Before the Tools: The Seven Ps That Still Decide Whether Marketing Works

5 May 2026

We spend most of these pages on what's new. Today, deliberately, what's old — because most "marketing problems" brought to us aren't AI problems or algorithm problems. They're fundamentals problems wearing modern clothes. The classic framework still diagnoses them fastest: the Seven Ps.

The checklist

• Product — is the thing itself genuinely good, and demonstrably different? No channel fixes a "meh".
• Price — does it signal your quality? (Cheapest is a position too; accidental-cheapest is a wound.)
• Place — are you where your buyers actually look, or where you enjoy posting?
• Promotion — the only P most firms work on, and it merely amplifies the other six.
• People — whoever answers your phone is your brand at the moment of truth.
• Process — how easy is it to enquire, book, pay? Every step of friction is a leaking tap.
• Physical evidence — the van, the invoice, the reviews, the state of the website: proof, everywhere, that you're who you claim.

The diagnosis habit

When marketing "isn't working", walk the seven before blaming the algorithm. Nine times out of ten the weak P is not Promotion — and fixing it makes every pound of promotion suddenly work harder. The tools change monthly. The questions haven't changed in fifty years.