marketing mix in business plan

The 4 Ps Of Marketing

Updated: Jun 18, 2024, 8:52am

Table of Contents

What are the four ps of marketing, the first p: product, the second p: price, the third p: place, the fourth p: promotion, examples of the four ps in marketing, how to use the 4 ps of marketing, what’s the difference between the four ps and the seven ps, frequently asked questions (faqs).

The four Ps of marketing—product, price, place and promotion—serve as a framework for marketing success. Sometimes referred to as the marketing mix, the four Ps help guide businesses in the creation of winning business ideas that deliver what customers want, where and how they want it at a price that’s most appealing.

Building a solid marketing plan structured around the four Ps can help you increase awareness for your brand and its products or services, drive sales and achieve overall stronger bottom-line results.

The idea of a marketing mix was first popularized in the 1950s by Neil Bordon, a Professor of Advertising at Harvard. Drawing from Bordon’s work along with the work of other prominent marketing and business leaders, E. Jerome McCarthy introduced the four Ps of marketing in his book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach .

You may recall from your Intro to Marketing college course that product, price, place and promotion are the four Ps of marketing. While the four Ps have been around for decades, the concept is just as relevant to businesses today as it was when the four Ps were first introduced.

The first P in the four Ps of marketing is product. A product can come in a variety of forms, such as a physical product, digital product, service, event or experience. The product is the actual item you are selling; the features or attributes you include or build into your products can help you differentiate your offerings from your competitors.

There are many dimensions that you must consider when deciding which products to develop and sell. Does your product solve a problem? Or does the product fulfill consumers’ wants and desires? Why would someone want to buy it? Product quality, design, packaging, variety, adaptability, sustainability, safety and production must all be considered.

Your marketing plan should outline the key features of your product, what makes it unique and who your target audience is for that product. This will help ensure you meet the needs and desires of your ideal audience.

The second P in the four Ps of marketing is price. Naturally, you need to price your products in a way that allows you to operate profitably. However, pricing is far more complex than calculating the cost of goods and adding on an additional amount that will let you meet your desired profit margin. How you price a product will convey its relative value and quality.

Walmart uses low-cost pricing to attract a broad audience of value-driven shoppers, while Saks Fifth Avenue sustains much higher prices, which is common among luxury goods sellers who target wealthy buyers. If you decide to serve different types of customers, you’ll need to develop a customer segmentation strategy , which will include pricing strategies for each segment you serve.

There’s also a psychological factor in product pricing, which is why products are often priced at $9.99 rather than $10. Products with prices ending in .99 seem cheaper than those that end in zero, and hence more shoppers are drawn to the $9.99 price tag.

The third P in the four Ps of marketing is place, which refers to the channels or locations where you sell your products and services.

You may want to sell products via a brick-and-mortar store or at less permanent physical locations, such as special events, fairs, pop-ups or temporary markets. Or, you may prefer to list your products for sale via an e-commerce software —by either building your own e-commerce website or by selling through popular online marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon or Etsy .

Where you sell your products will influence how you manage product inventory and product transportation or shipping. Location also influences the relative size of your reachable market. Some businesses find they can optimize sales by offering goods and services via multiple outlets.

The fourth P in the four Ps of marketing is promotion, which is how you get the word out about your products and what tactics you use to convert prospects into buyers. Your promotion strategy may include advertising, public relations, social media marketing, content marketing, direct marketing and influencer marketing, as well as the discounts and special offers you extend to generate sales.

Even the best product in the world doesn’t stand a chance if you don’t have a strong promotion strategy behind it. While there are some promotional tactics that can be done on a shoestring budget—such as do-it-yourself blogging and social media—others can be costly. It’s important to factor anticipated promotional costs into your product pricing strategy.

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Understanding the four Ps is the first step in creating a strong marketing mix. Knowing how to execute the four Ps correctly is key to achieving success. Let’s look at examples of how different organizations use the four Ps in different ways.

Examples of Product

The music industry offers many examples of how related products are sold in different formats––from physical products to digital downloads to digital streaming to live events.

While compact discs—a physical product—are no longer the norm, they are still available in some brick-and-mortar locations as well as in online marketplaces. Vinyl albums are making a comeback among certain audiophiles, which is a reminder to consider your audience’s specific interests when designing your product.

The popularity of various product formats can change as new technologies emerge. There was a time when you needed an Apple iPod or similar device (i.e., “product”) to listen to music online. Now you can use just about any internet-enabled device to purchase music via digital downloads, or you can subscribe to popular subscription-based audio streaming sites such as Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music, which grant you access to millions of songs.

Live performances are another popular music product—just ask any Taylor Swift mega-fan about the magic of scoring a ticket to one of her sold-out concerts. Of course, when you attend a live event, you will find there is plenty of physical music merchandise to purchase—from T-shirts to pins to caps and hats to collectible programs.

Examples of Price

You can buy a watch for under $100 or spend $100,000 or more; both watches will tell you the time. The price a person is willing to pay for a watch says a lot about their means, interests, style and quality preferences and what they value in a timepiece.

Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Armani all sell high-priced clothes, jewelry and accessories. Yet, what these brands are actually selling is a luxurious lifestyle. The premium prices these luxury brands charge reflect quality and exclusivity; their target audience has the means to purchase the products and the desire to live a rich life.

Old Navy, meanwhile, targets budget-conscious shoppers with its everyday modest prices and regular promotional discounts. Dollar Tree is an example of a brand that appeals to lower-income consumers and those seeking extreme values. Dollar Tree, which has had to raise average product prices up from $1.00 to $1.25, has seen profits surge in recent years.

No one magic price range will produce exceptional results for all product lines. When pricing your product, you must consider not only the cost to produce the item but who your ideal buyer is and what they’re currently spending on the products they purchase.

Examples of Place

Today’s businesses have more options and flexibility in places to sell their goods and services. The best point-of-sale (POS) systems and credit card readers let you accept payments from nearly anywhere.

You used to need a brick-and-mortar building to open a restaurant, and now budding restaurateurs and bakers can sell their edible creations via food trucks, pop-up events or shared kitchens.

Artists and crafters can sell their goods via their own galleries or display their works at others’ galleries. Artists also sell art online via their own websites or popular online marketplaces such as Creative Market, Etsy, Amazon Handmade and Fine Art America. Art and craft fairs are growing more popular, as are festivals and pop-up markets that invite artisans to showcase their work.

Many businesses start by selling their products online or via a retail location and then expand to other outlets once sales grow. A multi-location strategy is often the best way to boost your product sales.

Examples of Promotion

If you want your business to be successful, you must find ways to promote your business effectively. Some promotional efforts—such as national paid advertising—require a relatively large promotional budget, which is feasible for mega-brands like McDonald’s, Amazon and Toyota, but can be difficult for smaller businesses.

Examples of promotions that work for small businesses include creating a business website where you offer discount coupons and promote current sales. You can also ask customers for their email addresses and use email marketing software for ongoing business promotion. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, consider placing attention-grabbing banners, flags or a blow-up character in front of your business to draw the attention of those passing by.

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Other types of promotions can work for a wide array of businesses, such as customer loyalty programs. Kohl’s loyalty program, called Kohl’s Rewards, gives members cash back each month based on their spending. Since Kohl’s requires you to submit your contact information to join the program, the company can use that information to regularly email you to tell you about current sales and new products.

Think of the four Ps of marketing as your road map for introducing and launching successful products and services. Your marketing strategy should include extensive details on how you intend to approach each of the four Ps.

For example, when developing your product, consider what’s already available and what features you can embed in your product to serve a need or solve a problem better than any other available product. How will your product stand out in a crowded marketplace? Also, think about who your ideal audience is and what they value most.

When developing your pricing strategy, don’t just consider the price point where you make a sufficient margin. Be sure you understand your ideal customer’s sensitivity to pricing. Is this a luxury item? Then deliver the quality that appeals to high-end buyers at a price point that affirms luxury and exclusivity. Are you providing the best value on the market? Then use a value-based pricing model.

Placement is also key. Where does your target market already go to purchase similar products—online, in specialty retail stores, big-box stores, discount stores or elsewhere? It’s important to place your products where your ideal clients already shop, which may mean placing them in multiple sales channels.

Finally, give special attention to how you promote your products. Your promotion strategies must be compelling and give you maximum reach for your promotional dollars.

How and where you choose to promote your product needs to align with the type of customer you are pursuing. The promotional choices you’ll select for more traditional middle-aged suburbanites will be considerably different than those you’d use to appeal to members of Generation Z. Always make sure your advertising choices and messaging align with who you’re targeting.

While the four Ps came first, you may have also heard of the seven Ps of marketing, which rose in popularity in the 70s and 80s. The seven Ps include the original four Ps plus people, process and physical evidence.

The fifth P refers to the people within your organization who work together to create an exceptional experience for your customers. You can differentiate your business from competitors by creating a customer-centric culture that consistently delivers a memorable, high-quality customer experience.

If you are a service-based business, it’s vital that you pay close attention to the people you hire to interact with your customers. Bad reviews on Google Reviews or Yelp can put you out of business.

The sixth P, process, is how you get your product to the customer. Is it easy and seamless to purchase from you, or are there barriers that make the buying experience difficult or issues with your shipping or delivery system that negatively impact the experience?

For example, did you ship a product to an environmentally conscious customer via a styrofoam container—or did you use sustainable, eco-friendly shipping and packaging methods? Make sure the processes you use make sense for what you’re selling and who you’re selling to.

Physical Evidence

The seventh P, physical evidence, involves things that enhance or detract from the shopping or purchase experience. Physical evidence includes branding and packaging.

When a physical environment is involved—such as in a retail store, restaurant or service office—physical evidence includes the layout, ambiance and overall aesthetics of the physical location that contribute to the impression you make on prospects and customers.

What are the seven Ps of marketing?

The seven Ps of marketing—sometimes referred to as the marketing mix—include product, place, price, promotion, people, physical evidence and process.

Which of the four Ps of marketing is the most important?

Many consider the product to be the most important of the four Ps of marketing. That being said, even excellent products can only be successful if a business strategically deploys all vital aspects of the marketing mix, including the remaining three Ps: place, promotion and price.

What are the marketing four Ps and four Cs?

The four Ps of marketing are product, place, price and promotion. In an article in Advertising Age , Bob Lauterborn introduced the four Cs, which he stated was a more customer-centric marketing model. The four Cs are consumer, cost, convenience and communication.

What is the purpose of the four Ps of marketing?

The purpose of the four Ps of marketing is to help businesses create a viable, complete strategy for selling goods and services. The four Ps are essential pillars for success that can help you drive better results when launching any product or service.

What’s the difference between the four Ps and the seven Ps of marketing?

The seven Ps include the original four Ps—product, price, place and promotion—plus people, process and physical evidence.

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Janette Novak is a freelance journalist and consultant who specializes in teaching online business and small business marketing. Previously, Janette owned a boutique marketing agency and served as a Chief Marketing Officer for a leading professional training services provider.

What Are the 4 Ps of Marketing? The Marketing Mix Explained [Example]

Published: October 03, 2023

If you've been a marketing professional for years now, learning about the four Ps of marketing might seem like a throwback to you.

However, for those of us who work in the industry but didn't study marketing in college, it's entirely possible you haven't heard of the marketing mix.

Below, let's learn about the four Ps of marketing and how they're still relevant in today's marketing landscape.

What are the 4 Ps of marketing?

The four Ps of marketing are product, price, place, and promotion. These are the key factors that are involved in marketing a product or service. You take the four Ps into account when creating strategies for marketing, promoting, advertising, and positioning your product or brand.

The four Ps are meant to help marketers consider everything about a product or service when they're deciding how to market it for their business. Framing your marketing around the four Ps will help you learn what the competition is doing and what customers want from you.

How to Use the 4 Ps of Marketing

You can use the four Ps to answer questions about the product, price, place, and promotion of your product or service.

For example, you can ask yourself:

• Product : How does your product meet your customer's needs? What problem(s) does it solve? What unique value or features does it offer?
• Price : What is the value of your product? What are my competitors charging?
• Place : Where are customers looking for your product?
• Promotion : How can you differentiate your product from competitors? Where can you reach your audience?

Always consider the needs and preferences of your target audience. Ultimately, your product, its price, its place of distribution, and its promotional strategies should appeal to your customers the most.

Thinking about your marketing in terms of the four Ps will help you strategize how to reach your customers. The 4 Ps of Marketing are also known as your marketing mix — more on that below.

What is the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is also known as the four Ps of marketing. It refers to the four key elements of a marketing strategy: product, price, place, and promotion. These elements guide the marketing initiatives, wording, and positioning for a product or brand.

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To develop a marketing mix, you'll need to think about how you can uniquely position your brand amongst the competition. The most important part of thinking about the marketing mix — or the four Ps of marketing — is to understand the customer, the competition, and your company. You'll evaluate your product and how to promote it.

But getting started isn’t easy. That’s why we’ve created the ultimate collection of marketing mix templates you can use to visualize your marketing mix and share it with your employees or investors. Use the templates to organize your initiatives and activities by the right section.

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Click here to download the templates for free .

Use the template to follow along with the 4 Ps of marketing below.

The 4 Ps of Marketing (Example)

1. the first p of marketing: product.

When you think about your product, consider exactly what you're selling. Is it a specific product? Or is it a service? Your product can be a physical product, an online app, or a service such as house cleaning. Really, anything that you're selling is the product.

Then, think of your brand messaging, the services you offer, and even packaging. When you define your product, think about what problem your product solves for your customers. Consider how your product is different from competing products. What features are unique to your product?

It's important to know your product intimately so you can market it.

Product Example

We’ll use Marketing Hub as an example.

What is it? “Marketing automation software to help you attract the right audience, convert more visitors into customers, and run complete inbound marketing campaigns at scale — all on one powerful, easy-to-use platform.”

Who is it for? Modern marketers who juggle too much data and who are stuck with impossible-to-use software solutions that make their job harder, not easier.

Which features does it have? Marketing Hub offers blogging, SEO, social media management, email marketing, and ad tracking tools in a single, intuitive platform.

What problem does it solve? Marketing Hub simplifies the marketing automation process for busy marketers by bringing all data and tools under one roof.

2. The Second P of Marketing: Price

When it comes to price, you have to consider how much you're going to charge customers for your products or services. Of course, you need to make a profit.

When coming up with your pricing strategy , you also need to think about what competitors are charging for the same product or service and how much customers are willing to pay. You can also think about what discounts or offers you can use in your marketing.

When you decide on a price, you want to think about perception. Do you want to be known as a cost-effective option in your industry? Or perhaps you're a luxury brand and the price is slightly higher than competition on the market. Keep in mind that pricing SaaS products is a little different than pricing physical products.

Either way, the language you use to market your product will be greatly impacted by the price of your product.

Download a sales pricing calculator for free .

Price Example

Marketing Hub is priced to grow with you as you grow.

We offer the following subscription tiers:

• $0/month (Free)
• $45/month (Starter)
• $800/month (Professional)
• $3,200/month (Enterprise)

3. The Third P of Marketing: Place

When it comes to place, this might mean the physical location of your company, but it could also be defined as anywhere you sell your product, which might be online.

The place is where you market and distribute your product.

Remember that not every place makes sense for every product. For example, if your target market is seniors, then it won't make sense to market on TikTok. It's important to choose the right places to market your product and meet your customers where they're at.

Think about possible distribution channels and outlets you could use to sell your product. Be sure to take into account whether your business is B2B or B2C .

At this point, you'll need to think about how to market your product on all the various channels that make sense for your company.

Place Example

As a provider of a SaaS product, we offer Marketing Hub directly on our website.

Marketers can sign up for Marketing Hub by creating an account directly on our platform. We’ve created a convenient sign-up page for free subscriptions — or they can request a demo from our friendly sales team.

4. The Fourth P of Marketing: Promotion

Promotion is the bread and butter of marketing. This is when you'll think about how to publicize and advertise your product.

Additionally, you'll discuss brand messaging, brand awareness, and lead generation strategies .

When it comes to promotion, keeping communication in mind is of the utmost importance. What messages will resonate with your target market? How can you best promote your product to them?

Think about where, when, and how you'll promote your brand.

Promotion Example

We want to be where marketers are. Most importantly, we want to help them grow in their careers — as well as grow their businesses.

Our inbound marketing strategy will focus primarily on organic acquisition. We’ll promote Marketing Hub over the following channels:

• The HubSpot Marketing Blog
• HubSpot Academy

The 4 Ps of Marketing Examples: Apple and e.l.f. Cosmetics

Let's break down the 4 Ps of marketing for Apple and e.l.f. Cosmetics.

( Image Source )

• Product: iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watch, AirPods, Software, and Services (i.e., Apple Music, Apple TV, iTunes, etc.).
• Price: Apple products are often priced at the higher end of the market. The brand commands premium pricing due to its reputation for innovation, quality, and design.
• Place: Consumers can purchase products online and in retail stores. Apple products are sold worldwide and have a significant global market presence.
• Promotion: Apple places a strong emphasis on cultivating a dedicated and loyal consumer base. Their marketing campaigns reinforce the idea of being part of an "Apple ecosystem." Once users buy one product — like an iPhone – they're more likely to choose other Apple products like MacBooks, iPads, Apple Watches, and more. This ecosystem fosters a deep brand loyalty. This sense of loyalty is evident in their product launches, which are a must-see event in the tech industry.

e.l.f. Cosmetics

• Product: e.l.f. offers a comprehensive range of makeup and skincare products, brushes, and beauty tools.
• Price: One of e.l.f.'s main value propositions is its affordability. Many of their products have a low price point, making the brand accessible to a wide range of consumers. Its lower price point sets it apart from other brands in the beauty space.
• Place: e.l.f. products are widely available in drugstores and big-box retailers like Target and Walmart. It also has a a strong online presence, selling products directly through their website and other online retailers.
• Promotion: As a challenger brand in the beauty space, e.l.f. seeks to establish itself as a recognizable and reliable option at the drugstore and beyond. The brand is proactive across social media, including TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, to engage with younger demographics. In addition, their campaigns often involve user-generated content to foster a sense of community with their audience. 

Back to You

Even though marketing has changed since the four Ps were developed, the foundational elements of the industry haven't. You can apply the concepts of the marketing mix to create winning marketing strategies that help you profitably launch and promote your company’s products.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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What Are the 4 Ps of Marketing?

• Understanding the 4 Ps

4. Promotion

How to use the 4 ps of marketing in your marketing strategy, example of the four ps of marketing, the bottom line.

