Marketing Basics–The 4 Ps of Marketing Mix

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The 4 Ps of Marketing is a framework for the building blocks of marketing and business.

What happens if you ignore the 4 Ps of marketing?

You are taking the long cut. The long cut is the opposite of the shortcut.

When you activate the 4 Ps of Marketing – all your ducks magically line up in a neat row. So you can move on to the implementation phase of your go-to-market marketing strategy.

This is part I of the Digital Marketing: The Marketing Funnel series of articles.

“Putting the right product in the right place, at the right time, at the right price.”

UrbanRenstrom.com

Defined–The 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix

Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

Your product or service is the thing that solves the problem people have and they exchange money.

It does not matter if that product is a McDonald’s Shamrock milkshake, an e-commerce plugin, Surecart, a SaaS, an X-ray to fix a broken finger or a CV writing service.

Commerce occurs when people give you money (exchanges) to solve that problem.

Your product or service has a price. Your product is available for purchase, at a place, online or bricks and mortar store. To inform people and the market about your product and service you must promote your product.

Simple, right?

The 4 P’s of Marketing Definition

The 4 p’s of marketing are the Product (or service), the Price of the product, the Place where the product is available for purchase, and the Promotion of the product.

Let us dig deeper to understand the subtitles, and reveal the complexity of price, place, product and promotion.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Cheshire Cat(Alice in Wounderland)

One of the most common questions people ask me is where to start with the 4 Ps of marketing.

Let’s take the right fork in the road. The “right road” is either refining your existing product, price, place or promotions or starting from scratch.

When refining an existing product what has always worked for me, is to iterate rapidly. Iterate is the “fail fast and fail often” philosophy. The Do. Wash. Rinse. Repeat the cycle of taking action, seeing the results, improving the process and taking action.

Also, think of the minimum viable product, the MVP process of starting small and building up to bigger in smaller logical steps.

1)  Product or Service – A Business must have a product or service to sell.

The Product is that thing you exchange for money which solves a problem.

Be that problem you’re solving hunger, clothing, productivity, a process, gadgets, transport, financial advice, life coaching, or entertainment.

Products are tangible or intangible or a combination.

2)  Place – where is the product available?

The Place ‘P’ refers to where the product/service is available. Either online, offline or both.

Place answers where the product will be sold. In a physical shop, online, distributors, joint ventures or strategic partners. How do your competitors sell their products and services?

3)  Price – The money you charge for your product or service

‘P’ represents the price of the product. Remember price is a relative thing.

Why do we pay €2 for a can of Coke in a petrol station when we can get a litre for €2 in a grocery store?

Price is what the market will bear. Is your market price-sensitive or insensitive? Will you offer special pricing for volume pricing? Or different pricing for repeat customers?

The perceived value (positioning) is a larger contribution to the success of your product. How you brand your product– be it luxury, exclusive, or available everywhere, the packaging, the testimonials, and the look and feel are critical to success.

4)  Promotion

The fourth ‘P’ is the promotion. Promotion is everything including all aspects of PR, Marketing and Sales.

Promotion includes audience building, lead generation, lead nurturing, and sales.

Recall:

• Public Relations, PR, role is to get people aware of your business and get them to the ‘front door’
• The role of Marketing is to get people to walk in the door and convert into leads
• Sales are convincing people to buy.

Digital Marketing Mix – The 4 Ps of Marketing

Product, price, placement, promotion. The 4 P’s are the classic marketing mix.

The four Ps of marketing were ‘invented’ in the ‘60, by Jerome McCarthy. The 4 P’s idea was advanced by Philip Kotler in his book Principles of Marketing in 1967.

But: Business changes since the ’60 and the original 4P’s of Marketing were modified as new marketing thought leaders added their views.

We have the 4Ps, 5Ps, 4Cs, 7Ps, and 7Ss.

• The original 4Ps were product-focused.
• The 5th P added people or personnel to the 4P
• The 7Ps are product-focused
• The 4Cs are customer-focused
• The 7Cs are customer focused

From the 4 P’s of Marketing Mix to the 7Cs

This is a conversion map from the 4 P’s of Marketing to the 7 C’s.

1. Product: Customer Choice
2. Place: Convenience
3. Price: Cost (to the customer)
4. Promotion: Communication
5. People: Consideration
6. Process: Consistency
7. Physical Evidence: Circumstances

FAQ for The 4 Ps of Marketing

Have I forgotten any Ps? Let me know in the comments

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