Tag: seven ps

  • Processes – One of the Seven Ps of Marketing

    Processes in Marketing

    Not to be confused with the over-arching Marketing Process, here we are talking about one of the Seven Ps of the Marketing Mix for service businesses.

    We’re all familiar with the famous Four Ps, namely product, place, pricing and promotion. But this list can be expanded out to the Seven Ps for services marketing. Services marketing is relevant to all people-facing businesses, like hairdressers, professional services, restaurants and bars, etc.

    In this context, processes in marketing refers to how your business delivers its service at the customer interface : through each step of the customer experience.

    Imagine, for example, entering a restaurant and being met by lovely staff who take your order competently and without undue delay, striking the right balance between friendly helpfulness and efficiency. Your food is served in a timely manner and the evening goes off smoothly, with no glitches. This would be an example of excellent processes in marketing.

    Now imagine, on the other hand, a restaurant where dishes you didn’t order are served, the wine isn’t delivered without you having to remind the waiting staff, the bill is incorrect and so on. This might be how processes in marketing can go terribly wrong.

    Processes
    Processes move the customer through their experience

    In a very large customer interfacing business, such as a theme park, issues might include :

    * How to manage the queuing system

    * Alternative ticketing options

    * Location of restaurant and toilet facilities around the park

    * Pathways and signage – how the customer actually gets around the park

    Here’s a real-life example. A person recently booked a room in a hotel for a wheelchair-bound relative. The hotel was specifically asked if they had wheelchair accessible bedrooms. The receptionist was delighted to confirm that they did and the booking was taken. On arrival, it was discovered that neither the bar nor the hotel restaurant were accessible, both having several steps to be negotiated to gain access. This is a classic case of poor processes in marketing. Clearly, the receptionist should have known to point out these obvious hurdles during the booking process (telephone interaction).

    We all know the adage that if you have a great experience you’ll tell three people, whereas if you have a bad one, you’ll tell twenty!

    Make sure your processes are sound – that your customer experience is as it should be and that your business delivers its service in a correct, timely and uniform manner. But watch out : this is not to say that you shouldn’t deliver your service with personality. Quite the contrary. If you are confident about your processes, this in fact liberates you and your team to be personal and attentive in your delivery. And that’s wonderful for branding and gaining positive testimonials.

    Processes in Marketing

    Processes are about knowing what to do and how to do it, especially in services marketing. Do you work your customers through their experience of your business in an efficient, logical and friendly manner? Heck, is the coffee machine where I would expect it to be?

    Read about Physical Evidence, another of the expanded Seven Ps of Marketing.

  • Physical Evidence – One of the Seven Ps of Marketing

    Physical Evidence as Part of the Marketing Mix

    OK, so we’ve all heard of the Four Ps of Marketing, right? But in addition to the well-known Product, Price, Place (Distribution) and Promotion, there are three others to consider if yours is a service business – Physical Evidence, People and Processes. In this post, we’ll look at the first.

    Physical Evidence is about what it says on the tin – the idea that your service business needs to “look the part”. How can an intangible service achieve this? It’s about how your premises and other assets (along with your service delivery) match your branding message.

    Physical Evidence
    Physical Evidence is one of the Seven Ps of Marketing

    A simple way to understand this concept is to think about the last restaurant you walked into. Typically, a restaurant is not located upstairs, because the need to walk up a staircase, peek inside the restaurant and retreat back down when we don’t like what we see is something that makes people uncomfortable. We prefer restaurants at street level, so we can comfortably look in and walk on by, if we so choose. We like to view the menu, see if there is a good crowd inside, check out the ambiance and get a “feel” for the place.

    A friend of mine, who drives a lot for a living, once told me how he would never buy too big a company car, because it might give off the wrong impression to his clients.

    To take a silly example : How would you feel if, when visiting a medical device manufacturing facility, the reception area in which you are seated, while waiting for your appointment, left a lot to be desired in terms of cleanliness? Impressive physical evidence? I wouldn’t think so.

    Let’s imagine you want to open a pizzeria with a fun theme, rather than the traditional rustic “Italian Family” feel. In this case, you might design a bright, funky decor to reflect this concept. Physical evidence should be, therefore, a key cornerstone of your branding message and should fit with your pricing, promotion and other elements of your services marketing mix.

    But the relevance of physical evidence extends beyond simply the bricks and mortar outlet your business might take place in. Imagine if you were a creator of signage for vehicles and didn’t have a good quality sign on your own van. Or if you were a website designer with an outdated, poorly optimised, non mobile-friendly website of your own.

    Physical evidence is one of the Seven Ps of the Marketing Mix for service businesses, along with product, price, place, promotion, people and processes. Like the others, it cannot stand alone, but great physical evidence can greatly help your business set the right tone and thrive.

    Review your Physical Evidence

    So, whether you are providing kayaking tours at the riverside, running a small family hotel or involved in financial services, take a look around your premises (or where and how your service is provided to your customers) and see if your physical evidence matches what your customers would like to experience. You’ve heard it before, punters love to comment on how they “didn’t like the look of the place”.

    How do your premises and other facets of your business look? Are you portraying the right type of physical evidence that will entice your target market to do business with you?

    Read this thread on Quora about the differences between marketing products v services.