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4 Ps of Marketing: What They Are & How to Use Them Successfully

Product, price, place, and promotion are the four Ps in a winning "marketing mix"

The four Ps or marketing are a “marketing mix” comprised of four key elements—product, price, place, and promotion.

These are the key factors that are involved in introducing a product or service to the public. Often referred to as a marketing mix , they provide a framework that companies can use to successfully market a product or service to consumers. Since the four Ps were introduced in the 1950s, more Ps have been added to the mix, including people, process, and physical evidence.

Key Takeaways

• The four Ps are the four essential factors involved in marketing a product or service to the public.
• The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion.
• The concept of the four Ps has been around since the 1950s. As the marketing industry has evolved, other Ps have been identified: people, process, and physical evidence.

Investopedia / Julie Bang

Understanding the 4 Ps of Marketing

Neil Borden, an advertising professor at Harvard, popularized the idea of the marketing mix—and the concepts that would later be known primarily as the four Ps—in the 1950s. His 1964 article "The Concept of the Marketing Mix" demonstrated the ways that companies could use advertising tactics to engage their consumers.

Decades later, the concepts that Borden popularized are still being used by companies to advertise their goods and services.

Borden's ideas were developed and refined over a number of years by other key players in the industry. E. Jerome McCarthy, a marketing professor at Michigan State University, refined the concepts in Borden's article and named them the "four Ps" of marketing. McCarthy co-wrote the book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach , further popularizing the idea.

At the time the concept was introduced, it helped companies breach the physical barriers that could hamper widespread product adoption. Today, the Internet has helped businesses to overcome some of these barriers.

People, process, and physical evidence are extensions of the original Four Ps and are relevant to current trends in marketing.

Any successful marketing strategy should be revisited from time to time. The marketing mix you create is not intended to be static. It needs to be adjusted and refined as your product grows and your customer base changes .

Creating a marketing campaign starts with an understanding of the product itself. Who needs it and why? What does it do that no competitor's product can do? Perhaps it's a new thing altogether and is so compelling in its design or function that consumers will have to have it when they see it.

The job of the marketer is to define the product and its qualities and introduce it to the consumer—the basic marketing of a product (or service).

Defining the product also is key to its distribution. Marketers need to understand the life cycle of a product , and business executives need to have a plan for dealing with products at every stage of the life cycle.

The type of product also dictates in part how much it will cost, where it should be placed, and how it should be promoted.

Many of the most successful products have been the first in their category. For example, Apple was the first to create a touchscreen smartphone that could play music, browse the internet, and make phone calls. Apple reported total sales of the iPhone for FY 2022 at $205.4 billion. In 2021, it hit the milestone of two billion iPhones sold.

Price is the amount that consumers will be willing to pay for a product. Marketers must link the price point to the product's real and perceived value, while also considering supply costs, seasonal discounts, competitors' prices, and retail markup.

In some cases, business decision-makers may raise the price of a product to give it the appearance of luxury or exclusivity. Or, they may lower the price so more consumers will try it.

Marketers also need to determine when and if discounting is appropriate. A discount can draw in more customers, but it can also give the impression that the product is less desirable than it was.

UNIQLO, headquartered in Japan, is a global manufacturer of casual wear. Like its competitors Gap and Zara, UNIQLO creates low-priced, fashion-forward garments for younger buyers.

What makes UNIQLO unique is that its products are innovative and high-quality. It accomplishes this by purchasing fabric in large volumes, continually seeking the highest-quality and lowest-cost materials in the world. The company also directly negotiates with its manufacturers and has built strategic partnerships with innovative Japanese manufacturers.

UNIQLO also outsources its production to partner factories. That gives it the flexibility to change production partners as its needs change.

Finally, the company employs a team of skilled textile artisans that it sends to its partner factories all over the world for quality control. Production managers visit factories once a week to resolve quality problems.

Place is the consideration of where the product should be available—in brick-and-mortar stores and online—and how it will be displayed.

The decision is key: The makers of a luxury cosmetic product would want to be displayed in Sephora and Neiman Marcus, not in Walmart or Family Dollar. The goal of business executives is always to get their products in front of the consumers who are the most likely to buy them.

That means placing a product only in certain stores and getting it displayed to the best advantage.

The term placement also refers to advertising the product in the right media to get the attention of its target audience of consumers.

For example, the 1995 movie GoldenEye was the 17th installment in the James Bond movie franchise and the first that did not feature an Aston Martin car. Instead, Bond actor Pierce Brosnan got into a BMW Z3. Although the Z3 was not released until months after the film had left theaters, BMW received 9,000 orders for the car the month after the movie opened.

The goal of promotion is to communicate to consumers that they need this product and that it is priced appropriately. Promotion encompasses advertising, public relations, and the overall media strategy for introducing a product.

Marketers tend to tie together promotion and placement elements to reach their core audiences. For example, in the digital age, the "place" and "promotion" factors are as much online as offline. Specifically, that means where a product appears on a company's web page or social media, as well as which types of search functions will trigger targeted ads for the product.

The Swedish vodka brand Absolut sold only 10,000 cases of its vodka in 1980. By 2000, the company had sold 4.5 million cases, thanks in part to its iconic advertising campaign. The images in the campaign featured the brand's signature bottle styled as a range of surreal images: a bottle with a halo, a bottle made of stone, or a bottle in the shape of the trees standing on a ski slope. To date, the Absolut campaign is one of the longest-running continuous campaigns of all time, from 1981 to 2005.

The four Ps provide a framework on which to build your marketing strategy. Think through each factor. And don't worry when the factors overlap. That's inevitable.

First, analyze the product you will be marketing. What are the characteristics that make it appealing? Consider similar products that are already on the market. Your product may be tougher, easier to use, more attractive, or longer-lasting. Its ingredients might be environmentally friendly or naturally sourced. Identify the qualities that will make it appealing to your target consumers.

Think through the appropriate price for the product. It's not simply the cost of production plus a profit margin. You may be positioning it as a premium or luxury product or as a bare-bones, lower-priced alternative.

Placement involves identifying the type of store, online and off, that stocks products like yours for consumers like yours.

Your promotion strategies can only be considered in the context of your target consumer. The product might be appealing to a hip younger crowd or to upscale professionals or to bargain hunters. Your media strategy needs to reach the right audience with the right message.

To put this into perspective, let's consider a fictional skincare company that produces organic skincare products. Here's how the four Ps might be utilized:

• Product : The company offers a range of organic skincare products, including cleansers, moisturizers, and serums. These products are formulated with natural ingredients, free from harsh chemicals, and designed to promote healthy and radiant skin.
• Price : The pricing strategy for these skincare products is positioned as premium, reflecting the high quality of ingredients and the company's commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing.
• Place : The products are sold through multiple channels, including the company's website, select retail stores specializing in organic products, and high-end spas and salons. This distribution strategy ensures accessibility to environmentally conscious consumers seeking natural skincare solutions.
• Promotion : The company's promotional efforts focus on emphasizing the benefits of organic skincare, such as nourishment, hydration, and skin rejuvenation. This includes social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, and educational content highlighting the importance of using non-toxic products for skincare routines.

What's the Difference Between the 4 Ps and the 4 Cs of Marketing?

The 4 Ps of marketing are product, price, place, and promotion. The 4 Cs replace the Ps with consumer, cost, convenience, and communication. The 4 Cs are of more recent vintage, proposed as an alternative to the 4 Ps by Bob Lauterborn in an article in Advertising Age in 1990. The 4 Cs are designed to be a more consumer-focused model that places more emphasis on customer needs and experience.

To better understand the consumer (product), marketers develop detailed buyer personas of the ideal customer, with an eye toward improving communication and sales. Cost (price) is considered from the consumer point of view—what customers are able and willing to pay, including for "extras" such as taxes and shipping costs. Communication (promotion) shifts the focus from one-way advertising to engagements with customers, especially on social media. And convenience (place) is all about improving the accessibility of your products, making it easier for customers to buy them.

Now there is an even newer marketing mix known as the 4 Es: experience, exchange, evangelism, and everyplace. They give a nod to the importance of creating memorable experiences and emotional connections between consumers and brands.

How Does Apple Use the 4 Ps of Marketing?

Apple utilizes the four Ps of marketing by focusing on:

Product innovation : Evident in its continuous development of cutting-edge technology like the iPhone, MacBook, and Apple Watch.

Pricing strategy : Apple often positions its products as premium offerings, targeting a more affluent consumer base.

Place : Apple emphasizes distribution through its own retail stores, online platforms, and strategic partnerships with authorized resellers.

Promotional efforts : Apple emphasizes sleek design, user experience, and aspirational branding, creating a sense of exclusivity and desirability around its products.

How Do You Use the 4 Ps of Marketing?

The model of the 4Ps can be used when you are planning a new product launch, evaluating an existing product, or trying to optimize the sales of an existing product.

A careful analysis of these four factors—product, price, place, and promotion—helps a marketing professional devise a strategy that successfully introduces or reintroduces a product to the public.

When Did the 4 Ps Become the 7 Ps?

The focus on the four Ps—product, price, place, and promotion—has been a core tenet of marketing since the 1950s. Three newer Ps expand the marketing mix for the 21st century.

• People places the focus on the personalities who represent the product. In the current era, that means not only sales and customer service employees but social media influencers and viral media campaigns.
• Process is logistics. Consumers increasingly demand fast and efficient delivery of the things they want, when they want them.
• Physical evidence is perhaps the most thoroughly modern of the seven Ps. If you're selling diamond jewelry on a website, it must be immediately clear to the consumer that you are a legitimate established business that will deliver as promised. A professionally designed website with excellent functionality, an "About" section that lists the principals of the company and its physical address, professional packaging, and efficient delivery service are all critical to convincing the consumer that your product is not only good, it's real.

What Are Some Examples of the 4 Ps of Marketing?

• Place refers to where consumers buy your product, or where they discover it. Today's consumers may learn about products and buy them online, through a smartphone app, at retail locations, or through a sales professional.
• Price refers to the cost of the product or service. Properly determining product price includes an analysis of the competition, the demand, production costs, and what consumers are willing to spend. Various pricing models may be considered, such as choosing between one-time purchase and subscription models.
• The product a company provides depends on the type of company and what it does best. For example, McDonald's provides consistent fast food in a casual setting. The corporation may expand its offerings, but it wouldn't stray far from its core identity.
• Promotion refers to specific and thoughtful advertising that reaches the target market for the product. You might use an Instagram campaign, a public relations campaign, advertising placement, email marketing , or some combination of all of these to promote your products and reach the right audience in the right place.

The four Ps of marketing—product, price, place, promotion—are often referred to as the marketing mix. These are the key elements involved in planning and marketing a product or service, and they interact significantly with each other. Considering all of these elements is one way to approach a holistic marketing strategy .

Neil Borden. " The Concept of the Marketing Mix ."

E. Jerome McCarthy. "Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach." Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1960.

Apple. " Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) Q4 2022 ," Page 1.

Apple Insider. " At 2 Billion iPhones Sold, Apple Continues to Redefine What Customers Want ."

Harvard Business School: Technology and Operations Management. " UNIQLO: What’s Behind the Low-Cost High-Quality Casual Wear? "

Smart Insights. " Campaign of the Week: The Longest Running Print Ad Marketing Campaign in History ."

Stevens & Tate Marketing. " Introducing the 4C Marketing Model and Why You Should Follow It ."

LinkedIn. " Marketing Evolution: 4P's to 4C's to 4E's ."

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Marketing Mix: The 4 Ps of Marketing & How to Use Them?

Appinio Research · 06.08.2024 · 35min read

Have you ever wondered what makes a marketing campaign successful and why some products seem to fly off the shelves while others gather dust? The answer often lies in the marketing mix, a concept that combines several key elements to create a winning strategy. Understanding the marketing mix is crucial for any business looking to meet customer needs, stay competitive, and achieve long-term success. This guide will delve into the essential components of the marketing mix—Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence—providing you with practical insights and examples to help you develop an effective marketing strategy. By mastering these elements, you can tailor your marketing efforts, optimize resources, and drive business growth. Let's explore how each aspect of the marketing mix plays a vital role in crafting a strategy that resonates with your target audience and elevates your brand.

What is Marketing Mix?

The marketing mix is a foundational concept in marketing that refers to the combination of factors a company can control to influence consumers to purchase its products. Coined by Neil Borden in the 1950s, the term initially referred to the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. These elements work together to create a strategic approach to market a product or service effectively. Each component must be carefully considered and balanced to meet the target audience's needs and achieve the company's marketing objectives.

Importance of Marketing Mix in Business Strategy

The marketing mix is critical in shaping a company's overall business strategy. Here's why it is so important:

• Customer Satisfaction : By tailoring the marketing mix elements to meet customer needs and preferences, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Competitive Advantage : A well-crafted marketing mix helps differentiate a company's products from competitors , creating a unique selling proposition that attracts customers.
• Resource Optimization : Effective use of the marketing mix ensures that resources are allocated efficiently, maximizing return on investment.
• Market Adaptation : The flexibility of the marketing mix allows businesses to adapt to changing market conditions, consumer behavior , and competitive pressures.
• Strategic Alignment : Aligning the marketing mix with overall business goals ensures that marketing efforts support the company's long-term vision and objectives.
• Increased Sales and Profitability : By optimizing each element of the marketing mix, businesses can drive higher sales and profitability through targeted and effective marketing strategies.

Overview of the 4Ps of Marketing

• Product : Refers to what the company is selling, including the quality, design, features , branding, and packaging of the product. It's essential to ensure that the product meets the needs and expectations of the target market.
• Price : Involves determining the right pricing strategy for the product, considering factors such as production costs, target market, competition, and perceived value. Pricing decisions directly impact the demand and profitability of the product.
• Place : Focuses on how the product is distributed and made available to customers. This includes choosing the proper distribution channels, managing logistics, and ensuring the product is accessible where and when customers need it.
• Promotion : Encompasses all the activities and tactics used to communicate the product's benefits and persuade customers to purchase. This includes advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling, and direct marketing.

Understanding and effectively managing these 4Ps allows businesses to create a balanced and integrated marketing strategy that drives growth and meets business objectives.

A product is any good or service that can satisfy customers' needs or wants. It's the cornerstone of your business because it's the primary reason customers engage with your brand. A well-defined product meets customer expectations, solves problems, and provides value. Your product's significance lies in its ability to fulfill market demands and create a loyal customer base.

Product Life Cycle

The product life cycle describes the stages a product goes through, from its introduction to the market to its eventual decline. Understanding this cycle helps in strategic planning and maximizing the product's profitability.

• Introduction : The product is launched, and awareness is built. Marketing efforts are high, but sales growth is typically slow.
• Growth : The product gains market acceptance, and sales increase rapidly. Profits rise, and competitors may enter the market.
• Maturity : Sales growth slows as the product reaches market saturation . Competition is intense, and efforts focus on differentiation and maintaining market share.
• Decline : Sales and profits decline due to market saturation, technological advancements, or changing consumer preferences . Decisions need to be made about discontinuing or rejuvenating the product.

For example, consider the lifecycle of smartphones. When a new model is introduced, it's heavily marketed. As it gains popularity, sales soar. Eventually, sales stabilize as the market becomes saturated, and finally, older models are phased out as new technology emerges.

Product Differentiation and Positioning

Differentiation and positioning are crucial for making your product stand out in a competitive market.

• Product Differentiation : This involves adding unique features or benefits to your product to distinguish it from competitors. It could be through innovation, quality, design, or customer service. For instance, Tesla differentiates its cars using advanced technology and sustainable energy solutions.
• Positioning : Positioning is about creating a specific perception of your product in the consumer's mind. It involves identifying your product's key benefits and associating them with the target market's needs. For example, Volvo positions itself as a leader in vehicle safety, appealing to consumers who prioritize this aspect.

Product Line and Portfolio Management

Managing a product line involves offering a range of related products that cater to different customer needs and preferences. Effective product portfolio management ensures a balanced mix of products that contribute to the overall profitability of the business.

• Product Line : A group of related products marketed under a single brand, catering to different segments or price points. For example, Nike's product line includes running shoes, basketball shoes, and casual footwear.
• Portfolio Management : This involves analyzing the performance of each product and making decisions about product additions, modifications , or discontinuations. Tools like the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix help evaluate products based on market growth and market share to make strategic decisions.

Price is the amount customers must pay to acquire your product or service . It directly affects your revenue and profitability. Setting the right price is crucial because it influences customers' purchase decisions and perceptions of your brand. An optimal pricing strategy balances affordability for customers and profitability for your business.

Pricing Strategies

Effective pricing strategies help you set prices that attract customers and achieve your business goals. Here are some standard methods:

Cost-Based Pricing

Cost-based pricing involves setting prices based on the cost of producing the product plus a markup for profit. This method ensures that all costs are covered and a specific profit margin is achieved.

Price = Cost + Markup

For example, if a product costs $50 to produce and you want a 20% profit margin, the price would be:

Price = $50 + (0.20 * $50) = $60

Value-Based Pricing

Value-based pricing sets prices based on the perceived value to the customer rather than the cost of production. This strategy works well when your product offers unique benefits that justify a higher price.

For instance, a luxury brand like Rolex can charge premium prices because customers perceive high value in the brand's craftsmanship, prestige, and exclusivity.

Competition-Based Pricing

Competition-based pricing involves setting your price based on what competitors are charging. This strategy is helpful in markets with similar products where price differences can significantly impact customer choices.

For example, airlines often adjust ticket prices based on competitor pricing to remain competitive and attract price-sensitive customers.

Factors Influencing Pricing Decisions

Several factors influence your pricing decisions, and understanding them helps you set effective prices:

• Cost of Production : To ensure profitability, direct and indirect costs associated with creating your product must be covered.
• Market Demand : Understanding how much customers are willing to pay for your product helps in setting a price that reflects its value.
• Competition : Analyzing competitors' prices ensures your pricing is competitive and can attract customers.
• Economic Conditions : Inflation, purchasing power, and the overall economic environment can affect how much customers are willing to spend.
• Regulatory Environment : Laws and regulations regarding pricing, such as minimum pricing laws or price controls, need to be considered.

