7 Elements of the Marketing Mix

John Spacey, May 22, 2020

The marketing mix are the foundational components of a marketing strategy or business model. The classic marketing mix includes 4 elements: product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix is often extended with three additional elements: people, process and physical evidence. This is awkward and dated as these three elements are better described as customer experience. Nevertheless, the following is an overview of the seven elements of the marketing mix.

Product

The design and production of your products. The marketing mix dates to the 1940s before the service economy such that marketers were product-focused. This could easily be extended to "products & services" but services doesn't start with a "p" so nobody has dared do this. The following are common elements of products and services that can be considered by a marketing strategy or business model.

Customer Needs	Features
Functions	Performance
Positioning	Quality
Style	Usability

Price

The price of your products and services. This is a trade-off with other elements of the mix as it is difficult to charge a low price if you spend big on product quality, promotion and posh locations. This is the point of the marketing mix: trade-offs are made by every marketing strategy that hopeful carve out a valuable position in your target market.

Affordable Luxury	Discount
Luxury	Mid-Priced
Premium	Price Discrimination
Price Leadership	Value for Quality

Price discrimination involves finding ways to charge your price insensitive customers more while still selling to price sensitive customers.

Place

The distribution of your goods and services. For example, a luxury brand that puts full price shops in premium locations such as hotels, posh streets and airports and lower priced outlets in remote suburban locations.

Delivery	Ecommerce
Flagship Locations	Product Showrooms
Retail Locations	Service Locations

Promotion

The promotion of brands, products and services.

Advertising	Branding
Demand Generation	No Promotion
Personal Selling	Retargeting
Sales Promotion	Word of Mouth

People

The last three elements of the marketing mix date to 1981 before the concept of Customer Experience emerged. They also appear to be awkward due to the apparent requirement for all elements of the marketing mix to start with the same letter. Nevertheless the following elements can be considered "people" related.

Complaint Handling	Customer Advocacy
Customer Service	Customer Service Principles
Professionalism	Service Experience
Training	Uniforms

Process

Elements of your operations. Any elements of operations that impact customers are better known as customer experience.

Customer Journey	Distribution Process
Quality Assurance	Self-Service

Physical Evidence

This is more typically described as service environment and service tangibles -- any physical things that the customer experiences that aren't a product.

7 Elements of the Marketing Mix

Place

People

Process

Physical Evidence

Marketing Mix

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