Marketing Mix For Services | 7 Ps of Marketing Mix

The concept of marketing mix to describe the activities performed by a marketer as a mix of ingredients was originally proposed by Borden. The internal elements that constitute the organizations marketing strategy can be collectively referred to as marketing mix.

Marketing mix is a well-established concept which is used by the marketers across industries to manage their marketing programs. The term ‘marketing mix’ was coined by Neil H. Borden who initially proposed twelve marketing mix variables in the context of manufacturers.

Marketing Mix For Services

The individual components of the extended 7P framework of marketing mix for services is discussed in following:

1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion
5. Process
6. People
7. Physical Evidence

Product

A product can be defined as the overall bundle of utilities that provide value to customer. The product can be classified as either goods or services based on the unique characteristic it exhibit. Further, it makes sense as the customers are basically supposed to be interested more in the utilities and value offered by the marketers offering. It is thus important to understand the service in terms of the benefits and value propositions that bring satisfaction to the customer who are seeking it.

Price

Pricing is one of the most important factors to be considered in a marketing program as it has a directly influences sales and profits. Moreover, it is important to understand that there would generally be a trade-off between sales and prices. With higher prices we may generate more profits but will usually register lesser sales numbers, whereas at lower prices the organization may be able to sell more but will sacrifice per unit profit.

Place

Place refers to the distribution channels that are responsible for making the product available to the customers.It is important in the marketing that the product must be available to its customers at right place in right time and in right quantities. Service organizations too need to make their services available to the target customers without which marketing cannot take place.

Promotion

The promotion part of the service marketing mix refers to the communication regarding the service to various stakeholders. It is very important to any service organization to understand the importance of its communication strategy as it is the tool which informs, persuades and reminds customers and various other stakeholders of the service offers and its positioning.

Process

Process in services refers to the actual procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is delivered- the service delivery and operating systems. In a service organisation, the system by which customer receives delivery of the service constitutes the process.

People

In services, ‘People’ refers to all human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyer’s perceptions; namely, the firm’s personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service environment. The people component plays very crucial role in creation and delivery of services. All of human actors participating in the delivery of a service provide cues to the customer regarding the nature of the service itself.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence provides the customer with some cues to make service offer more tangible and easier to evaluate. It refers to the environment in which service is delivered and where the firm and customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of the service. The physical evidence comprises of a number of factors each of which has a bearing on the customer perception of the service provider.