THE 4 PS OF MARKETING

4-Ps of Marketing
These are the basic elements of the MARKETING PLAN for any business: Product Promotion Price Place

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. Product
The business has to produce a product that people want to buy. They have to decide which market segment they are aiming at age, income, geographical location etc. They then have to differentiate their product so that it is slightly different from what is on offer at present so that people can be persuaded to give them a try.

Product
Tangible products may be items like consumer goods. (Toothpaste, Soaps, Shampoos) or consumer durables (Watches, IPods). Intangible products are service based like the tourism industry and information technology based services or codes-based products like cellphone load and credits.

Product
Product design which leads to the product attributes is the most important factor. However packaging also needs to be taken into consideration while deciding this factor. To retain its competitiveness in the market, continuous product extensions though innovation and thus differentiation is required and is one of the strategies to differentiate a product from its competitors.

2. PROMOTION
This represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace to increase awareness about the product and its benefits to the target segment. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.

PROMOTION
Customers have to be made aware of the product. The two main considerations are target market and cost. A new business will not be able to afford to advertise on national television, for instance and would not wish to because its market will be local to start with.

PROMOTION
Leaflets, billboards, advertisements in local newspapers, Yellow Pages and word of mouth would be more appropriate.

3. PRICE
The price is the simply amount a customer pays for the product. If the price outweigh the perceived benefits for an individual, the perceived value of the offering will be low and it will be unlikely to be adopted, but if the benefits are perceived as greater than their costs, chances of trial and adoption of the product is much greater.

PRICE
The price must be high enough to cover costs and make a profit but low enough to attract customers. There are a number of possible pricing strategies.

Pricing Strategies
The most commonly used strategies are: 1. PENETRATION PRICING charging a low price, possibly not quite covering costs, to gain a position in the market. This is quite popular with new businesses trying to get a toehold.

Pricing Strategies
2. CREAMING the opposite to penetration pricing, this involves charging a deliberately high price to persuade people that the product is of high quality. Luxury car makers often use this strategy

Pricing Strategies
3. COST PLUS PRICING this is the most common form of pricing. Costs are totalled and a margin is added on for profit to make the total price.

4. PLACE
Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. This may include any physical store (supermarket, departmental stores) as well as virtual stores (emarkets and e-malls) on the Internet. This is crucial as this provides the place utility to the consumer, which often becomes a deciding factor for the purchase of many products across multiple product categories

PLACE
The business must have a location that it can afford, and that is convenient and suitable for customers and any supplier.

4 Ps vs. 4 Cs vs. 4 Vs of Marketing

1. Product vs. Consumer vs. Validity. The old Product approach is to develop and produce a product as good as possible to market and make sales. The Consumer approach is to study consumer wants and needs, and to manufacture products in response to those needs. . Validity discover that product with great consumer needs may not be valid and need to be addressed.

Product vs. Consumer vs. Validity.

We have recently cases of product with great consumer demand such as toys and foods from China that needed to be moved out from the shelves due to high risk nature of the products.

Product vs. Consumer vs. Validity.

Marketing should not only consider the wants and needs of the consumers, but also other product factors of safety, environment, and social issues, viz. Validity.

2. Price vs. Cost vs. Value

Price charged to consumer is no longer a sufficient marketing parameter, for it is only one part of consumer cost. Value marketing go one step further to advocate that lowest price and considerate cost are not sufficient in today's marketing solution.

Price vs. Cost vs. Value

As more people are getting higher up in their standard of living, people are more value conscience of what they eat, what they wear, what they drive, etc.

3. Place vs. Convenience vs. Venue

The whole centuries old retail market is almost totally wiped out in a short time span of 3-4 years because of the shift of marketing from Place to Convenience. A distribution channel of providing just a place to buy is no longer competitive. The convenience stores such as the ubiquitous 7-Eleven or giant super stores like Tesco, have seized the retails sale by providing conveniences of all kind to customers.

Place vs. Convenience vs. Venue

Convenience needs to take one step higher up to the Venue level. Venue is not only providing place for clients to come, it is sales to your home. You can really shop while having your pajamas on. Pizza home delivery has snatched up a big portion of food sales all over the world.

Place vs. Convenience vs. Venue

Food is just at your finger tips. How about internet sales, internet banking, or what have you?

4. Promotion vs. Communication vs. Vogue

Promotion is one way street advertisement in telling what you think is best in the promoting product. . Communication, however, applies two ways traffics between the buyer and seller to advertisement. It is an "interactive" program using phone, web site, etc. to get response from advertisement.

Promotion vs. Communication vs. Vogue

Vogue requires more than just getting a message across and 2 ways communications. It is saying that to make an advertisement successful, it must have vogue or in trend. It must be popular, acceptable, and has great public favor. Like fashion, advertisement has a popular fashion trend. This must be applied to squeeze out the best of promotion.