The document provides an overview of marketing mix and the 7Ps of marketing for services. It discusses that marketing mix, also known as the 4Ps, involves product, price, place, and promotion. It then explains the 7Ps of marketing for services, which extends the traditional 4Ps to also include people, process, and physical evidence. The 7Ps framework recognizes that for services, the human element of delivery (people) and the processes involved are particularly important, in addition to tangible evidence that supports the intangible nature of many services. Overall, the document outlines the key elements marketers consider when developing strategies for both products and services.

1. Marketing Mix
Before a marketing mix strategy can be implemented, the marketer must identify, evaluate, and
select a target market.
Market: people or institutions with sufficient purchasing power, authority, and willingness to
buy.
 Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of
interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business
development.
 Marketing is the process of planning & executing the conception, pricing, promotion &
distribution of ideas, goods & services to create exchanges that satisfy individual &
organizational goals
 Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the
customer.
 Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included
advertising, distribution and selling.
 Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to
customers for the purpose of selling that product or service.
 Marketing is the science of choosing target markets through market analysis and
market segmentation as well as understanding consumer buying behaviour and
providing superior customer value.
Target market: specific segment of consumers most likely to purchase a particular product
Marketing involves a number of activities.
 To begin with, an organization may decide on its target group of customers to be
served.
 Once the target group is decided, the product is to be placed in the market by providing
the appropriate product, price, distribution and promotional efforts.
 These are to be combined or mixed in an appropriate proportion so as to achieve the
marketing goal. Such mix of product, price, distribution and promotional efforts is
known as ‘Marketing Mix’.
Marketing Mix
“Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s
response”.

2. o The controllable variables in this context refer to the 4 ‘P’s [product, price, place
(distribution) and promotion].
o Each firm strives to build up such a composition of 4‘P’s, which can create highest level
of consumer satisfaction and at the same time meet its organizational objectives.
o Thus, this mix is assembled keeping in mind the needs of target customers, and it varies
from one organization to another depending upon its available resources and marketing
objectives.
o Let us now have a brief idea about the four components of marketing mix
 The set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the
target market.
 These are Product, Price, Place & Promotion. These 4Ps of the sellers are linked to the
4Cs of the consumers, viz. Customer solution, Customer cost, Convenience &
Communication, in that order.
 People, Process & Physical evidence are the extended marketing mix.
Marketing Mix 4 Ps
The marketing principles can be cleft down within 4 Ps of marketing. The four p’s
comprises of the primitive aspects tangled in the process of marketing. The elements of
marketing mix assist and support the sellers to identify the needs and want of their
potential buyers. The four Ps are also known as marketing mix elements.
 Product — product here exemplifies to the goods and services a business sells to
its potential customer. In order to peddle up the sale one must furnish the proper
and adequate information about their particular good and service to the targeted

3. customer. The product must be capable of resolving and fulfilling the requirements
of customer. Component of selling the good comprises figuring out the potential
buyers in the market.
 Price — The chunk of money that a supplier sets for his product is labeled as price.
Setting the price needs keen thought and analysis, mainly for inexperienced or new
business owners who mistakenly sense to offer the minimum price or they would
end up in achieving zero sales. Pricing is computed in many ways, like cost-plus,
based on value or combative.
 Place — The way of distributing the product is considered as third ‘P’ of marketing
that is considered as — place. Analyzing the geographical areas where buyers look
for the product and service. It refers tothe geographical location of the availability
of products.
 Promotion — The element ‘promotion’ in the marketing mix comprises the
advertising and events to support the certain service and product. Various strategies

4. are made to promote the product in the market. In order to make the end users
aware of the product marketers initiate different promotional strategies to
uphold their goods and services.
Apart from these 4 Ps marketing has several other elements which we can discuss in 7Ps
of marketing
Service Marketing Mix – 7 P’s of marketing
The service marketing mix is also known as an extended marketing mix and is an integral
part of a service blueprint design. The service marketing mix consists of 7 P’s as
compared to the 4 P’s of a product marketing mix. Simply said, the service marketing mix
assumes the service as a product itself. However it adds 3 more P’s which are required
for optimum service delivery.
The product marketing mix consists of the 4 P’s which are Product, Pricing, Promotions
and Placement. These are discussed in my article on product marketing mix – the 4 P’s.
The extended service marketing mix places 3 further P’s which include People, Process
and Physical evidence. All of these factors are necessary for optimum service delivery.
Let us discuss the same in further detail.

