Extended Marketing Mix

The extended marketing mix, also known as 7P’s, is a set of seven marketing elements that are meant to collaborate in order to accomplish the goals of a marketing strategy. The 7 elements are as follows: product, price, placement, promotion, people, process, and physical. Together, these elements contribute to the formation of a complete marketing mix method that can help you reach out to your target market efficiently.

The original marketing mix included the 4Ps – product, price, placement, and promotion. It was first introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy in his 1960 book ‘Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach as a way for marketers to develop effective strategies. The extended marketing mix adds three additional elements – people, process, and physical.

What is the Extended Marketing Mix?

The extended marketing mix is, as the name suggests, an extension of the marketing mix which was traditionally for products. The 4Ps are also known as the product marketing mix. As services came more into the picture it was seen that the 4p’s could not justify the marketing mix.

There were 3 more elements that were necessary to actually explain the marketing of services. When products began offering services, the extended marketing mix began applying to products as well (like Maruti service stations where Maruti is a product and the service station is a service). These are the elements that were added to the marketing mix to form the extended marketing mix.

In the above figure, the product marketing mix are the first four P’s and the next 3 P’s are added to make the Extended Marketing mix. This extended marketing mix is also known as the service marketing mix.

The four ps mainly constituted the following 4 elements –

Product
Price
Place
Promotions

The extended Marketing mix was brought forward by adding the following 3 elements –

Process
Physical evidence
people.

• People refer to customer service representatives, store clerks, etc. who interact with customers and give them an impression of the company they’re buying from.
• Processes refer to the steps taken to get a product or service from the company to the customer, such as delivery services or online ordering systems.
• Lastly, Physical Evidence is the product that a customer receives, or what they expect from a service. This includes anything tangible like packaging and customer service materials.

The same are explained below taking restaurants as a service example

Process

How can you do things perfectly and make a process which matches customer expectations? That is the sole job of the process element. Let us say that you were having a restaurant. Then how many tables will be there? Will you be serving alcohol? If yes then how many waiters are needed? How many tables per cook? or how many dishes to divide between cooks? Thus, deciding on the process which makes the operation easier and faster is a key role of the extended marketing mix.

To make the process easier, a service blueprint can be designed which shows how the complete process will happen, from the customer entering the restaurant to the customer leaving the restaurant and his table being cleaned. The restaurant manager’s work is to ensure that the service blueprint is being followed to the letter.

Physical evidence

Physical evidence is the tangible physical elements that you add to an otherwise intangible product to differentiate yourself or your service from others. So in the above restaurant example, the restaurant can be a budget restaurant by keeping bare necessary furniture and hiring a minimum of people. Or it can be a high-budget restaurant where if you are serving alcohol, you can keep a bar, add good lighting and ambiance, play some good music, have exotic dishes, have excellent cutlery, and so on and so forth. Imagine a McDonald’s vs pizza hut and the difference in their ambiance as McDonald’s is more like a budget fast food chain when compared with pizza hut.

People

Probably the most important element of the extended marketing mix. The fifth P which is people is nowadays added to the product as well as the services marketing mix. This is because managers know that a business cannot go forward without the right people in the right place.

In the above example of restaurants, imagine your favorite restaurant and the serving people there. One restaurant might have a good cook who makes excellent and tasty dishes and another will have an average cook who makes average food. Which restaurant Will you visit? It is likely that your favorite restaurant will have a cook as well as serving waiters whom you like a lot and you give your orders only to them. Thus the right people make a solid difference to your business.

Overall, the extended marketing mix can be applied to products as well as services because the process, people, and physical evidence are nowadays very important for businesses to define their marketing mix.

Extended marketing Mix vs Marketing Mix

When it comes to creating the perfect marketing mix, there are two concepts you need to be aware of a marketing mix and an extended mix. A marketing mix includes four pillars or four elements of marketing such as product, pricing, promotions, and placement while an extended marketing mix includes 7 elements such as those of the traditional marketing mix plus people, process, and physical evidence.

When developing a complete marketing plan, you need to consider the extended marketing mix. This includes looking at all aspects of your product or service. Let’s have a look at the role of marketing mix first –

• Product: This is the physical product you are selling or the service you provide. It’s important to consider features, design, quality, and any other factors that could influence the customer’s choice.
• Pricing: When it comes to pricing, you need to consider how much your target audience is willing to pay, and what pricing strategy to use. There are many options available such as economy pricing, value-based pricing, price skimming, etc.
• Promotions: Promotions refer to the promotional materials and sales promotions you use to market and promote your product or service. This could include anything from digital marketing, and public relations, to content marketing, as well as physical promotional materials.
• Placement: Finally, you need to consider where your product or service will be available. This is important as it needs to be easily accessible to your target audience.

Let’s now move on to the extended marketing mixes which includes all of the above elements plus people, processes, and physical evidence.

• People: The people element refers to the customer experience. You need to consider how your customers will interact with your product or service and make sure you are offering a good customer experience.
• Processes: Processes refer to the processes you use when developing and marketing your products or services. This includes things like production and order processes.
• Physical Evidence: Physical evidence refers to the tangible physical elements of your product or service such as packaging, advertising materials, and even the stores that carry your products or services.

By taking all of these elements into consideration, you can create a complete marketing plan that will be tailored to your target audience and give you the best results. With a well-crafted marketing mix, you can create promotional strategies that will help you meet customer expectations and reach your desired goals.

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