The 4Ps of the marketing mix are written in stone (Price, Product, Place, Promotion). Etched beneath are the 3 additional Ps of the service marketing mix (Physical Evidence, Process and People).

The last of these, ‘People’, refers to the folks we employ and how they communicate with customers. But in the age of the Internet,the population is beginning to dictate the types of product/service people would like to see – they are the ones initiating the communication not the organisation.

This ‘Public Input’ is beginning to have an impact in the mix and some organisations are harnessing it’s power. Running shoes designed by the customer, ads designed by the audience; it’s early days but the newly empowered general public are finding their feet and beginning to voice their opinion.

Some would argue that the opportunity for any member of the public to publish anything, at any time, about a brand is simply an impossible task to manage and I would agree with this but only in part. This is not a case of issues management it is a case of developing pro-active strategies to influence public opinion through the Internet.

This needs to begin with education. Teachers and students both need to understand that there is an 8th ‘P’ in the mix and start including strategies in the marketing plan to harness ‘Public input’. The companies that realise this shift in the marketing mix and act on itwill be the ones that flourish, those that continue to dictate rather than converse, in my humble opinion, will be those that are left behind.

Are we sitting comfortably?

Then let’s begin.

Most successful global brands have a story, you don’t have to think too hard; Apple, Google and  Virgin for example. But so do the more successful local brands you use every day. The little Italian butcher that’s been going for three generations, the café that sources their milk from their sister’s organic dairy farm and the local micro-brewery that started because the brewer couldn’t find an ale he liked so he brewed his own. We love these stories and want to be a part of it all, a character, even if it’s just a bit-part player.  We’ll even excuse momentary lapses of product quality and put it down to character flaw, let’s face it the most believable characters are rarely perfect.

The best brands (both large and small) reinforce and remind us of their story at every opportunity. The story telling starts from within and spreads, the management tells the staff, the staff tell the customers and the customers tell each other. And like all stories, we want to hear what happens next, we sit on the edge of our seat and eagerly anticipate the next chapter.

In a world of increasing media saturation and information overflow we seek out simple stories – things we can connect readily to, thus outsourcing the need for objective thought.

So start by unearthing your brand story, find out how a product came about, why something evolved the way it did and what’s happening next. Let your customers participate in shaping this story (everyone loves a bit of audience participation) and get excited again about your communication objectives. Remember you now work in the “Story Telling” department. Just remember that fiction is not allowed