If you have a product or service to sell in exchange for money, you’re in business. ‘Marketing’ is all the different ways you attract an audience to your product/service.
Two popular models explain how marketing interacts with the business:
The 7 P’s of Marketing
- Product: variety, colors, sizes, functionality, quality, design, packaging, features, services, guarantees, exchanges, support services
- Price: list price, discounts, bundling, credit terms, margin, cost-benefit
- Promotion: advertising, sales force, sales promotion, visual identity of product and categories, online content, publicity, press
- Place: physical or online trade channels, inventory, logistics, distribution
- People: the individuals behind the company, recruitment, company culture, training and skills, renumeration
- Process: how you meet customer expectations, tech support, design features, research and development, etc.
- Physical evidence: staff expertise, product packaging, promotional materials, online experience, social proof, reviews, testimonials
The 5 Cs of Marketing
- Company: your business in its entirety; what you sell, how you sell it, your niche, your differentiation, your competitive advantages (fixed, variable, and innovation), etc.
- Customer: the current and future people who will buy from you. The how, when, and why they purchase from you
- Competitors: your current and future competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, how you stand out from them, and the strategy to compete with them to gain market dominance
- Collaborators: all business partners and collaborators who have a shared interest in the growth of the business
- Climate/Context: political, economic, social-cultural, environmental, legal, and technological factors
Marketing is typically classified by who you’re selling to: a business selling to businesses (B2B), selling to consumers (B2C), or selling to customers directly (D2C), with other variations like B2B2B and B2B2C.
Want to learn more about Marketing? See my Marketing Framed publication for these key topics:
marketing, market, TAM-SAM-SOM, market research, go-to-market, product-market fit, positioning, marketing funnel, marketing flywheel, marketing mix, marketing goals, marketing strategy, marketing execution, marketing budget, brand marketing, content marketing, copywriting, storytelling, marketing projects & initiatives, marketing project management, marketing agency, marketing technology, marketing automation, marketing & AI, marketing analytics, marketing metrics
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