5. 1) Product
o The product in service marketing mix is intangible in nature. Like physical products
such as a soap or a detergent, service products cannot be measured. Tourism
industry or the education industry can be an excellent example. At the same time
service products are heterogenous, perishable and cannot be owned.
o The service product thus has to be designed with care. Generally service blue
printing is done to define the service product.
o Productrefers to the goods and services offered by the organization.
o All the products /serviceare purchased becausethey satisfy one or more of
our needs. We are paying not for the tangible productbut for the benefit it
will provide.
o So, in simple words, productcan be described as a bundle of benefits which
a marketer offers to the consumer for a price.
o While buying a pair of shoes, we are actually buying comfortfor our feet,
while buying a lipstick we are actually paying for beauty becauselipstick is
likely to make us look good.
o Productcan also take the formof a service like an air travel,
telecommunication, etc. Thus, the term productrefers to goods and
services offered by the organisation for sale.
2) Place
o Place in case of services determine where is the service product going to be
located. The best place to open up a petrol pump is on the highway or in the city.
A place where there is minimum traffic is a wrong location to start a petrol pump.
o Similarly a software company will be better placed in a business hub with a lot of
companies nearby rather than being placed in a town or rural area. Read more
about the role of business locations or Place element.

6. o Goods are produced to be sold to the consumers. They must be made available
to the consumers at a place where they can conveniently make purchase.
o Woollens are manufactured on a large scale in Ludhiana and you purchase them
at a store from the nearby market in your town.
So, it is necessary that the product is available at shops in your
town. This involves a chain of individuals and institutions like distributors,
wholesalers and retailers who constitute firm’s distribution network (also called a
channel of distribution).
o The organization has to decide whether to sell directly to the retailer or through the
distributors/wholesaler etc. It can even plan to sell it directly to consumers.
3) Promotion
o Promotions have become a critical factor in the service marketing mix. Services are easy
to be duplicated and hence it is generally the brand which sets a service apart from its
counterpart. You will find a lot of banks and telecom companies promoting themselves
rigorously.
o Why is that?
It is because competition in this service sector is generally high and promotions
is necessary to survive. Thus banks, IT companies, and dotcoms place themselves above
the rest by advertising or promotions.
o If the product is manufactured keeping the consumer needs in mind, is rightly priced
and made available at outlets convenient to them but the consumer is not made aware
about its price, features, availability etc, its marketing effort may not be successful.
o Therefore promotion is an important ingredient of marketing mix as it refers to a
process of informing, persuading and influencing a consumer to make choice of the
product to be bought.
o Promotion is done through means of personal selling, advertising, publicity and sales
promotion.
o It is done mainly with a view to provide information to prospective consumers about the
availability, characteristics and uses of a product.
o It arouses potential consumer’s interest in the product, compare it with competitors’
product and make his choice.
o The proliferation of print and electronic media has immensely helped the process.

7. 4) Pricing
o Pricing in case of services is rather more difficult than in case of products.
o Price is the amount charged for a product or service. It is the second most
important element in the marketing mix.
o Fixing the price of the productis a tricky job.
o Many factors like demand for a product, costinvolved, consumer’s ability
to pay, prices charged by competitors for similar products, government
restrictions etc. have to be kept in mind while fixing the price.
o In fact, pricing is a very crucial decision area as it has its effect on demand
for the productand also on the profitability of the firm.
o Price usually depends ontreatment prescribedby the respective consultant
and the facilitiesofferedtothe patient
o Thus these elements have to be taken into consideration while costing. Generally
service pricing involves taking into consideration labor, material cost and
overhead costs.
o By adding a profit markup you get your final service pricing. You can also read
about pricing strategies.
Here on we start towards the extended service marketing mix.
5) People
o People is one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service.
If you have an IT company, your software engineers define you. If you have a
restaurant, your chef and service staff defines you.

