Sage Hospitality has created such a campaign, and it ticks the marketing and social responsibility boxes.

Their “Give a Day, Get a Night” promotion encourages guests to complete eight hours of voluntary service with a registered not-for-profit organisation in return for a 50% discount on published room rates.  Or, when available, a complimentary booking.

Brilliant – offering a discount without devaluing the brand.  Well done Sage Hospitality.

If you use a FAB Sheet, that should help you stick to what’s important to your customer.  For example…

As you can see from the example above, features are the elements we usually cover in detail, especially if you’re selling a technically complex product or service, but the buyers will always be looking for the benefits.  These are often money-saving / money-making benefits and are the real reason behind the purchase.

Why not watch some adverts on TV tonight and see if you can spot companies that do this well (and those who don’t).  The computer industry offers some great examples; some sell products based on the amount of memory their kit has or the screen resolution, but the really successful companies (such as Apple) have tapped into the emotional reasons for buying their products and really know how to sell the benefits.

Here’s a blank table for your own examples:

This is what the model looks like:

PRODUCT, naturally, concerns your products and / or services.  Do you provide the products people are looking for and what problems do they solve?

PRICE, concerns your pricing structure and what you sell your products and services for.  This area of the marketing mix is also concerned with ‘market price’ – are you cheaper than your competitors, or more expensive?  How do you know what the market is willing to pay for your product?  Can you be sure you aren’t under (or over-) charging?

PLACE, is about distribution – having your products and services available in the right place, so customers can find them.  This also concerns delivery, logistics and timing.  Distribution strategies are considered in this section – could you increase your customer base through the use of agents, wholesalers or ecommerce?

PROMOTION, is the area of marketing most people think about when they hear the word ‘marketing’.  (It’s also the reason why so many companies say they are ‘marketing’ companies, but they never actually get involved in product development, pricing structures or distribution strategies.)  Promotion is all about telling your customer you (and your product or service) exist and selling the benefits to encourage them to buy.  This area of marketing can be really creative, but it’s only of equal importance to the other three parts of the model.

Take a look at your business – and your marketing plan.  Do you have strategies to improve each area, or are you focused on the ‘pretty’ bits and avoiding the sharp (or financial) end of marketing.

Tomorrow we’ll cover another three P’s – a development of the marketing mix which is specifically relevant to organisations who sell services.