Marketing is the action of promoting your products or services. Sounds simple, right? But to promote your products or services effectively, this marketing activity needs to be highly targeted. Which is where the five Ps of marketing come into play.

Introducing the five Ps
Promotion, product, price, people and place, those are the five Ps of marketing. Together these Ps create a more refined definition of marketing: that is, the art of promoting your product (or service) at the right price to the right people in the right place.

Put it another way, anyone can spray the internet with ads, but good marketing – the kind of marketing that actually serves your business – requires you to carefully define your five Ps.

To do this, ask yourself:

• Promotion: What is the best way to communicate with your audience? This may span a range of online and offline channels, such as social media, email marketing, events, and so on.
• Product (or service): What are you trying to sell, and why should the customer buy it? What’s in it for them?
• Price: What is profitable for your business and what is the customer willing to pay?
• People: Who exactly are you targeting with your product or service? Do you have a clear picture of your ideal customer in mind?
• Place: How (or where) does your product or service meet the customer? Some services are delivered in person (a consultancy service, for example). Some products or services are delivered digitally, direct to the customer. Others are reliant on third-party retailers or platforms.

How the five Ps lead to business growth
Use the five Ps to drive your marketing and you’ll soon see a number of benefits, all of which contribute to the growth of your business:

• A healthy sales pipeline, chocked with high-quality leads.
• An engaged audience that understands your offering, identifies with your brand personality and sees the value in your product or service.
• More sales, because customers feel connected to your brand.
• Excellent customer service, in that you know exactly how your product/service benefits the customer, and you consistently deliver that benefit.
• Repeat sales, because customers like doing business with your brand.
• Referrals, from your customers singing your praises!

Ready to put the five Ps into action and realise all these benefits? Let OCTOPUS take the lead. We’ll work with you to define your five Ps, and craft those Ps into a marketing plan that helps to grow your business.

(Office presentation photo created by DCStudio – www.freepik.com)