8. o If you are into banking, employees in your branch and their behavior towards
customers defines you. In case of service marketing, people can make or break
an organization.
o Thus many companies nowadays are involved into specially getting their staff
trained in interpersonal skills and customer service with a focus towards customer
satisfaction.
o In fact many companies have to undergo accreditation to show that their staff is
better than the rest. Definitely a USP in case of services.
6. Process
o Process refers to the procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities that occur
when the All of these processes need to be tightly controlled to ensure consistent
customer experience.
o They are usually defined in written Standard Operating Procedure documents
(SOPs).customer and the business interact with each other.
o Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer.
o On top of it, the demand of these services is such that they have to deliver
optimally without a loss in quality.
o Thus the process of a service company in delivering its product is of utmost
importance.
o It is also a critical component in the service blueprint, wherein before establishing
the service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the
service product reaching the end customer.

9. 7) Physical Evidence
o The last element in the service marketing mix is a very important element. As said
before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a better customer
experience tangible elements are also delivered with the service.
o Take an example of a restaurant which has only chairs and tables and good food,
or a restaurant which has ambient lighting, nice music along with good seating
arrangement and this also serves good food.
o Which one will you prefer? The one with the nice ambience. That’s physical
evidence.
o Several times, physical evidence is used as a differentiator in service marketing.
Imagine a private hospital and a government hospital.
o A private hospital will have plush offices and well dressed staff. Same cannot be
said for a government hospital. Thus physical evidence acts as a differentiator.
Packaging
o What the customer perceives and experiences about you, your
product/service—tangible and intangible—in every form of visual contact.
(Sometimes “Physical” or “Physical Evidence.”)
o This is not only the hands-on, physical container of a physical product…the
definition is also experiential, and often more so for healthcare marketing. Look
at this through the end-user’s window, and everything counts. Take a fresh
look—as if for the first time—at the appearance of the physical office or location,
the impression of your reception area, the look and feel of brochures and
website, and even the appearance of staff.
o Some doctors never walk through the front door of their own office. Try it. You
might be surprised to see what patients are seeing as they form their first
impressions. (First impressions take about 10 seconds to form…and you’ve only
got one shot at it.)
It can be a transparent contact us page on the suppliers website that helps the buyers to
convey their message or query related totheir experience with the usage of particular
good or service.

10. Marketing — Importance Of Marketing Mix 7ps
It is a technique of guiding the customers to choose your goods and service rather than electing
the products of your rivals.
If a firm or business not accounting this aspect, it hampers their profit level. The key is
searching the correct channel of marketing and disclosing the accurate message in order to
influence the targeted customers.
Marketing is an approach of numerous processes included in commuting the goods and services
from the fabricator or manufacturer to the immediate customer. It confides constructing the
concept of goods and services analyzing the related customer, advertising it and distributing
them to all the channels of selling.
Why is it important?
Each aspect of business builds upon marketing. Marketing is a significant role player in
the performance of business. The importance of marketing can be understood through
the points mentioned below:
 Exchange and progression of goods — Marketing is highly beneficial in
deportation, transaction and progression of goods and services. Products and
services are contrived available to consumers by numerous intermediaries like

