The 4 P's of Marketing

The P’s of Marketing

The question was asked of marketers throughout the globe: are the 4 P’s of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) dead?

Here are some of the answers from those marketing experts.

1. The 4P's are the DNA of marketing which is both and art and a science. Sophisticated systems and sharp analytical minds will ensure our scientific future but I am concerned that a lack of understanding of the P's is making the marketing basics a lost art.

2. I have been involved in marketing strategy for many years and put to market a variety of products and services. No matter how complex the strategy becomes (and there is no reason why it should) I always find myself reflecting on the 4P's and sometimes even 6P's. All is alive and well with the P's!!!

3. Many marketers believe that the 4Ps are alive but have become the 6Ps. They add people and politics to the marketing mix.

4. I can give you 5, 6, 7 17 or even 26 P's. The objective of a good model, a good concept is to keep it simple - not to keep adding bits that are already within its concept. Additional P's are already integrated within the basic 4 P's.

Although Success Connection Group focuses on branding and promotion, we base all of the marketing efforts for clients first of all on prospects and customers; their needs, wants and desires. Then look at market planning utilizing the 4 P’s and how they fit into the persona for customers and prospects. Sometimes other things come into the mix but for the most part the 4 P’s are still a great guide for a marketing planning mix.

Back to the #Marketing Basics for Social Media

I find a lot of business people freak out about what to do with their #Social Media Marketing program. The term is so intimidating they want to just bury their heads in the sand and forget about it. They forget about the marketing basics and go right to the technology.

• What's a Tweet?
• What should my Facebook page look like?
• Why do I have to be linked in anyway?
• Will a blog bog me down?
• Can I get beat up with Meet up
• Should I consider You Tube?

Can you relate?

Starting your Social Media #strategy with technology can make Social Media Marketing seem overwhelming and somewhat daunting. This is the time to go back to the basics and do the first thing you did when you developed your initial Marketing #Promotional Plan. You most likely started by segmenting your target market and developing an audience persona through an exercise that looked something like this:

• profile the best customers with demographics, geographics, psycho-graphics etc.
• define the ideal audience based on that profile
• add desirable prospective market segments
• now develop a market persona(s) that reflects your unique target market.

So why not go back and review your audience persona, revise it if necessary and use it as the place to start a Social Media Marketing Plan.

Ah, now this is starting to make sense! You can't start a meaningful conversation with others until you know who's in the room so why would you start blogging, tweeting or posting without knowing who you want to address?

How long has it been (if ever) since you reviewed your specific target market?

Branding with People Power

“I have to increase sales immediately and make sure I cut my costs and meet the quotas the company set for us.” Those are some of the laments I have been hearing from business leaders all over Colorado in the last couple of months. The reality of the recession has set in, and there is pressure in the marketplace to conform to the world of dollars.

Don’t get me wrong, I do understand basic economics and the need for money. However, there is a difference between earning dollars and greedy dollars. There is no doubt that the American world view of success is money driven. The more money I make, the more opportunity I create for advancement. Enterprising entrepreneurs go into business today with the thought that they will do whatever it takes to be profitable so they can sell the company and make a lot of money. I have seen it over and over again in the past year: corporate buy-outs by investors that lead to the profit pressure cooker. We have to do whatever it takes to make a profit. That leadership vision causes management to do something to prove their “worth.” As a result, they end up driven to make decisions based strictly on dollars and people become tools for accomplishment.

One prime example of this is the sales strategy of developing quotas for sales staff. The whole idea of setting a minimum sales volume is de-motivating for a professional sales representative. Why? Because a true professional salesperson has a different mindset than quota demand. They know that relationships build a happy and satisfied customer base, which leads to referrals and repeat business. The most important thing to them is building trust and retaining good customers, followed by the satisfaction of solving a problem for someone. They know that if they do those two things, the money will come. When a quota is set, they don’t have time to build relationships. Instead it becomes a hit-and-sell approach to get the sale and get on to the next prospect.

The real bottom line here is that people are more important than money. Whether its employees, customers or vendors; people drive the business not money. We talk about how we want to build that “Purple Cow” brand in today’s business world. Building a good brand is a result of building good relationships. People are the vehicles that carry your brand and deliver sales.

The graphic pictures of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week are a perfect example of how our businesses can be wiped out in a matter of minutes. What is it that really matters at a time like that? Is it the money, the buildings, the profits, the sales quotas? No, that’s all gone. What matters is the people … their lives and safety are all that matters now. The businesses can be built again but not without the people.

Hebrews 13: 1 and 5 sums it up pretty well: “Continue to love each other with true Christian love. Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have for God has said, I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.”

Successful Marketing Trends for 2011

More of the same with a couple new twists is the trend for marketing in 2011 according to the experts in the field.

Taking some of their leads, here are my predictions for advertising and marketing in 2011.

First of all we will see more integration of traditional media and interactive media. They are much more powerful when they work together. According to David Cooperstein (Forrester Research), "there's a big distinction between multichannel marketing and integrated marketing. One is everybody's doing the same thing. The other is actually planned to be unique but with the same brand message."

