The 4 P's of Marketing

The 4 P's of marketing 

By Connor Williams

In this blog post, I will be explaining exactly what the 4 P's of marketing are and why they are incredibly useful to organisations and an aspiring marketer.

The 4 P's have been used as a marketing plan since the 1950's so there have been adjustments since then, such as the introduction of 3 more P's which are people, process and physical evidence. I will not be going into detail about these however as I want to focus on the 4 most important ones to a marketing plan.

What are the 4 P's?

In short, the 4 P's is the framework that you will use to build your marketing campaign. It is also known as "the marketing mix".

1) Product - This is always where a marketing campaign starts. The product is what you sell and how it satisfies your customers needs. Knowing your product well is also a key factor to how it is going to be distributed.

 There can be a lot of factors to your product in order to make it stand out and make it desirable for your target audience, for example how your product is packaged and designed. This can say a lot about what to expect the quality of your product is going to be like and it should showcase your brand image before a consumer even opens it up.

A marketer should have a good understanding on what the type of product is as they introduce it to the consumer. Knowing the type of product will be a big factor of determining where it should be placed, how much it should cost and how it should be promoted.

2) Price - There are many factors that go into the pricing of a product. A marketer will need to take into account how much a consumer will realistically be willing to pay, the cost of supplies, future discount prices and how much their competitors are selling their products for.

Determining the price can be done in different ways to make your product stand out from its competitors, for example a business might decide to raise the price in order to make consumers think the product has a sense of luxury or they may decide to have a lower the price to encourage consumers to try it out. Having a lower price or a poorly timed discount can have negative effects though as it could give off the impression that it is less desirable.

3) Place - This is when a business will determine where their product will be available and how it is displayed for the consumer.

It is really important to know the target audience at this stage because that will determine which stores the product will be placed in. The goal is always to ensure the product is in front of the consumers who are most likely to buy it.

4) Promotion - This is when a marketer will communicate to their consumers that they need their product and that its the best price available.

This stag

e will incorporate media strategies to introduce the product to the public, advertising and how the product relates to the targeted consumers.

Bibliography:

Twin, A. (2022a). Four Ps of Marketing: Know What They Are. [online] Investopedia. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/four-ps.asp [Accessed 19 Oct. 2022]