In the current business environment, organizations are in a dire competition to have their products and services reach the right customers in the right way at the right time. This means that the firms have to employ several tactics that make them have a competitive advantage over the others. Developing such a strategy is not an easy task and thus the business has to refer to the available resources for designing the best means of conquering the market. There are conventionally accepted concepts that govern such moves, and one of them is the marketing mix, also known as 7Ps of marketing.
The 7Ps of marketing is a theoretical framework that is used in understanding and formulating the strategies of marketing. It was founded by Neil Borden, a writer, in 1964 in his article entitled “The Concept of Marketing Mix”. The concept came from the inspiration of James Culliton’s portrayal of the marketing manager as “a mixer of ingredients ( Khan, 2014) .” Borden referred to these ingredients as a product, price, promotion displays, planning, distribution, branding, personal selling, packaging, and advertising. These multiple items would later be grouped into four top-level classes which became known as the 4Ps of marketing. These were product, price, promotion, and place. Later in the 1980s, there were calls to expand the concepts into 7Ps by including people, process, and physical evidence.
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One strength of the 7Ps is that it can be used in the formulation of the cohesive strategy that is known as the marketing planning. It is helpful in collecting several aspects of marketing and putting them under one concept. In the long run, it makes marketing simple to carry out and manage. The other reason why the concept supports decision making is that it makes it possible to separate marketing from the functions of the company and make it a stand-alone activity that can be delegated to specialists ( Khan, 2014) . 7Ps is essential in making sure that the company varies its production and marketing deeds to suit the resources, customer needs, and demand and supply conditions. It is difficult to make decisions on an element marketing without taking into consideration the effect it has on the other factors. The 7Ps concept is useful in setting the company objectives, conducting SWOT analysis and performing competitive checks. This is a useful tool to evaluate an existing business and helps the management to work through appropriate strategies while taking into consideration the element. The marketing mix framework is essential in identifying the key drivers of performance, profits, and sales.
Despite being an important tool, the marketing mix has several drawbacks. First, the 7Ps concept does not cover the issues related to productivity in terms of both quality and quantity of the service delivered. The overall cost management requires an improvement of productivity while the quality is essential for the differentiation of the business ( Khan, 2014) . The concept, in addition, does not consider customers as active aspects. It does not allow the interactions and do not include the relationships. The marketing mix fails to capture the uniqueness of marketing of services as it only assumes that what the company sells is always a product. Even when the product is considered, it is done so in a singular form while many companies do not sell an isolated product. Alongside the brand, the business sells the brand which is interconnected in the customers’ mind. The 7Ps fails to capture the building of relationships with the client. This aspect has become an important focus of current marketing.
Understanding is an important factor in marketing. In light with the several strategies that help the company identify itself as a champion in an industry, there is a prerequisite of the knowledge on the kind of industry the business operates. One needs to understand the cost structure, consumer perceptions, brand efficiency and potential for sustainable competitive advantage ( West, Ford, & Ibrahim, 2015 ). It is also essential for marketers to understand the dynamics of the environment they deal in order to make tactical decisions.
References
Khan, M. T. (2014). The concept of'marketing mix and its elements (a conceptual review paper). International journal of information, business, and management , 6 (2), 95.
West, D. C., Ford, J., & Ibrahim, E. (2015). Strategic marketing: creating a competitive advantage . Oxford University Press, USA.
