This is lesson one. This is towards one of our missions. Education. You’ll learn everything about marketing — from the basics to the most advanced strategies — for free, thanks to VellumWorks.

The 4Ps, Product, Price, Place, Promotion, gave us a simple way to think about marketing strategy. But as services, experiences, and digital products became dominant, the model needed to evolve. Enter the 7Ps.

The 7Ps expand on the traditional marketing mix to encompass not only what you offer, but also how you deliver it.

Together, they create a framework that helps organisations, especially charities, build trust, communicate value, and serve supporters effectively.

Think of your product as the core of what you’re offering. If you’re a business, that could be a gadget, a service, or an app.

If you’re a charity, your “product” is the change you promise: clean water, better education, a safer community. Ask yourself or even your team: what real value am I putting into the world?

Price isn’t just about numbers; it’s also about perception. In business, it’s the price tag which determines whether people will buy or not. Changing this price can change the perception of the product that you sell.

In charities, it’s the donation, time, or energy people give. The big question: Does the value you offer feel worth the cost? If yes, people will say “yes” more often.

For the charity, this also depends on the return. The main return is the charity that they donate to and the cause. This is whether they are being influenced to make the purchase, or it’s something close to them.

Place is simply where people connect with you. It could be a shop, a website, or an app. For charities, it’s often online donation pages, fundraising events, or even WhatsApp groups.

The easier you make it for people to reach you, the more likely they’ll engage and the more that they will come back - even if it’s not to convert or to make a purchase or donation.

Promotion is how you spread the word and get more people to know about your cause, charity or thing you want to promote.

Ads, emails, social media, flyers — all of it counts. For charities, this is where you inspire supporters by telling stories and showing impact. You need to be able to cause an emotional trigger for people to donate or purchase.

A good rule of thumb: don’t just say what you do, show why it matters directly to them.

At the core of every organisation or charity are its people.

Staff, volunteers, partners, even beneficiaries. These are the faces and voices that shape how others see you. You also need to show these people to the world and ensure that people know more about them. They are a connection to your business or charity, and people like seeing other people.

In charities, people are often your most powerful storytellers. Ask: how can we make every interaction feel human?

Process is the “how” behind delivering your promise and giving the audience more than what they asked for or thought they were getting.

For a business, it might be shipping or customer service. You need to ensure that these are exceptional. You need to add additional resources and operations to these areas to ensure that everything is as smooth as possible. If you can excel in these areas, this is where you will win.

For a charity, it could be how donations are collected, how projects are reported, or how volunteers are supported. Smooth processes build confidence. Clunky ones break trust.

Within a charity, but externally, you need to ensure that you’re being as transparent as possible. Anyone needs to be able to understand your charity inside out, this way there is complete trust in what you say that you’re going to do.

Because not everything is tangible, people look for proof, and they want to trust exactly what you’re doing, especially if you’re a charity.

That’s where physical evidence comes in — websites, reports, case studies, reviews, even a thank-you email. For charities, this is especially important: photos, testimonials, and transparent updates reassure supporters that their contribution really matters.

To see how the 7Ps work in practice for a nonprofit, let’s look at a local food bank. By mapping each part of the marketing mix to their daily operations, they turn limited resources into maximum impact, building trust, attracting support, and proving value at every step.

To see the 7Ps in action, let’s look at Airbnb, a company that grew from a simple idea into a global brand by balancing product, people, and process. Each element of the 7Ps shows up clearly in how they deliver trust, value, and experience to millions of users.

This is important because it lays the foundation for everything else in marketing. Without understanding value exchange, customer-centricity, and relationships, frameworks like the 4Ps or even advanced AI strategies won’t connect; they’ll just feel like disconnected tactics.

This matters not just for businesses, but for charities, communities, and society — because marketing done right builds trust, spreads ideas that matter, and makes people’s lives better.

At VellumWorks, we believe knowledge should be free. That’s why this series will guide you, step by step, through everything from the basics to the most advanced strategies in marketing: no jargon, no gatekeeping, just education that empowers.