Marketing’s “Fifth P”

By: Matt Tiedgen

Do you know the “Four P’s” of Marketing? Sure, you do. Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. But how often do you consider the most important “P”? It’s the Process in place for the person responding to your advertising and marketing.

Effective marketing relevantly connects a consumer to your product, service, or brand. Here’s what it doesn’t do – replace bad quality, localize an international call center, make up for lost time, restore broken trust, overcome unanswered corporate promises, or fix your operational blemishes.

Before investing in marketing, ask critical questions about your process. Does the landing page pull through the messaging that brought in the user? Is the website easy to navigate? Do the links work?  Is the store clean? Are your people friendly? What’s the response time to a voicemail or web form? Is the answer automated or personal? Any hidden fees or language? Is the sales/support team in sync? In short, do you make it easy for this user to become a customer? Are expectations met? 

A trusted marketing partner delivers on the front end by understanding the back end, managing expectations throughout the entire process. The messaging, the art, the channels, the delivery – and the process – work together to connect brand and targeted prospects. And often it’s the process that elevates those prospects to customers. 

Let’s pay more attention to the “Fifth P” and marketing plans start to perform to the goal. As a result, marketing shifts from a frustrating cost to a critical investment.