When people hear the word marketing, they often think about social media, websites, email campaigns, advertising or perhaps a shiny new brochure.

But marketing is much more than promotion.

A useful way to look at the bigger picture is the 5 Ps of marketing:

1. Product
2. Price
3. People
4. Place
5. Promotion

Together, they give you a simple framework for thinking about what you’re offering, who it’s for and how you’re going to reach customers. Or, as we like to put it:

Promote your product at the right price to the right people in the right place.

Product – what are you selling?
This sounds obvious, but it’s worth taking a closer look:

• What exactly are you offering?
• What problem does it solve?
• What makes it different?
• And, importantly, does it give your customers what they actually need?

For a service business, this might mean reviewing the services you offer, how you package them and how clearly you communicate the value.

Price – what are you charging?
Price isn’t simply a number on a proposal or website. It can influence how your business is perceived and whether customers see your offering as good value. Are you competing on price, or are you offering expertise, quality or service that justifies a higher price?

Your pricing needs to make sense for both your customers and your business.

People – who are you trying to reach?
You can’t effectively market to everyone.

• Who are your ideal customers?
• What do they need?
• What matters to them?
• Where do they look for information and how do they make buying decisions?

The clearer you are about the people you want to reach, the easier it becomes to create relevant messages and choose the right marketing activity.

Place – where will you reach them?
Where do your customers expect to find you? That could be Google, LinkedIn, industry events, email, referrals, your sales team, partners or a combination of several channels.

The important thing is not to be everywhere for the sake of it. Be where your customers are.

Promotion – how will you get their attention?
Now we get to the part most people think of as marketing. Your website, social media, content, email marketing, PR, advertising, events and telesales can all help you get your message in front of potential customers. Promotion is about creating awareness and encouraging people to take the next step.

But promotion works best when the other four Ps are right.

There’s little point spending time and money promoting an offering that isn’t right for your audience, is poorly priced or is being promoted in places your customers don’t use. So, before you ask, “What marketing should we do?” take a step back and ask five simple questions:

1. What are we selling?
2. What should we charge?
3. Who are we selling to?
4. Where can we reach them?
5. And how should we promote it?

Get those five things working together and your marketing becomes much more focused and much more likely to create the opportunities you’re looking for. That’s marketing – not just promotion.

Need a fresh pair of eyes? If your marketing feels a little disconnected, or you’re doing lots of activity without seeing the results you’d like, it might be time to look at the bigger picture. At OCTOPUS Marketing, we can help you work through the 5 Ps, identify what’s working, what isn’t and where there are opportunities to do more. Let’s chat – call us on 01483 345417 or send an email to hello@octopus-marketing.co.uk.

(Image by Magnific)