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The 4 Ps of Marketing: What They Are and How to Use Them
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Learn what the 4 Ps are and how they can help you on your next marketing endeavor.
The four Ps are a “marketing mix” comprised of four key elements—product, price, place, and promotion—used when marketing a product or service. Typically, businesses consider the four Ps when creating marketing plans and strategies to effectively market to their target audience.
Although there are many other “marketing mixes,” the four Ps are the most common and foundational to creating a successful marketing plan. In this article, you will learn more about their purpose, history and find a detailed breakdown of the four Ps.
What are the 4Ps of marketing? (Marketing mix explained)
The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion. They are an example of a “marketing mix,” or the combined tools and methodologies used by marketers to achieve their marketing objectives.
The 4 Ps were first formally conceptualized in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy in the highly influential text, Basic Marketing, A Managerial Approach [1]. There, McCarthy noted that while the text of the book was “similar to that found in the traditional texts, the approach is not.”
McCarthy’s novel approach was influenced by the still-recent “marketing mix” concept, which Harvard Business School professor Neil. H. Borden popularized in the 1950s. In fact, Borden himself had been influenced by a 1948 study written by James Culliton, in which the author equated business executives to “artists” or “mixer[s] of ingredients” [2]. Rather than using the same approach for every situation, then, Culliton and Borden recognized that successful executives instead mixed different methods depending on variable market forces.
McCarthy streamlined this concept into the four Ps—product, place, price, and promotion—to help marketers design plans that fit the dynamic social and political realities of their time and target market. In effect, the purpose of the four Ps remains the same today as when McCarthy first published his book: “developing the ‘right’ product and making it available at the ‘right’ place with the ‘right’ promotion and at the ‘right’ price, to satisfy target consumers and still meet the objectives of the business” [3].
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The four Ps
The four Ps form a dynamic relationship with one another. Rather than one taking priority over the other, each is considered equally important in crafting a strategic marketing plan.
Product
The product is the good or service being marketed to the target audience.
Generally, successful products fill a need not currently being met in the marketplace or provide a novel customer experience that creates demand. For example, the original iPhone filled a need in the market for a simplified device that paired a phone with an iPod, and the chia pet provided a humorous experience for consumers that was utterly unique.
As you are working on your product, it is essential to consider your target audience and their unique needs. Some questions to consider when working on a product include:
What is your product?
What does your product do? Does the product meet an unfilled need or provide a novel experience?
Who is your product’s target audience?
How is your product different from what others offer?
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Price
Price is the cost of a product or service.
When marketing a product or service, it is important to pick a price that is simultaneously accessible to the target market and meets a business’s goals. Pricing can have a significant impact on the overall success of a product. For example, if you price your product too high for your targeted audience, then very few of them will likely purchase it. Similarly, if you price your product too low, then some might pass it up simply because they are concerned it might be of inferior quality and cut into your potential profit margins.
To identify a successful price, you will want to thoroughly understand your target audience and their willingness to pay for your product. Some questions you might ask yourself as you are considering your product’s price include:
What is the price range of your product’s competitors?
What is the price range of your target audience?
What price is too high for your audience? What price is too low?
What price best fits your target market?
Place
Place is where you sell your product and the distribution channels you use to get it to your customer.
Much like price, finding the right place to market and sell your product is a key factor in reaching your target audience. If you put your product in a place that your target customer doesn’t visit—whether on or offline— then you will likely not meet your sales target. The right place, meanwhile, can help you connect with your target audience and set you up for success.
For example, imagine you are selling an athletic shoe you designed. Your target market is athletes in their early twenties to late thirties, so you decide to market your product in sports publications and sell it at specialty athletics stores. By focusing on sports stores over shoe stores in general, you are targeting your efforts to a specific place that best fits your marketing mix.
To decide the best place to market and sell your product, you should consider researching the physical or digital places that your target audience shops and consumes information. Some questions to consider include:
Where will you sell your product?
Where does your target audience shop?
What distribution channels are best to reach your target market?
Promotion
Promotion is how you advertise your product or service. Through promotion, you will get the word out about your product with an effective marketing campaign that resonates with your target audience.
