The 7P’s Marketing Mix for Training Providers

The marketing mix helps you frame a meaningful training market strategy.

The marketing mix is a conceptual framework identifying the key decision making managers follow when structuring marketing strategies. This framework can be used to develop both long-term strategies and short-term tactical programmes for attracting new markets to your training.

Vulnerable Markets Workshop: The Youth and Unemployed

The Marketing Mix P’s:

In the 1960s the following four P’s were:

• Product – The Product should fit the task consumers want it for, it should work and it should be what the consumers are expecting to get.

• Place – The product should be available from where your target consumer finds it easiest to shop.

• Price – The Product should represent good value for money.

• Promotion – Advertising, PR, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling and, in more recent times, Social Media are all key communication tools for an organisation. These tools should be used to put across the organisation’s message to the correct audiences  in the manner they would most like to hear.

During the 1970s, the following 3Ps were added:

• People – The right people are essential because they are as much a part of your business offering as the products/services provided.

• Processes –How the service is delivered is part of what the consumer is paying for.

• Physical Evidence – Almost all services include some physical elements. For example a hair salon would provide their client with a completed hairdo and an insurance company would give their customers some form of printed material.

An 8th P has been suggested:

• Productivity & Quality – This P asks “is what you’re offering your customer a good deal?” What are the benefits passed on to your clients?

Applying the 7P’s marketing mix to education and training

Designing a Competitive Education and Training Business Strategy

Why does a QMS include Marketing?

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