Marketing is the process of creating, communicating and exchanging offerings valuable for customers and the entire society. Hence, you must research and analyze to understand your customer’s interest.
If you’re looking for a successful business, a proper marketing strategy is essential to increase sales. Marketing strategy directs the consumers why they should buy your product or service. It ensures the brand image as well as the company’s success.
Since 1960, marketing principles have proven necessary for business growth. However, the digital marketing strategy is slightly different from conventional ones. But the goal remains the same. Digital strategy plan template in 2021 can reach a more massive audience instantly. So, following the basic market principles, you can set a goal for the business’s benefit.
By definition, principles of marketing are nothing but to reevaluate the business to reach the top position in the market. In order to be profitable, first, identify your target consumer. Determine their choice of product or service so that you can know what and how to deliver to them. Additionally, it is vital because your business’s success depends on identifying and maintaining the customer base to stand against competitors in the free market.
Generally, most companies follow the main four principles, where some follow the 7Ps of principles of marketing. Let’s learn about them.
Why is Marketing Important?
Before starting any business, you must understand the importance of marketing.
They are a vital essence of building a good connection in any business environment. If you want to make growth in your business, create a reliable and ideal customer base. You need to fulfill their needs and solve problems to move further.
Moreover, give them a clear image of what your product represents and if it is better than the competitors. Other side what’s the point of buying your product. So, keep focusing on the benefits for the customers to make a great sale. Thus, with a detailed picture of potential buyers, you can earn a profit.
Furthermore, through social proof, you can create awareness for your product. People love to hear from others’ mouths. Therefore, to generate a solid lead and relationship with your customers, you need to adopt the basic marketing principles.
The 7Ps of Principles of Marketing
There are mainly four marketing principles companies use to build their marketing strategy. These are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. As they are interconnected and work together, they are called Marketing Mix.
However, modern companies follow three more additional principles: Physical Evidence, People, and Packaging. They are referred to as the 7Ps of marketing principles.
1. Product
Can you imagine the market without a product? Your company’s image is based on the quality of the product.
The marketers, as well as business professionals, must ensure the product quality depends on their customers’ needs. It is vital to selling the product in a profitable value along with some factors. Like, who wants the product, the benefit of that product, why anyone should buy it, how safe it is and the competitive advantage in the market.
Furthermore, don’t focus on product quality only but define the product knowledge to attract and satisfy your consumers.
However, identifying target customers may seem difficult. But with thorough market research, a marketer can know their customers better to sell the product. Meanwhile, feedbacks from people also help to bring the necessary changes in the product. This ensures high performance and good earning.
2. Price
You must put a price on your product that customers may able to pay and generate a fair profit for the business.
The product’s price depends on the customer’s needs, brand image, brand demand, production cost, desired profit level and value of the market’s competitive product. The pricing is done based on two methods, cost-oriented price and market-oriented price.
- Cost-oriented price: It is the most elementary method of pricing. First, evaluate the cost of the product, which is the total cost spent on production and manufactures. Then add the desired profit with it to get the final price of the product. The markup is defined as the profit from the selling price.
For example, a toy costs $50 and is sold for $120.50. Here, the markup is $70.5.
- Market-oriented price: Here, the pricing depends on the market value of similar products released. Keep in mind that it is more than just a contribution price. You may follow some factors while setting up the price through market research.
- Your customers’ needs.
- Your company’s goals.
- Your competitors’ pricing for the same product.
Based on others’ offerings, you can set the product’s selling price higher or lower. Eventually, if you keep the price higher, customers will expect to get better product features or quality.
Market-oriented price is calculated from the cost of product+market factor price+premium. For example, Disney ($6.99/month) and Netflix ($8.99/month for the basic plan, $17.99/month for premium) offer a single monthly plan with different benefits.
3. Place
You’ll be surprised to know how a place can add beneficial value to the business.
Place determines where the product is available and customers can reach to buy it. Moreover, the choice of place depends on the product/service’s need to ensure its growth. It can be in a particular region, nation, all markets or e-commerce.
Hence, it’s important to choose the correct placement to distribute your product to get success.
A place to sell a product can be two types, either brick-and-mortar store or online shopping site.
- Brick-and-mortar Store: It is situated in a particular area/locality, where people can buy immediately. Though this is limited to a specific number of customers as the area is short.
- Online shopping sites: On the other hand, online websites generate many viewers and customers in one click with a wide range of products. As people tend to search online for their needs, digital marketing sites significantly impact buying or selling.
Here, people can find many product variations, compare with the other available ones and purchase anywhere, anytime. Additionally, as home delivery is available, your customers don’t need to visit stores to buy it.
Thus, digital presence creates vast differences, no matter where your store is situated. Consequently, build potential customers.
4. Promotion
Brand promotion is another essential principles of marketing to grow the business. Creating awareness for your brand, products or service to the customers is called promotion.
The motivation behind the promotion is to help the customers understand the product and the reason to buy it. Through different ways of promoting your brand, you can attract too many customers.
Promotion refers to communicating through technology or directly to the target audience. However, different markets respond to different types of promotion. For example, the promotion method for a television or radio commercial and wedding gown commercial should be different.
So, it is essential to design the correct mechanism for a product or service promotion.
There are generally five ways to design a promotional campaign.
- Email Marketing: Refers to sending emails and developing a relationship with customers. Emails may include requesting business or donations, advertisements, or sales. There are different sites available to do email marketing for monthly or annual subscriptions.
