Product
This one sounds simple but it isn’t. Most companies tell you this: "Hi, this is my product or service. I love it. It’s very affordable and here’s how it works."
WRONG. WRONG. WRONG!
Odds are that if that’s how you see and present your products or services you’re well on your way down the slippery slope of becoming history – not making history.
You need to focus on what your customer thinks of your product or service, how they use it and who or what they see as the logical alternatives to what you have to offer. Product research is critical.
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Price
Price your product or service so that your price remains competitive but allows you to make a good profit because a decent profit enables you to invest in making all the other 'P's come alive for you.
When a customer tells you that your price is too high, odds are they’re actually telling you that you’re not offering enough Value. If I’m buying a high end product, great value includes some level of product exclusivity, top quality products, ingredients, services, a superior level of detail, functional advantages and a 'wow factor' that reflects your investment in product research and development.
Pricing is an integral piece of the puzzle.
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Promotion
Promotion is all about how you tell the world what you’ve got to offer, where it is available and when. Great promotion plans always start with a crystal clear understanding of the target group. Who they are, what they like to do, when, why, how and with whom. Consumer research is used to identify the best, most natural places and times for 'activity interruptions': your advertising.
Example: While interrupting a person at a bar in order to ask him to try your new line of beer makes sense, doing so at a funeral does not.
HOWEVER, drop by a funeral home soon. You’ll be amazed at how many products they have to sell and how effectively they bundle and up-sell funeral services.
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Place
Place is a really big deal and works hand in hand with Promotion. The place where your business sells its products or services and how it delivers those products or services to your customers can make or break a new or established brand.
Place is also used in marketing to differentiate you from your competition.
Province, State, city, neighborhood, street, store design, product position in the store, display type and size are a FEW of the variables that will affect same store sales. While we’ve used a terrestrial example here, Place is even more important online.
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People
While there were originally just 4 Ps (Product, Price, Promotion and Place), service brands began adding People to the marketing equation because poor customer service is a sure fire brand killer.
When the people who present your products or services to your customers are careless and or indifferent, they send a very powerful message to your customers: "I don’t care about you – or this product."
Better yet, when a store tell customers that "well, it’s a great product, but that one is $30.00 less", they are helping to train all customers to shop Price – not Quality.
People has become increasingly important as the odds of repatriating lost customers declines and the cost of doing so goes up.
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Passion
Passion really matters.
If you don’t care, find someone who does to represent your precious Brand.
Syndicated and proprietary research studies have quantified what you already know to be true: customers who love the (product or service) brands they use are more loyal, less price sensitive, more forgiving when things go wrong (and you make them right), purchase more of your products and services, and importantly, are much more likely to recommend your product and services to friends and families.
On the other hand – talk to someone who doesn’t care about your product and service and they’ll tell you: "I wouldn’t use that stupid thing – even if you paid me!"
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