Psychological Pricing Techniques

Psychological pricing techniques leverage human psychology to make prices more appealing and encourage purchases. Here are a few effective methods:

• Charm Pricing : Setting prices slightly below a round number (e.g., $9.99 instead of $10.00) makes the price seem lower.
• Price Anchoring : Showing a higher-priced item first makes other options appear more affordable. For example, a high-end product listed alongside a more reasonably priced one can make the latter seem like a better deal.
• Bundle Pricing : Offering multiple products together at a lower combined price can encourage customers to buy more. For instance, a meal deal at a fast-food restaurant bundles a burger, fries, and a drink at a lower price than buying each item separately.

By understanding and applying these concepts, you can create a pricing strategy that not only covers your costs but also aligns with your overall marketing strategy and business objectives.

Place (Distribution)

Distribution, or place, is about making your product available to customers in the right location and at the right time. It's a crucial aspect of the marketing mix because even the best products won't sell if they're not accessible to the target market. Effective distribution ensures that customers can easily find and purchase your product, which can significantly impact your sales and customer satisfaction .

Distribution Channels

Distribution channels are the pathways through which products travel from the manufacturer to the end consumer. These channels can be direct or indirect, and choosing the right one depends on your business model, product type, and target market.

Direct vs. Indirect Channels

• Direct Channels : Selling directly to consumers without intermediaries. This can be done through online stores, company-owned retail outlets, or direct sales teams. Direct channels provide greater control over the customer experience and margins but can be resource-intensive.
• Indirect Channels : Utilizing intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors, or retailers to reach the end consumer. Indirect channels can expand market reach and reduce operational burdens but often involve sharing profits with intermediaries.

Online vs. Offline Channels

• Online Channels : E-commerce websites, online marketplaces, and social media platforms. These channels offer convenience, broader reach, and lower operational costs. They are especially effective for tech-savvy and geographically dispersed customers.
• Offline Channels : Physical stores, pop-up shops, and traditional retail outlets. These channels provide a tangible customer experience and immediate product availability, which can be crucial for specific product categories.

Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Logistics and supply chain management are critical components of effective distribution. They involve the planning, implementation, and control of the movement and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption.

• Warehousing : Efficient storage solutions ensure products are readily available for distribution. Strategic placement of warehouses can reduce shipping times and costs.
• Inventory Management : Maintaining optimal inventory levels to meet customer demand without overstocking or stockouts. Techniques like Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory can enhance efficiency.
• Transportation : Selecting the suitable transportation methods (e.g., trucks, ships, planes) to balance cost, speed, and reliability. Ensuring timely and safe delivery is crucial to customer satisfaction.

Selecting the Right Distribution Strategy

Choosing the right distribution strategy involves considering several factors:

• Intensive Distribution : Placing products in as many outlets as possible (e.g., FMCG products).
• Selective Distribution : Using a limited number of outlets in a particular market (e.g., electronics).
• Exclusive Distribution : Limiting distribution to a single retailer or a few outlets (e.g., luxury goods).
• Cost : Balancing the cost of distribution with potential sales revenue. High-margin products may justify higher distribution costs.
• Control : Determining the level of control needed over the distribution process. Direct channels offer more control but require more resources.
• Customer Preferences : Understanding where and how your customers prefer to shop. This can vary significantly across different demographics and product categories.

Promotion is the aspect of the marketing mix that involves communicating the benefits and value of your product to the target audience. Effective promotion helps increase brand awareness , generate interest, and ultimately drive sales. It's about telling your brand's story in a compelling way that resonates with your audience.

Elements of Promotional Mix

A comprehensive promotional strategy incorporates various elements, each serving a unique purpose in reaching and engaging with customers.

Advertising

Advertising involves paid promotions through different media channels such as TV, radio, print, online ads, and outdoor billboards. It's designed to reach a large audience and build brand awareness . Advertising can be highly targeted and customized to specific segments.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are short-term incentives aimed at encouraging immediate purchases or temporarily boosting sales. They can include discounts, coupons, contests, and special offers. Sales promotions are effective in attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

Public Relations

Public relations (PR) involves managing your brand's image and building positive relationships with the public. PR activities include press releases, media relations, community engagement, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Effective PR can enhance brand credibility and reputation.

Personal Selling

Personal selling is a direct approach where sales representatives interact with potential customers to persuade them to purchase. It's particularly effective for high-value or complex products that require detailed explanations or demonstrations.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing targets specific individuals with personalized messages through channels like email, mail, and telemarketing. It allows for precise targeting and measurable results, making it a cost-effective promotional tool.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) ensure that all promotional activities are aligned and deliver a consistent message across all channels. This creates a unified brand image and maximizes the impact of your marketing efforts. IMC involves coordinating various elements of the promotional mix to provide a seamless experience for the customer.

Digital Promotion Strategies

In the digital age, online promotion strategies are essential for reaching and engaging customers. These strategies leverage digital channels to create targeted and interactive marketing campaigns.

• Content Marketing : Creating valuable and relevant content to attract and engage your target audience. This includes blog posts, videos, infographics, and eBooks.
• Social Media Marketing : Using social media platforms to connect with your audience, share content, and promote products. Engaging with followers through posts, stories, and live sessions can build a solid online community.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) : Optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results, increasing organic traffic.
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising : Running paid ads on search engines and social media platforms where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. PPC allows precise targeting and quick visibility.

By integrating these strategies into your promotional mix, you can effectively communicate your brand's value, reach a wider audience, and drive sales.

Extended Marketing Mix (7Ps)

The traditional 4Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) have been extended to include three more critical elements: People, Process, and Physical Evidence . These additional components are especially important for service-based businesses and help create a more comprehensive marketing strategy.

People play a crucial role in the marketing mix, particularly in service industries where customer interactions can significantly impact the overall experience.

Role of Employees in Marketing

Employees are the face of your brand and directly influence customer perceptions. Their behavior, attitude, and competence can make or break a customer's experience. Investing in employee training and development is essential to ensure they represent the brand positively and deliver exceptional service.

For example, Ritz-Carlton is renowned for its exemplary customer service, which is largely attributed to its well-trained and empowered staff, who are encouraged to go above and beyond to meet guests' needs.

Customer Service and Experience

Customer service is a vital component of the overall customer experience. It encompasses every interaction a customer has with your company, from initial contact to after-sales support. Providing excellent customer service can lead to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth .

Strategies to enhance customer service include:

• Training employees to handle various customer scenarios effectively
• Implementing customer feedback systems to continually improve service
• Ensuring quick and efficient resolution of customer issues

A real-world example is Zappos, which is famous for its customer-centric approach and generous return policies, creating a loyal customer base.

Processes refer to the procedures and activities that ensure the efficient delivery of your product or service. They play a crucial role in maintaining quality and consistency.

Importance of Efficient Processes

Efficient processes streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve the overall customer experience. They help ensure that products and services are delivered promptly and consistently, which can significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Key areas to focus on include:

• Standardizing procedures to ensure consistency
• Using technology to automate and streamline processes
• Continuously monitoring and refining processes to improve efficiency

For example, McDonald's has perfected its food preparation processes to ensure fast, consistent service across all its locations worldwide.

Process Improvement Strategies

Continuous improvement strategies help identify and eliminate inefficiencies in your processes. Techniques like Lean, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management (TQM) focus on enhancing process efficiency and quality.

Lean focuses on minimizing waste and maximizing value, while Six Sigma uses data-driven methods to reduce variability and defects. TQM emphasizes company-wide quality improvement. Toyota is a prime example of a company that has successfully implemented Lean and Six Sigma principles to streamline its production processes and enhance quality.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence refers to the tangible elements that customers can see and interact with, which can influence their perceptions of your service.

Tangible Aspects of Service Delivery

Tangible elements include the physical environment where the service is delivered, as well as any materials used in providing the service, such as brochures, signage, and uniforms. These elements help customers form their perceptions of your brand and can significantly impact their overall experience.

Creating a Positive Physical Environment

Creating a positive physical environment involves designing spaces that are aesthetically pleasing, functional, and aligned with your brand image. This can improve customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business. Strategies include:

• Ensuring the physical space is clean, organized, and welcoming
• Using branding elements consistently across all physical touchpoints
• Incorporating sensory elements like lighting, music, and scent to enhance the atmosphere

Starbucks, for instance, creates a cozy and inviting atmosphere in its coffee shops , encouraging customers to spend more time there and enjoy their products.

Integrating these additional elements into your marketing mix can create a more holistic and effective marketing strategy that enhances customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business success.

How to Develop a Marketing Mix Strategy?

Creating a marketing mix strategy involves carefully analyzing each component of the 7Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical Evidence) and how they interact to meet your business objectives. A well-crafted marketing mix strategy aligns with your overall business goals, targets the right audience, and leverages your unique selling points effectively.

1. Understand Your Market and Target Audience

The first step in developing a marketing mix strategy is understanding your market and identifying your target audience. This involves conducting thorough market research to gain insights into customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. Understanding your competitors and market trends is also crucial.

• Market Research : Use surveys , focus groups , and data analysis to gather information about your potential customers. Identify their pain points, preferences, and purchasing behaviors.
• Competitive Analysis : Study your competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Identify opportunities to differentiate your product or service.

2. Define Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Your USP is what makes your product or service stand out from the competition. It's a unique benefit you offer that is valuable to your target audience. Clearly defining your USP helps craft messages that resonate with your customers and highlight why they should choose your brand over others.

For example, TOMS Shoes' USP is its "One for One" model, where they donate a pair of shoes for every pair purchased, appealing to socially conscious consumers.

3. Develop Your Product Strategy

Your product strategy should focus on delivering value to your customers. This involves decisions about product features , design, quality, and packaging. Consider how your product meets the needs of your target audience and what enhancements could increase its appeal.

• Product Features : Identify which features are most important to your customers and focus on developing these.
• Quality : Ensure your product meets high-quality standards to build trust and satisfaction.
• Packaging : Design packaging that is not only attractive but also functional and environmentally friendly.

4. Set Your Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy should reflect the value of your product while being competitive in the market. When setting prices, consider your costs, target market, and competition.

• Cost-Based Pricing : Ensure your prices cover your production costs and provide a reasonable profit margin.
• Value-Based Pricing : Set prices based on the perceived value to your customers. Customers may be willing to pay a premium if your product offers unique benefits.
• Competitive Pricing : Analyze your competitors' pricing strategies and position your prices to attract your target market without eroding your profits.

5. Choose Your Distribution Strategy

Your distribution strategy ensures that your product is available to customers where and when they want it. This involves selecting the proper distribution channels and managing logistics effectively.

• Distribution Channels : Decide whether to sell directly to consumers, use intermediaries, or a combination of both. Consider online and offline channels based on where your customers prefer to shop.
• Logistics : Develop efficient logistics and supply chain processes to ensure timely delivery and reduce costs. Optimize your warehousing, inventory management, and transportation strategies.

6. Plan Your Promotion Strategy

Your promotion strategy involves communicating the value of your product to your target audience. It includes advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling, and direct marketing.

• Advertising : Choose the best media channels to reach your audience, such as TV, online ads, social media, or print. Create compelling messages that highlight your USP.
• Sales Promotions : Use discounts, coupons, and special offers to drive short-term sales and attract new customers.
• Public Relations : Build positive relationships with the public and media to enhance your brand's reputation.
• Personal Selling : Train your sales team to communicate your product's benefits and close deals effectively.
• Direct Marketing : Use personalized marketing techniques, such as email campaigns, to target specific segments of your audience.

7. Integrate People, Process, and Physical Evidence

These additional elements ensure that your marketing mix is comprehensive and customer-centric.

• People : Invest in training and developing your employees to provide exceptional customer service. Ensure that your team embodies your brand values.
• Process : Streamline your processes to deliver a consistent and high-quality customer experience. Use technology and continuous improvement strategies to enhance efficiency.
• Physical Evidence : Create a positive physical environment that reflects your brand. This includes the design of your stores, website, and any other touchpoints where customers interact with your brand.

8. Monitor and Adjusting Your Strategy

Finally, continuously monitor the performance of your marketing mix strategy and make adjustments as needed. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success and gather customer feedback to identify areas for improvement.

• KPIs : Track metrics such as sales volume, market share, customer satisfaction, and return on investment (ROI) to evaluate your strategy's effectiveness.
• Customer Feedback : Use surveys, reviews, and direct customer interactions to gather insights and make informed adjustments to your strategy.

By carefully developing and continuously refining each element of the marketing mix, you can create a robust strategy that effectively meets your business goals and delights your customers.

How to Measure and Evaluate Your Marketing Mix?

Understanding how well your marketing mix strategy is performing is crucial for making informed decisions and optimizing your efforts. Measuring and evaluating your marketing mix involves tracking key metrics, using analytical tools, and continuously refining your approach to improve results.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that help you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing mix strategy. Selecting the right KPIs depends on your business goals and the specific aspects of the marketing mix you want to evaluate. Here are some essential KPIs to consider:

• Sales Volume : Tracks the number of units sold over a specific period. It helps assess the effectiveness of your product and pricing strategies.
• Revenue : Measures the total income generated from sales. It provides insight into the overall financial health of your marketing efforts.
• Market Share : Indicates the percentage of total market sales your product accounts for. It helps evaluate your competitive position in the market.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) : Calculates the cost of acquiring a new customer. It includes expenses related to marketing and sales efforts.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) : Estimates the total revenue a customer will generate over their relationship with your business. It helps you understand the long-term value of your customers.
• Return on Investment (ROI) : Measures the profitability of your marketing activities by comparing the revenue generated to the costs incurred.
• Conversion Rate : Tracks the percentage of prospects who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
• Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty : Assessed through surveys and feedback to understand how satisfied customers are with your product and service, and their likelihood of repeat business.

Tools and Techniques for Analysis

To effectively measure and evaluate your marketing mix, you need to use various tools and techniques that provide detailed insights and actionable data. Here are some commonly used tools and techniques:

• Google Analytics : A powerful tool for tracking and analyzing website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. It provides valuable data on how customers interact with your online presence.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems : Tools like Salesforce or HubSpot help manage customer interactions, track sales activities, and analyze customer data to improve relationships and drive sales growth.
• Marketing Automation Platforms : Solutions like Mailchimp enable you to automate marketing tasks, track campaign performance, and analyze customer engagement.
• Surveys and Feedback Tools : Platforms like Appinio help collect customer feedback and measure satisfaction and loyalty. They provide insights into customer preferences and areas for improvement.
• Social Media Analytics : Tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social offer detailed analytics on your social media performance, including engagement, reach, and sentiment analysis.
• A/B Testing : This technique involves comparing two versions of a marketing asset (e.g., a web page, email, or ad) to determine which one performs better. It helps optimize marketing materials and improve conversion rates.
• Heatmaps and Session Recording : These tools provide visual insights into how users interact with your website. They show where users click, scroll, and spend the most time, helping you optimize user experience and design.
• Competitive Analysis Tools : Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs allow you to monitor competitor activities, track keyword rankings, and analyze their marketing strategies to identify opportunities and threats.

Using these tools and techniques, you can gather comprehensive data on your marketing mix performance. Regular analysis and interpretation of this data enable you to make informed decisions, adjust your strategies, and continuously improve your marketing efforts. Remember, the goal is to create a dynamic and responsive marketing mix that evolves with changing market conditions and customer needs.

Conclusion for Marketing Mix

Crafting an effective marketing mix is all about understanding and balancing the key elements that influence customer decisions. By focusing on the 7Ps—Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence—you can create a comprehensive strategy that meets your customers' needs and sets your business apart from the competition. Each component plays a unique role in shaping the customer experience and driving sales. Whether it's designing a product that solves a specific problem, setting a price that reflects its value, ensuring it's available where customers shop, or promoting it in a way that captures attention, every decision counts. Integrating these elements thoughtfully can lead to improved customer satisfaction, stronger brand loyalty, and increased profitability. As markets evolve and consumer preferences shift, it's crucial to continuously evaluate and adjust your marketing mix. Use the tools and techniques outlined in this guide to measure performance, gather feedback, and refine your approach. Stay agile and responsive to changes in the market, and don't hesitate to experiment with new strategies to see what works best for your business. Remember, the goal is to create a marketing mix that not only meets immediate objectives but also positions your brand for long-term success. By keeping the customer at the center of your strategy and making data-driven decisions, you can build a resilient marketing plan that adapts to challenges and seizes opportunities, ensuring your business thrives in a competitive landscape.

How to Enhance Your Marketing Mix Strategy?

Developing an effective marketing mix strategy requires timely and accurate consumer insights, and Appinio is the ideal platform to achieve this. As a real-time market research platform, Appinio revolutionizes the way companies gather and utilize consumer data. By providing rapid, actionable insights, Appinio empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions with confidence and speed.

Our platform handles all the technical and research complexities, allowing companies to focus on what truly matters—crafting a marketing mix that resonates with their target audience and drives success. With Appinio, market research is no longer a daunting or expensive task; it's an exciting and intuitive process seamlessly integrated into everyday decision-making.

• Real-Time Insights : Get from questions to insights in minutes, ensuring your marketing mix decisions are based on the latest consumer data.
• User-Friendly Platform : Designed for ease of use, Appinio's platform is so intuitive that anyone can conduct market research without needing a PhD.
• Global Reach and Precision : Define the right target group from over 1,200 characteristics and survey respondents in over 90 countries, with an average field time of under 23 minutes for 1,000 responses.

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Marketing Mix: The 4Ps of Marketing and How to Use Them Effectively

Learn how to use the marketing mix (often called the 4Ps of marketing) to get the right combination of place, price, promotion, and product for your business.

Rakefet is the CMO at Mayple. She manages all things marketing and leads our community of experts through live events, workshops, and expert interviews. MBA, 1 dog + 2 cats, and has an extensive collection of Chinese teas.

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Natalie is a content writer and manager who is passionate about using her craft to empower others. She thrives on team dynamic, great coffee, and excellent content. One of these days, she might even get to her own content ideas.

Updated January 16, 2024.

If you want to scale your business you need to have a successful marketing strategy . And we know that. But when you ask any marketing professional - what goes in my marketing strategy? They're going to start listing various tactics they've learned.

- You should hire an influencer!

- No, you should send more email campaigns!

- Double down on organic social media!

But that's not a strategy, those are tactics. A solid marketing plan starts way before that, it starts with something called the marketing mix.

A marketing mix is a tool that helps you identify your target customer, set goals, and develop a plan of action for reaching them.

The marketing mix is usually described as a framework called the 4 Ps. It's crucial to understand how the four Ps of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion—work together to bring new customers into your business.

What is a marketing mix and why is it important?