11. wholesalers and vendors. Marketing is profitable to manufacturer and consumers
both.
 Rising the living standard — Through the availability of continuous supply of
goods and services to customers at a nominal price, marketing has a significant role
in establishing living standards of the society. Community consists of three genres
of people that are wealthy, middle and poor. All the things which are accounted by
these three classes of society are outfitted by marketing.
 Increase in employment — Marketing is a complicated practice involving
numerous people in under one segment. The chief marketing activities include
buying, selling, transporting, storing etc. Every function comprises of different
activities which are performed by a large variety of individuals. Hence it helps in
raising the level of employment. According to the sources almost 40% of the whole
population is reliant on marketing directly or indirectly. The widened role of
marketing has immensely increased the employment level for people.
 Opening of income and revenue -Marketing caters various opportunities to
bring in profits in the practice of buying and selling the products and goods,
through slashing time, place and tenure utilities. That income and investment can
be used as profits in future ventures. Marketing must be given the utmost
significance, as the initial and conclusive survival of the company gambles upon the
potency of the marketing operation.
 Support for Making Decisions — A businessman goes through several
complications during the process of creation and distribution of goods and services.
He/she requires the exact and relevant information and queries related to their

12. product and service. Marketing process ease this complexity of businessmen by
forming a direct link between manufacturer and consumer.
 Opening of new ideas — Marketing concept is deeply dynamic and progressive.
It has altered and modified several aspects for the better functioning of certain
activities. With the changes in taste and preferences of consumers marketing accord
understanding and apprehension accordingly.
 Advancement of Economy — Marketing is considered and characterized as a
wizard that sets the economy whirling. An organized marketing structure helps the
economy to rise and lessens the burden of weaker economy.
10 steps to be a successfulhealth care marketingplan.
1. Build support and enthusiasm
– Find the experts who will help support your marketing efforts through speaking
engagements, newspaper interviews, and quotes for newsletters and media
releases.
– Locate your champions in the organization.
2. Comparative analysis
Study your competitors, considering their historical advertising levels, any
new product launches that may be forthcoming.
– Develop your own “unique selling proposition.” What makes you different
from your competition?
3. Assessment: – Consult business plans, patient satisfaction surveys, volume
reports, community surveys and any other information you can gather
– Consider market dynamics such as seasonality, shifting alliances between
physician groups and other “political” issues.
4. Budget
5. Segment your market
6. Define your vision and strategy:
– Where do you want your program or organization to be in three to five
years

13. – How can marketing help realize this vision – Direct marketing—Use letters,
fliers, brochures, post cards.
– Advertising—Consider print, broadcast, outdoor, special publications such
as chamber of commerce directories and sports programs.
– Free media
—Write articles for news media; make your organization known as the expert.
– Public relations
—Consider sponsorships that “fit” with your service; hold events, tours, open
houses.
– Website/emerging media
—It’s not just for young professionals anymore; fast- growing segments of the
elderly and minority populations are using the Internet to gather information
on their health care options.
7. Measure and evaluate:
– You may want to track new patients, calls for information, physician
referrals, website hits, patient/procedure volumes or other data meaningful to
your organization.
– You should also consider consumer preference and top-of-mind
awareness, which may translate into volumes in the future.
8. Ready, set, go: – Timing is everything
– Plan your rollout to maximize exposure.
9. Kick it off right: – Introduce your campaign internally first. – Tell physicians,
employees, volunteers, board members and other stakeholders. (They are
often your best marketing support)
10. Build your creative: – Turn your ideas into the creative product that will
support your plan.
Internal marketing strategy could be:
 Client contact program
 Development of Specialized services
 Client referral program
 Proposal letters
 List serves
 Corporate Gifting

14. External marketing strategies could be:
 Healthcare Newsletter
 Email/Fax Broadcasts
 Small Social Gatherings
 Sponsorships
 Authorship for articles and books
 Direct Mail
 Advertising
 Partnering Local Business Journal
 Attendance at Industry Meetings
 Gifting
 Healthcare Business Reply Card
 Recruitment of Business Development Person
 Speeches both internal and external
 Network with Healthcare Attorneys
Needof healthcare marketing
 Executives are demanding higher impact and bigger returns from marketing investments
 marketing professionals are more closely aligning their efforts with strategic objectives,
customer experience and the integration of communications across multiple platforms
and channels.
 Health care marketing is undergoing dramatic reinvention and change because of
– emerging trends
– reform uncertainties
– emergence of social marketing
– renewed focus on quality
– outcome and prevention