Marketing Logistics Value: Managing the 5 P's
Marketing logistics value: Managing the 5 P 's
In order to position logistics in its proper role in today 's business environment, logistics leaders will have to do a better job of communicating, or marketing, logistics. The time for lamenting the lack of interest in logistics from senior management is over, and the time to become proactive is here. The logistics story will be understood when all logistics leaders begin to take the marketing initiative and the successes of the discipline are recognized.
Logistics executives are eager to be considered important players in the corporate game. They want to be involved in important decisions, to do something meaningful for the company, and to be recognized by their peers as members of a winning team. However, it seems that sales, marketing, and manufacturing enjoy the focus of management attention. Why? Let us suggest that logistics executives have done a poor job of marketing logistics within the organization.
This concept of "marketing" logistics borrows from the traditional concept of marketing. In other words, identify your customers, identify their needs, and combine the firm 's resources to meet those needs. However, the concept of logistics marketing goes a little further. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of the 5 P 's and to provide the logistics executive with a framework for its implementation. The following discussion will focus on product, price, place, promotion, and people as elements of the logistics marketing mix.1 A model showing the relationships among these five elements can be seen in Exhibit 1. PRODUCT
The logistics executive does not have the traditional "product" to market. The logistics product is service, which can be different depending on the customer group. The first step, then, in logistics marketing is to identify the customer. Research has shown that logistics executives have multiple customers, both internal and external to the firm, and that the needs of these
In order to position logistics in its proper role in today 's business environment, logistics leaders will have to do a better job of communicating, or marketing, logistics. The time for lamenting the lack of interest in logistics from senior management is over, and the time to become proactive is here. The logistics story will be understood when all logistics leaders begin to take the marketing initiative and the successes of the discipline are recognized.
Logistics executives are eager to be considered important players in the corporate game. They want to be involved in important decisions, to do something meaningful for the company, and to be recognized by their peers as members of a winning team. However, it seems that sales, marketing, and manufacturing enjoy the focus of management attention. Why? Let us suggest that logistics executives have done a poor job of marketing logistics within the organization.
This concept of "marketing" logistics borrows from the traditional concept of marketing. In other words, identify your customers, identify their needs, and combine the firm 's resources to meet those needs. However, the concept of logistics marketing goes a little further. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of the 5 P 's and to provide the logistics executive with a framework for its implementation. The following discussion will focus on product, price, place, promotion, and people as elements of the logistics marketing mix.1 A model showing the relationships among these five elements can be seen in Exhibit 1. PRODUCT
The logistics executive does not have the traditional "product" to market. The logistics product is service, which can be different depending on the customer group. The first step, then, in logistics marketing is to identify the customer. Research has shown that logistics executives have multiple customers, both internal and external to the firm, and that the needs of these