The Marketing Mix is the combination of marketing activities that an organization engages in so as to best meet the needs of its targeted market. Booms and Bitner extended the traditional 4P (McCarthy) framework. 

The 7 Ps – Price, Product, Place, Promotion, Physical presence, Provision of service, and Processes encompass the modern marketing mix which is not only essential for service industry but is also significant to any form of business where meeting the needs of customers is given priority.

Traditionally the Marketing Mix consisted of just 4 Ps. The Marketing Mix thus consists of four main elements:

Product
Price
Place
Promotion

Please read 4P Model of Marketing Mix for reference.

In addition to the traditional four Ps it is now normal to add some more Ps to the mix to give us Seven Ps.

The additional Ps have been included because today marketing is far more customer oriented than ever before, and because the service sector of the economy has come to dominate economic activity in this country. These 3 extra Ps are particularly relevant to this new extended service mix.

The three extra Ps are:

Physical Evidence (Physical Layout)

Today consumers approach retail units highly to buy products and they expect a high level of presentation in modern shops - e.g. music stores, garment shops etc. This refers to ambience, atmosphere, environment and hospitality which change consumer’s perceptions of service.

Preconditions are – they should find you easily and they should find good standards and excellent demo / presentation of products from you.

For example it covers -

1. The “environment” or atmosphere in which the service is delivered
2. Buildings
3. Furnishings/décor
4. Layout
5. Goods associated with the service e.g. carrier bags, tickets, brochures
6. All the above can help shape customers’ perceptions of the service

Irrespective of selling physical goods, service provides must pay attention to physical layout’s quality too.

Travelers and Passengers need more hostility and attention in terms of service and should be provided interesting departure lounges.

University students expect more quality in terms of accommodation, education, learning environment and foods.

In terms of virtual stores like Amazon.com – layout is important in terms of easiness to find relevant links and space management.

Provision of Customer Service ( People )

This refers to people of organization who is in direct relationship to customers. Customer service lies at the heart of modern service industries. Call centre staff and customer interfacing personnel are the front line troops of any organization and therefore need to be thoroughly familiar with good customer relation's practice.

Following are essential aspects to be focused on.

1. The attitudes of staff
2. Training of staff
3. Internal relations
4. The observable behavior of staff
5. The level of service-mindedness in the organization
6. The consistency of appearance of staff
7. The accessibility of people
8. Customer-customer contacts

Processes

This refers to procedure, mechanisms and flow of activities by which services are consumed (customer management processes) are an essential element of the marketing strategy.

1. The manner in which the service is delivered
2. Degree of customer contact
3. Quality control standards
4. Quality assurance
5. Payment methods
(degree of convenience)
6. Queuing systems for customers
7. Waiting times