For more marketing frameworks and models, visit the Marketing Theories page.
Marketing is a continually evolving discipline, and companies that stand still risk finding themselves left behind the competition. One example of this evolution has been the fundamental changes to the basic Marketing Mix. Where once there were four Ps used to explain the mix, it is now more commonly accepted that a more developed seven Ps adds a valuable additional layer of depth, with some theorists going further still.
Before exploring that evolution, it helps to understand what the Marketing Mix is and what the original four Ps principle involved.
The Marketing Mix
Put simply, the Marketing Mix is a tool used by businesses and marketers to help determine a product or brand's offering. The four Ps have been associated with the Marketing Mix since their creation by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960.
The Marketing Mix Four Ps
- Product — the product should fit the task consumers want it for, it should work, and it should be what consumers are expecting to receive.
- Place — the product should be available from where the target consumer finds it easiest to shop. This may be a high street shop, mail order, or the more current option of e-commerce or an online shop.
- Price — the product should always be seen as representing good value for money. This does not necessarily mean it should be the cheapest available; one of the main tenets of the marketing concept is that customers are usually happy to pay a little more for something that works well for them.
- Promotion — advertising, PR, sales promotion, personal selling and, more recently, social media are all key communication tools for an organisation. These should be used to put the organisation's message across to the correct audiences in the manner they would most like to receive it, whether informative or appealing to their emotions.
In the late 1970s, it was widely acknowledged by marketers that the Marketing Mix should be updated. This led to the creation of the Extended Marketing Mix in 1981 by Booms and Bitner, which added three new elements to the four Ps principle. This allowed the extended Marketing Mix to include products that are services and not just physical things.
The Extended Seven Ps
- People — all companies rely on the people who run them, from front-line sales staff to the managing director. Having the right people is essential, because they are as much a part of a business offering as the products or services themselves.
- Process — the delivery of a service is usually done with the customer present, so how the service is delivered becomes part of what the consumer is paying for.
- Physical Evidence — almost all services include some physical elements, even if the bulk of what the consumer is paying for is intangible. For example, a hair salon provides a client with a completed hairstyle, and an insurance company gives customers some form of printed or digital material. Even where the material is not physically printed, the customer is still receiving a "physical product" by this definition.
In place since the 1980s, the seven Ps are still widely taught because their underlying logic remains sound. Marketers continue to adapt the Marketing Mix to reflect changes in communication, such as social media, updates in the places where a product or service can be sold, and shifting customer expectations in a constantly changing commercial environment.
Is There an Eighth P
In some schools of thought, there are eight Ps in the Marketing Mix. The final P is Productivity and Quality. This came from the older Services Marketing Mix and is folded into the Extended Marketing Mix by some marketers.
The Eighth P of the Marketing Mix
- Productivity and Quality — this asks whether a business is offering its customer good value. It is less about a business improving its own productivity for cost management, and more about how a company passes that value on to its customers.
Even decades after the original four Ps, the Marketing Mix remains very much applicable to a marketer's day-to-day work. A good marketer learns to adapt the theory to fit not only modern times but also their individual business model.
Watch the Marketing Mix Explained
The video below is part of the Professional Academy Marketing Theories Explained series, presented by Professional Academy tutor Peter Sumpton, explaining the Marketing Mix and how it can be applied in practice. It offers a short, visual walkthrough of how to use the Marketing Mix and the seven Ps of marketing.
How Professional Academy Supports Your Journey
At Professional Academy, the Marketing Mix is used across all of the marketing qualifications and is first taught as part of the CIM Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing. At every level of qualification there are links back to the Marketing Mix Ps in some form, which makes it key knowledge for any marketer. It is best understood alongside other marketing theories such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL, the Boston Consulting Group Matrix and stakeholder mapping, all of which can be explored on the Marketing Theories page. To take the next step, explore the CIM marketing qualifications, or if referencing is needed for an assessment, the Harvard Referencing guide can help.
