The Real 5 P's of Marketing

In 1960, E. Jerome McCarthy introduced the four principles of the marketing mix, or the 4 P's, as a way to describe the mix of factors required to successfully market a product. McCarthy labeled the 4 P's as Product, Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion. The idea was that if you could identify the right combination of these elements, your marketing would succeed. Since then, many have proposed that there are really 5 P's, suggesting Positioning, Packaging, or People as additions to the mix.

For professionals, consultants, coaches, and freelancers marketing their own services, I don't find that the classic 4 P's provide much guidance in making the right choices about marketing. Here is a different sort of 5 P's for the typical independent professional, who is both the product and the person marketing it.

1. People

In order to market effectively, people are an essential part of the equation. Some marketing experts have suggested that the "people" component represents the people who deliver the service you are marketing--a critical factor for a service business.