The marketing mix is a set of 4 or 7 elements that define the marketing strategy for a product or service. The marketing mix helps you to create a successful marketing planner , which means that you will be able to reach your target audience better, sell more products, and make more money.

This framework helps companies focus their marketing on what really matters, make better business decisions, and create better marketing campaigns . It helps brands reach their potential customers, clarify their marketing objectives, and improve product development and promotional techniques.

The marketing mix affects everything from product marketing, pricing strategy , promotional strategy, brand positioning , and all the various marketing efforts of a business.

What are the 4Ps of marketing?

The 4 Ps are:

• Product - What you're selling
• Price - How much it costs
• Promotion - How people hear about your product (e.g., advertising)
• Place - Where people can buy it (e.g., stores, platforms).

The product is the tangible or intangible good or service you are offering to your customers. The product is what you are selling and what the customer receives in exchange for their monetary payment. The product is the physical, tangible item that represents your brand—the actual thing sold on store shelves or delivered to customers' homes.

Place is where the product is sold. This is obviously more important for service marketing which involves actually servicing the customers in a specific location. For goods the place could be different online platforms, marketing channels, eCommerce marketplaces, or social media platforms.

Price is the amount of money consumers pay for a product or service. In business, price is one of the most important elements of the marketing mix, alongside product, promotion and place. Price should be carefully managed because it's often used as a way to communicate value and quality in your brand.

When setting prices for your products or services, you have to consider:

• How much does creating your product cost you?
• What does your competition charge for comparable products/services?
• Do they have higher or lower margins?
• Are there any gaps in pricing that would allow you to enter those spaces successfully?

Pricing research is super important for any brand as it helps to determine what to price a product at. One factor is tracking your competitor’s pricing and then comparing that to your own, based on seasonality and product type.

Promotion is the communication of your product or service to your target market. It's the way you deliver your message via digital and physical channels through your branding strategy . It can take many forms including advertising , personal selling, public relations , sales promotion, and direct marketing are just a few examples.

How to use the 4Ps of marketing in your marketing strategy

The 4Ps of marketing is a framework used to create a marketing strategy. They can be used to help you understand the marketing mix, which includes the four key elements of product, price, place, and promotion. Once you have learned about each of these elements, use them to develop your own unique business plan that will help you reach your goals.

The history of the 4Ps

The 4Ps were created by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960 who presented them within a managerial approach in his book "Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach". The book covered things like analysis, consumer behavior, market research, market segmentation, and planning. Philip Kotler popularized the approach and helped spread the 4Ps model.

Alternative marketing mix models

There are several other approaches in marketing that are just as powerful and effective if you apply them correctly. First, let's talk about the 5 Ps.

This framework was invented by Philip Kotler , a distinguished professor of international marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is also known for popularizing the definition of the marketing mix.

The 5th P is people

The people element of the 5P’s includes the attitude, customer service, appearance, and service provided by the employees of the company. It’s particularly critical for service-based businesses but can also play an important role for firms that sell products.

How did the 5Ps become the 7Ps of marketing?

The 5 Ps of marketing worked for a while but marketers slowly realized that there are other elements that aren't covered by the model. So in 1981, Booms and Bitner proposed a model of 7 Ps which comprise the original four elements plus three new ones - people, process, and physical evidence (or physical environment) .

What are the 7Ps of marketing?

The 7Ps are known as the extended marketing mix and they are:

• Product - Your product or service.
• Price - How much you will charge for the product or service.
• Place - Where you will sell your product or service (e.g., online, in a physical store).
• Promotion - The way you advertise your products to get customers interested in buying them (e.g., social media posts and billboards).
• People - The people who work for you, including managers and employees of your business (also known as stakeholders).
• Process - Processes and systems that help run your business smoothly (often referred to as operations).
• Physical evidence - the physical place where your brand exists (a store) or the environment where the actual purchase takes place.

Seven service principles

There's an alternative approach to the 4 Ps that was suggested by Peter Bowman in his book "Service 7". Bowman created something called the seven service marketing principles which include - value, business development, reputation, customer service, and service design. This framework is widely used in Australia.

The 4Cs of marketing

Another popular framework is called the 4Cs of marketing which stands for - consumer, cost, convenience, and communication.

• Consumer - instead of focusing on the product this model focuses on the consumer. Here is where the brand would write out their ideal customer profile and create effective marketing strategies to build and promote a product that solves their challenge.
• Cost - price is only part of the equation and this framework takes a broader view of the cost of satisfying a customer need. This could include the cost of time in acquiring the product, the cost of conscience by consuming it, and the cost of not going with the competitor's product.
• Convenience - brands aren't limited to physical channels and they could have quite a number of channels in their digital marketing mix. These could include the various platforms, digital storefronts, social media channels, and online distribution channels for their product.
• Communication - this last area represents a broader focus on how the marketing tools and platforms the brand uses to communicate with its customers. This could include display ads, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, influencer marketing, and much more.

While the marketing mix is a great tool for marketers to use, it’s important to remember that it’s not a perfect model. The 7Ps model has its limitations and doesn’t always work for every company. It can be difficult to determine what your target audience wants if you don’t know who they are or how they behave, which is why understanding your customer base is crucial before trying any marketing strategy.

Remember that there are other ways of looking at the 4Ps or 7Ps of marketing such as Seth Godin's Purple Cow model (purple cows being unique products that stand out from others in their category) as well as Neil Patel's Growth Hacking strategy (growth hacking being focused on user acquisition).

Need help tuning your marketing mix? Talk a Free Consultation from one of Mayple's experts today!

What are some examples of the 4Ps of marketing?

• Product examples: You can think of your product as anything you offer to your customer. In the case of a restaurant, the product is the food that you serve. For an online retailer, it could be any number of things, such as clothing or home decor items. 
• Place examples: Your place refers to where you sell your products or services—for example, a website or physical store location.
• Price examples: pricing model, credit terms, payment period, list price and discounts.
• Promotion examples: Promotion encompasses all forms of communication with actual and potential customers—whether it's advertising in newspapers and magazines, billboards along highways, flyers handed out at grocery stores; TV ads, social media posts on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter or SMS marketing .
• Promotion - The way you advertise your products to get customers interested in buying them (e.g., social media posts, billboards).
• Process - Processes and systems that help run your business smoothly (often referred to as operations). 
• Physical evidence - the physical place where your brand exists (a store) or the environment where the actual purchase takes place. 

Who created the 7Ps marketing mix model?

In the 1960s, Philip Kotler, who was a marketing professor at Northwestern University, developed the 4Ps model for marketing. This model included product, price and place. In his 1971 book "Marketing Management," Kotler expanded upon his original work with the 7Ps model to include promotion and people factors. The term marketing mix was used since the 1940s but wasn't popularized until the 1970s.

What does a successful marketing mix look like?

A successful marketing mix must be consistent with the company's goals and objectives, strengths and weaknesses, resources, target audience, and competitors. In addition to these factors, it must also be consistent with the overall marketing strategy for the product or service being marketed.

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Marketing Mix Examples: The Building Block of a Successful Brand

Learn about marketing mix and its examples through advertising campaigns of various leading brands..

• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="what">What is marketing mix?
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="origination">Origination of the 4P's
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="important">Why is marketing mix important?
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="examples">Examples of marketing mix
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="7">7P's of marketing mix
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="why">Why is it important?
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="write">Best practices to write marketing mix

Marketing mix can make or break a product’s success. We have put together the best marketing mix examples of leading brands for your understanding and a guide to help you craft an effective marketing mix strategy for your brand.

What is Marketing Mix?

Let's start with the Marketing mix definition before moving on to the guide.

A marketing mix is a blend of business strategies brought into execution that make up the overall marketing strategy for a product.

Typically, marketing mix collectively includes the 4 Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

With dynamic changes in the business environment, these four Ps were further expanded into the 7 P's of marketing mix to include: people, process, and physical evidence. 

The intersection of these factors leads to the formation of a distinct marketing strategy that is tailored for a brand. Having a marketing mix that is compatible with your brand values is crucial for the success of a company. 

Origination of the 4 P's of Marketing Mix

Prof. James Culliton was the first one to mention the marketing mix in the late 1940s. Later his colleague, Neil Broden published an article - The concept of the marketing mix .

Jerome McCarthy first introduced the concept of the 4 P's of marketing mix in his book “Basic marketing: A managerial approach”.

Why is Marketing Mix important?

Imagine if Tiffany diamonds were sold in Walmart.

Or McDonald’s was located in remote locations.

Or Red Bull was advertised on a kid’s Television channel.

Or an artist was the brand ambassador of Nike.

This would have gone terribly wrong, and these brands might not even be in the market today. 

The slightest angle change in a marketing mix can tremendously impact the market you are targeting. Every element must be selected carefully after rigorous market research and analysis.

A right marketing mix ensures you are -

creating a product that solves a problem

selling it at the correct price

promoting it to your target customers

distributing it at a place easily accessible by the consumers

All these factors need to work in tandem to ensure the creation of a well-oiled marketing engine.

Is Marketing Mix rigid in nature?

The marketing mix isn’t set in stone. It ebbs and flows in alignment with the dynamic changes in the business environment and company growth. Often a company might test various combinations of the marketing mix elements to settle on marketing tactics that give the highest returns.

With that let’s dive into the world of marketing mix with marketing examples from leading brands around the world to give you a practical understanding.

4 P's of Marketing Mix with Examples

A marketing plan must be based on thorough market research and analysis of the many factors of marketing. A marketing design without a solid blueprint is like aiming in the dark, you’ll never hit the target. Understanding the 4 P’s of marketing is crucial for devising a marketing scheme that hits home.

Here are the 4 P's of marketing mix with examples.

Product Marketing Mix

Product is at the core of all marketing strategies. The product attributes don’t only refer to tangible goods but also intangible service products and ideas. It is what a company has to offer to its customers.

A great product is at the center of a brand’s success. Noteworthy marketing tactics can get the product in front of the target customers and get them to try it once, but after that, the product is on its own. The product must have the potential to survive and thrive in the market.

The product must solve customers’ problems efficiently, and better than others in the market, otherwise, customers won’t buy it. The question is, what’s in it for them?

Product marketing refers to product benefits, market research, product features, design, quality, technology, and warranties.

To develop a product mix, a marketing manager takes into consideration the following questions:

Who is your target market?

What are their pain points or problems?

What quality product are they looking for?

What is your competitor’s offering?

How can you gain a competitive advantage over them?

How large is the target market?

What pain point are you solving?

Which product features and benefits solve that problem?

Apart from the above checklist, feedback from the customers about what they like or dislike about the product is taken further to mold the product to suit their needs.

This will help you craft customer-centric marketing instead of product-centric.

Product Marketing Mix Example

Apple 's unique selling proposition is its product marketing mix by producing products with innovative features, advanced technology, and sleek design. From their iconic iPhones to their ingenious MacBooks, Apple’s products are the perfect combination of form and function. Apple’s product mix includes more than just hardware. Their services and add-ons make their products irresistible. Customers have access to the world of entertainment and convenience with iTunes, iCloud, and Apple Music.

Apple treats its customers like a kind by providing a simple user interface, exceptional support, and warranty claims. Apple is a legendary marketing example everyone must take notes from.

Source: Apple Website

Source: Unsplash

Price Marketing Mix

Price is the money paid by the customers to own, access, or avail of your product. Pricing strategies must be profitable to the company. Prices are determined based on the cost incurred, the expected profit margin, and how much the customers are willing to pay.

Does your product solve a problem better than others, is it sold for an appropriate price, and is it worth the price? Based on your business strategy, product prices can be luxury, premium, or bargain price.

Price marketing mix elements include pricing strategy, payment terms, credit policy, discount, allowances, and payment mode.

To develop a pricing strategy, the marketing manager first determines:

The income range of their target consumer

Brand’s value perception by the customer

How much are they willing to pay?

How much do their competitors charge?

Do you want to adopt a luxury, bargain, or premium pricing strategy?

How will your price portray your brand?

Premium prices give the impression that the brand must be superior. The right price is the one that meets your profit margins and keeps more customers happy, a win-win situation.

Price Marketing Mix Examples

Coca-Cola uses a competitive pricing strategy for penetrative marketing. It is a pricing expert such that it matches the competitor’s prices head-on combined with a value-based pricing approach to push discounts for stimulating higher sales. The business is adaptable and it also changes its prices to meet local laws and market conditions.

Another example is Walmart which uses Everyday Low Prices (EDLP) pricing strategy that entails selling products at a low price to attract more customers, higher sales volume, and increase profits. Walmart does this by buying products in massive quantities from all over the world and use economies of scale to sell products at high discount rates depending on the demand.

Source: Walmart Website

Source: Tech Crunch

Place Marketing Mix

The third P, Place refers to the chain through which the products go from manufacturer to customer. This chain is determined based on who is the target audience, where will you find them, and how will you reach your product to them.

The quicker the goods travel from production to point of sale, the higher customer satisfaction.

Place mix determines the distribution channels and place where the product will be sold like online/eCommerce stores, physical locations like retail, wholesale, convenience stores, brand owned outlets. It is significant to research where your customers will be looking for your product and how to best serve them.

Place marketing mix elements include warehouse, transport, distribution channel, inventory control, and areas covered.

To determine the place marketing mix strategy, marketing managers find the answers to the following questions:

Where will your customers find your product?

Where will you sell your products?

Will they be available in eCommerce stores, retail stores, or brand store chains?

A well-optimized distribution channel is even more important for retail businesses. You can read our marketing mix case studies on Costco , Pepsi , or Airbnb to get more perspective on how they manage their distribution.

Place Marketing Mix Examples

McDonald’s has more than 36,000 franchises and company-owned outlets all across the globe. It also has drive-ins, online ordering through its app, and food delivery partners. Consumers can either dine at the restaurant itself or get a takeaway at their convenience. McDonald’s is located in easily accessible locations providing its customers serving tasty food quickly at low prices.

Source: McDonald's blog

Tiffany & Co is a high-end luxury jewelry brand. It sells its signature Tiffany True only in its stores creating exclusivity and an elite user experience.

Source: Harpers Bazaar

Promotion Marketing Mix

Promotion defines the strategies to make your potential customers aware of your brand. Simply put, how to get the word out about your product to your potential customers. Promotion marketing mix advertises, differentiates your product in the target market, and convinces your ideal customers to buy your product.

Promotional mix elements in the digital age include television ads, publicity, sales promotion, digital marketing, social media ads, personal selling, direct marketing, public relations, print advertising, search engine marketing, and online marketing.

Questions marketing managers ask when devising a promotion marketing mix strategy:

Where do your customers hang out online & offline?

Where will you promote your product?

What promotion tactical marketing tools will you use?

One needs to perform a lot of trial and error in devising promotional channel strategies. You can read this book to know many possible growth channels - Traction by Gabriel Weinberg

Promotion Marketing Mix Example

Red Bull spends extensively on promotions to stay at the top of its consumer's mind. 'Red Bull gives you wings' tagline has made a home in people’s minds. It’s impossible to plainly say it without dragging out the wings in a high-pitched voice. Red Bull promotes itself as a high-energy drink for intense activity. Its promotion strategy includes creative ads, digital marketing, content marketing, and sponsorship of extreme sports events .

Nike’s target buyers are athletes and people seeking a sporty and healthy lifestyle. It collaborates with high-profile sportspersons to promote its product line and maintain its brand image of being a premium sportswear brand. Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, and Kobe Bryant are a few of Nike’s brand ambassadors. Managers must study Nike's marketing example to devise their promotion strategy.

Source: Footwear News

Source: WWD

The 4 Ps of marketing work in unison to create a brand’s marketing strategy. It’s like a four-legged chair. If one leg is of the wrong height or broken, the chair won’t stay upright.

As businesses became more dynamic, more elements were added to the 4 Ps of marketing to derive an effective marketing plan to meet today’s business needs. 

What are the 7 P’s of Marketing Mix?

The 4 Ps were expanded into the 7 P's of marketing mix to keep up with the modern business environment. The additional P’s are Physical evidence, people, and process.

Let’s learn about each one of them with marketing examples.

Physical Evidence Marketing Mix

It is the look and feel of your product and brand. It includes exterior design, interior decor, ambiance, atmosphere, furnishing, packaging, employee appearance, and overall experience. 

Physical Evidence Marketing Mix Example

Starbucks serves exquisite coffees in a soothing ambiance. It positions itself as a place where you can work, interact, or hang out in a peaceful atmosphere with utmost ease. The experience Starbucks offers is what makes users choose it over others.

Paperboat’s packaging is vibrant and colorful with unique shapes and sizes because its consumers are children. Kids are attracted to colorful things that catch their eye in an instant. This way Paperboat distinguishes itself in a sea of competitors.

Source: Elephant design

People Marketing Mix

People marketing mix refers to the people involved in the development, distribution, and selling of the product. Personnel is the backbone of a company because they represent the company in front of its consumers and leave an impression. Hiring the right people, and training them thoroughly to match the quality of your brand is crucial for a brand’s success. The people marketing mix includes employees, service providers, sales executives, delivery staff, and work culture.

People Marketing Mix Example

Taj is a world leader in hospitality. It keeps customer satisfaction at the forefront. They train their personnel, right from the front desk to managerial staff, rigorously to provide the best customer experience.

Source: Taj Hotels

Process marketing mix

The process consists of the direct and indirect activities involved in the manufacturing, delivery, and consumption of the product. It also includes customer feedback to solve any inconvenience and give consumers what they need. The efficiency of the process decides the performance of a product.

Process Marketing Mix Example

Starbucks holds customer feedback in high esteem to refine its product offering. Starbucks' “My Starbucks Idea” platform was in operation for nearly 10 years before being retired. It provided consumers with a better way to share their concerns and submit requests. The aim was to give consumers exactly what they want while building a relationship and a loyal customer base.

Source: Braineet

Marketing mix elements work in agreement with each other to formulate the right marketing design for a brand. You cannot focus on a single element and call it a day. If there are internal discrepancies between the elements then those must be eliminated to provide the best value to the customer.

Why should you care about Marketing Mix?

The marketing mixes work in unison aiding each other. They are interrelated like the tires of a car, driving the company forward.

A correct marketing mix ensures you target the right buyers, make them aware of your product, position yourself distinctly, and offer a product they want, at a price they are willing to pay, and at a place easily accessible to them.

Each element decides the strategy for other elements. For example, a luxury product with a premium price cannot be sold at indie shops that follow cost-sensitive pricing strategies.