- Advertisements: This promotion strategy is done by advertising through paid channels like tv, social media ads or magazine ads. These ads are called promotional messages. It helps to create awareness among people massively.
- Direct Marketing: Refers to direct communication or distribution of products to individual customers. No third party is required for this promotion. Thus, establishing a relationship with customers and the organization directly via two-way communication.
- Public Relations: Refers to maintain or improve the brand and company’s image. It is a powerful method to communicate with the market. It involves collecting information to launch new products/services, creating interest in the product, repositioning it, defends it from negative feedback, managing the company’s image, etc.
- Sales Promotion: It’s an effective short-term tactic to boost sales. Sales promotion is the process of convincing customers to trial the product before buying. It includes free gifts, coupons, discount vouchers, loyalty cards, display stands etc. However, it can sometimes damage the brand image as a heavy discount to a product tends to lose profit. You can also utilize businesses offering generating leads and target your promotions on these leads to turn them into purchasing customers. For example, if you’re a company selling solar panels, you can contact companies that offer solar leads. You’re able to know your target market immediately and make additional efforts to nurture them into paying customers.
5. Physical Evidence
Physical evidence of your product or service plays a vital role in sales growth. It refers to what customers are seeing while interacting with your business in stores or digital. That includes the user-friendly ambiance, interior design, lighting, noise, music, parking areas, employee’s dress, act, air quality, packaging, furniture etc.
Additionally, physical evidence of the service or product enhances the customer’s experience and generates awareness. It gives knowledge to first-time users and helps developing trust. Thus, business spreads. The best example is the hospitality industry.
Meanwhile, physical evidence is dynamic in nature. A small change may have a significant impact on other marketing principles. Hence, you need to plan carefully about how your business should look like. You may take help from the testimonies and case studies on satisfied customers.
6. Packaging
Are you ready to create the first impression on a customer? Then, make sure you get the right packaging while delivering. After all, it shows how you represent the product/service to them.
With the increase in self-service marketing, packaging has become significantly important. Packaging and labeling by marketers can encourage their targeted customers. Good packaging also increases brand image. Eventually, more people tend to buy your products instead of your rivals.
Furthermore, the other common use of packaging are:
- Physical protection against vibration, electrostatic discharge, mechanical shock, compression etc.
- Information on how to use the product, recycle, transport and dispose of it.
- Add convenience in distribution, stacking, handling, opening, re-closing etc.
- Barrier protection against water, temperature, air and dust.
- Security with advanced temper resistance.
There are three types of packaging.
- Primary Packaging: This is for direct contact and the first layer of packaging. It protects or preserved the finished products inside against contamination, for example, a chocolate wrapper. The chocolate bar is wrapped in a thin photo paper first to balance the temperature. Then a bright, colorful wrapper is given outside.
- Secondary Packaging: It is used to protect the primary packaging and mostly needed while packing a group of products in e-commerce. The secondary packaging components can be paper, box, padding, bags etc. For the chocolate wrapper example, the chocolate bar can be put into a small cardboard box for secure delivery or transport.
- Tertiary Packaging: It is also referred to as bulk or transit packaging, used to transport many products or stock-keeping unit (SKU) from the production house to the sale point. This is suitable for heavy and secured transport. Additionally, it prevents damage and stores the goods safely. For example, bottles of drinks are transported in big brown cardboard boxes.
7. People
Last but not least, you cannot ignore the people from your organization. They play a crucial role in business growth. Henceforth, hiring the right people for the designated job helps the organization become successful.
From manager to team members, customer service representatives help to build a reliable brand image. Additionally, an experienced customer service help desk must fulfill the customer’s needs or solve their issues.
However, without the customers, you won’t get any sales. Some companies target a particular or niche market, whereas others go for multiple markets.
To build a targeted customer channel, you may need experienced employees to enhance the growth. Or else, you can provide training to make them suitable for your company and the service. In either case, they create a strategy to implement the business in a profitable path.
Process and Branding of Products
Apart from the mentioned principles, there are two more essential components. Those are process and branding.
Process
The process involves direct and indirect activities in the business. From start to finish of a product, the entire process defines the product quality. It also includes delivering the product, getting feedback from your customers and providing help if necessary. Moreover, the process of service incorporates customer’s experiences and satisfaction to ensure rapid business growth.
Branding
At the same time, customers love their favorite brand. You must identify the customer’s need to make branding in a better way. You may make the necessary upgrade so that customers can stay loyal to your brand.
Try to make a unique brand strategy for success. To incorporate the strategy, understand a few factors like
- What your brand stands for
- What promises brands are making
- What problems your brand is solving
- Who is the ideal customer for the brand
Another key point is every product has a clear brand identity. Through effective appealing, the business helps the marketer to identify the brand. You can represent a brand through a logo, symbols, ads, descriptions etc.
Finally, focus on branding that your consumers can relate to. Otherwise, improper branding may lose your potential customers.
Conclusions
By all means, principles of marketing help to conduct a business for its targeted customers. The real customers may prefer your brand mostly if you can compactly represent them.
Further, with these seven marketing principles, it becomes easier to build a strategy. Don’t forget that marketing creates opportunity. For this purpose, you need reliable people who can research and analyze the market to make the revenue.
So, before setting up a business, understand these marketing terms. By implying the four marketing mix, along with the other three, you can drive product adoption within the target market.