There are many different ways to promote your product. Some traditional methods include word of mouth, print advertisements, and television commercials. In the digital age, though, there are even more marketing channels that you can use to promote your product, such as content marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing.
Some questions to consider as you are working on your product promotion include:
What is the best time to reach your target audience?
What marketing channels are most effective for your target audience?
What advertising approaches are most persuasive to your target audience?
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Other marketing mixes
The four Ps aren’t the only marketing mix used today. Some other modern marketing mixes include the five Ps, the seven Ps, and the 5 Cs. Although each of these reflects certain aspects of the four Ps, they also each possess some unique elements that alter their emphasis on the marketing process.
The five Ps
The five Ps are product, price, place, promotion, and people.
Today, many marketers use the five Ps over the four Ps because it centers the experiences of customers and staff in the marketing process. Typical considerations include how a customer behaves, their experience with the product, and their overall satisfaction with the business.
The seven Ps
The seven Ps are product, price, place, promotion, people, processes, and physical evidence.
The seven Ps are a further elaboration of the five Ps, adding considerations of the processes that define the customer experience and the physical evidence that the target market needs to see to become customers. While processes might involve the specific customer service processes that define a product, physical evidence can be websites or store displays that help the target market imagine themselves using the product.
The five Cs
The five Cs are customer, company, competition, collaborators, and climate.
In some respects the five Cs reflect many of the same concerns of the four and five Ps, but with added emphasis on external factors, such as possible outside collaborations and competitive research.
Furthermore, while “climate” refers to the social, political, and economic context surrounding the market, “customer” refers to the target market and customer experience. “Company,” meanwhile, refers to the place of the company and their available resources in the marketing process.
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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
All of the 4 Ps—product, price, place, and promotion—are important components of your marketing strategy. They work most effectively when marketers use them in conjunction with one another. You may find yourself focusing on one or another at different phases of business development. For example, you might focus on product and price at earlier stages, while place and promotion might become priorities at a later stage when you’re preparing to introduce the product to the market.
Although the 4 Ps of marketing has been around since the 1960s, the concept is still considered useful, even as marketing rapidly evolves and becomes increasingly digitized. You can think of the 4 Ps as comprising the foundation to developing effective marketing strategies. At the same time, it’s a good idea to use some of the other models—the 5 Ps (product, price, place, promotion, and people) or the 5 Cs (customer, company, competition, collaborators, and climate)—to build a more thorough approach to marketing.
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Article sources
1. Oxford Reference. “E Jerome McCarthy, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100143321.” Accessed July 29, 2022.
2. Guillaum Nicaise. “The Concept of the Marketing Mix, http://www.guillaumenicaise.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Borden-1984_The-concept-of-marketing-mix.pdf.” Accessed July 29, 2022.
3. HathiTrust. “Basic Marketing: a managerial approach, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000041584743&view=1up&seq=1.” Accessed July 29, 2022.
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FAQs
What are the 4 Ps of marketing and how to use them in your strategy? ›
The 4 Ps of marketing is a model businesses use to control and optimize the essential factors of marketing a product or a service. The four components of the model are product (what you sell), price (how much you sell it for), place (where you sell it), and promotion (how you get customers).
What are the 4 main Ps of marketing? ›The traditional four Ps of marketing include product, people, price and place — but many veteran marketers are rethinking everything in the digital age. The four Ps of marketing refer to the traditional elements surrounding a service or product that a business owner or marketer has to consider and evaluate to succeed.
What are the 4 Ps of marketing and why are they important to both small and large businesses alike? ›The 4 Ps of marketing include product, price, place, and promotion. These are the key elements that must be united to effectively foster and promote a brand's unique value, and help it stand out from the competition.
What are the 4 P's in marketing which is the most important to you why? ›These are Promotion, Product, Place and Price. These 4 Ps play a major role in delivering the customer needs at the right time and the right place. Philip Kotler says, The most important thing is to predict where clients are going and stop right in front of them.
