Marketing 101: The 5 Ps and Why They Matter to Your Practice

An effective marketing plan is essential to any business. But what happens when you pour precious funds from your budget into a plan that doesn’t produce? It’s time to re-evaluate. You’re probably familiar with the five Ws: who, what, where, when and why. We’ve been told to keep them in mind when gathering basic information. Similar to the five Ws, there also are the 5 Ps of marketing—each element equally important in crafting your plan.

If you want to successfully set your business apart from your competitors and better promote your services, one of the first steps you should take is to follow the 5 Ps:

1. Product
   

   What are you selling? Of course, financial products and advice. But aren’t you really selling a relationship? Finding your niche and building your business requires that you not only have a deep understanding of your offering, but also that you’re able to articulate it in a way that highlights your competitive advantage. Come up with a concise, cohesive message system that allows you and your team to clearly and thoroughly communicate your services. If your team exhibits in-depth product knowledge, your audience can more easily trust what they hear.
   

2. Place
   

   Where do you provide your services? The location of your business and focus of your marketing efforts should be appropriate based on who you’re trying to reach, and position you to easily access your target audience (and vice versa). For example, if you specialize in working with physicians, consider having a presence near a hospital or medical complex.

3. Price
   

   What is your fee structure? This involves knowing what your competitors charge, the industry standard and its value to potential clients. Because the price of your advice reflects your value, it’s vital to know the customers’ perceived value of your product or service when planning your marketing efforts.

4. Promotion
   

   What sets you apart from others? We can’t stress enough how important your value proposition is when promoting your product or service. You should have a budget and plan in place for all appropriate communication channels, such as advertising and social media. This requires ample research and a coordinated strategy to reach the right audience with the right channels. An effective and often forgotten promotion technique—word of mouth—can also add a personal touch to your business platform.

5. Public Relations
   

   What are you doing to relate to the rest of the world? Typically, public relations would be included under promotion, but it deserves a section all to itself because it’s pivotal to build relationships with members of the media. Third-party endorsements like being quoted in an article as an expert, adds value to your brand. And reaching out to media professionals is easier than you’d think and starts with a phone call or email introducing yourself and your business efforts. Once you’ve established good rapport, you could be their go-to source when a story breaks.

Whatever your business may be, the five Ps of marketing help you develop a unified understanding of your marketing efforts. We have a worksheet available for you to assess your current marketing efforts by identifying YOUR five Ps.

Click here to download our Five Ps of Marketing Worksheet!