Definition and Examples of the 4 Ps of Marketing
The 4 Ps were notably identified by Neil Borden, an advertising professor at Harvard University, in a 1964 article entitled, “The Concept of the Marketing Mix.”1 However, the concept of four essential marketing factors has been around since the 1950s, although it has evolved significantly since then.
This four-pronged marketing model is used by most successful businesses and is the foundation of comprehensive marketing plans. Here’s more on the 4 Ps:
The easiest way to incorporate the 4 Ps is by answering these four questions: What are you offering? How much is it worth? Where can consumers find it, is it priced well, and why should they care?
In the marketing world, these considerations are referred to as “positioning” and help businesses examine their offering in relation to consumers and the market as a whole.
Sometimes, these 4 Ps are expanded to include three more “P” components:
The 4 Ps are more than a simple, static marketing plan; the approach is an evolving and cyclical explanation of your business's offering. Using a blend of techniques, strategies, and focus areas, the 4 Ps help business owners ensure that their marketing plan is hitting all the right points of emphasis, consistently, and over time.
There is a subtle but essential difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan. Marketing strategies are the methods used to execute a marketing plan. Marketing plans are the road maps, or blueprints, businesses create to implement effective marketing strategies.
How Do the 4 Ps of Marketing Work?
An effective business marketing plan based on the 4 Ps depends on what you're providing to the public, who wants or needs it, how rare or valuable it is, and the strength of your competition. Let's look into what roles product, price, place, and promotions play in building a marketing plan and shaping marketing strategies for businesses.
Product
Quality, packaging, design, materials, and production cost are vital considerations when designing and branding products. To fully understand this part of the 4 Ps, ask yourself, do I have a product worth buying? What makes this a good product? Who would want it and why?
It’s important to ask questions such as, who is not interested in my product and why? How could I alter my product or marketing mix to accommodate new or more customers? Which designs, price points, promotional tactics, or product placements aren’t working effectively?
For example, paper plates should be able to hold food well, be made of sanitary materials, have a low cost, be disposable, and readily available. Therefore, marketing gold-rimmed paper plates as a product would be a marketing failure. Offering expensive paper plates defeats the purpose of their invention.
The sizable current target market for paper plates would not be interested in paying more for this product, or in throwing away something of value (gold) when they only desired a time-saving, low-cost convenience product.
Conversely, offering gold leaf on fancy desserts at a top-tier restaurant to a clientele that spends more makes sense. Those kinds of extravagant products are almost an expected part of a high-end dining experience and, therefore, market well. It’s also worth noting that marketing that same high-end dessert on paper plates would not be as popular, for obvious reasons.
Price
When considering the "price" element of the 4 Ps, it's important to consider the two different pricing structures businesses can adopt: cost-based and value-based. Using market research to determine how much niche, mass appeal, or interest your product has is an excellent place to start.
For readily available products in flooded markets with much competition, cost-based pricing is the norm. If the product is not costly, sought after, or unique, basing the price on the cost to consumers makes more sense, and pricing your product competitively will be effective.
Value-based pricing is dependent on the subjective assessments of worth from consumers.2 Designer clothing, luxury cars, and rare gemstones are examples of value-based-priced products. The rarer the item, the stronger the social and societal value placed on it—and the greater the demand—the higher a price it can command.
Place
In the marketing mix, "place" refers to the location (virtual or real-world) where you will market your goods or services. Consider who wants your product and where they spend the most time. This explains why most marketers spend their largest marketing ad budget on social media and search engines now rather than on TV or Radio. The reason is that the customers spend their time there. The common expression used now is "meet where they are."
Also, consider which kind of promotions work well with that target audience in order to work this angle successfully. Certain kinds of products perform better when marketed in different venues or environments.
Hardware supplies still sell well in physical stores for a large number of reasons. Consumers enjoy being able to handle such products before they buy them. Often, a trip to a hardware store leads to a few more purchases than the customer realized they needed. Selling a tool in a hardware store or lumberyard is still a smart move, in addition to offering it online.
Placing your product where it makes sense to do so (and where your target audience expects it to be) is smart marketing. That said, innovative, guerrilla marketing (a term for marketing in an unexpected location where consumers least expect it) can also be highly effective. Sometimes the element of surprise can be a powerful addition to a marketing plan.
For other products, sales in physical stores don't make sense anymore. Streaming services, apps, and software programs or services are great examples of this. There is nothing physical to buy, so the promotion, price, place, and product all happens in one place—virtually. This keeps production and advertising costs down and ensures that the products or services are readily accessible and serviceable, improving customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth marketing.
Promotion
Promoting your product successfully depends heavily on the other three marketing-mix factors as well. For example, how you promote your product or service depends on what kind of offering you have, where it will be sold, how much it costs, and who your target market is.
For example, promoting the launch of your new app through a newspaper advertisement may not make much sense logistically (as your target market may not even see it), but promoting its launch through TikTok videos or Instagram ads does.
Within the 4 Ps marketing mix, you can morph promotional ideas from your marketing plan. Which blend of promotional tactics or strategies will work best for your product? Consider possibilities such as advertising on social media, targeted public relations (PR) releases, personal selling campaigns, direct marketing, and sought-after sales promotions.
Key Takeaways