Second, we will see the return of direct mail advertising as a strong media partner. I recently saw a statistic from Alloy Media and Marketing that within the tweens, direct mail has a significant impact because they don't get anything tactile anymore. To get something in the mail that is personalized to them and customized has a lot of impact. As people find the white noise of the internet overwhelming they look forward to the touch and feel of direct mail. We will find the best way to use it is in conjunction with other media.

Third, video will grow in popularity for website conversions and other marketing venues. YouTube is the second most popular search engine next to Google so it just makes sense. We love to be entertained and watch what's happening.

Fourth, we will be paying more attention to data and market segments. Buyers expect us to know all about their preferences and we will get to know them even better in 2011. Therefore, data collection and management will play a huge role.

Fifth, Mobile marketing will come of age in 2011 with the I-Phone and Android operating systems we will see an increase in the use of specialized, worthwhile mobile marketing applications.

Sixth, social media will continue to be a key player but will go through a metamorphosis changing the way we connect with direct marketing. The world of Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter will adjust and find ways that move beyond just branding to measurable ROI. We will also see the need for SM Management to increase in 2011.

Seventh, direct marketing thinking and experimentation with tired and true testing across all media will once again be the winners in 2011.

So more of the same: test, test, test and find the most effective strategy and approach for your company.

The Turkey Rock Trot

I remember the day it kicked just six years ago. After months of preparation and planning we had our first race at the Meadows in Castle Rock on Thanksgiving Day. With an unexpected 400+ runners and walkers that first year we were unprepared and yet thrilled. All of use are part time volunteers, and yet every year we are more surprised at the turnout and the opportunity to support our local task force. In this blog, I hope to impart a little bit of what we learn every year.

Each year the biggest speculation is "how many tee-shirts should we order and what sizes?" It has become quite a joke with the team since we grow every year and it's always a "calculated guess". By the way, this topic has not even come up yet this year and we are a little over a month away.

After five years, we decided to kick this year off with a strategic planning session and determined our main purpose is to raise funds for the task force. Our mission is: providing a fun family community event that is a channel for the community to support a local cause.

So far our major decisions this year have been to change the route slightly to be exactly 5K, hire a professional to do the timing and promote the event at the Castle Rock Octoberfest which was last weekend.

What fun it was to partner with Harry and David and hand out Moose Munch as we talked about the event on Thanksgiving. It was a nice day in the upper 70's and many people showed up. In fact, we ran out of materials just before the end of the day so that means over 800 people were interested.

We broke up into groups of 4 with one person filling the Moose Munch and the other 3 handing out samples and business cards with the information on the front and a Harry and David coupon on the back. It was a super day with a huge reach.

Look for more posts on the Turkey Rock Trot as we progress into the next month.

Marketing through Social Media

The big questions I hear out there is how do I use social media to market my business? How much time should I spend and where should I be? The answer: that depends. It depends on your type of business, on how you communicate now, on your marketing plan and what you hope to achieve with social networking.

For example, a business to business professional may find Linkedin very helpful in connecting with other professionals and prospective clients whereas a business to consumer small business may find it more valuable to do some targeted ads on Facebook.

The first step in social networking is to research what your associates,clients and prospects are doing. If you find most of them are tweeting then that may be a tactic you use for your social media marketing. If you find they aren't even on Facebook yet, it may not be your best form of marketing at all. You have to know what they are doing before you can even plan your strategy.

Many business leaders are so busy doing business that they don't have time to market themselves. And yet they know marketing and having a plan for marketing is one of the most important things they can do in today's business world. It helps to focus and plan the roadmap for success. Therefore, the second step is to plan a strategy for social media marketing. What you will do, when, and how much time will you give it.

The third step is to integrate that strategy into your current marketing plan. How will it fit with your current programs? For example, if you have a seminar for all clients and prospects and you have been sending an email to invite them, you might want to also put out an invitation on Linkedin with all of the details. Or set up a Meet-up site for that seminar. There are so many options for integrating social media.

With over 75 million Linkedin members and more than 500 million active Facebook users alone you cannot afford to miss out on this valuable marketing strategy.

Success through Leadership

Each year the Willow Creek Association holds a Leadership Summit featuring great speakers. This year is no exception with a line up like Jim Collins, Jack Welch, Tony Dungy, Terri Kelly, Blake MyCoskie, Daniel Pink and many others. Although the conference is targeted for church leaders, the principles for leadership transcend to the business world as well.

This will be my 8th year attending this leadership conference and I am so excited to hear all of the speakers but in particular I look forward to hearing Zhao Xiao, a Leading Chinese Economist sent by the Chinese government to study our economy. What Dr. Xiao found out was that we religion is tied to the success of our economy. I am anxious to hear what he has in store.

This Leadership Summit energizes me, restores my soul and gives me the motivation to go out and set the world on fire.
For more information log on to www.willowcreek.com/summit