How much does marketing really matter for SEO pros? Is it even worth investing time into understanding the basics of marketing?
Some SEO pros often get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running their businesses, without having enough time or resources to focus on marketing. They might also lack the knowledge needed to effectively market themselves.
To succeed in today’s competitive environment, marketers need to master the art of creating value through marketing. This requires knowing the four Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
It always helps to have a solid grounding in these concepts, because they help you nail down your strategy even more.
They also complement SEO best practices and will help you create a custom, comprehensive strategy that has a higher chance of attracting and converting real customers.
What, Exactly, is a Marketing Mix?
A marketing mix is a collection of elements used to promote a brand or product. These include advertising, branding, pricing, distribution, promotion, and public relations. They work together to achieve specific goals, whether it’s increasing sales, building awareness, or creating loyalty among customers.
The term often refers to a commonly accepted classification that began as the 4 Ps: Product, Price, Placement, Promotion.
Effective marketers tend to think about marketing mixes in terms of the four Ps. This approach allows them to keep the big picture in mind while making tactical decisions.
For example, you might decide to launch a new product based on the market demand for the item. You could use the four Ps to help determine how much money to spend on advertising, where to place your ads, what type of ad copy to write, and how to promote the campaign.
History of the Four Ps
Jerome McCarthy’s book Basic Marketing – A Managerial Approach introduced the concept of the marketing mix in 1960. In it, he described how the different elements of the marketing mix could help businesses reach customers and increase sales.
He wrote about the importance of having a clear understanding of what you’re selling. He defined the marketing mix as the combination of product, price, place and promotion that helps companies sell their products.
The term “mix” came from the way McCarthy saw the four parts working together. “Mix” meant combining different ingredients into one dish. For example, a chef might combine flour, water, salt and eggs into dough that becomes bread. Similarly, McCarthy argued that a good marketing plan needed to include all four parts of the marketing mix.
He described each part of the mix as a separate entity, and stressed that while there was no perfect formula for creating a winning campaign, every company had to start somewhere.
According to McCarthy, the four Ps were the foundation of a marketing strategy. They represented the key areas where most companies focused their efforts.
Understanding the Marketing Mix: What Are the Four Ps of Marketing?
The four Ps represent the core components of a marketing plan and help marketers understand how different aspects of the market relate to one another. It is particularly useful to understand the relationships among the four Ps.
In general terms, the four Ps are:
Product – What you sell.
Price – How much your customers pay.
Place – Where your products are sold.
Promotion – How you communicate about your products.
For example, let’s say you want to develop a marketing campaign for your restaurant. You could start by looking at the four Ps. If you choose to do so, you might come up with something like this:
Product – Your menu items.
Price – The prices you charge for your food.
Place – Restaurants.
Promotion – Advertising.
You can see that the first two Ps (product and price) are related to the business itself. The second two Ps (place and promotion) are more specific to the industry or area in which your business operates.
Using the Four Ps of Marketing
The four Ps of Marketing is one of the most widely adopted models in the world of marketing. This framework helps us understand what makes a good offer great. It allows us to look at our offers objectively and make changes where necessary. In this article we’ll show you how to use it to help you decide how to take a brand new offer to market, and also to test your current marketing strategy.
Marketing is about much more than just creating offers. It’s about understanding what customers really care about, why they buy, and how best to communicate with them. To do this effectively, it helps to understand the four Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. These four Ps form the basis of every marketing campaign. They are the building blocks upon which everything else is built.
The model can be used to identify the most effective combination of each P. For example, you might find that some products sell better in certain places, or that price is important for some products but not others. You could use the model to test different combinations of the four Ps to see which one works best for your business.
Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you run a small café. You have decided to launch a new coffee range. You know that people love coffee, but you don’t know whether they will actually buy your new coffee. So you need to figure out if there is enough demand for your new offering.
To do this, you would begin by identifying the four Ps of marketing. Here’s what you might come up with:
Product – Coffee beans.
Price – The cost per cup.
Place – Cafés.
Promotion – Advertisements on TV and radio.
Now, you can work through the four Ps to determine whether your new coffee is likely to succeed.
Product
Your new coffee has been carefully selected from a number of options. You have chosen the right product for your target audience.
Price
Your coffee costs $3.50 per cup. That’s expensive! But it’s still cheaper than other coffees available.
Place
Cafés are popular. People go to cafés to get their caffeine fix.
Promotion
There are no ads promoting your coffee.
