Achieving a customer orientation using “people‐power,” the “5th P”

There have been scant references in the marketing literature to conceptualizing an organization's employees as an element of the organization's marketing mix. Extending previous conceptualizations of employees in a business marketing and a nonprofit marketing context, it is proposed that all organizations have the ability to move beyond their traditional view of employees in order to capitalize on “people‐power” as a distinctive element of their marketing mixes; an element that can help them become customer‐oriented to gain a competitive advantage through differentiation and to deliver customer value. To do so presents a real managerial challenge for any organization. It is a challenge worth undertaking, however, because successful implementation will help an organization achieve a customer‐orientation and more effectively meet the needs of its customers.