9P’s of Marketing

Marketing Mix is a planned mix of the controllable elements of a product's marketing plan.  Traditionally, elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as 4Ps: Product, Price, Promotion and Place; which was proposed by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960.  Although Nickels and Jolson suggested the inclusion of Packaging as the 5th P in the 1970s, but it was not well accepted.  In the meantime, three Ps have also been added to the marketing mix namely People, Process and Physical Evidence; which serve mainly the service industry and are widely recognized. 

 Nickels and Jolson's idea to include Packaging as one of the Ps has been examined through the years, now many marketers believe Packaging should be the 8th P in marketing mix.  In 2008, Bryan K. Law of Fox College of Business suggested Payment should also be included; as ease and security of transaction plays a crucial role in marketing, especially in this cyber age.  It makes a total of 9 elements in marketing; which are the 9Ps.

 We advocate the idea of using all 9Ps in practicing marketing and using them to help businesses marketing their products.  In the future, we will establish a platform where vendors can sell their products and services using the 9Ps and consumers can also participate in the marketing program.  Stay tuned! 

 

There are many marketing jobs that require marketing skills - marketing plan, marketing proposal, marketing strategy, marketing research and marketing analysis.  Once you are familiar with the use of marketing mix, you can play well in those areas too. 

Product

 

In marketing, a product is a tangible object or an intangible one

for sale. Intangible products are service based like the

transportation industry, hotel industry or insurance.

 

Examples of tangible object are gasoline and pen.  To retain its

competitiveness in the market, product differentiation is required

and is one of the strategy to differentiate from its competitors.

 

For example, a luxury pen made with diamond and 18K gold

can be marketed as a writing instrument; but it can also be

marketed as a piece of jewellery and such positioning may

differentiate it better and more efficiently.

 

A junk site for dumping used vehicles could be marketed as a

dump site; but a smart consultant changed it into a car dealership

and sold it for 10 times of the original value.

 

Price

Price is the amount that a product is

asking in the market.  It is determined

by a number of factors including

market share, competition, material

costs, product identity and the

customer's perceived value of the

product. A business may increase or

decrease the price of product if the

product is in demand or other stores

have the same product.

For the same product, the price may

have different impact.  Here is a real

story:

A teenager asked his dad to give him

one thousand dollars to buy a nice

jacket in a department store.  The dad

struggled a little bit but handed the

teenager one thousand dollars to buy

the jacket.  When the dad asked his

son to show him the jacket the next

day, his son handed back the money

and said: "I didn't buy it."

"Why?" the dad asked.

"When I went to the department store

this morning, I found out that the

jacket was on sale.  It is now selling

for $300 only.  I don't want to have a

jacket that is sold for that cheap."

 Promotion

 

Promotion is all the communications

that a marketer may use in the

marketplace.  It has four distinct

elements: advertising, public

relations, personal selling and sales

promotion.

 

Not all products will fit in the same

promotion.  A designer brand will

never use radio commercial to

promote their brand image, while a

politician will not use fashion

magazines to promote their schemes.

Place

 

Place represents the location where a

product can be purchased or the

channel where the product can go

through to be placed for sale.  

Therefore, it is often referred to as the

distribution channel.

 

Place may include any physical store

as well as virtual stores on the

Internet. However, Place may not be

exactly a physical store where the

product is for sale. Place is where the

product is available or an image of

the product is created in the mind of

customers.  Channel may refer to the

media, the network and the way how

your message is delivered.

 

Here is a famous story to show how

the place may affect marketing:

 

Two salesmen of a shoe factory were

sent to a small country in Africa to

explore business opportunity.  When

they came back, the boss interviewed

them one by one.

 

The first salesman said: "Don't waste

your time boss.  All the people there

do not wear shoes.  There is no

market for us."

 

The second salesman said: "No one

there wear shoes.  We will have

millions of shoes sold and I think we

should hire more people to make our

production line 24/7."

People

 

All people involved with

consumption of a service are

important. For example workers,

management, consumers etc.

