The four Ps of marketing was a concept developed in 1960 by Jerome McCarthy in his book, “Basic Marketing, A Managerial Approach.” The four Ps are a “marketing mix” of four elements – product, price, place and promotion – in which a business develops the “right” product for the “right” price, in the “right” place, with the “right” promotion. If done correctly, McCarthy believed, the four Ps would satisfy your target consumers while meeting the objective of your business.
So, how do the four Ps of marketing apply to your business today? We’ll detail each of them and how we can use them to help you craft a strategic marketing plan.
The four Ps of marketing
None of the four Ps of marketing take a priority over the other. In fact, each is equally important when deciding your marketing plan. Again, they are:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
Product
Obviously, the product is your good or service that you are marketing. A successful product either fills a need in the market that is currently not being met or better meets a customer’s experience. When you are coming up with a marketing plan for your product, ask yourself these questions:
- What is my product?
- What does my product do?
- What makes my product different from my competitors? How is it better?
- Who is my target audience?
2oddballs, during our client discovery phase, searches for those key differences that make your product a viable and attractive alternative in the market. Sometimes, another set of eyes can help answer the above questions or at least better answer the questions your potential consumers have.
Price
When picking the price point of your product, it can sometimes be tricky to hit that sweet spot that covers your expenses but also provides a healthy enough profit for you. Also, your target audience can sometimes develop opinions about your product by just glancing at the price tag.
When 2oddballs is helping a client come up with a price point for their products, we ask ourselves:
- What are competitors pricing their product at?
- What price best aligns with the target market?
- What is the highest price our audience would consider?
- What price is too low for consumers to assume it is a quality product?
Place
When it comes to the four Ps of marketing, place is where your product will be sold and the distributors you will utilize. This includes both physical and digital storefronts.
You may have never thought of this before, but when you place your product in a store your potential customers will make assumptions of your product based on the opinions they have about the store itself. Further, you also want to make sure that store’s target market aligns with your own.
So, when deciding where to sell your product or service, ask yourself:
- Where does my target audience shop?
- Which distributors will help me reach my target market?
- Does this distributor’s values align with my brand?
Promotion
Promotion is how you will advertise your product or service. This is does not always have to be a pay-per-click ads or highly targeted social media ads.
There are many other ways you can promote your product including:
- Print ads
- TV commercials
- Event marketing
- Email marketing
- Content marketing
To figure out where best to put your advertising dollars, you have to ask yourself:
- What marketing channels does your target audience pay attention to?
- What time does your audience visit these channels?
- What message would resonate most with your audience?
A large part of the message you should use in your promotions will come from the answers you give to the questions we’ve asked throughout this blog such as how your product/service differs from your competitors.
How we can help with the four Ps of marketing
2oddballs Creative is a full-service marketing agency that can help with all aspects of your marketing strategy. We have experience and expertise in public relations, branding and design, as well as the digital marketing needs for business owners. This means we can help from the creation stage of your product or service all the way to the launch phase!
Wherever you are in the process, if you need help – reach out to us! You can leave a message below, call us at 417-986-6332, or email us at info@2oddballs.com!
