The first element in the marketing mix is the product. A product is any combination of goods and services offered to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers. Price is simply the amount of money that consumers are willing to pay for a product or service so it is an important element of the mix. Promotion is used to create awareness and stimulate demand and the most visible of 4 Ps in the marketing mix. Promotion is a communication process that takes place between a business and its various publics. Publics are those individuals and organizations that have an interest in what the business produces and offers for sale. Thus, in order to be effective, businesses need to plan promotional activities with the communication process in mind. The last common element of the marketing mix is place. Place refers to having the right product, in the right location, at the right time to be purchased by consumers.
If the marketing mix is applied to service industries, 4 Ps should be expanded by adding three more elements which can be controlled for satisfying the customer. The additional service marketing mix elements are people, physical evidence and process which will have to be effectively managed (Booms & Bitner, 1981)
People in the marketing mix elements refer to all of human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyer's perception. Physical evidence is the environment in which the services are delivered and where the firm and the customers interact (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). In the marketing mix elements, ‘process refers to the actual procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities’ used to deliver the service (Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). If the processes are set right and followed correctly, the output will be automatically within the acceptable limits.
Although, additional Ps have mentioned since with the marketing more integrated into organisations and with a wider variety of products and markets, the traditional 4 Ps is still deemed acceptable. Despite its limitations and perhaps because of its simplicity, the use of this framework remains strong and many marketing textbooks have been organised around it.