Categories: Marketing

The Four Ps of Marketing

Marketing Mix, a term coined by Neil Borden, is the ingredients that combine to capture and promote a brand or product’s unique selling points, those that differentiate it from its competitors. The ideas behind Borden’s model were refined over the years until E. Jerome McCarthy reduced them to 4 elements called “The Four Ps.” This proposed classification has been used by marketing companies, branding agencies, and web design companies throughout the world.

The Four Ps Model

1. Product –

The first of the Four Ps of marketing is the product. A product can be either a tangible good or an intangible service that fulfills a need or want of consumers. Whether you sell custom pallets and wood products or provide luxury accommodations, you must have. A clear grasp of exactly what your product is and what makes it unique before you can successfully market it.

2. Price –

Once a concrete understanding of the product offering is established we can start making some pricing decisions. Price determinations will impact profit margins, supply, demand, and marketing strategy. Similar (in concept) products and brands may need to be positioned differently based on varying price points, while price elasticity considerations may influence our next two Ps.

3. Promotion –

We’ve got a product and a price now it’s time to promote it. Promotion looks at the many ways marketing agencies disseminate relevant product information to consumers and differentiate a particular product or service. Promotions include elements like advertising, public relations, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing, video marketing, and more. Each touchpoint must be supported by a well-positioned brand to truly maximize return on investment.

4. Place –

Often you will hear marketers saying that marketing is about putting the right product, at the right price, at the right place, at the right time. It’s critical then, to evaluate what the ideal locations are to convert potential clients into actual clients. Today, even in situations where the actual transaction doesn’t happen on the web, the initial place potential clients are engaged and converted is online.

How to Use the 4 Ps of Marketing?

We have developed a dedicated marketing process often used with our Cleveland web design and marketing clients. As part of this process, we incorporate the four Ps through a series of questions designed to help define each brand’s marketing mix. Here are just a few of the questions we use:

What do consumers want from your product or service?
How does your product meet those needs?
Where do potential buyers look for your particular product or service?
How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
What is the perceived value of your product or service?
What current interactions do you have with potential clients?

Of course, the list we use is more complete, but we hope the few questions listed above can give you a good starting point in understanding the four Ps.

Sameer

Sameer is a writer, entrepreneur and investor. He is passionate about inspiring entrepreneurs and women in business, telling great startup stories, providing readers with actionable insights on startup fundraising, startup marketing and startup non-obviousnesses and generally ranting on things that he thinks should be ranting about all while hoping to impress upon them to bet on themselves (as entrepreneurs) and bet on others (as investors or potential board members or executives or managers) who are really betting on themselves but need the motivation of someone else’s endorsement to get there.

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