Best Practices to write a Marketing Mix Strategy

Use these best practices to write an effective marketing mix strategy for your product:

Clear, measurable, time-specific and stretch goals for a marketing campaign improve marketing success rate as one works towards a defined outcome. Is your aim to attract more customers, get more sales, differentiate yourself from competitors, enhance brand image, or increase brand awareness?

Perform Market Research

Market research gives a direction and validation to your marketing mix as to whom you need to sell in the first place. It helps define a target audience, finalize product's features, get inspired from competition's promotion tactics, etc. The result is a customer-centric product stand that has a distinct unique selling proposition backed by research.

Incorporate customer feedback

Are your product's benefits truly aligning with your customer's expectations? What is the perceived value of your product in front of your potential customers ? Can you increase your product pricing? Should you invest in search engine marketing?

All such present and future product decisions can be made by actively taking customer feedback. You also get a clear data if your marketing mix work on your target audience as strategized.

Get started with your brand's marketing strategy today

The marketing mix is crucial to successfully market your product and achieve marketing goals. Effective marketing mix results in higher customer satisfaction, larger market share, increased sales, and finally soaring profit margins. Now that you have a clear understanding of the marketing mix, it’s time for you to devise a marketing mix plan for your product and achieve those banger sales and profit goals.

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What Is A Marketing Mix? The 4 Ps of Marketing Explained

Developing a strong marketing strategy is key to long-term, sustainable success for any business, and a marketing mix serves as an important part of this strategy. A marketing mix is a combination of elements that serve as the foundation for every single form of marketing or promotion your business engages in.

In this article, we’ll explain the elements that make up a marketing mix, the roles they play and how you can create an effective marketing mix as part of a broader marketing strategy.

Marketing Mix Explained

A marketing mix is a framework that companies can use to market their product or service more effectively. It serves to provide focus and direction to a marketing strategy, with four key elements serving as pillars. The key elements of a marketing mix are:

• Promotion. 

These elements are known as the 4 Ps of Marketing and are the centre of any marketing mix. Over time, however, the 4 Ps of marketing have evolved significantly – something that we will also delve into later on.

Why Is A Marketing Mix Important?

By incorporating a marketing mix into their overall strategy, businesses can:

• Align their marketing efforts with their long-term objectives more clearly
• Better understand and cater to customer needs
• Understand how to differentiate themselves from competitors
• More easily adapt to dynamic market conditions
• Optimise resource allocation and decision-making

All in all, a marketing mix is a holistic approach that enables all your marketing decisions to be grounded in logic and planning. This ultimately nurtures long-term success.

Marketing Mix vs. Marketing Plan vs. Marketing Strategy

The terms marketing mix, marketing strategy and marketing plan can get confusing – they’re related but distinct marketing concepts. It’s important to have all three in place for sustainable business development. We’ve already defined a marketing mix, but here’s what a marketing plan and marketing strategy mean:

Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy helps clarify the necessary steps to achieve your marketing goals and effectively promote your business. It establishes the long-term framework that shapes: 

• How you define your value proposition  
• Your company’s brand positioning 
•  How you intend to reach your target market 

Marketing Plan

On the other hand, a marketing plan focuses on the shorter-term aspects of marketing efforts, such as specific campaigns. It serves as the execution of the overall marketing strategy.

Best marketing practice is to develop your marketing strategy first, define your marketing mix and then create your marketing plans. If you’d like to learn more, we have a handy guide on creating a marketing strategy .

The Origin of Marketing Mixes

The concept of a marketing mix and the 4 Ps of marketing dates back to the 1960s, when professor Jerome McCarthy popularised it in his 1960 book ‘Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach.’ Although the term marketing mix had been gaining traction since the 1940s, McCarthy was the one to clearly define the pillars of a marketing mix with the 4 Ps of marketing.

In ‘Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach’, McCarthy put the concept simply: “Marketing mix is a combination of all of the factors at the command of a marketing manager to satisfy the target market.”

The concept quickly caught on and marked a notable shift in marketing strategies – shifting the focus from individual tactics to a more holistic and strategic viewpoint. By clearly defining each element of the marketing mix, businesses could create a cohesive strategy that addressed the complexities of the market and consumer behaviour.

How Marketing Mixes Have Evolved Over Time

It’s been over 60 years since the concept of marketing mixes was introduced – since then, the business market has changed significantly with globalisation and the rise of digital marketing. The access to analytics and better tools and resources has also driven a more data-driven approach to marketing.

Marketing mixes have had to adapt accordingly – marketing experts have now expanded the initial 4 Ps into ten key elements. The modern 10 Ps of marketing are:

• Physical evidence
• Positioning
• Personalisation

The 10 Ps OF Marketing, A Break-Down

Now that we’ve given you plenty of context, here’s what each of the 10 Ps of marketing means:

Effective marketing starts with a deep understanding of what it is you’re offering your target market. A product can be tangible, like a piece of apparel or equipment, or intangible, like a service or subscription. What matters most for successful products is that they fill a market gap and are unique enough to stand out.

To define the first P in your marketing mix, you need to ask yourself:

• What need does your product or service meet for your target market?
• How is it different from your competitor’s product?
• Where does your product stand in the market? Is it a high-end luxury brand, a niche offering, or widely accessible to appeal to a broad audience?

Your Unique Value Proposition

Ultimately, ‘Price’ in a marketing mix aims to clearly define your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) and answer the fundamental question, ‘Why should potential customers choose you?’ Your UVP should be at the core of all your marketing communications.

Price refers to the monetary value customers are willing to pay for your product or service. Much consideration and research needs to go into defining your Price – it directly influences your product’s perceived value and positioning in the market. Choosing the right price significantly impacts your business’s revenue, profitability, and market share.

You have to consider things like production costs, how much your competitors are charging, and how much you can afford to mark down your product during sales promotion periods.

The Different Pricing Strategies

Additionally, price refers to the pricing models and strategies you choose. Common pricing strategies include:

• Penetration Pricing: Setting a lower price initially to gain a large portion of the market share quickly.
• Skimming: Setting a high price initially to recoup launch costs and increase perceived value.
• Value-Based Pricing: Setting prices based purely on the customer’s perceived value to increase customer loyalty.
• Dynamic Pricing: Adjusting prices based on real-time market conditions like demand surges or dips.
• Geographic pricing: Your prices vary based on location to maximise profits in different target markets.

The Different Pricing Models

Once you choose a pricing strategy, you have to decide on your pricing model – how you’ll charge your customers. This is especially relevant if you’re selling a service or software. Here are some common price models:

• Freemium: This is a popular subscription-based model popular among software as a service (SaaS) companies. It means offering a basic version of your product for free, hoping customers will eventually pay to access more features.
• Hourly Pricing: Commonly used by freelancers or contractors. This means you charge hourly for your labour. The downside is that it requires documentation to justify and a high level of trust from the client.
• Fixed Pricing: This means charging a flat fee per project instead of a direct exchange of money for time.

Place in a marketing mix refers to how your customers will get your product and your chosen distribution channels. Here are some key factors you have to consider when defining ‘place’:

• Will your product be available in a physical location, like retail stores?
• Will your product be available from third-party retailers?
• Will you sell product or service online?
• What do delivery logistics look like?
• Where is your target audience most likely to shop?
• Is your product available locally, nationally or internationally?

Place encompasses all things distribution: The idea is to determine how you’ll make your product available to your target market in the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantity. To do this effectively, you need to understand your target market and how to best reach them and be aware of any limitations you might face because of supply chain issues or logistics.

4. Promotion

Promotion refers to how you plan to successfully market your product to your target consumers and generate interest from potential customers. Promotion covers:

• The marketing tools you’ll use
• Your plan for online marketing campaigns
• How you’ll handle public relations
• Who’s in charge of your marketing communication
• How to drive traffic to your retail locations

Essentially, this stage is when you decide your promotional mix and how you’ll communicate your marketing messages. In the digital age, your options are almost limitless. There’s email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, television commercials – it can be overwhelming trying to choose.

The key is to conduct target market analysis and only choose to market on the channels that will resonate with your target audience most effectively. This will ensure you spend your money where it matters most and don’t spread yourself too thin.

The Extended Marketing Mix

Product, price, place and promotion are the original marketing mix. However, as we explained above, marketing science has evolved a lot over the past 60 years, and so have the key elements of a marketing mix. Here are the six additional Ps of marketing that marketing experts have put forward:

In an extended marketing mix, People refers to the human side of your business: the employees and sales force that make up your business. Defining how you want your employees to present and act is especially important if you have a physical store where the customer experience your employees provide is everything.

Here’s what People defines in the extended 10 Ps of Marketing:

• Customer service: The behaviour, attitudes and policies you have in place for your customer service team.
• Employee Behaviour: How employees present themselves and their behaviour during customer interactions. This includes factors like professionalism, communication skills, and the overall demeanour of staff members.
• Company culture: The culture and values that influence how employees approach their work and interact with customers. A positive company culture can contribute to a customer-centric mindset among employees.
• Employee satisfaction: How you plan to keep your employees satisfied and motivated in their work through employee satisfaction initiatives. 

Process in the expanded marketing mix refers to the systems, procedures, and methods you’ll institute to promote and deliver your product to your target audience. Having well-defined processes in place helps ensure you can consistently deliver your product at a high level. 

These processes might include: 

• Quality Assurance: The processes and mechanisms you have in place to ensure the product you deliver is consistently high quality.
• Efficiency and Productivity: How you plan to optimise efficiency, both internally and in delivering your product.
• Technology Integration: The tools and software you’ll use for smoother processes, like booking software and staff scheduling platforms.
• Feedback Mechanisms: How you’ll receive feedback from your target customers, whether it’s through surveys, reviews or another form of communication.

7. Physical evidence

Physical evidence refers to the tangible touch point a potential customer encounters before choosing to buy your product. Physical and sensory evidence can make all the difference to the customer’s perception of your business and product. Here are the things to consider:

• Store presentation: The layout, cleanliness and overall feel of your physical stores.
• Branding and signage: How you’ll ensure consistent and memorable branding across your physical assets.
• Employee presentation: The uniforms, name tags, style, and any other visual cues that impact the customer’s perception of professionalism and competence.

8. Packaging

Packaging refers to the box or wrapping your product comes in. While it may seem like an inconsequential detail when compared to the product itself, the packaging of your product can hugely influence a customer’s confidence in your product and their decision to buy. Packaging is more than just a box, however. It also refers to: 

• The overall presentation of your product
• The visual merchandising of your product
• The sustainability of your physical packaging
• How well the packaging protects your project during transport

Packaging also includes any visual assets used to convey your branding, like business cards, your website, and staff presentation. Consistent and visually appealing branding across anything that packages information or products will increase brand memorability and help you stand out.

9. Positioning

Positioning refers to where your brand stands in the market compared to your competitors. It involves strategically creating a unique image and identity for your brand in the minds of your target audience. You can achieve positive positioning by establishing a distinct position from your competitors, emphasising the specific attributes or values that set your product apart.

Is your product more eco-friendly than most? Is it cheaper? Do you offer a higher level of customer service? By answering these questions, you can position yourself in the market and create a unique image for your brand that resonates with your target audience.

10. Personalisation

Personalisation refers to how you plan to tailor your marketing to individual sectors of your target market and buyer personas to resonate with them more effectively. 

In the digital age, personalisation in marketing has become easier than ever. Most search engines and social media platforms allow you to target your advertising to specific demographics, meaning you can tailor your messaging to different target audience segments.

You can also personalise your marketing messages by tailoring them to potential customers at different stages of the buying cycle, increasing your chances of conversion. For example, you can leverage email marketing and website analytics to reach out to customers who have abandoned their shopping carts and offer them a discount code.

The Value of A Marketing Mix

Clearly outlining your marketing mix through these ten elements will serve as a handy anchor to your business’s essential values and goals when developing your marketing strategy. The 10 Ps of marketing are also highly valuable if you plan on out-sourcing any of your marketing efforts or you need to pitch to investors – the 10 Ps can clearly convey the direction you want to take and how you plan to get there to any external parties.

Canberra Marketing Agency

At Futuretheory, a Canberra digital marketing agency, we’ve helped over 100 clients reach more people and drive more conversions through our website, marketing and design services. 

We pride ourselves on our strategy-backed, data-driven approach to marketing that consistently delivers tangible results to our clients across Australia. Our experienced team can take the hassle out of marketing, whether it’s through logo design, branding, SEO, copywriting, or advertising.

We also offer a comprehensive range of website services, including web design, development, hosting, and maintenance. If you need help growing your business online, defining your marketing strategy or reaching more people, contact us today.

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The 4 P’s of Marketing Mix and how to master it in today's world (updated with example and template)

This article addresses how to use one of the oldest marketing concepts in today's online world: "The Marketing Mix," which is based on the 4 P's: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

If you’re ready to take your marketing seriously, you’ll need to start with a marketing plan. A classic marketing concept called “The Marketing Mix” or “The 4 P’s” of Marketing is a perfect place to start.

The original concept of the 4 P's marketing mix

The original marketing mix, or 4 P's, as originally proposed by marketer and academic Jerome E. McCarthy , provides a framework for marketing decision-making. Effectively summing up the 4 pillars of the business cycle, McCarthy's marketing mix has since become one of the most enduring and widely accepted frameworks in business.

The essential base ingredients of the 4 P’s are: Product , Price , Place and Promotion . While this combination doesn’t appear to be rocket science, a company’s ability or lack thereof to embrace and implement the 4 P’s can make all the difference between thriving and failing as a business.

Each of the 4 P’s build upon and interact with one another, and are governed by both internal and external factors within the business itself, and our ever-changing marketplace. The 4 P’s of marketing primary purpose is to help us take into consideration potential roadblocks to widespread product adaptation and ongoing success.

So let’s get to them, shall we?

4 P's of marketing in simple and familiar terms:

A PRODUCT is a service or good offered to meet consumer interest or demand. It could come in the form of occupational therapy or a fidget spinner - choices are only limited to the imagination, BUT, are highly dependent on marketplace curiosity or need.

PRICE is the cost people pay for a product. This includes base costs (materials, manufacturing, and shipping) plus expenses (rent, office supplies, healthcare, etc.). While you should always look to the competition, a smart business will tap into what people will actually pay for it. That's the only thing that counts. If you can't rise above your bottom line and make your target profit, then it’s a losing proposition.

PLACE is the “home” where the product resides, and that “home” can live in many different channels, such as a physical store display, a newspaper, radio or TV ad, or a website or blog spotlight. Really, a place is anywhere you can get your product in front of your target customers that compliments your budget, including the price point.

PROMOTION is product exposure and public relations efforts via advertising (through the channels mentioned above) as well as word of mouth, direct mail, email marketing and social media. Promotion is a communication tool that encapsulates the first 3 P’s by putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time, with the goal of it being irresistible to customers.

The 4 P's example and template for a service business

The Marketing Mix of “HVAC Plumber” reflects a real life example of how a service company covers the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) in their marketing strategy.

“HVAC plumber” (a fictitious company) provides heating and cooling services in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

HVAC Plumber marketing mix elements strategy and example:

HVAC Plumber offers industry standard services, but also innovates to provide more value to our customers and captures more of the market. We are insured, licensed and provide warranties for our work. Our high quality services and focus on a pleasant customer experience helps us get repeat clients, referrals, and builds our reputation. Also, our motto is: “Leave the place cleaner than we found it” - so you’ll always see us with a broom in our hands before we leave.

At present, the following are the main categories of HVAC Plumber products:

• Furnace installation and repair
• Water heater maintenance, installation and repair
• Air conditioning installation, maintenance and repair
• Complete plumbing system design and installation
• Drain, sink and toilet unclogging and jet rodding and repairs

Our extra value added products:

• Emergency services
• Indoor air quality testing services
• Air duct and dryer vent cleaning services
• Warranty services
• Equipment sales

Our reputation and successful marketing generates more demand than we can handle, so it allows us to charge premium for our services. We train our service technicians to upsell our other services. We also have a customer loyalty program in place to reward our long-term clients with better rates and provide coupons to first time clients. We also seek partnerships with organizations such as: homeowner associations, insurance companies, builders and general contractors, and offer exclusive pricing options based on quantity.

The company has offices in downtown Chicago, but walk-in customers are unusual. We are physically represented by our company vans, uniforms and warranty stickers. We consistently attend industry trade shows, and belong to the Chicago Chamber of Commerce.

We nurture partnerships with our equipment vendors, participate in their trainings, and have certifications, which allow us to be listed “licensed technicians” on their websites. We serve the Chicagoland Area, which is about a 30 mile radius from our warehouse, but we do make travel exceptions for long-term clients and bigger projects.

Our company website is the most important communication tool, and is a place where our clients learn about our services and make initial contact. We invest a great deal of money and time to keep it updated and useful to our audience. We plan to expand our website to include ecommerce and make some of the package services, equipment and accessories available for purchase online. None of our competitors are doing this at the moment, so we’ll take advantage of being pioneers in this regard.

Most new business comes through our website and we focus all of our promotion efforts to drive more traffic to it. Our promotional mix is as follows:

• Search engine optimization
• Paid traffic
• Social media marketing
• Content marketing
• Email marketing

Our value proposition statement

HVAC Plumber is an industry-leading HVAC and plumbing service provider serving the Chicago area since 1999. We specialize in new installations, repairs, and 24 hour emergency services.

Start with 4 P's of marketing template

Check out our 4 P's of marketing template to help you work through your first few ideas.

But why stop there?

The 7 P’s of marketing mix

Since the inception of the original 4 P’s of marketing, marketing experts have expounded upon the mix to include three additional P’s to enhance brand exposure and sales performance.

These additional P’s include: People , Process and Physical evidence .

PEOPLE have always been at the epicenter of the business world. Whether it’s the company visionaries, the movers and shakers, or the daily doers, unless (or until) commerce is fully automated, you’re only as good as the people who keep the business operational and flowing. And believe you me, customers are quick to notice when there’s a glitch in the matrix.

PROCESSES ensure consistent service delivery to every customer, at any time of day, on any given day. And, a successful business incorporates scenarios where customer preferences can be accommodated to provide them a unique experience.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE – Almost all services include physical proof of a transaction, even if the bulk of what the consumer bought isn’t tangible. It’s something the customer can hold onto and recall about working with you. Physical evidence also describes consistent branding across communication channels.

How can you actually use this?

How the 4 P’s apply in today’s online marketing

The how’s and why’s of how we approach marketing have become much more dynamic since the inception of the internet. However, the driving factor is still and should always remain: PEOPLE. Actually, it’s more about people than ever before. Having an honest marketing approach has never been more important and is both emotionally and financially rewarding if you do it right.

