IB Business Management: 
4.4 7Ps of the marketing mix

Marketing is the management task that links the business to the customer by identifying and meeting the needs of customers profitably – it does this by promoting the right product at the right price at the right place to the right customers. The marketing department of any organisation will have an integrated strategy or strategies regarding the marketing mix – the 4 Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion; and an additional 3Ps are part of an integrated marketing mix for services: People, Processes and Physical evidence.

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Key learning outcomes:

There are too many specific learning outcomes for Topic 4.4 The 7Ps of the marketing mix to outline all of them here.

​The 7 Ps of the marketing mix is the largest single-section of the IB Business Management course and, as such, we are devoting an entire page to each element of the traditional marketing mix (the 4Ps), where the learning outcomes are separated out into sub-topics:

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion​

We then turn our attention to the marketing of services, and the additional three Ps: People, Processes and Physical evidence

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The marketing mix

Marketing mix: The key decisions that must be taken in the effective marketing of a product.

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The marketing mix is made up of seven interrelated decisions − the 7Ps. The four key ones are product, price, promotion (including advertising and packaging) and place (where and how a product will be sold to consumers).

The other 3Ps largely relate to the marketing of services – people, process and physical evidence.

The marketing mix:

• Consumers require the right product. This might be an existing product, an adaptation of an existing product or a newly developed one.
• The right price is important too. If set too low, then consumers may lose confidence in the product’s quality; if too high, then many will be unable to afford it.
• Promotion must be effective – telling consumers about the product’s availability and convincing them that ‘your brand’ is the one to choose. Packaging is often used to reinforce this image.
• Place refers to how the product is distributed to the consumer. If it is not available at the right time in the right place, then even the best product in the world will not be bought in the quantities expected.
• Selling services successfully requires people who can interact positively with customers and create the correct impression to encourage them to return. This is particularly relevant in the hotel and restaurant industry.
• The processes that a business has in place to satisfy customers’ wants reliably and consistently form an important part of marketing services. For example, banks replacing an out-of-date debit card without the customer having to ask for one.
• Physical evidence means allowing customers to see for themselves the quality of the service being provided. This will reduce the element of risk in buying a service as opposed to a tangible product. For example, a clean and well-presented reception area in a hotel would raise appropriate expectations in the mind of the customer.

The integrated marketing mix

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Not all of the 7Ps have the same degree of significance in every case. It is vital that these elements fit together into a coherent and integrated plan. An appropriate marketing mix will ensure that these marketing decisions are interrelated. They must be carefully coordinated to make sure that customers are not confused by conflicting messages being given about the good or service being sold.

Coordinated marketing mix: Key marketing decisions complement each other and work together to give customers a consistent message about the product.

If just one part of the marketing is inconsistent or does not integrate with the rest, it may lead to the failure of even the best marketing plan. The most appropriate marketing mix decisions will therefore be:

• Based on marketing objectives that are affordable within the marketing budget
• Coordinated and consistent with each other
• Targeted at the appropriate consumers.

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The 7Ps of the marketing mix explained

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