1. 9P’s of Marketing
Marketing Mix is a planned mix of the controllable elements of
a product's marketing plan. Traditionally, elements of the
marketing mix are often referred to as 4Ps: Product, Price,
Promotion and Place; which was proposed by E. Jerome
McCarthy in 1960. Although Nickels and Jolson suggested the
inclusion of Packaging as the 5th P in the 1970s, but it was not
well accepted. In the meantime, three Ps have also been added
to the marketing mix namely People, Process and Physical
Evidence; which serve mainly the service industry and are
widely recognized.
Nickels and Jolson's idea to include Packaging as one of the Ps
has been examined through the years, now many marketers
believe Packaging should be the 8th P in marketing mix. In
2008, Bryan K. Law of Fox College of Business suggested
Payment should also be included; as ease and security of
transaction plays a crucial role in marketing, especially in this
cyber age. It makes a total of 9 elements in marketing; which
are the 9Ps.
We advocate the idea of using all 9Ps in practicing marketing
and using them to help businesses marketing their products. In
the future, we will establish a platform where vendors can sell
their products and services using the 9Ps and consumers can also
participate in the marketing program. Stay tuned!

2. There are many marketing jobs that require marketing skills -
marketing plan, marketing proposal, marketing strategy,
marketing research and marketing analysis. Once you are
familiar with the use of marketing mix, you can play well in
those areas too.
Product
In marketing, a product is a tangible object or an intangible one
for sale. Intangible products are service based like the
transportation industry, hotel industry or insurance.
Examples of tangible object are gasoline and pen. To retain its
competitiveness in the market, product differentiation is required
and is one of the strategy to differentiate from its competitors.
For example, a luxury pen made with diamond and 18K gold
can be marketed as a writing instrument; but it can also be
marketed as a piece of jewellery and such positioning may
differentiate it better and more efficiently.
A junk site for dumping used vehicles could be marketed as a
dump site; but a smart consultant changed it into a car dealership

3. and sold it for 10 times of the original value.
Price
Price is the amount that a product is
asking in the market. It is determined
by a number of factors including
market share, competition, material
costs, product identity and the
customer's perceived value of the
product. A business may increase or
decrease the price of product if the
product is in demand or other stores
have the same product.
For the same product, the price may
have different impact. Here is a real
story:
A teenager asked his dad to give him

4. one thousand dollars to buy a nice
jacket in a department store. The dad
struggled a little bit but handed the
teenager one thousand dollars to buy
the jacket. When the dad asked his
son to show him the jacket the next
day, his son handed back the money
and said: "I didn't buy it."
"Why?" the dad asked.
"When I went to the department store
this morning, I found out that the
jacket was on sale. It is now selling
for $300 only. I don't want to have a
jacket that is sold for that cheap."
Promotion
Promotion is all the communications

5. that a marketer may use in the
marketplace. It has four distinct
elements: advertising, public
relations, personal selling and sales
promotion.
Not all products will fit in the same
promotion. A designer brand will
never use radio commercial to
promote their brand image, while a
politician will not use fashion
magazines to promote their schemes.
Place
Place represents the location where a
product can be purchased or the
channel where the product can go
through to be placed for sale.
Therefore, it is often referred to as the

6. distribution channel.
Place may include any physical store
as well as virtual stores on the
Internet. However, Place may not be
exactly a physical store where the
product is for sale. Place is where the
product is available or an image of
the product is created in the mind of
customers. Channel may refer to the
media, the network and the way how
your message is delivered.
Here is a famous story to show how
the place may affect marketing:
Two salesmen of a shoe factory were
sent to a small country in Africa to
explore business opportunity. When
they came back, the boss interviewed

7. them one by one.
The first salesman said: "Don't waste
your time boss. All the people there
do not wear shoes. There is no
market for us."
The second salesman said: "No one
there wear shoes. We will have
millions of shoes sold and I think we
should hire more people to make our
production line 24/7."
People
All people involved with
consumption of a service are
important. For example workers,
management, consumers etc.