Based on these results, you can now decide whether you should continue with your plan to launch your new coffee. Perhaps you should change the price to $2.00 per cup. Or maybe you should advertise your coffee on television.
How to Use the Four Ps of Marketing in Your Marketing Strategy
The four Ps — Product, Price, Place and Promotion — are the building blocks of every successful brand. They form the foundation upon which marketers construct their strategies. But what do those words really mean? How does one apply them to a specific situation?
These four elements aren’t mutually exclusive; some companies use one or more of them to achieve success. For example, a company might offer a low price while promoting through social media. Or it could use high quality products while putting them into stores.
But whether you’re planning to launch a new product or just tweak your current offerings, understanding the four Ps can help you craft a successful campaign.
When Did the Four Ps Become the Seven Ps?
In the early 2000s, three additional Ps ended up sneaking into the traditional marketing mix: people, process, and technology.
Today, marketers are faced with many options for how to reach customers. But what do we really know about each one? The answer lies in understanding the history of the four Ps and adding three new ones.
The Additional Three Ps of Marketing
The four Ps are still important. But marketers must now consider three additional Ps: people, process, and technology. These are what form the basis of what we call the seven Ps of Marketing.
“People” is defined as the audience you are trying to market to. It’s who will buy from you and why. “People places the emphasis on the personalities that represent products. Brands like Apple and Nike understand that consumers care deeply about the quality of the experience they receive. They know that the best way to build brand loyalty is to provide exceptional customer service and support. And they know that word of mouth spreads much faster than advertising.
In the current era, that includes not only sales and customer service employees, but also social media influencers and viral media campaigns. Social media influencers help brands connect emotionally with customers and prospects. Viral media campaigns allow brands to reach millions of potential buyers without spending big bucks on traditional ads.
Process is logistics. When it comes to delivering goods and services, there are many ways to go about it. A good example is Amazon Prime Now. This service allows shoppers to purchase items online and have them delivered directly to their doorsteps within hours.
Technology is the tool you use to execute all aspects of marketing. In today’s world, technology has become so pervasive that it’s difficult to imagine life without it.
The Seven Cs of Marketing
Proposed by Koichi Shimizu in 1981, the seven Cs marketing model (also referred to as the Compass model) is based on Shimizu’s earlier work.
The seven components of this model include:
Communication – How you communicate with your target audience
Corporation – What kind of business you run. This is the middle of where all of the decision-making takes place.
Consumers – This one covers things like the needs, education, security, and wants of the consumer.
Channel – This one refers to how you are distributing advertisements for your products and services.
Cost – Refers to the overall cost that your consumer will pay.
Commodity – This refers to what you’re offering (your product/service).
Circumstances – These are all inclusive external things that are uncontrollable – such as social, weather, economic, and national/international factors.
Shimizu believed that these seven factors would be the most effective when used together.
The seven Cs model is used to evaluate the performance of an organization or product. It can also be applied to individual marketing projects.
How To Use The Model
The seven Cs model helps companies identify areas where they need to improve. For instance, if a company wants to increase sales, it should first determine whether its products are meeting the needs of its consumers. If not, then it must decide whether it can make changes to meet those needs. If the answer is yes, then it must consider whether it has the resources available to implement those changes.
If the answer is no, then the company may want to look into other options.
This model can also be used to evaluate a project. For example, if a company wants more people to know about its new product, it could start by identifying the channels through which it communicates. Then, it could figure out what type of message it wants to send to each channel. Finally, it could measure the effectiveness of each channel.
This model is often used in conjunction with other models, such as the four Ps, to create a complete picture of a particular situation.
Why Is It Important?
The seven Cs model was created to help businesses understand their customers better. By using it, companies can see where they are falling short and take steps to correct any problems.
It also provides a framework for evaluating different types of marketing strategies. Companies can compare their current strategy against the model to see if it fits their needs.
For example, if a company wanted to increase sales, it could use the model to determine whether it needed to change its communication methods.
What Does It Mean?
The seven Cs marketing model is a tool that helps companies think about their marketing efforts. It allows them to analyze their strengths and weaknesses and find ways to improve.
It also gives them a way to evaluate the success of their campaigns. They can see if their messages are reaching their intended audience and if they are being received positively.
By understanding the model, companies can make informed decisions about their future marketing plans.
