What are the 4 Ps of Marketing?
The 4 Ps of Marketing involve four elements:
- Product
- Place
- Price
- Promotion
Also known as “The Marketing Mix,” they influence consumer decisions, both online & offline. These factors help brands engage & connect with consumers. Businesses must follow digital trends to remain competitive within their industry.
Today, marketers can use many online tools, such as:
- Google Trends
- Etc.
Companies can seek data & insights to build a successful digital marketing plan that considers the 4 Ps. Let’s see why & how businesses should focus on Product, Place, Price, and Promotion.
The First P: Product
A product refers to physical goods & services that brands sell to target consumers in exchange for monetary value. Businesses are responsible to provide clients with products that satisfy their needs.
What is a Good Product?
For digital marketers, a product must satisfy the following criteria:
- Be valuable.
- Be in-demand.
- Be effective in serving its purpose.
- Satisfy the customers’ needs.
Products & services are solutions. Consumers search for an excellent product to address their problems. A good product is an offering that answers a market demand.
How to Evaluate Whether a Product is Worthwhile?
Digital marketing tools help in determining if a product is valuable or not. They answer these questions:
- Is the product increasing revenue?
- Does the product meet customers’ needs?
- Is the product or service in demand?
- What is the product’s positioning versus the competitors?
To check if the product creates revenue, use tools like Google Analytics. It tracks accounting & helps businesses assess if their profits grow or remain stagnant.
People write online reviews about the product’s quality & level of satisfaction. Tools such as Google My Business allow companies to follow up on customers’ feedback.
Keyword tracking software seeks information about any products. Businesses can feel the trends & estimate whether their products have high search volume queries online.
Use tools like Ahrefs to compare products & services with competitors. With some analysis, brands can identify the key success factors & avoid costly pitfalls.
What is Product Marketing?
Marketing communication connects products & services to a target audience.
Before, traditional product marketing used classical ad formats such as newspaper placements or television commercials. Today, the climate changed for digital product marketing. In 2019, mobile devices counted for half of the worldwide online traffic.
Product marketing involves making brand culture decisions that are suitable & realistic. Market research influences how companies develop products & services until the end of their lifecycle.
How does the Product Relate to the Other 3 Ps?
Let’s illustrate this with a case study.
In 2009, Irina Blok pitched a variety of face masks called “Face Blok.” She described her products as: “a collection of fashionable surgical masks designed for people with an edgy sense of humor who wants to express themselves.”
Investors rejected her proposal. They made fun of her on the famous American show Shark Tank. Fast forward to 2021 during the global COVID pandemic, they may regret today.
So, where did she go wrong?
Irina procured a perfect product. There is no question that, in 2021, those face masks wouldn’t hit the market. Grand Review Research revealed: “The global disposable face mask market size exceeded a value of USD 74.90 billion in Q1 of 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53.0% from 2020 to 2027.”
She failed at raising funds because the remaining P’s of marketing (Place, Price, and Promotion) were unsuitable, irrelevant, and not in demand.
The Second P: Place
Businesses promote & sell products where they take leverage of their location. A strong demand makes the ideal place.
How to Choose the Right Place?
To select the perfect place for selling products & services, companies must consider these questions:
- Where are consumers searching for this product?
- Where is the business’ product in demand within the industry?
- Where should the product reach the target audience?
Local SEO tools such as Google My Business or SemRush analyze the product’s demand based on location. In 2019, the local searches for products or services “near me” through Google increased by over 200% yearly.
Google Trends also offers informative data about what products are in need depending on the geographics.
In 2021, the ideal place to reach clients is online. Companies must market their products through digital ads, blogging, websites, and social media.
How does Place Relate to the Other 3 Ps?
The place where brands market their products determines the demand for such products. For example, the cost, price, and marketing campaign of a riding service like Grab differ based on the city or even district.
The place also means the channel. If the company’s buyer persona is on LinkedIn, the brand should not promote the product on TikTok.
