7 F’s of Marketing — when the old marketing mix models don’t work anymore.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, “I’m rich. Marry me.” That’s marketing!

If only my Marketing professor in business school explained the subject in this way, things would’ve been so much simpler and easier — But no… they had to make it seem like Greek to me!

Every marketing student knows the 4-Ps developed by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1964. As a matter of fact, the 4-Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) have been considered anathema to the marketing discipline explaining specific tools (marketing mix) we use to ensure business success. Of course marketing being marketing, 4 specific elements are not enough — so, in 1981 Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner added People, Process, and Physical Evidence to the mix creating the 7-Ps shown below:

1. Product — a good or service — ideally, fulfilling an existing consumer need or creating a new consumer want.
2. Price — the amount consumers pay for a product.
3. Place — where the product is sold and being distributed
4. Promotion — advertising, public relations, social media — whatever media/medium used to deliver the right message to the right people.
5. People — new/prospective target audience, internal/external…