{"id":958398,"date":"2020-03-20T15:34:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T22:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.c3centricity.com\/?p=12324"},"modified":"2020-03-20T15:47:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T22:47:00","slug":"are-you-still-using-the-marketing-5ps-move-to-the-improved-7qs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/are-you-still-using-the-marketing-5ps-move-to-the-improved-7qs-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Still Using The Marketing 5Ps? Move To The Improved 7Qs."},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketing is a great<\/em><\/span> profession and the marketing 5Ps is the code by which we live. I\u2019ve worked in or with marketing teams for almost my whole career and I am passionate about brand building.<\/h3>\n

From the outside, others see marketers as those who come to work late and seem to party all night. They always seem to be watching TV or jetting off to exotic places to talk about advertising!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For people working in operations or finance, marketers just don\u2019t seem to be doing a very serious job; they\u2019re always having too much fun! I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve already heard such comments.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, as you yourself know, marketing IS fun, but it\u2019s also a lot of hard work, often close to 24\/7 on some occasions.<\/p>\n

So does all that hard work pay off? Not often enough in my opinion. And why? Because marketers simply don\u2019t always ask the right questions!<\/p>\n

The 5 Questions Marketers Should Ask<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you work in marketing, you already know the 5Ps \u2013 people, place, product, price and promotion. However, the problem with those is that when you find an issue with one of them, you know the \u201cwhat\u201d but not the \u201chow\u201d.<\/p>\n

So I suggest you work with my 7Qs instead. Each of my seven questions explain not only what to check, but also the how and why you need to examine the area.<\/p>\n

And if you can\u2019t immediately answer more than just a couple of them, then perhaps you need to do a little more work and a little less partying!<\/p>\n

Q1. Who are your customers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first \u201cP\u201d stands for people and often this is taken to be \u201cDo you know to whom you are selling?\u201d The answer is always yes and that\u2019s accepted as sufficient.<\/p>\n

Instead, ask yourself who your customers really are. I don\u2019t mean just their demographics, but what, where and how they use or consume your brand and the category in which you are competing. And especially the why of their attitudes and behaviours. If you can\u2019t give all these details about your customers, then you\u2019re in serious trouble.<\/p>\n

For more on this topic, see  \u201c12 things you need to know about your target customers\u201d<\/a> for details on better defining your customer persona. You will also find a link in the article to download a useful template you can use to store all your information as you gather it. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Q2. How are your customers changing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hopefully, you answered Q1 without any hesitation \u2013 you did, didn\u2019t you? Did you also download our template and complete it? Many of my clients find it a useful way to store and rapidly access the information whenever they need it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s great that you know a lot about your customers, but people change. Are you following how your customers are changing? Are you keeping up with them and their new opinions, needs and desires?<\/p>\n

Do you know the impact of the latest societal trends and new technologies on your customers\u2019 behaviours? Do you know how these changes may alter your market in five, ten or even twenty years from now?<\/p>\n

There are countless examples of brands that have disappeared because they didn\u2019t keep up with the changing needs of their customers:<\/p>\n