The Third P: Price
As consumers are mostly price-sensitive, businesses must apply a fair markup price on their products. This depends on the investment cost, time, and resources.
How to Set a Good Price?
New brands are yet to grow a large customer loyalty base. At this stage, it can be daunting to determine the value of the business’s products & services.
Comparing the costs of similar products within the local area is a great starting point. Experienced digital marketers can also assist in campaigning for the product’s worth. The key is to identify what distinguishes the brand compared to competitors.
There are other factors to consider when determining a product’s price. The brand is crucial. For example, a company such as Chanel can charge $1,800 USD for a basic white cotton tee shirt. Comparatively, Zara sells the same product for a mere $10.55 USD.
The target audience, the location, the product’s quality, the customer service, and the demand are all factors that impact the price. Businesses must conduct market research to understand the company’s niche market.
How does Price Relate to the Other 3 Ps?
Product, Place, and Promotion correlate with Price to determine the consumer cost. Let’s illustrate this with the Vietnamese sandwich “bánh mì.”
People can purchase an authentic bánh mì on the street for less than $1 USD. Famous businesses like Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa charge up to $2 USD as the company must pay overhead fees as brick & mortar stalls.
Besides, they advertised the product to create a solid fan base, and its ingredients are of good quality. The strategy is simple yet effective: high-quality food for a higher price. They promote through the loyalty of tourists & Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa fans all over the world.
The Fourth P: Promotion
Promotion is how a company communicates & markets its products to consumers. It does not only display the product, but also the brand culture & a clear message.
Nestle’s famous product – Milo – is an example of consistent promotional campaigning. In Vietnam, the brand promotes Milo as a source of strength for children (viewable through Milo’s commercial).
Similarly, Western countries such as Australia promote Milo by focusing on growth & endurance (Australia’s Milo commercial). Regardless of location, the brand sends a consistent message to consumers, especially parents. Milo is a source of sustenance & energy for children.
How to Promote a Product?
Digital tools provide insights into how to promote a product best. Businesses can use the Google Keyword Planner to evaluate the market’s potential for their products.
Let’s imagine a brand selling women’s shoes (“giày phụ nữ” in Vietnamese). The tool says that the competition for this product is fierce. It means many other businesses are bidding for this keyword.
We also see that the search volume for such products is not that high. Obviously, the searches for women’s shoes in Vietnam decreased a lot during the previous months due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Based on this valuable information, the company can build a sustainable promotional strategy for its products.
How can Digital Marketing Promote Products?
Digital marketing aims at attracting & engaging a target audience through online promotional work. Experienced marketers source information from industry research to promote products.
Digital marketing promotion includes various elements such as:
- Online advertising.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
- Sales promotion.
- Public relations & Sponsorship.
- Email marketing.
- Influencers & Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs).
- Social media presence.
- Etc.
The internet economy’s size increases everywhere in the world. Digital marketing is a force to bring a business’s product closer to its intended demographic.
How does Promotion Relate to the Other 3 Ps?
Businesses cannot promote their products if the first 3 P’s are not optimized yet. Professional digital marketers assess a product to determine the best campaigning course. They need updated data about the Product, the Place, and the Price.
To promote their products, brands must answer these questions:
- Which channels the target audience is using?
- What messages are the most effective with the target consumers?
- When is the best time to promote the product?
- What are the competitors’ strategies to carry out their promotional activities?
All 4 P’s of Marketing are correlated to stand out from competitors.
Get Started with the 4 Ps of Marketing
To be successful with your digital strategy, ask for professional support. Prodima Vietnam, a digital marketing agency based in Ho Chi Minh City, is a leading expert on the 4 Ps marketing mix.
We ensure that Product, Place, Price, and Promotion are deeply analyzed to reach your business’s target audience. Prodima Vietnam gets the right digital tools & resources that create a brand culture for your company to remain competitive.
Contact a consultant today for more information. Our team of experts is happy to help you incorporate the 4 Ps of Marketing to increase your revenue.
