.
4. Promotions
Promotion is the most important strategy in business. Therefore, the promotion strategy aims to present a product to a large audience. There are different types of marketing channels you can use to promote. Both traditional and digital.
For example, using social media (Instagram marketing, Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing, TikTok marketing, YouTube marketing), blog marketing, social messaging such as WhatsApp, Telegram, email marketing, as well as marketing traditional via the written press and television.
In addition, a method of promoting goods or services that are cheap and do not require large amounts of capital is to do SEO optimization. You can also try the Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising system if you want to get your business known faster. PPC is the fastest way to buy customer visits to your site, rather than trying to grow traffic or visits organically.
5. People (People or HR)
It cannot be denied that this factor plays an important role in the rise or even the decline of a business. HR is one of the considerations in this marketing strategy as it relates to the people who execute the marketing process to be successful.
Some of the things you need to do to maximize the elements of this marketing mix concept include:
6. Physical evidence
After creating and developing a product, you also need to pay attention to the product packaging. Because attractive packaging can increase product sales by 70%.
Not only the product packaging, you also need to pay attention to the physical appearance of the place of business. If your place of business has a good product design, more and more potential customers will be interested. On the other hand, a messy design will definitely make them feel uncomfortable.
With so many potential customers attracted to the physical appearance of your business, it will be easier to do lead nurturing to attract more potential customers (lead magnets). As a result, the conversion rate will also increase.
7. Process
The process is the last element of the 7p marketing mix concept. These elements include the procedures, mechanisms, and flows that consumers use to use the services you create. Starting from consumers ordering until they finally get what they want (customer journey).
So, this element is the customer experience at all stages of the marketing funnel. From the initial product introduction to the product purchase process.
An example of applying the 7P marketing mix concept to a startup
So how do you apply the 7P marketing mix concept to startups? To make it easier for you to understand, here are examples of implementations you can understand:
- Product: concerning the product you want to sell. For example, clothing, food, SEO services or design services
- Price: Determine what is the most ideal price for the product. The trick is to calculate the margin you get after spending production costs (cost of goods). Do a CBA to make sure you don’t lose and that the price you offer is balanced with the quality of the product
- Promotion: Use the most appropriate marketing strategy to promote the product. For example, organizing marketing events, marketing via social networks or using paid advertisements on Google and Facebook
- People: Determine who will be responsible for carrying out marketing activities. For example, the sales and marketing team doing promotions. Or the customer service team whose job it is to ensure customer satisfaction with your company’s products and services
- Location: You can define a marketing channel for the sales process. For example, do you only need social media accounts and websites, or do you need an offline store?
- Physical: In terms of offline, customers can find your products in supermarkets. Meanwhile, in terms of online, then the physical evidence is the logo, packaging, website, on your brand’s social networks
- Process: Refers to the overall process that customers go through when interacting with your brand. For example, how long does it take customers to receive the product, what payment systems can customers use, etc.
It’s an explanation of the 7P marketing mix concept along with examples of its application for startups. To properly realize all 7P marketing mix concepts, you of course need good business planning and strategy.
Moreover, you can also use the services of a digital marketing agency to help you grow your business. Some of the marketing strategies that can be implemented are growth hack marketing, inbound marketing, 360 digital marketing and data driven marketing so that the business can grow rapidly.
