When I was an undergraduate at university studying marketing we were discussing the Marketing Mix. "When launching or developing a product..." the lecturer said, "pay attention to Price, Promotion, Product and Place..."
I sat there thinking. I didn't have corporate experience and this didn't make sense. It just seemed to simple and to pat. (Four Ps!) I was trying to learn this stuff by applying it to the bar and restaurant jobs I had.
How can I apply the four Ps to the restaurant? We can't move it, especially me as a waiter, so the distribution aspect is a moot point. Maybe we can change the prices and the menu (product) and sure we could do something to raise the bar when it came to promotion. But what about the other aspects - the relationships the staff had with each other, the way we interacted with the customers, the suppliers (especially the alcohol sales reps!)
So I said as much to my lecturer; "This doesn't seem to be enough. Surely you need to think through more than this to launch and manage products."
It was then I got one of the best nuggets of information from that degree.
"It's just a checklist to help you along. It doesn't give you all the answers. You have to use your brain to solve complex problems."
I wonder how he remembers the conversation, if at all.
