The Two P's of Marketing... at least in my world

By David Paragamian

I was standing in a business school classroom last weekend, leading a lecture for executive MBA students on topics in brand management, and I was covering the vaunted four P’s of marketing (product, price, promotion, and place). And then, I thought about this: If you are in the service business - I lead a global advertising agency - there really are two P’s that matter, not four. 

You see, in a service business - an advertising agency - the two critical P’s are People and Process. At the end of the day, that really is all we have to sell. It is the combined and collaborative thinking power of those People (using some of our own bespoke processes) that our clients need and are willing to pay for to help build their brands. The piece of advertising, or the website, or any other "product" we create is really the output of those people and our processes. 

And, if I were pressed, I would say that the P that matters most in my business is clearly People. What type of role are we filling? What kinds of experience would be best? How do we inspire this individual person? How does our process and culture enable them to take risks and think, really think, about their client's brands? These are the most important questions for us as we build our team. 

Today, it's not uncommon for clients and prospective clients to ask us to guarantee that their team will in fact be their team, and that we will take real financial accountability for turnover and for team training. It's because clients understand the quality and caliber of their agency team makes all the difference. It’s why our agency is truly fortunate to have not only a large roster of some of the biggest clients in the industry, but perhaps equally or more importantly we have some of the most long-standing client-agency relationships (one is a client we have had for more than 20 years). 

Yes, in service marketing, like an advertising agency, People and Process are the key two P’s. And I will always come down on the side of People, People, People as the key to success.