Starbucks opened their first "signing" store in Malaysia and now there's one in Washington D.C. near a university that teaches students with learning disabilities.
What's cool is the store has employees who may be hard of hearing or deaf but use American sign language. The customers may be too. In the nine P's of Marketing I would put that under "Place," "Presentation," "Product," and "Promotion." They are using PR to communicate this differentiation.
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For the past 48 years, I have been a Marketing professional, a certified Forensic Marketing Expert, Marketing and Advertising consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach and give seminars on Strategic Marketing, the nine P's of Marketing, Branding, Super Bowl spots, Global Marketing, Promotion and Advertising.
I also like giving to MBA candidates, law schools and attorneys my presentations on "What is Marketing? What is Advertising?" I'm adding this "product"and store differentiation.
Eleven years ago, I created and own the 9P's of Marketing. The Nine P’s/9 P's of Marketing ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix or the 4P's (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of a copyrighted Marketing concept.
In the late 60's I was first taught in Marketing 307 that the "customer," or potential purchasers, buyers are king or kings, but they or consumers are missing as one of the P's. I expanded and have developed the concepts of the nine P's.
For marketing professionals, the "target market," "People," buyers, potential buyers and users are more prominent. They have their own "P." It's "People," in the 9P's of Marketing.
The Nine P's/9P's of Marketing help brand managers, marketing managers, companies, firms, business owners and business managers to find marketing problems, to identify and create Marketing opportunities or solutions, in a number of areas.
The utilization of the 9P's of Marketing help, develop and guide a company or a firm's marketing objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions.
The Nine P's can be truly insightful, in many ways and in many possible tactics and actions. They will help build revenue, manage costs more effectively.
I consult, teach and work as a Marketing, business and Advertising expert using many Marketing concepts, standards of practice and practices, including the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.
So, what is Marketing, you and others may ask? Marketing is a planning and execution process that involves a product or service's attributes, research, distribution, pricing, partnerships or alliances, promotion and more.
In my presentations, I detail that advertising is only a small percentage of the answers to marketing problems. All of the Marketing activities and tasks must work together to assure successful marketing practices. Firms, associations and companies with the most effective marketing efforts try to thoroughly understand their potential buyers and customers ("People") and the marketplace.
Companies and new product/service development pros create products and services to meet market needs. These firms and others use marketing research and channels for understanding and communicating to market segments, a target market or audience ("People" in the 9P's of Marketing).
In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing manager and brand agents develop planning, objectives, strategies and tactics.
For any size firm and entrepreneurs, the 9P's of Marketing include important components, parts, elements, actions, tactics and efforts.
Let's start with planning, research, one of the nine P's and also with targeting, "People," one of the other nine elements or components:
- Planning:
- Planning starts with research and researching. Starbucks found an area near a university.
- This element of planning in the nine P's is a method for achieving an end, and, looking at the eight other parts, can be a detailed formulation of a program of action. I like using a phrase from John Wooden; he said "Failure to plan is planning to fail."
- Developing and transforming marketing objectives into marketing strategies to tactics, marketing management and managers must make basic decisions on marketing targets (“People”), marketing mix, pricing, distribution, marketing budgets/expenditures and marketing allocations.
- Review dividing the total marketing budget among the various tools in the marketing mix and for the various products, channels, promotion, media and sales areas. And more under the 9Ps of Marketing
- People
- Look and analyze potential, new, existing and repeat customers and users.
- "People" or targeting has almost always been left out of the traditional "Marketing Mix," almost every diagram includes the four P's with Product, Promotion, Place and Price.
- Place "consumer" or "People" or "potential buyers" in the middle of a circle. Find information or data on them.
- Add the other components in the nine P's. In Marketing, from my education, training, research and analysis plus testimony, there needs to be greater focus on the buyer, "customer," or "People," in both planning ad implementation.
- To understand your "People" or market segments, it may utilize many characteristics, including demographics (add hard of hearing as an attribute), geographics (add a university teaching deaf and hard of hearing students and their professors, psychographics, behavioral characteristics and technographics, which may be a vital component or components of the 9P's of Marketing.
- Once a target market is chosen, the organization can develop its marketing strategies to target a market segment or marketing segments.
- Simply it's about Segmentation and Targeting. Add Positioning and you have STP, as a major first step.
- Product and Services:
- It's the goods and service combination the firm offers to the target market (near the university), including variety of product mix, features, branding, designs, packaging, sizes, services, maintenance contracts, warranties and return policies.
- A product (service) is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.
- Place (Distribution):
- Offering the right product at the right PLACE or location, at the right time, at the right price. It's the company’s activities that make the product available, using distribution and trade channels, roles, coverage, assortments, locations, inventory and transportation characteristics and alternatives.
- Consider, develop and review store and non-store options, e-commerce and “brick and mortar” factors, geographic considerations, objectives, strategies and tactics, including “Partners, too.”
- Price or Pricing:
- Simply, the amount of money a consumer is willing to pay to obtain the product, but "price" is so much more.
- “Pricing” is the sum of the values that customers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.
- Pricing decision making involves adjusting prices concerning the competitive environment, economic situations and involve buyer perceptions. Simply, all aspects regarding pricing.
- Pricing includes wholesale/retail/promotional prices, discounts, trade-in allowances, quantity discounts, credit terms, sales and payment periods and credit terms.
- Promotion:
- There are eight (8) major, strategic components or communication elements which are personal and non-personal communication activities, under "promotion." .
- The activities that communicate the merits of the overall product include:
- Personal Selling/ Sales Force: Sales persons
- Helpful hint: Listen more than you talk. People who listen more, learn more, plus helps you position your service/product/solution or offering.
- Advertising is paid media. There's an expression "It is only creative if the product or service sells." I wanted to add "It is only good media spending if it sells."
- Sales Promotion
- Collateral Materials
- Direct Marketing (also referred to as Action or Direct Response Advertising)
- Interactive/Internet/Web, Digital Media, Social Media:
- Events and Experiences
- Public Relations/PR
- Here are some strategic questions under Promotion, with PR:
- What should you promote? Strategic copy points.
- Evaluate the eight different elements under Promotion and your brand's practices. Ask is there a better way? A different promotional mix. There has to be a better way.
- What are your costs in dollars and manpower or person power? Ask "Is there a different way or ways to budget?"
- Look at different strategic partners? Their costs?
- To whom should you target and promote? Under "People/"Targeting, target market, audience with media falls here.
- You can differentiate with price. Discounting? Special sales? What economic and discount levels should you offer? Look at revenue versus costs.
- What form or combination of promotion should you offer? Features?
- How frequent? Add media planning here.
- Partners:
- Working with others and organizations which take part in an undertaking with another or others, in a business or company with shared risks and profits.
- Also referred to as Alliances.
- With "Partners" and your Marketing efforts, it is vitally important to partner and align with firms that have similar corporate philosophies. Simple but complex and difficult, have agreed upon objectives and strategies.
- Presentation:
- This “P” or “Presentation” is the act of presenting, displaying and putting forward any of the different 9P’s© and/or components to your customers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, sales force, marketing intermediaries, clients, employees, partners, and/or others.
- Look at “real” product and service experiences.
- Enabling consumers and “allowing” them to feel the brand. As part of "presentation," I also place “events and experiences” under Promotion.
- While traditional marketing is based on target audience impressions/ views/ clicks/ exposure, experimental marketing involves engaging with your potential consumers.
- Passion:
- Those intense, driving or overmastering feelings, emotions in the planning, developing, implementing and executions of pricing, promoting, partnering, selling and overall marketing of products or services.
Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts: Go to Marketing Trivia with 40+ stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help.