PRODUCT and how it lives online versus the shelf

It seems like not much has changed as far as the product or services goes, right? Wrong. No matter what type of product you offer, the landscape shifted majorly to the consumer benefit. The majority of customers now prefer to shop online, and perform in-depth research before making their buying decisions.

Besides the original, product-related marketing factors such as: product quality and design, branding, packaging, returns and guarantees, in your marketing plan, you should also consider NEW factors.

User-centric customer support - your product now has a digital voice. And it must talk to your audience and be both personalized and timely. Not only across all the common channels such as phone or email, but also should be proactively involved in social media. Resource: Social media customer service 101: the beginner's guide

New PRICING models to consider

Pricing your product or service is never an easy task. It sure helps if you can find a unique product positioning on the market, otherwise you fall into price comparison wars with your competition. And, to compare prices has never been easier than today. The original Marketing Mix suggests considering pricing strategy and tactics, discount structure, payment terms and options for both customers and distributors.

Competition pricing research - this is an in-depth review of the pricing models of your direct competitors. In comparing products, you should focus worldwide. With local services, of course, should compare within your own service area. Remember that you don’t have to anchor your pricing based on competition, but it helps to know the market.

Shipping and handling strategy - it’s not an obvious, but very important factor in online sales conversions no matter the item price. Offering free shipping is one of the most effective purchase incentives. Resource: How to offer free shipping and still make money

"9 out of 10 online shoppers consider free shipping as one of the main reasons why they shop at a particular online store. To offer free shipping is not a new thing, thanks to Amazon it became essential running an online store. The main question now is how to make it profitable. It looks impossible, but with the right approach - offering it most, not all, of the time, setting a flat shipping or order threshold, it is possible."

Diana Bukevicius - Scube Marketing

Product positioning - I know I’m repeating myself, but I have to. Positioning is strongly engraved into each pillar of The Marketing Mix. As far as pricing goes, having strong niche positioning eliminates the number of competitors that your product or service can be compared with and it opens up an opportunity to go for value pricing . Resource: Everything you need to know about pricing

Upsell strategy - this is an underestimated source of cash flow. It’s always easier to sell to the people that already bought something from you and were happy with the product. It can be an additional items or warranties, maintenance or a product upgrade.

PLACE for marketing is now on the mobile screens

Back in the 1940’s “place” was all about brick and mortar. Location, distribution, and logistics are still part of the process, but it heavily shifted from the marketing department to operations. No doubt you’ll boost sales if your product gets featured in physical Walmart stores, but you also can sell at Walmart Marketplace online with way less effort for the approval process. Same goes for Amazon. Online selling has undoubtedly taken over as the place to peddle your wares. Resource: How to sell on Walmart marketplace in 7 easy steps

Website - this is by far your most important marketing piece. It’s your 24/7 storefront and your sales rep that never sleeps. Any marketing efforts that you take will end up on your website. I mentioned 3rd party sources like Walmart Marketplace or Amazon, but I still highly recommend you focus on your own website first and use other sources as secondary. Why? Because you own it and you control it.

Any 3rd party retailer could change their policies tomorrow and you might be out of business. Plus, websites grow more powerful over time if supported by thoughtful and consistent marketing decisions. When you build your website, the decisions on design, structure and content should be made based on your promotional strategies.

3rd party platforms - Your audience is on or a few of these platforms already. Identify those platforms and utilize them. It can take the form of direct eCommerce platforms like Amazon, or it can be social channels like LinkedIn or Facebook etc.

PROMOTION is in your inbox

Search engine optimization (SEO), social media, email marketing and paid search. I hear that Super Bowl ads are worth their weight in gold, but if you can afford a Superbowl ad, you are on the wrong blog!

Jokes aside, make sure your marketing strategy is built around driving traffic to your website and converting it to leads or sales.

Traffic generation - getting targeted visitors to come to your website is the ultimate #1 goal. There are numerous ways you can achieve that, and they’re all worth considering:

Search engine optimization (SEO) - is the practice driving traffic to your website through organic search engine results by optimizing (making relevant) your website for targeted keyphrases. SEO is an ongoing process that requires patience and consistent efforts.

Paid search - in other words - “bought traffic.” Platforms like Google AdWords, Bing Ads or Facebook Ads allows you to buy highly targeted traffic in an auction-type of fashion. It’s typically based on “per click” pricing, where each visitors cost you x amount of dollars.

Social media marketing - is the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. If you sell to people then it’s a great idea to invest time and effort (and sometimes money) into one or several social media sites. That’s where the people hang-out these days. Resource: Welcome to the beginner's guide to social media!

Email marketing - is the modern equivalent of oldschool direct mail, I believe. Even if one more email in our inbox is the last thing we want or need - email is still one of the best performing marketing tools. Resource: A beginner’s guide to successful email marketing Resource: A comprehensive guide to email marketing platforms

Conversion rate optimization - converting website visitors into leads is the ultimate goal #2 to achieve. Firstly, to be able to calculate conversions you need to have Google Analytics or other tracking system integrated to your website. Conversion rate optimization are an ongoing process where you optimize your website and measure the outcome looking for the optimal version of each page. Resource: Conversion optimization made simple: a step-by-step guide Resource: Learn Google Analytics with free online courses

2 extra P’s from Angle180

The team at Angle180 takes the “4 P's of marketing (Plus 3)” two steps further, to include Positioning and Positive Reviews.

Positioning - again and again. Positioning is a fundamental piece of your marketing plan and your overall business success. Essentially, if you answer all the questions related to each P you’ll arrive to your business positioning statement.

Positioning is how you differentiate your product or service from your competitors in your niche market.

A good positioning statement is the first thing people read when they visit your website. Typically, it’s a 7-10 word sentence on your Home Page that succinctly answers:

There’s a science behind positioning, and it’s wise to research how others in your field describe themselves.

Positive reviews - positive online reviews are pretty self explanatory, but I recommend creating a strategy for collecting positive reviews, as well as dealing with negative ones.

Unfortunately, it’s human nature to take positive experiences for granted and feel revengeful about the negative ones.

Reviews definitely affect local search rankings and customer buying decisions.

Local consumer review survey by BrightLocal reveals the importance of reviews:

97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2017

85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

49% of consumers need at least a four-star rating before they choose to use a business

Responding to reviews is more important than ever, with 30% naming this as key when judging local businesses

4 P's of Marketing Mix in a slideshow presentation (PPT) and downloadable PDF

Here is a PDF version of 4 P's of marketing presentation.

Our conclusion? The original 4 P’s of the marketing mix withstand the test of time

There is one common trait to all classic things - they never get old or obsolete. So, even with all the changes that technology has brought us, the 80 year concept of The 4 P’s of marketing mix are still relevant and applicable today. Marketing platforms and tools have certainly changed, but the foundation is rock solid. And, let’s hope it always remains personalized and people-driven.

I'm Sarunas Budrikas, CEO of Angle180, a B2B marketing company delivering results through high performance web design and traffic generation.

You can also find me on LinkedIn and Twitter .

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7 Ps of Marketing and How They Apply to Your Marketing Mix Looking for picture perfect marketing formulas that will likely outlast and adapt to any trend? Read on.

By Brian Tracy Apr 26, 2023

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

No matter what industry your business operates in, there is competition to outperform and ever-evolving trends to keep up with.

You must find a way to get your business to stand out. Whether you are trying to build a name for your business or maintain its stature, marketing is the key to getting people's attention and showing them what you can do.

Marketing strategies are roadmaps that allow your company to grow brand awareness and boost consumer engagement, relationships, and trust. It takes time, effort, and sometimes budget to build a marketing plan; however, it can pay huge dividends.

Once you've developed your marketing strategy, there is a "Seven P Formula" you should use to continually evaluate and reevaluate your business activities. The formula can help you create a system of checks and balances for physical evidence that your business is constantly evolving to ensure your marketing efforts reach your target audience .

With technology as an ever-evolving factor, updating your marketing campaigns to include more than just word of mouth is essential. Nowadays, you can use many distribution channels, like digital marketing, social media, and podcasts.

No matter which platforms you choose as your marketing tools, the seven Ps can serve as tried and true basic marketing tactics that you can adapt into your marketing efforts to best fit your business.

The 7 Ps of Marketing include:

• Positioning

Read on to learn more about the 7 Ps.

To begin with, develop the habit of looking at your product as though you were an outside marketing consultant brought in to help your company decide whether or not it's in the right business at this time. Ask critical questions such as, "Is your current product or service, or mix of products and services, appropriate and suitable for the market and the customers of today? Is this product offering any remedy to a customer's pain point?"

Whenever you're having difficulty selling as much of your products or services as you'd like, you need to develop the habit of assessing your business honestly and asking, "Are these the right products or services for our customers today?"

Is there any product or service you're offering today that, knowing what you now know, you would not bring out again today? Compared to your competitors, is your product or service superior in some significant way to anything else available? If so, what is it? If not, could you develop an area of superiority? Should you be offering this product or service at all in the current marketplace?

The second P in the formula is price. Develop the habit of continually examining and reexamining the pricing strategy of the products and services you sell to make sure they're still appropriate to the realities of the current market. Sometimes you need to lower your prices. At other times, it may be appropriate to raise your prices.

And other times, you need to research the competition to see what similar products in your industry space are going for, to ensure you are listing competitive pricing. Many companies have found that the profitability of certain new products or services doesn't justify the amount of effort and resources that go into producing them. By raising their prices, they may lose a percentage of their customers, but the remaining percentage generates a profit on every sale. Could this be appropriate for you?

Sometimes you need to change your terms and conditions of sale. Sometimes, by spreading your price over a series of months or years, you can sell far more than you are today, and the interest you can charge will more than make up for the delay in cash receipts. Sometimes you can combine products and services together with special offers and special promotions. Sometimes you can include free additional items that cost you very little to produce but make your product prices appear far more attractive to your customers.

In business, as in nature, whenever you experience resistance or frustration in any part of your sales or marketing plan, be open to revisiting that area. Be open to the possibility that your current pricing structure is not ideal for the current market. Be open to the need to revise your prices, if necessary, to remain competitive, to survive and thrive in a fast-changing marketplace.

Related: How to Create a Marketing Plan - Entrepreneur.com

3. Promotion

The third habit in marketing and sales is to think in terms of promotion all the time. Promotion includes all the ways you tell your target market about your products or services and how you then market and sell to them.

Small changes in the way you promote and sell your products based on segmentation can lead to dramatic changes and booms in your results. Even small changes in your advertising can lead immediately to higher sales. Experienced copywriters can often increase the response rate from advertising by 500 percent by simply changing the headline on an advertisement.

Large and small companies in every industry continually experiment with different ways of advertising, promoting, and selling their products and services. Right now? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) , is meant to improve the quality and quantity of traffic to a website.

But no matter what the favored method of the time, there is one tried and true rule. Whatever method of marketing and sales you're using today will, sooner or later, stop working. Sometimes it will stop working for reasons you know, and sometimes it will be for reasons you don't know. In either case, your methods of marketing and sales will eventually stop working, and you'll have to develop new sales, marketing and advertising approaches, offerings, and strategies.

While many might guess that email marketing and Facebook ads are today's most popular marketing activities, much of the market has already moved on to new methods.

The top five advertising techniques in 2022 include:

• Sound-free, short-form video ads.
• Advertising on mobile games.
• Machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• Collecting and advertising third-party data.
• LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

The fourth P in the extended marketing mix is the place where your product or service is actually sold. Develop the habit of reviewing and reflecting upon the exact physical location where the customer meets the salesperson. Sometimes a change in place can lead to a rapid increase in sales.

You can sell your product in many different places. Some companies use direct selling, sending their salespeople out to personally meet and talk with the prospect. Some sell by telemarketing. Some sell through catalogs or mail order. Some sell at trade shows or in retail establishments. Some sell in joint ventures with other similar products or services. Some companies use manufacturers' representatives or distributors. Many companies use a combination of one or more of these methods.

In each case, the entrepreneur must make the right choice about the very best location or place for the customer to receive essential buying information on the product or service needed to make a buying decision. What is yours? In what way should you change it? Where else could you offer your products or services?

5. Packaging

The fifth element of the marketing mix is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of your physical product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect. Remember, people form their first impression about you within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of your company. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of your product or service can often lead to completely different reactions from your customers.

With regard to the packaging of your company, your product or service, you should think in terms of everything customer experience —what they see from the first moment of contact with your company through the purchasing process. Consider branded packaging to make an impactful first impression.

If your customer begins experiencing your brand with an eye-catching design, they are more likely to remember that experience with fond associations. Including your business logo and social media handles is another great addition to custom packaging that can invite customers to engage with your brand and promote repeat interactions.

Packaging refers to the way your product or service appears from the outside. Packaging also refers to your people and how they dress and groom. It refers to your offices, your waiting rooms, your brochures, your correspondence and every single visual element about your company. Everything counts. Everything helps or hurts. Everything affects your customer's confidence about dealing with you.

When IBM started under the guidance of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., he very early concluded that fully 99 percent of the visual contact a customer would have with his company, at least initially, would be represented by IBM salespeople. Because IBM was selling relatively sophisticated high-tech equipment, Watson knew customers would have to have a high level of confidence in the credibility of the salesperson. He therefore instituted a dress and grooming code that became an inflexible set of rules and regulations within IBM.

As a result, every salesperson was required to look like a professional in every respect. Every element of their clothing-including dark suits, dark ties, white shirts, conservative hairstyles, shined shoes, clean fingernails-and every other feature gave off the message of professionalism and competence. One of the highest compliments a person could receive was, "You look like someone from IBM."

6. Positioning

The next P is positioning. You should develop the habit of thinking continually about how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers. How do people think and talk about you when you're not present? How do people think and talk about your company? What positioning do you have in your market, in terms of the specific words people use when they describe you and your offerings to others?

In the famous book by Al Reis and Jack Trout, Positioning , the authors point out that how you are seen and thought about by your customers is the critical determinant of your success in a competitive marketplace. Attribution theory says that most customers think of you in terms of a single attribute, either positive or negative. Sometimes it's "service." Sometimes it's "excellence." Sometimes it's "quality engineering," as with Mercedes Benz. Sometimes it's "the ultimate driving machine," as with BMW. In every case, how deeply entrenched that attribute is in the minds of your customers and prospective customers determines how readily they'll buy your product or service and how much they'll pay.

Develop the habit of thinking about how you could improve your positioning. Begin by determining the position you'd like to have. If you could create the ideal impression in the hearts and minds of your customers, what would it be? What would you have to do in every customer interaction to get your customers to think and talk about in that specific way? What changes do you need to make in the way you interact with customers today in order to be seen as the very best choice for the customer needs of tomorrow?

The final P of the marketing mix is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales, marketing strategies, and activities.

It's amazing how many entrepreneurs and businesspeople will work extremely hard to think through every element of the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and then pay little attention to the fact that every single decision and policy has to be carried out by a specific person, in a specific way. Your ability to select, recruit, hire and retain the proper people, with the skills and abilities to do the job you need to have done, is more important than everything else put together.

In his best-selling book, Good to Great , Jim Collins discovered the most important factor applied by the best companies was that they first of all "got the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus." Once these companies had hired the right people, the second step was to "get the right people in the right seats on the bus."

To be successful in business, you must develop the habit of thinking in terms of exactly who is going to carry out each task and responsibility. In many cases, it's not possible to move forward until you can attract and put the right person into the right position. Many of the best business plans ever developed sit on shelves today because the [people who created them] could not find the key people who could execute those plans.

Excerpted from Million Dollar Habits

The Ps of marketing

Marketing is essential whether you run an eCommerce business, a physical store, a small business, or a large corporation. While trends may evolve, the 7Ps of marketing will likely remain true and evolve with any new trend.

Remember, as products, markets, customers and needs change rapidly, you must continually revisit the seven Ps marketing model to ensure you're on track and achieving the maximum results possible for you in today's marketplace.

Looking for more marketing resources? Explore Entrepreneur's Marketing Hub here to help grow your business .

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How to use the 7Ps Marketing Mix

What is the 7Ps Marketing Mix and how should it be used?

The marketing mix is a familiar marketing strategy tool, which as you will probably know, was traditionally limited to the core 4Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It is one of the top 3 classic marketing models according to a poll on Smart Insights.

It's an essential part of a marketing plan structure that defines the tactics to be used to implement the marketing strategy.

The traditional 7Ps of marketing consist of:

• Physical evidence

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Who created the 7Ps marketing mix model?

The 7Ps marketing model was originally devised by E. Jerome McCarthy and published in 1960 in his book  Basic Marketing. A Managerial Approach. 

We've created the graphic below so you can see the key elements of the 7Ps marketing mix. More details are provided in the next visual.

The 4Ps vs The 7Ps

The 4Ps marketing mix was designed at a time when businesses were more likely to sell products, rather than services. The 4 Ps represented an early focus on product marketing, when the role of customer service in helping brand development wasn't so well known.

Over time, Booms and Pitner added three extended ‘service mix P’s' : Participants or People, Physical evidence, and Processes. Later 'Participants' was renamed as 'People' - the marketing mix covering marketers, customer service reps, recruitment, culture, training and remuneration.

Today, it's recommended that the full 7 elements of the marketing mix are considered when reviewing competitive strategies - across product, customer service and more.

The 7Ps helps companies to review and define key issues that affect the marketing of its products and services. A popular marketing model, the marketing mix is can also be referred to as the 7Ps framework for the digital marketing mix.

In Dave Chaffey's book: Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice , this model was refreshed and applied to online channels to give a practical approach which works well for multichannel businesses. An eighth P, ‘Partners’ is often recommended for businesses to gain reach online (first mentioned in Digital mMarketing Excellence by Dave Chaffey and PR Smith although some would argue it's part of Place). 

How can I use this marketing model?

Although it's sometimes viewed as dated, we believe the 4Ps are an essential strategy tool to select their scope and is particularly useful for small businesses. For startups reviewing price and revenue models today, using the Business Model Canvas for marketing strategy is a great alternative since it gives you a good structure to follow.

Companies can also use the 7Ps model to set objectives, conduct a SWOT analysis and undertake competitive analysis. It's a practical framework to evaluate an existing business and work through appropriate approaches whilst evaluating the marketing mix elements.

What are the 7Ps of marketing?