The Modern Digital Marketing Mix
In recent years, the term “digital marketing” has become increasingly popular. Digital marketing includes all types of electronic media such as internet, mobile phones, TV, radio, e-mail, social networks, apps, etc., which are used to promote products or services.
The traditional marketing mix of advertising, sales promotion, and publicity has evolved rapidly alongside technological changes and the rise of customer relationship management (CRM). Online technology allows individuals to do their shopping online, compare prices and promotions, view and buy items remotely, and seek and provide feedback about goods and services. The ability to personalize merchandise and advertisements based on a consumer’s interests, along with the rise of smartphones and mobile computing, makes it possible for consumers to receive relevant information at the moment it is most useful to them.
The increased use of smartphones and tablets has led to a change in how customers engage with businesses. Research indicates that 64 percent of smartphone owners use their devices while out of the house. Apps associated with every type of business imaginable have been developed for Android and Apple iOS smart devices. Some savvy app developers include functionality that gives fans real-time access to news, competitions, and special events. In other instances, retailers simply use apps to encourage shoppers to scan barcodes or search for specific products. In fact, 38 percent of retail store traffic comes from mobile devices. But only 6 percent of small businesses are leveraging this channel.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing involves creating and sharing content on various social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Through social media marketing, you reach your target audiences using multiple channels and drive quality traffic to your website. With millions of users accessing the Internet daily through their mobile phone, an increasing number of people are turning to the web and mobile applications for local searches and services. This has created a new demand for social media sites and services, which are now widely accepted and accessible. Most social media websites offer free basic accounts to assist firms in starting up. However, many social media platforms charge fees for different types of usage, such as the amount of data that can be stored on your account.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is an umbrella term that refers to the methods used by search engines to present websites they rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs) to searchers. It encompasses both paid and unpaid strategies:
Paid Search: Organic listings in the search results page; Paid inclusion into the sponsored links section; Pay per click ads. Unpaid Strategies: Directories, backlinks, article submissions, press releases, social bookmarking, video syndication, forum posting, link exchanges, classifieds, etc.
SEO techniques can be categorized broadly under two categories – On-site optimization and Off-site optimization. Both of these categories can be further divided into several subcategories.
Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay per click advertising, commonly abbreviated PPC, delivers targeted visitors to payers’ websites via ad copy displayed on search engine result pages. When a person performs a search query related to a product or service, the advertiser’s webpage may appear in the sponsored results list. Advertisers bid against each other for position in the top results. Those advertisers who display the highest positions in the search engine’s results receive more clicks.
Advertising agencies work with clients to develop campaigns that help them achieve their goals. These campaigns typically involve some combination of online and offline activities.
Online advertising includes email marketing, banner ads on websites, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, and display advertising. Offline advertising includes television advertisements, newspaper ads, point-of-sale materials, direct mail, and radio advertisements.
The primary objective of any digital marketing campaign is to generate interest and action in one or more target markets. A successful campaign is one where readers/viewers take desired actions, including brand awareness, leads, sales, and so forth.
Online Video Advertising
Video advertising is becoming increasingly important for businesses looking to connect with customers worldwide. The rise of smartphones and tablets is changing consumer behavior, making it much easier for consumers to view videos at any time and anywhere. In addition, video marketing provides businesses with an opportunity to communicate directly with their current and potential customers. But video marketing isn’t just about watching. Here are three ways to use video marketing to promote your business and attract prospects.
- Use video marketing to build trust. People love to watch how products are made. If there’s no video, viewers have no way of knowing whether the company is trustworthy. Include customer testimonials in posts. Let viewers know when you’ve answered questions about your company. Share videos that show what your company values. Create a vlog (video blog) to share information with your subscribers.
- Use video marketing to educate and inspire. Consumers enjoy learning new things. If people like a product or service, they will want to learn more about it. That means providing lots of value through content. For example, if you sell weight loss equipment, create a tutorial showing users how to properly use their machines.
- Use video marketing to get prospect attention. Most people only remember the first few seconds of a commercial. So make sure your video stands out by using interesting characters, great music, and strong visuals. Also, include calls-to-action in the form of buttons that lead to your website.
Having an Effective Framework for Your Digital Marketing is Important
When it comes to digital marketing, you do want to have at least some framework definitions of things that you’re working with.
Whether it’s the bare minimums, or more advanced strategies, it helps to know who you’re marketing to and why, as well as where they hang out online.
Having a targeted approach only makes your SEO efforts more successful.
When do you plan on launching your next digital marketing campaign?
