One of the first things we are taught when it comes to marketing is the 4P’s, product, place, price and promotion. They are long-standing features when it comes to advertising a campaign for a business and have been used for decades to get a product that meets the needs of the desired target audience. But are the 4P’s still as relevant as they once were?
What are the 4P’s of Marketing?
Product: When starting, it is crucial you define what exactly it is you are selling, is it a product or a service? Your product does not have to be a physical item; it can be an app or a service like cleaning. Ultimately anything you sell is a product but defining whether it is a service or a product will help you market your product better further down the line.
Once you have concluded, you can now think about packaging and brand messaging. A key takeaway is to consider how your product solves a problem for your customer and how your product is different from other competitors on the market.
Price: When it comes to the cost of your product or service, you need to consider how much you plan to charge your customers. With the main aim to make some form of profit from how you choose to price your product. When coming up with a planning strategy it is important to look at how much your competitors are charging for the same product or service, to see how much customers are willing to pay.
Once you have established a price, you then need to perceive where this will put you in your industry, will you be seen as a cost-effective or luxury brand? Either way, the branding and language used to help sell your product will have a major impact on the price you finalise.
Place: Where do you plan on selling your product? It could be a physical location such as a shop, online from your website, or both. Place defines anywhere you plan to market and distribute your product. Remember when picking a place to sell that it has to be relevant to your product, not every place makes sense for every product, so be sure to do your research.
Promotion: Now you have your product, price and place in order, it is time to plan a promotion. Marketing is all about promotion and how you plan to get your product or service out there.
How the 4P’s Work in the Digital Marketing Age
Customers can now access your products at a touch of a button from mobile and other devices. The whole idea of marketing has had to advance at the same rate as technology. Marketing teams now have to find new ways to stand out from the competition.
The power has now shifted into the buyers’ hands, meaning marketers no longer have to push an offer at the moment. It is more important to stay relevant online so that by the time the customer makes it to the checkout they are likely to complete the transaction. All this being said, the 4P’s don’t lose their relevance, markers have just changed the way they implement them.
The place you choose to sell your product would have been aimed at physical shops in the past. Whereas now the main focus is websites and online stores. Now businesses can also choose if they want to pay for adverts or whether they want to have an engaging social media platform to add credibility to their brand. Either way, the principle of the 4P’s has remained the same. It is the technique in which we use them has been altered to meet the needs of the modern consumer.
How We Can Help
Here at Humana, we support many small businesses and larger sized businesses, with our world-class digital marketing support through our sister brand BeMySocial.
BeMySocial is already helping businesses to improve every aspect of their business, from design to marketing and communications. They do in-depth research into your branding and deliver their client’s new ideas that will take their business to the next level.
To find out more on the benefits of using a digital marketing agency to help with your marketing campaigns, contact a member of the BeMySocial team by calling on 01302 494 050 or by filling out their online form.