• Products/Services:  How can you develop your products or services
• Prices/Fees:  How can we change our pricing model
• Place/Access: What new distribution options are there for customers to experience our product, e.g. online, in-store, mobile etc
• Promotion: How can we add to or substitute the combination within paid, owned and earned media channels
• Physical Evidence: How we reassure our customers, e.g. impressive buildings, well-trained staff, great website
• Processes:  Are there internal process barriers in the way to delivering the best customer value
• People:  Who are our people and are there skills gaps
• Partners: Are we seeking new partners and managing existing partners well?

An example of a company using the 7Ps marketing mix in their strategy

Take a look at HubSpot as an example, which was founded in 2006; Hubspot now boasts over 86,000 total customers in more than 120 countries. Comprised of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and a powerful free CRM, HubSpot adds value for customers in every aspect of the 7Ps.

What does an example of a successful marketing mix look like?

This is a top-level overview; you would take this into greater detail and ask the following questions:

1. Products/Services:  Integrated toolset for SEO, blogging, social media, website, email and lead intelligence tools.

2.  Prices/Fees:   Subscription-based monthly, Software-As-Service model  based on number of contacts in database and number of users of the service.

3. Place/Access: Online! Network of Partners, Country User Groups.

4. Promotion: Directors speak at events, webinars, useful guides that are amplified by SEO. Social media advertising, e.g. LinkedIn.

5. Physical Evidence: Consistent branding across communications.

6. Processes: More sales staff are now involved in conversion.

7: People : Investment in online services.

8. Partners: Hubspot looks to form partnerships with major media companies such as Facebook and Google plus local partners including Smart Insights who it is collaborating with on research in Europe.

What to watch for

When using the 7Ps as a model to conduct a marketing audit, I look at each of the Ps. It’s unwise to ignore an area unless it is completely outside your control.

We are now seeing AI and machine learning techniques informing more developed Marketing Mix Modeling techniques such as regression and forecasting. Note that this is different to the different elements of the marketing mix described in this article and focuses more on the mix of budget investment in different media.

9Ps of marketing?

As the scope of marketing continues to develop, so does the marketing mix. Since 2007, Larry Londre's 9Ps of marketing has included:

• Planning, Process or Marketing Process
• People/Prospects/Potential Purchasers/Purchasers (Target Market)
• Price/Pricing
• Place/Distribution
• Partners/Strategic Alliances
• Presentation

Original References and sources of 7Ps marketing mix

Bitner, M. J. and Booms, H. (1981). Marketing Strategies and Organization: Structure for Service Firms. In Donnelly, J. H. and George, W. R. (Eds). Marketing of Services, Conference Proceeding s. Chicago, IL. American Marketing Association. p. 47- 52.

McCarthy, E. J. (1964). Basic Marketing . Richard D. Irwin. Homewood, IL.

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By Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon PhD is an academic and practitioner in strategic digital marketing and the application of social media for business. Dr Hanlon has expertise in the strategic application of social media for business and the move from digitization, to digitalization and digital transformation for business. Her expertise spans consumer touch points, online customer service, the use of reviews, the role of influencers, online engagement and digital content. You can follow her update on Twitter https://twitter.com/annmariehanlon

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What is the marketing mix and how can you use it?

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The marketing mix is a strategy for considering the different elements that go into promoting a brand and its products. 

It offers broad guidelines for putting the right products in the right place, at the right time, and price. 

Originally comprised of 4 key basic marketing categories known as the 4 “P”s (product, place, price, and promotion), it lays out the foundation needed for marketers to determine a brand’s place within the market, and build out the best marketing strategies from there.

How the marketing mix has changed

The marketing mix, now more than ever, is rooted in a deep understanding of your target audience .

The explosion of digital marketing and the rapid rate at which consumer trends now change has transformed the face of social media and marketing efforts.

Modeling your business using consumer insights ensures you deliver at each stage of the marketing mix.

This has spurred the creation of an extended 7 (and even 8) “P” system, founded on a deeper understanding of the consumer processes and the trends that shape their behaviors, attitudes and perceptions.

Let’s dig down into the 7 “p”s of the marketing mix .

Question to consider:

• How will the product help your consumer achieve their goals? Are they aspirational? Status-seekers? Family-oriented? Do they seek value over quality?

Finding the answer:

• Look to concept testing with  survey data to assess the reaction to your product or concept before going to market.

• What income bracket does your customer sit in? Are they affluent consumers or students, for example?
• Start by creating your audience, adding all the relevant attributes to paint a clear, defined picture of who these people are, and their spending habits.

• What online channels and social media are your target market using the most? Where are they engaging with similar brands?
• Gathering data from your own onsite and social media marketing analytics and combining that with regional behavioral and psychographic data builds a picture of what your target market does online, whilst highlighting key trends.

4. Promotion

• How do people expect to be approached on the channels you’ve identified? How can you speak to them in a way that resonates?
• It starts by creating detailed audience segments , and digging down into each to cross-examine what motivates your customer – not just to purchase products – but in daily life. Identifying the lifestyle indicators and broader perceptions of each segment is key to unlocking the marketing plan that will deliver results.

Question to consider

• What kind of marketing people would best align with your consumer’s values and realize the vision?
• Deep dive into how your customer sees themselves in relation to brands. Running a custom survey will identify their personal perceptions, specifically the ones you as a brand can appeal to, and help you determine the right kind of people to deliver your message.

6. Processes

• How can you increase brand equity at every stage of the buying process, from brand awareness to product delivery?
• Making the purchase journey as swift and pleasing as possible, again, means delivering on consumer demands while maintaining a profitable process. Start analyzing the purchase journey touchpoints within the platform to get a better understanding of what marketing tactic works best for your target consumer at every stage. 

7. Physical Evidence

• What kind of content do my target consumers best respond to?
• Discover what motivates consumers to build long-term relationships with brands by analyzing brand loyalty and brand trust data points.

Example: Anytime Fitness’s marketing mix

With over 5,000 locations in 50 countries, Anytime Fitness has gained a huge market share with three hundred thousand people joining clubs each year.

Let’s look at how their business model fits into the 7p’s marketing mix.

They offer a no frills approach with use of the gym equipment, classes and facilities. 

The equipment is basic but plentiful, making the time spent in the gym practical and efficient for customers with little extra incentive to do anything other than exercise.

Anytime Fitness is certainly competitive in the low price gym market – typically costing $41 a month. 

It’s able to charge slightly more costly because of its plentiful locations, making it a more convenient option for customers. They also use a dynamic pricing strategy depending on the affluence of location.

You’d find Anytime gyms across the US and because of its no frills approach, it’s able to set up shop in a variety of buildings. 

With no swimming pools or sports pitches to take up space, it can use old offices in dense urban areas at lower pricing.

Research revealed that consumers found typical gym sales promotion centered on physically fit, attractive models to be intimidating. This isolated less fit consumers who actually make up the majority of the population. 

Anytime Fitness adopts a more personal selling tone, featuring people of more shapes and ages than other gyms, urging them to improve their health through exercise. 

Paradoxically, Anytime Fitness found its niche amongst the majority of the population by being attentive to their opinions and offering a safe space for anyone to exercise, not just the very fit.

Anytime Fitness employs very few people to help deliver their product, especially when it comes to the day-to-day running of the gyms. The majority are freelance personal trainers who generate revenue from customers that request their services. This helps keep the business model lean. 

By employing fitness professionals, they ensure the continuity of their health and fitness message throughout all arms of the business, whilst giving consumers something to aspire to

It’s a frontrunner in the digitization process, making signing up, booking exercise classes, and contacting staff simple through their app. Customers are given autonomy over their memberships, with the flexibility to cancel and freeze with the possibility of re-opening at any time.

Physical Evidence:

Being a high street-based service, Anytime Fitness has a strong physical presence, coupled with the on-brand personnel who help deliver the service. Combining this with the wealth of digital media creates a more rounded experience for the customer.

Key takeaways

Today’s consumers are more empowered than ever, with greater expectations for brands to meet their requirements with relevant, easy-to-use content, and to provide a product offering that meets expectations.

The marketing mix breaks down what’s needed to make a business work, but success isn’t attributed only to modeling theory templates like this one. It’s attributed to the depth of consumer insights used to develop each stage. 

Businesses that can deliver on what their consumers truly want, and showcase how their brand will enrich their lives, will see the best results.

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Marketing Mix

What Is Marketing Mix?

The definition of marketing mix can best be described as the combination of elements used to promote products or services. These variable elements are based upon the analysis of the “four P’s” of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. Specific marketing tactics are then formed from the intersection of these four factors.

Marketing mix is considered an essential marketing theory that all business people should know in order to be conversant in the field of marketing.

How Does Marketing Mix Work?

No two products are promoted in exactly the same way. Therefore, marketing managers develop product marketing plans based on their analysis and interpretation of many factors:

The product’s attributes : Features, benefits, proof points (e.g. studies, testimonials)

The target audience : Who will buy this product What problems will this product solve? What media does this target audience prefer? Where can we find them online, in print, on the airwaves? What do they like to do in their free time?

The price : Is it an inexpensive product? A luxury product? Something in between?

Brand : What is the company’s overall brand? What is the brand promise? How does this product fit into the brand?

Once these questions are answered, marketing managers are able to craft a marketing mix strategy (and the tactical plan necessary to achieve said strategy). The marketing mix becomes part of the tactical plan and describes the elements that will achieve the product’s sales goals.

Marketing Mix Elements

Marketing mix elements (also known as tactics) aren’t fixed but change over time. Often, marketing managers test various elements of the marketing mix to determine which tactics achieve the highest return on investment (ROI) .

Common Marketing Mix Tactics

Marketing mix elements can include one or all of the following:

• A website or landing page for the product
• Search engine marketing
• Social media marketing
• Paid search ads
• Paid social media ads
• Product reviews
• Sales and marketing brochures
• Print advertising in magazines, newspapers, and journals
• Packaging to appeal to the target audience
• Sponsorships
• Online videos
• Trade show events
• Television ads
• Store demonstrations

There’s really no limit to the creativity that marketers use to develop their marketing mix elements. Similar products often use different marketing mixes in the hope of reaching a slightly different target market (or covering part of the market their competitors haven't).

What Are The Four Ps of Marketing?

Grasping the concept of the four P’s of marketing is essential since they fit together with the marketing mix to develop a marketing plan.

It always begins with an analysis of the product, the identification of a product’s benefits, and matching the target audience’s needs to guide the rest of the strategy (including choosing the appropriate price and where to promote the product).

Even the best marketing mix strategy can fail if the underlying product concept is faulty. Building exceptional products is essential to the success and profitability of any company.

The first step is deeply analyzing a product’s features, benefits, and advantages over the competition. Competitive analysis can help determine the differentiating features of their products that can be highlighted in their marketing materials. Companies may also conduct market research to discover the elements that customers find most appealing about their products.

Pricing products is both an art and a science. The price point for any product must be profitable for the company while covering costs and adding an adequate profit margin . Beyond that, determining retail price is a matter of comparing similar products in the market, their price points, what prices the target market is willing to pay, and how to leverage the psychological impact of price.

Psychological pricing tactics utilize human psychology as part of the marketing mix. Bargain prices often end in unusual numbers (such as Home Depot, which often end '8') while luxury prices may end in '0'.

Depending on the target audience and the brand strategy, the final price point may be a luxury price, bargain price, or something in-between.

Place may happen online or in a store, but knowing where people are likely to encounter, discover, and learn about products is essential.

Place can occasionally be easy to find. Golf enthusiasts, for instance, will probably interact with new clubs at golf courses and pro shops. It might not be as easy to determine where consumers might interact with a new flavor of ice cream. Unlike golfers, the list could extend from supermarkets to convenience stores, restaurants, food trucks, and special events.

Knowing where people interact with the product (or are likely to encounter the product) leads directly into the last of the four P’s: promotion.

4. Promotion

Promotion refers to the activities chosen to advertise the product – and how to distinguish and differentiate it in the marketplace. People often equate promotion with marketing, but without product, price, and place, it’s difficult to find the right promotional mix without wasting time and money.

Example of Marketing Mix

Jane is a marketing manager for Simple Smartphone, a new smartphone developed for older people. Market research has revealed that people 60 and over find the newer generation of smartphones difficult to use. Jane’s company took that information and developed a new product to compete in the smartphone market against Apple, Samsung Galaxy, and similar phones.

The four P’s quadrant for the new Simple Smartphone might look like this:

Marketing Mix Examples of Companies

The following real-world marketing mix strategy examples focus on companies that have chosen one area of the marketing mix to use as their competitive advantage.

Dollar Tree leverages price as a factor by pricing everything in the store at $1 or lower. This sends a strong signal to their target consumer that they’ll save money by shopping at their stores.

Another example of marketing mix is Tiffany & Co. applying product as their competitive edge. Their signature diamond cut (called a “Tiffany True Cut”) is only available at their store. The “Tiffany Blue” of their packaging is so distinctive that the Pantone Company has even named the color after the brand.

Apple focuses on product innovation as the quadrant to leverage for their competitive edge in the marketing mix. Although it has memorable advertising, it’s the product design that sets Apple apart from all others.

Other Marketing Mix Strategy Examples

Since the 4 P’s were introduced in the 1960s, others have used it to create their own marketing mix strategies. This includes the 7 P’s model and the Boston Consulting Group Matrix.

What Are The 7 Ps?

The 7 Ps of Marketing add three additional areas to evaluate the marketing mix, including:

The Boston Consulting Group Matrix

The Boston Consulting Group Matrix assumes that the most effective way to market products is by identifying the type of customers that the product appeals to, then aligning the marketing strategy and mix to the customer type.

The Boston Consulting Group Matrix works off of a four-grid system that helps managers visualize where their products fall on the growth and profit potential scale. If a product shows low market growth or low-profit potential, managers select a marketing mix to boost market growth, profit potential, or both.

Note: Boosting marketplace growth isn’t always possible if markets are oversaturated and provide little room for expansion.

How to Interpret the BCG Matrix

Each box in the BCG matrix reflects a category of low-to-high market growth rate and low-to-high profit potential. The goal is to move question marks and “pets” into either the cash cow or star category, the two most profitable areas.

Stars are products with both high market growth rate and high relative market share. These products have both a high potential growth rate but may already have saturated the market.

Cash cows are products with a low market growth rate but a relatively high market share. Cash cows produce reliable, predictable revenue to a market constantly consuming the product.

Question Marks

Question marks are in a high growth market but have relatively low market share. The reason for their low market share needs to be solved. Can they be moved into the Star category or Cash Cow category? If no, why not?

'Pets'

Pets are products with both a low growth market and low market share. These products may need to be reinvigorated with new concepts, packaging, or formulas – or retired and removed from the product line.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Mix

It’s important to understand the difference between marketing strategy and marketing tactics (marketing mix).

Strategy is the long-term, forward-thinking plan that addresses sales in the market. The strategy to reach the target market comes first. Then, the marketing mix (tactics) is developed to support the strategy and sell a specific product to a specific, identified market.

For example, Progressive Insurance's strategy appears to be to dominate the market for home and auto insurance by promising low prices. To do so, they use a recognizable spokesperson (Flo), television commercials, search engine marketing, and social media marketing.

Why Marketing Mix Is Important

Marketers live by the axiom, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” It's never wise to put all of your promotional dollars into one marketing tactic – no matter how promising it seems.

Developing a marketing mix increases the chance of reaching more people in the target market. It is the confluence of these elements – right product, right time, right place, right person – that results in a sale.

How to Use a Marketing Mix to Get Ahead

Whether using the four P’s, seven P’s, or the Boston model, the end goal is the same: to make sales. Models simply help marketing managers think through the many steps to choose the appropriate marketing tactics.

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4Ps of Marketing (Marketing Mix with Examples) The 4Ps of Marketing or the Marketing Mix is one of the most basic concepts taught in Marketing. At the same time, it makes up for an extremely large part of a successful marketing plan. The fact is, the 4Ps of Marketing are really important because they, together, form the marketing strategy of your company. Let me tell you more about it.

Marketing mix - the 4Ps of marketing can never be overestimated when it comes to determining the success or failure of a marketing campaign.

In this article, I will explain to you what is marketing mix and also each of the 4Ps of marketing mix. Not just that, I will share with you four examples of how each of these elements of marketing mix makes a lot of difference in marketing.

Before that, let’s ponder over something basic. And also let me tell you what all I will be covering in this detailed article on the 4Ps of Marketing.

Let me begin by telling you, what exactly is Marketing Mix all about?

What is Marketing Mix? 

Marketing Mix is ideally a brilliantly coordinated combination of Product, Price, Place and Promotion strategies.

I wrote about marketing it in detail in my blog post titled ‘But really, what is Marketing?’. In simple terms, you could say marketing is about “ putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time”.

That is what it really is.

That one statement defines everything, from what is marketing to what is marketing mix to how to create and deliver an amazing marketing campaign.

Source: thefinancialbrand . com

If you’re in marketing, you have some basic ingredients that you would use to create some magic out of your marketing plan, these ingredients are called the 4Ps of Marketing or the Marketing Mix.

What is Marketing Mix? Marketing Mix is a set of elements, the 4Ps, that are the four decision-making areas in Marketing . Again, getting any of these elements wrong may destroy the rest of the factors you got right.

This is true because, the 4Ps factors are interdependent and rely on one another for an effective strategy. And if you begin to think, any marketing decision that you take essentially lies in any one of these areas.

4Ps of Marketing and all other basic marketing concepts!

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What is the purpose of the 4Ps of Marketing Mix?

Its purpose is to ensure the creation and execution of a successful marketing strategy ; the attempt is to satisfy both the customer and the seller. You will often come across your managers telling you to create marketing plans.

And this is what a marketing plan predominantly covers. The purpose is to ensure that every marketing initiative that you take is brilliantly coordinated with each other.

Marketing incorporates all these physical and non-physical, real and perceptual attributes into four elements of the marketing mix.

The 4Ps is basically about asking relevant questions that will help you to define your marketing mix.

Let me explain to you each of the elements of the Marketing mix , or the 4Ps of Marketing here. Stay tuned for the later part of the article where I will share with you the examples for each of the 4Ps.

Product  

First, it is important to understand the problems your product is trying to solve, because without it, you don’t have a place in the market, and you certainly can’t sell or advertise something that doesn’t exist or doesn’t have any demand.

The key to get this element of the marketing mix correct is by writing down a product definition .

This should include what is your product , what is your target market and most importantly why is your product different from the alternatives out there.