What are the 4Ps of the marketing mix and how does the 4 C's relate to them? ›The 4Ps of product, price, place, and promotion refer to the products your company is offering and how to get them into the hands of the consumer. The 4Cs refer to stakeholders, costs, communication, and distribution channels which are all different aspects of how your company functions.
What is marketing strategy with example? ›A marketing strategy refers to a business's overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. A marketing strategy contains the company's value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements.
What is an example of a product in 4ps? ›An example of product
A media streaming subscription is an example of a product. The company may offer a limited, free plan but also provide another tier of service for a monthly fee. As the marketing team considers the product, they may note that this plan offers more types of media than their competitors.
- Offer customers an exclusive preview. ...
- Create gift guides or bundle collections. ...
- Use customer-generated content on social media. ...
- Leverage email signup discounts. ...
- Create a subscription service. ...
- Utilize all content marketing platforms. ...
- Use targeted ads.
There are four original principles of marketing referred to as 4Ps or 4P marketing Matrix that companies use for their marketing strategy. These four basic marketing principles Product, Price, Place, and Promotion are interconnected and work together; hence, they are also known as Marketing Mix.
Why are the four Ps of marketing very important for an entrepreneur? ›The 4 P's of marketing (Marketing Mix) help companies to get a basic understanding of what they are trying to do and who they are trying to reach. It helps brands understand what their digital media strategy is, how they are using social media and SEO, and what changes need to be made for them to reach their goals.
What is the importance of marketing strategy? ›
Why is a marketing strategy important? Put simply, a marketing strategy sets out your business goals, including who your ideal customers are and how you intend to reach them. It's your plan of action and the blueprint to the marketing activity you will do in the coming months and years to grow your business.
What are the importance of price in the 4ps of the marketing mix? ›Price in marketing mix refers to the value we pay in exchange for the product and services offered by a company. Price is considered a vital element of the marketing mix because it dictates a company's survival and profit. Pricing of a product plays an important role in determining the success of a company.
What is the importance of the 4Cs in marketing? ›The 4Cs (consumer, communication, cost, and convenience) help to ensure that your customer experiences are positive and consistent across all channels. The purpose of a marketing mix is to create a plan that addresses the needs and wants of your target market.
Which of the 4Ps of the marketing mix consists of the activities that communicate the merits of the product and attempts to persuade target customers to buy the product? ›Promotion: The activities that communicate the product's features and benefits and persuade customers to purchase the product.
Who gave the 4 C's of marketing and how these correspond to different 4 P's of marketing mix elaborate? ›E. Jerome McCarthy was the first person to suggest the four P's of marketing-price, promotion, product and place(distribution)-which constitute the most common variables used in constructing a marketing mix.
What is the best marketing strategy to use? ›- Influencer marketing.
- Affiliate marketing.
- Google Ads.
- Podcasts.
- Social media marketing.
- Content marketing.
- Video marketing.
- Referral programs.
A marketing strategy is a long-term plan for achieving a company's goals by understanding the needs of customers and creating a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage. It encompasses everything from determining who your customers are to deciding what channels you use to reach those customers.
How do you run a marketing strategy? ›- Step 1: Define Which Team Members Need to Work on the Project. ...
- Step 2: Start With a Creative Brief. ...
- Step 3: Estimate the Time Required for Each Task. ...
- Step 4: Put the Project on Your Marketing Calendar.
A marketing strategy is a long-term plan for achieving a company's goals by understanding the needs of customers and creating a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage. It encompasses everything from determining who your customers are to deciding what channels you use to reach those customers.
What is step 4 in flow of the marketing plan? ›Step Four: Developing Marketing Mix Decisions. At this stage of the strategic marketing process, it's time to focus on the “how” of planning. Your marketing mix is based on the 4Ps of marketing, including Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.
What is your best marketing strategy? ›
Social media marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses. It involves using social networks to promote and sell your products, services, and brand. Brands can use both unpaid (organic) and paid social media marketing tactics to increase online sales and generate awareness.
Why is marketing strategy important? ›Why is a marketing strategy important? Put simply, a marketing strategy sets out your business goals, including who your ideal customers are and how you intend to reach them. It's your plan of action and the blueprint to the marketing activity you will do in the coming months and years to grow your business.