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<\/a><\/p>\nThe four Ps include product, price, place, and promotion.<\/p>\n
In this article, I outline their role in marketing, including their history and evolution, examples, and how to use the four Ps to create effective marketing.<\/p>\n
Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The four Ps help marketers consider everything about a product or service when 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.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n It might feel new and trendy, but marketing has been around for a long time<\/em>. When looking into the history of the 4 Ps, I found some articles dating marketing back to over 1,000 years ago, as part of the bartering system, where people bartered and traded items.<\/p>\n The four Ps of Marketing is a relatively new concept. E. Jerome McCarthy introduced it in his book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach<\/a>. McCarthy\u2019s introduction of the 4 Ps in the 1960s was timely. Marketing was changing, and McCarthy used the 4 Ps of marketing and considered the impact of e-commerce on marketing strategies, highlighting lessons from successes and failures. He explored new perspectives from customer relationship management (CRM), focusing on customer equity, acquisition, and retention costs.<\/p>\n The world was changing, and marketing needed to adapt.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s fair to say that since the 60s, particularly from the 90s onwards, the digital world has not stopped changing, and marketing has not stopped adapting.<\/p>\n To keep up, some have adapted the four Ps and turned them into the seven Ps.<\/p>\n The seven Ps of marketing are a continuation of the four Ps. Included in the seven Ps are:<\/p>\n As well as:<\/p>\n Continuing the four Ps includes other elements that improve the marketing foundations.<\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Understanding the four Ps of marketing helps to understand the other parts of the marketing mix, namely the four Cs of marketing.<\/p>\n The 4 Cs of marketing include:<\/p>\n I think of the four Cs as an inversion of the four Ps. Instead of being product-focused, they are customer-focused.<\/p>\n The four Cs and the four Ps support each other. When thinking about marketing strategy, it helps to consider both. Thinking about:<\/p>\n Helps to think about marketing from all perspectives. For me, this only elevates my marketing.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n You can use the four Ps to answer questions about the product, price, place, and promotion of your product or service.<\/p>\n For example, you can ask yourself:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Thinking about your marketing in terms of the four Ps will help you strategize how to reach your customers. The 4 Ps of Marketing is also known as your marketing mix \u2014 more on that below.<\/p>\n To develop a marketing mix, you\u2018ll need to think about how you can uniquely position your brand amongst the competition. The most important part of thinking about the marketing mix \u2014 or the four Ps of marketing \u2014 is to understand the customer, the competition, and your company. You\u2019ll evaluate your product and how to promote it.<\/p>\n But getting started isn\u2019t easy. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve 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 in the right section.<\/p>\n Click here to download the templates for free<\/a>.<\/p>\n Use the template to follow along with the 4 Ps of marketing below.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n When you think about your product, consider exactly what you\u2018re 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\u2019re selling is the product.<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n It’s important to know your product intimately so you can market it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll use HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub<\/a> as an example.<\/p>\n What is it?<\/strong> \u201cMarketing automation software to help you attract the right audience, convert more visitors into customers, and run complete inbound marketing campaigns at scale \u2014 all on one powerful, easy-to-use platform.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Who is it for?<\/strong> Modern marketers who juggle too much data and who are stuck with impossible-to-use software solutions that make their job harder, not easier.<\/em><\/p>\n Which features does it have?<\/strong> Marketing Hub offers blogging, SEO, social media management, email marketing, and ad tracking tools in a single, intuitive platform.<\/em><\/p>\n What problem does it solve? <\/strong>Marketing Hub simplifies the marketing automation process for busy marketers by bringing all data and tools under one roof.<\/em><\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>Once you\u2019ve established your product and its messaging, you can monitor marketing success in HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub<\/a>. <\/em>You can see your customers\u2019 complete journey and how each interaction helped take your audiences from prospect to buyer. You can analyze messaging and engagement rates to identify whether your expectations match your customer’s needs.<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019ve correctly outlined the features most important to your users, then these will be the features most engaged. Through your analysis, you might find that other features garner more interest from specific audiences. Once you\u2019ve got data, you can pivot strategy or double down on what\u2019s working.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n When coming up with your pricing strategy<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n 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 the competition on the market. Keep in mind that pricing SaaS products<\/a> is a little different than pricing physical products.<\/p>\n Either way, the language you use to market your product will be greatly impacted by the price of your product.<\/p>\n P.S. You can download a sales pricing calculator here for free<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Marketing Hub is priced to grow with you as you grow.<\/em><\/p>\n HubSpot offers the following subscription tiers:<\/em><\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>Your product\u2019s price needs to be desirable to customers and effective for business. With HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub<\/a>, you can measure campaign success and identify the KPIs that best support your business and represent the goals you want to achieve. For example, you can measure the success of a campaign, the count of leads and purchases, and conversion rate measurements.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The place is where you market and distribute your product.<\/p>\n Remember that not every place makes sense for every product. For example, if your target market is seniors, then it won\u2018t make sense to market on TikTok. It\u2019s important to choose the right places to market your product and meet your customers where they’re at.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n As a provider of SaaS products, HubSpot offers Marketing Hub directly on its website.<\/em><\/p>\n Marketers can sign up for Marketing Hub by creating an account directly on the platform. HubSpot also created a convenient<\/em> sign-up page<\/a> for free subscriptions, or customers can request a demo from their friendly sales team.<\/em><\/p>\n Promotion is the bread and butter of marketing. This is when you’ll think about how to publicize and advertise your product.<\/p>\n Additionally, you’ll discuss brand messaging, brand awareness, and lead generation strategies<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n Think about where, when, and how you’ll promote your brand.<\/p>\n When promoting Marketing Hub, Hubspot needs to be wherever its target audience (marketers) is<\/em>. Most importantly, we want to help them grow in their careers \u2014 as well as grow their businesses.<\/em><\/p>\n HubSpot does a lot of inbound marketing, and its promotion focuses primarily on organic acquisition. Marketers will find Marketing Hub over the following channels:<\/em><\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Hub<\/a> helps you analyze the performance of every marketing asset or tactic. You can measure how different placements have worked. For example, if you notice that a particular asset is generating leads, then you can share this asset across all of marketing. Or, you might find your Instagram efforts are superior to TikTok. With findings such as this, you can make data-driven decisions on what steps to take next for effective marketing.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Let’s break down the 4 Ps of marketing by looking at examples from Apple and e.l.f. Cosmetics.<\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n
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<\/p>\nThe History of the 4 Ps of Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n4 Ps of Marketing Plus 3: The 7 Ps of Marketing<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nThe 4 Ps of Marketing vs. the 4 Cs of Marketing<\/h2>\n
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How to Use the 4 Ps of Marketing Mix in Your Strategy<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Featured Resource:<\/strong> Marketing Mix Templates<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nThe 4 Ps of Marketing (Example)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. The First P of Marketing: Product<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Product Example<\/strong><\/h4>\n
2. The Second P of Marketing: Price<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Price Example<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\n3. The Third P of Marketing: Place<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Place Example<\/strong><\/h4>\n
4. The Fourth P of Marketing: Promotion<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Promotion Example<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nThe 4 Ps of Marketing Examples: Apple and e.l.f. Cosmetics<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Apple<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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e.l.f. Cosmetics<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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