A product can be a physical object, an intangible service, an idea, a campaign or even a personality.

Also, the Unique Selling Proposition of the product must be determined as well as the potential buyers of the product.

There are questions you need to ask when you want to determine the kind of product you should have. They include:

• What problems can this product solve for customers?
• What features are included in the products to meet this need?
• What will differentiate it from the competitor’s own if any?
• How is it supposed to be used by the customer?

Let me know take you through the second P of the 4Ps of marketing - which is Price .

Price  

The price of a product should reflect its value to the customer. This also entails the relative price versus quality level that the product maintains against the competitors.

The marketer’s challenge is to come up with a price that is attractive to consumers while still turning an acceptable profit for the company.

The price of a product will directly affect how it sells . This must be determined by what value the customers attach to the product rather than the objective cost of the product.

If the product is priced higher or lower than its perceived value, then it will be difficult to make sales. Simply put, the value of the product in the eyes of the consumer determines the price.

I have written a series of articles on how to price a product and those articles shall help you with this particular element of the 4Ps of the Marketing mix . Here are some of those posts:

• How to Price your Product – The Fundamentals
• How to Price your Product better in 8 Steps (Part 1 of 2)
• How to Price your Product better in 8 Steps (Part 2 of 2)

Hence, if the value is low or negative , the product may need to be under priced to make sales.

The questions to ask here are:

• What is the perceived value of the product to the buyer?
• What is the market fixed price for this kind of product?  
• How much is your price when compared with the competitor’s?  

Moving on to the third element of the marketing mix and the 4Ps of Marketing - the Place .

Place  

There is a way how the product will be provided to the customer , this is the “Place” factor. Once the place has been decided, the marketing channel to reach the customer is chosen.

The place refers to where the product is to be sold (distribution) .

In the past, this meant how visible your product was in the physical marketplace. In today’s modern world: where your product appears on the Internet is even more important because your reach online can be global whilst as your reach in the physical marketplace is limited by physical space.

You can determine this by answering questions like:

• Where is the first place buyers check when looking for your kind of product. Is it a store, or a boutique, or maybe they check a catalogue?
• How can you determine the best distribution channels?
• Do you need to take a multi-channel approach? If yes, then which channels?

And finally, let me tell you about the 4th element of the marketing mix - Promotion .

Promotion  

Promotion refers to the marketing communication methods used to inform, persuade, and remind the target market of the product or services , basically any interaction that your company has with the consumer regarding your product.

This may include advertising, sales, promotions, special offers, and public relations.  Promotion is quite different from marketing, because promotion is the communication aspect of the entire marketing function.

The marketing mix is a crucial tool to help understand what the product or service can offer and how to plan for a successful product offering. 

• What are the promotion methods of your competitors?
• Which digital channels does your target market use often?
• What is the return-on-investment from each of the promotion channels?

After a brief explanation of the Marketing Mix and the 4Ps of Marketing , I am going to talk about them in a more direct and practical way. I explain elements of marketing mix with examples to show you how simple (and impact driven) the Marketing Mix can be.

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4Ps of Marketing - Video Explanation

Here is a decent video that I found on the 4Ps of Marketing. Purely Branded, explains in brief what the 4Ps of Marketing are all about and how to use them. For all of you who like to watch videos, I suggest you to have a look at it.

4Ps of Marketing - How to develop the Marketing Mix?

If you were to ask me the steps to determine the 4Ps of Marketing Mix , I would suggest to you the following 4 steps.

As you use these four steps in your marketing projects at your college or your work, you will realize that these are the exact steps that will help you bring out the best and the most coherent marketing plans.

4 Steps to Develop the 4Ps of Marketing Mix

• Identify the product to be analyzed. 
• Answer the 4Ps questions surrounding this product. 
• After getting a well-defined marketing mix for the 4Ps, try relating them with the 4Cs (i.e. from the customer's perceptive).      a. Product - Consumer Value      b. Price - Cost      c. Promotion - Communication      d. Place - Convenience
• Review your marketing mix regularly, because things can change.

4Ps of Marketing - Key Features

I had to write this out as a separate section because of how important it is for you to understand the nuances attached with the 4Ps of Marketing.

Let me share with you the 4 points, the 4 features that will make a lot of difference in your understanding of the marketing mix.

They are Interdependent variables. That is, they have different functions, but they must work together. One can hardly do without the other.

The 4Ps of marketing are flexible in such a way that, you can always play around with each of the variables. See the the 4Ps of Marketing as the four lever that you as a Marketing Manager will have with you to pull and do different things with.

Constant monitoring is required to make sure that the elements in the marketing mix stays relevant and updated. Again, as I mentioned, they are lever you can play around with.

The focal point of the marketing mix activity are the customers . Therefore, as I mentioned in one of the paragraphs above, you should at all times evaluate the 4Ps of the Marketing Mix from the 4Cs stand-point, i.e. the standpoint of the customers.

Elements of Marketing Mix with Examples

In this part of the article, my aim is to give you a feel of the four elements of the marketing mix through relevant real-world examples of the 4Ps of marketing . 

In each of these examples, I will take you through those examples that caught my attention and will help you understand the concepts better.

Product: Coca-Cola Life  

When you come to know that there is a Coca-Cola with the Green Label somewhere in the world and that it is still not sold worldwide you probably think

“What-The-H...?”.

Most people still find it weird but after years of dominating the market with the product and powerful advertising campaign, Coca-Cola found itself in a world where everyone wanted to feel more sustainable and healthier.

So, after 5 years of research, they came up with the Coca-Cola Life , with less sugar and stevia, a natural sweetener.

After a Market test in Chile and Argentina, the product was launched in different countries of the world.

What does this teach about the first P of the marketing mix?

Well, that products must always respond to the needs of the market .

No matter how strong your starting position is, no matter how strong your marketing is (so strong that in the case of Coca-Cola they influenced the way the Western World sees Christmas), there are moments where you have to start from a product.

Seth Godin said: Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.  

Price: Organic Apples aren’t Cheap  

Pricing doesn’t just mean: go as lower as you can to attack the market.

The Book “Ecological Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman talks of how producers and sellers of organic products must raise prices otherwise none will believe it’s REALLY organic!

This is the concept of Price Positioning on which I happen to have done a blog post some weeks back. 

Same happens with Apple: considering the hardware and the competition they can be defined unreasonably overpriced but if Apple will launch a new iPhone for 200$ the strong Apple fan base most probably will not react in a positive way.

So, choosing one price instead of another can automatically identify your product to your customers. 

Also Read:  Edible Cutlery won't sell until you do this

Place: Don’t tell everyone what you did last Friday  

Another mistake that most people do is trying to get through as many channels as possible . A lot of “improvised” entrepreneurs without any education in that make this mistake to multiply their distribution channels. 

The problem is that people will also judge not just what you sell and how much you charge for it, but also where they see you.

Imagine that in your city there is a club that is famous for being a place where illegal activities happen.

Now imagine you end up there on a wild Friday night and your partner’s dad finds out: won’t he get a really bad impression of you?

At the same time, your friends will think you are a real bad-ass. 

So, the place where you are seen can give you a certain identity according to your target. You want your friends to know where you were Friday night but not your in-laws.

 This is the same reason certain brands decide to only sell in their own stores, others don’t sell online and some only sell online: you have to select your sales channels carefully. 

Promotion: Loud Enough doesn’t mean Louder  

This point can get into thousands of pages without saying anything. With the concept of promotion, you talk about marketing, advertising, sales strategy and a lot more. 

What people hardly understand at the beginning is that in a crowded market like our World, being loud enough to be heard in the constant buzz doesn’t mean being louder than everyone.

So, the promotion has nothing to do with exaggerated claims, fake claims, obsessive  advertising and all these old-school-tricks .

Yes, they still work for others in certain cases, but they don’t give long-lasting positive fame and sooner or later it will ruin your business.

These old tricks work when you didn’t work on the marketing mix for real (maybe because you don’t have anything valuable to sell) so you have to work all with the promotion.

We tend to think that the 4th P is the most important but this is just because it is the tip of the Iceberg. Promotion is what you see more but there is a lot more than you don’t see. 

Conclusion  

At the end of the day if you want to succeed in business you have to be looking to create long-lasting relationships with your customers. 

The four elements must be in harmony and none most portray conflicting messages. The marketing mix must be customer-centric, that is why the 4Cs must be used alongside the 4Ps while determining answers to the variables.

• The price must be a cost the customer can afford
• The promotion must solely be based on communicating with the customers
• The product must offer a solution to the problem of the customer
• The place must be one that is convenient for the customers to reach  

And, just as in your personal life, you don’t create any long-lasting relationships by shouting loud, showing off and lying.

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10 Steps to Building the Perfect Marketing Mix for Your Business

The marketing mix is an essential tool in building and implementing an effective marketing strategy . It should be used to show prospects why your product or service is different and better than your competitors.

In this article you’ll learn what a marketing mix is, why it matters, and the 10 steps to follow for building the perfect marketing mix for your business.

What is a Marketing Mix?

The marketing mix refers to the various elements of your company’s offering in the market.

It is a varied “mix of ingredients” used by your business to achieve its objectives by marketing its products or services effectively to a particular customer group.

The marketing mix, also referred to as the 4 Ps, is comprised of four main pieces – Products, Price, Promotion and Place. The 4Ps describe what marketers can control and are the most critical elements when building your marketing strategy.

Image Source: bbc.co.uk

Product is concerned with developing the right product or service for your target market. Your product or service must satisfy a specific consumer need.

This first P is made up of two core components:

• Branding: The name, term, symbol and design used to identify your product. A good brand name can speed up shopping by helping customers identify the product they want.
• Packaging: This involves promoting and protecting the product. It can make a product more convenient to use or prevent it from spoiling or being damaged. Good packaging makes products easier to identify and promotes your brand.

Kaffeine , a London-based coffee shop, attracts customers by branding their business and products as hassle-free and friendly. They use their shop design of crumbling brick walls and comfy wooden crate benches to create an image visitors can easily align with their brand.

Image Source:  www.cosycoffeeshops.co.uk

When setting a price for your product, you must consider competition in your target market place, and the cost of the total marketing mix.

Also estimate customers’ reactions to possible product prices.

Thegymgroup.com offers a great pricing incentive. Unlike other gyms, they don’t bind you to an expensive contract and you receive 3 free training sessions.

Image Source: http://www.thegymgroup.com/

This involves all the decisions in getting the right product to your target market’s environment.

Placement decisions, such as accessing the right distribution channels, should take into consideration where customers would expect to find a product or service like yours.

Part of the place decision is also the layout of your store or shop. It should pull customers into your shop, making it easy for them to locate merchandise.

Nakedwines.com have created their whole marketing strategy around the element of place.

Customers can fund independent winemakers and receive exclusive access to wines at wholesale prices, and it’s all available online.

Source Image: https://www.nakedwines.com/

This is about telling your target market about your product or service. It involves direct communication between sellers and potential customers.

ITC Luxury Travel uses various means of communication with their customers and promotion for their services. They’realso active on social media sites, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google+. Their Newsletter sign-up offers yet another opportunity for product promotion.

Source Image: https://www.itcluxurytravel.co.uk/

If the 4Ps seem outdated to you, try R.F. Lauterborn’s 4Cs and decide if his take on the marketing mix is a better fit for your business.

The 4 Cs replace the 4Ps with:

• Cost: Price is not the only cost being incurred when purchasing a product. Lauterborn refers to the cost you incur to satisfy a customer, the cost of time to acquire the product, cost of conscience when it comes to consuming the product and the cost of selecting or not selecting an alternative.
• Consumer : The value you provide a customer determines your position in the market place. Like with your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your value should be clearly communicated.
• Communication: Marketers should aim to create an open dialogue with potential customers based on their wants and needs. Customers want to be engaged with meaningful interactions.
• Convenience: You need to be aware of how your target audience likes to make their purchases in order to make it convenient for them to buy. Remove all barriers to entry. For example, don’t make customers sign-up for a loyalty card before they can make their first purchase.

Image Source: marketingmix.co.uk

Why is the Marketing Mix Important?

In your day-to-day business activities it’s difficult to turn your attention to the big picture, especially when you’re putting out fires left and right.

Your marketing mix provides a roadmap for your business objectives. It keeps you on track, while keeping your target market in the forefront of your mind.

Your marketing mix will help you make sure your business is marketing the right product, to the right people, at the right price and time.

10 Steps to an Effective Marketing Mix

Use these 10 steps to assist you in building your perfect marketing mix for a successful product offering.

Step 1. Goals and Objectives

To create the right marketing mix you must first clearly define what you want the end result to be – more customers, brand awareness, higher sales, etc.

Every marketing plan has its own marketing goals. Also ensure you have set a specific time frame in which to achieve your goals.

Step 2. Establish Your Budget

How much money are you willing to spend on product innovation, consumer research and product promotion?

Step 3. Determine Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Describe the benefits users will experience from using your product or service.  What unique problem are you solving better than anyone else?

For example, Tom Shoes gives a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair you purchase.

Image Source: Toms Shoes

Step 4. Who is Your Target Market?

In order to communicate effectively with your audience, you need to know who they are and how they prefer to be communicated with.

Create an in depth profile of your ideal custome r. Make sure you’ve gathered enough consumer data to develop a complete picture of your ideal buyer.

Step 5. Ask Your Customers Advice

• What do they think of your product?
• How satisfied are they with the quality?
• Are the benefits apparent?
• How is your product effectively or not effectively meeting their needs?

Use their answers and the language they used in your marketing material. You’ll appear more relatable and approachable to your audience.

Step 6. Define Your Product in Detail

Take your time describing the specific qualities and value of your product. Look for the unique features that show your product’s worth.

Step 7. Know Your Distribution Channels

Identify the places your product will be marketed – which distribution channels you’ll make use of.

Your choice of distribution channel will influence your pricing and your promotion decisions.

Depending on your audience and product your main options will be:

• Selling to wholesalers who will sell to retail outlets, who will then sell to the consumer.
• Selling directly to the retail outlet.
• Selling directly to your customers.

Image Source: web-books.com

Step 8. Create a Pricing Strategy

You need to discover clever ways of differentiating your product on price. Research your competitors and make sure you’re not overcharging your customers.

You will also need to consider what your target audience might be willing to pay and what it costs to actually produce your product.

Step 9. Choose Your Promotional Techniques

Your target audience needs to be made aware of your product offering.

Successful promotion of your product includes various elements, like:

• Direct Marketing: Directly connecting with carefully targeted individuals to cultivate lasting relationships. For example, catalogues, telephone marketing, and mobile marketing.  Used for direct outreach to prospects in a database or sales list.
• Public relations: Press releases, exhibitions, sponsorship deals and conferences.   Used for getting newsworthy attention.
• Advertising: Television, radio and print media will be your offline focus.  Used for introducing your audience to new products and services.
• Personal selling: Personal presentation by your sales force. Demonstrating how your product works is key.  Used for selling expensive, specialised and technologically advanced products.
• Sales promotion: Short-term incentives to encourage a purchase. This includes discounts, promotions , and payment terms.  Used for getting people to use your product more often and to gain new customers.
• Word of mouth: Creating positive word of mouth via your sale staff, recommendations from buyers and social media.  Used for boosting brand awareness.

Step 10. Use Inbound Marketing

The 4Ps of marketing creates the basis of your marketing strategy, but inbound marketing also plays a vital role in developing your marketing mix.

An effective inbound marketing mix should include:

• Your Website: Customers today want to interact with your brand and newly developed products. Use your website to fulfil this need for interaction. Make sure your website is quick loading, impactful and easy to navigate.
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) : In order for customers to interact with your website, they must be able to find it first. Use descriptive keywords to help search engines, like Google, direct users to your website.
• Email Marketing: One of the quickest, most direct ways to communicate with leads and customers. You need to continually collect prospects and customer contact information to grow your database and follow-up on a regular basis.
• Social Media : Besides having a website, you should use popular social networking sites to distribute your message and create brand awareness. Twitter and Facebook are invaluable for describing existing products, introducing new products, offering promotions and announcing sales.
• Blogging : Blogging will help your business stay top of mind by putting out regular content. Host the blog on your website and write good content, making sure to respond to each blog comment.

Image source: marketectinc.com

A well-developed marketing mix will help you develop products and services that better serve the wants and needs of your target market.

Done right, your market mix will help your customers understand why your product or service is better than those of you competitors.

Although the 4Ps should remain core to your marketing mix, inbound marketing should also form part of your overall marketing strategy . Use these 10 steps to help you develop your perfect marketing mix.

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The marketing mix in marketing strategy: Product, price, place and promotion

The marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that a company uses to produce a desired response from its target market . It consists of everything that a company can do to influence demand for its product. It is also a tool to help marketing planning and execution.

The four Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion

The marketing mix can be divided into four groups of variables commonly known as the four Ps:

• Product: The goods and/or services offered by a company to its customers.
• Price: The amount of money paid by customers to purchase the product.
• Place (or distribution): The activities that make the product available to consumers.
• Promotion: The activities that communicate the product’s features and benefits and persuade customers to purchase the product.

Marketing tools

Each of the four Ps has its own tools to contribute to the marketing mix:

• Product: variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging, services
• Price: list price, discounts, allowance, payment period, credit terms
• Place: channels, coverage, assortments, locations, inventory, transportation, logistics
• Promotion: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations

Marketing strategy

An effective marketing strategy combines the 4 Ps of the marketing mix. It is designed to meet the company’s marketing objectives by providing its customers with value. The 4 Ps of the marketing mix are related, and combine to establish the product’s position within its target markets.

Weaknesses of the marketing mix

The four Ps of the marketing mix have a number of weaknesses in that they omit or underemphasize some important marketing activities. For example, services are not explicitly mentioned, although they can be categorized as products (that is, service products). As well, other important marketing activities (such as packaging) are not specifically addressed but are placed within one of the four P groups.

Another key problem is that the four Ps focus on the seller’s view of the market. The buyer’s view should be marketing’s main concern.

The four Ps as the four Cs

The four Ps of the marketing mix can be reinterpreted as the four Cs. They put the customer’s interests (the buyer) ahead of the marketer’s interests (the seller).

• Customer solutions, not products: Customers want to buy value or a solution to their problems.
• Customer cost, not price: Customers want to know the total cost of acquiring, using and disposing of a product.
• Convenience, not place: Customers want products and services to be as convenient to purchase as possible.
• Communication, not promotion: Customers want two-way communication with the companies that make the product.

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