October 26, 2022

The Marketing Mix Strategy was developed in the 1960s by Edmund Jerome McCarthy, a Michigan State University marketing author, and professor, who divided all marketing activity into four broad categories. 

He listed the first four Ps of marketing as Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. A new item was later added to the list as a result of technological developments and concurrently expanding client demands: people (or personalization).

Defining the 5 P’s of Marketing

The marketing mix, also known as the 5 Ps of marketing, was developed by experts and comprised important components around which decision-making for marketing methods was built. We've outlined below how each of these crucial marketing components is essential to developing a comprehensive marketing plan for your SaaS business.

Product

The totality of the goods and services you provide to customers makes up the first component of the marketing mix. You should think about usability, aesthetics, image, and quality while making judgments about your SaaS products when using this P.

Your services and products should cater to the demands and wants of your clients. Review your product's essential attributes and make sure they match what your target market wants.

It's crucial that you make it obvious how your offer will benefit individuals. Make sure everyone is informed of the benefits of utilizing your SaaS product. Draw attention to all the intangible benefits of purchasing your SaaS products.

As with anything else in marketing, it is critical to set your offerings apart from those of your rivals. Recognize and demonstrate how your approach to tackling the problems of your customers is unique and superior to that of others in your sector.

Price

You must take into account how much each customer is willing to part with in exchange for the benefits they receive from your goods. Because the price is a component of your unique selling offer as a business owner, you must take into account the degree to which your customers are willing to spend.

A strong pricing structure should be transparent and explicit regarding additional fees. Because your clients can obtain a variety of SaaS alternatives, price is one of the 5 Ps of marketing that must be properly crafted. It is simpler to compare the advantages and costs of several brands.

When developing your digital marketing plan, you should be cautious when setting prices. It needs to be justified to pay more. The same is true of paying a low price, as low pricing could imply low quality for your product.

Pick up any SaaS company's pricing website, and you'll see that the majority of them provide a variety of pricing alternatives. This is so because each plan is tailored to a specific customer type.

Ask yourself these questions when deciding upon the price

1. What is the overall value of your service?
2. Does the price reflect the value of your offerings?
3. Are your customers prepared to pay the set price?
4. Does price change affect the target market, and if so, should industry rates rise or fall?
5. Will buyers switch to a different brand if your pricing is slightly raised? Or will a minor price cut allow you to increase your profit margin?
6. How does your pricing strategy compare to those of competitors?

Create a price structure that allows customers to make informed decisions. You cannot persuade someone to buy from you if they are experiencing information overload or if they are unable to comprehend your price strategy. Additionally, while it shouldn't completely alter your strategy, keep an eye on your competitors' pricing strategies. It's an important task to keep tabs on how your market is developing.

Place/Placement

Where your target audience lives can serve as a starting point for this discussion. Targeting a certain geographic area requires consideration of a number of factors, including the demographic, purchasing power, and spending habits of the domestic population. Or, if you work in business-to-business, you may substitute this with the type of business.

Prospects from third-world nations won't have the same purchasing power as those from first-world nations. The geographical properties still need to be considered while marketing, even though the distinctions between local and worldwide markets are becoming thinner with digital marketing.

When it comes to placement, the location of your adverts is very important. Are you positioning them in areas where your target customer is actively looking for what you have to offer? 

Only the channels you use to distribute them have a significant impact on how well your marketing campaign works. You must bear in mind that different websites, channels, and networks have various types of customers.

SEO services are a key component of SaaS positioning. The two categories of SEO are on-page and off-page. You must concentrate on both to make sure your brand is discoverable. If you follow the method correctly, you will appear higher in search results, making you more noticeable to those who are looking for you.

Promotion

The promotion factor essentially governs the development of marketing initiatives, advertising, and other promotional tactics.

Lower expenses are the main advantage of filtering and reducing your target demographic for promotions. Aiming for an indifferent audience could backfire and result in unqualified people giving you negative ratings.

You should use content marketing to spread the word about your brand. The end goal is to establish yourself as a thinking leader. Writing blogs, e-books, white papers, holding webinars, and podcasts that address the issues of your prospects are all effective ways to accomplish this. Evidently, each of these would complement the others in order to establish momentum and win over your prospect.

Through reputable blogs, manuals, etc., SaaS companies like Moz, HubSpot, Buffer, and others have already established a strong reputation. As you can see, their content directs their intended market to their offering. It's as though they guide them into their sales funnel, where they eventually become clients.

However, it is crucial to emphasize that marketing communication is equally about the content and the channels in this context. Think about spreading the word about your blogs on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.

Being on B2B review sites is another successful strategy for SaaS product promotion. This is due to the fact that we are certain that no one purchases a product without first reading reviews. These product reviews, created solely by your "actual" consumers, provide great promotional content. They can therefore have an impact on the audience you are trying to reach. However, be aware that while some customers will speak highly about you, you will always have a number of disgruntled consumers who will criticize you. Recognize the issues they are having and address them rather than avoiding them or sparring with them. Who knows, they might provide a fresh viewpoint that will improve your product. And even if you didn't, you could still demonstrate to others that you can take criticism with grace.

People

It is important to recognize the unique characteristics and convincing skills of salespeople. However, "people" in 2022 refers to more than just the sales team; it also includes individuals that sponsor and cross-promote the product to your target market.

As of 2022, the market for brand advocates is expected to be worth over $16 billion, according to Influencer Marketing Hub. For the purpose of selling important products, podcast sponsorship, event sponsorship, and other initiatives make use of well-known online personalities and celebrities.

This also applies to B2B sales, with LinkedIn emerging as a great resource for locating industry influencers that can help you sell your product. In exchange for this service, rewards, including referral payments, are frequently offered.

In conventional sales, appearance and demeanor are crucial. You should portray yourself as courteous, knowledgeable, and gently persuasive without coming across as pushy. The same holds true for remote sales, particularly in SaaS, where services are marketed to their target market by sales personnel who appear to be reliable and experienced.

Final thoughts

You may create a successful marketing strategy by carefully researching the 5 Ps of marketing, including your industry, intended audience, aspirations, and the market presence of your company.

Successful market penetration is ensured by making thoughtful adjustments to how you create a product, price it, place it where consumers can get it, and market it utilizing the resources of your company. If you need the best of 5Ps of marketing for your SaaS business, contact us today.