8. People is an important factor in
servicing industries - travel agencies,
restaurants and hair salons. No two
persons are the same and no two
persons can provide the exact same
service to customers. It is therefore
important to recruit good people and
maintain their good quality service in
order to attract and keep the
customers.
It is common to see: All our
technicians are certified ... Our
service consultants are all well trained
and licensed ... All our instructors
have over 10 years experience in the
field .. etc etc. However, such
'guarantee' can only ensure their
people achieve a certain level of
education or experience. There is no

9. assurance that their service will be
good.
In order to standardize the effect and
to minimize the gap among different
people, Process is introduced.
Process
Process is the procedure, mechanism
and flow of activities to provide
service or to produce a product. The
prevailing ISO standards (such as ISO
9001) are designed to help
organizations ensure their process can
meet the needs of customers and other
stakeholders in their field.
A well organized and quality
controlled process may reduce the

10. impact of People.
Physical Evidence
Physical Evidence is the element that
allows the consumers to make
judgments on that organisation. It
includes some of the following:
Premises,
Websites,
Paperwork (such as air tickets),
Brochures,
Signage (such as those on aircraft and
vehicles),
Uniforms,
Business cards.
Just imagine that if you bought a
ticket of the 2008 Olympic Games via

11. online; you would love to show your
friends the 'official ticket' and keep it
as a souvenir instead of printing a bar
code from your computer. This is one
of the examples for Physical
Evidence.
Packaging
Marketing people have always
emphasized the importance of
packaging as it is the way to make a
first impression on the customers;
especially for the products on shelves.
However, some people believe
Packaging should be a part of Product
and some people think it is a part of
Promotion.
Because of the advanced packaging

12. today, products are now protected
from contamination, crushing,
breakage, and spoilage and it helps in
the product to be unaffected from
climatic conditions. Packaging is also
helpful in elaborating necessary
details about the product, company,
quantity, ingredients, precautions and
side effects etc.
In some extreme cases, such as some
fancy Japanese products; the cost of
packing may exceed the cost of the
product itself in order to attract
customers.
Some say the images of singers,
actors and actresses are also
packaging - they are what they
projected in your mind. How to

13. package an artist is the key to make a
star.
Payment
In 2008, Bryan K. Law of Fox
College of Business suggested
Payment should also be included; as
ease and security of transaction plays
a crucial role in marketing, especially
in this cyber age.
Payment is the consideration for the
delivery of goods and services. It is
an ease and security of transaction.
Traditionally the retailers would try to
provide as many options of payment
as possible for the convenience of
their customers and hence attract
more business. Cash, debit card,
cheque, gift voucher, and different

14. types of credit card (such as VISA,
Master, American Express, Diners
Club, JBC and Discovery) are
commonly accepted in most
establishments, especially the big
ones. People do not expect to carry
enough cash to dine in luxury
restaurants or to buy designer brands
in the shopping malls.
Many merchants offer bonus points to
their customers, such as mileage
points offered by airline companies,
club points offered by retail stores
and airtime points offered by mobile
phone companies. These are all
incentives to the customers, but the
points are also a kind of payment
itself.

15. In this cyber age, easy and security
payment methods are essential for all
online transactions. Can you imagine
an online store that will accept only
cash or ask its customers to send in
bank draft for buying their products?
Payment is not just a tool in
marketing, it is one of the essences.
Now, many payment methods use
RFID (radio-frequency identification)
technology for faster and more secure
payment method. Mastercard's
PayPass, VISA's payWave and the
Octopus cards are a few good
examples.
New Development – Digital Wallet
Cell phone companies have launched

16. the idea of digital wallet – using your
cell phone make Payment and as a
proof of ID.
The 'smartphone-enabled wallet'
allows consumers to purchase items
simply by tapping their phone on a
pad at the cash; much like a tap-and-
pay credit card but it can also have
GPS and ID to serve other purpose.