 

People is an important factor in

servicing industries - travel agencies,

restaurants and hair salons.  No two

persons are the same and no two

persons can provide the exact same

service to customers.  It is therefore

important to recruit good people and

maintain their good quality service in

order to attract and keep the

customers.

 

It is common to see:  All our

technicians are certified ... Our

service consultants are all well trained

and licensed ... All our instructors

have over 10 years experience in the

field .. etc etc.  However, such

'guarantee' can only ensure their

people achieve a certain level of

education or experience.  There is no

assurance that their service will be

good.

 

In order to standardize the effect and

to minimize the gap among different

people, Process is introduced.

Process

 

Process is the procedure, mechanism

and flow of activities to provide

service or to produce a product.  The

prevailing ISO standards (such as ISO

9001) are designed to help

organizations ensure their process can

meet the needs of customers and

other stakeholders in their field.

 

A well organized and quality

controlled process may reduce the

impact of People.

Physical Evidence

 

Physical Evidence is the element that

allows the consumers to make

judgments on that organisation. It

includes some of the following:

Premises,

Websites,

Paperwork (such as air tickets),

Brochures,

Signage (such as those on aircraft and

vehicles),

Uniforms,

Business cards.

 

Just imagine that if you bought a

ticket of the 2008 Olympic Games via

online; you would love to show your

friends the 'official ticket' and keep it

as a souvenir instead of printing a bar

code from your computer.  This is

one of the examples for Physical

Evidence.

Packaging

 

Marketing people have always

emphasized the importance of

packaging as it is the way to make a

first impression on the customers;

especially for the products on shelves.

However, some people believe

Packaging should be a part of Product

and some people think it is a part of

Promotion.

Because of the advanced packaging

today, products are now protected

from contamination, crushing,

breakage, and spoilage and it helps in

the product to be unaffected from

climatic conditions. Packaging is also

helpful in elaborating necessary

details about the product, company,

quantity, ingredients, precautions and

side effects etc.

 

In some extreme cases, such as some

fancy Japanese products; the cost of

packing may exceed the cost of the

product itself in order to attract

customers.

 

Some say the images of singers,

actors and actresses are also

packaging - they are what they

projected in your mind.  How to

package an artist is the key to make a

star.

Payment

 

In 2008, Bryan K. Law of Fox College of Business suggested Payment should also be included; as ease and security of transaction plays

a crucial role in marketing, especially in this cyber age.  

Payment is the consideration for the

delivery of goods and services.  It is

an ease and security of transaction.

 

Traditionally the retailers would try to

provide as many options of payment

as possible for the convenience of

their customers and hence attract

more business.  Cash, debit card,

cheque, gift voucher, and different

types of credit card (such as VISA,

Master, American Express, Diners

Club, JBC and Discovery) are

commonly accepted in most

establishments, especially the big

ones.  People do not expect to carry

enough cash to dine in luxury

restaurants or to buy designer brands

in the shopping malls.

 

Many merchants offer bonus points to

their customers, such as mileage

points offered by airline companies,

club points offered by retail stores

and airtime points offered by mobile

phone companies.  These are all

incentives to the customers, but the

points are also a kind of payment

itself.

 

In this cyber age, easy and security

payment methods are essential for all

online transactions.  Can you imagine

an online store that will accept only

cash or ask its customers to send in

bank draft for buying their products? 

Payment is not just a tool in

marketing, it is one of the essences.

 

Now, many payment methods use

RFID (radio-frequency identification)

technology for faster and more secure

payment method.  Mastercard's

PayPass, VISA's payWave and the

Octopus cards are a few good

examples.

 

New Development – Digital Wallet

 

Cell phone companies have launched

the idea of digital wallet – using your

cell phone make Payment and as a

proof of ID.

The 'smartphone-enabled wallet'

allows consumers to purchase items

simply by tapping their phone on a

pad at the cash; much like a tap-and-

pay credit card but it can also have

GPS and ID to serve other purpose.