While we are sure that you are familiar with the basics of marketing, we know that there is always a need for innovation and a new way in which you can approach every marketing and advertising campaign. It may not always be the most exciting part of creating a campaign, but having some checkpoints generally helps you much more in the long run than just blindly creating.
This is why we have decided to show you the marketing model of E. Jerome McCarthy, who, through years of refining other models, has come up with the Four Ps method. This method will help you both capture what is unique and special about your product and also help you capitalize on the brand’s or product’s best selling points, leaving you with the best elements and the few points you should follow to have the best plan.
While it may sound like something that may not be useful to you, you should still give it a try, as experts in the industry are using this model successfully, from marketing and branding agencies to web design companies all around the globe!
The Four Ps Model
Product
This is the first P and probably the most important one out of all the four Ps that we will discuss today. After all, you cannot discuss the other three without having a product. Whether this product is tangible (you are creating a physical product that you intend to sell to others) or intangible (you will be providing a service to others), you must know exactly what it is and what it does.
You need to know what you are intending to sell, each facet of it, and how it is going to work. If you are not convinced your product is going to work, then you will not know how to sell it to others. The best way to achieve this step is to know your product very well, and then you have taken the first step towards successfully marketing it.
Price
The next one on the list is Price. And this is because once you know your product inside and out, together with all the things that make it unique, you need to start thinking about the way you will be making pricing decisions. Not only will you have to think about the way in which your product is bound to make some money, but when you determine the price, you have to take into consideration a lot of things.
You will have to look at things like the supply and demand of the category your product is in, profit margins, and the marketing strategy you plan to employ. It is the basics of how you will be spreading your budget and how much of it comes down to the price of your product. At this stage, you should also consider that other similar brands or products (if any) may be working with other variables, and they may be positioned differently in the market, thus at different price points.
Their position will be influenced greatly by the price points they have and how they have split up their price. What’s more, you should also try to think about the price elasticity you want to employ and how rigid everything in your plan is, as this option for fluidity may leave a great impact on the next two Ps we shall discuss.
Promotion
Now that you have a product and a price on your hands, it’s time to talk about promotion. The third P is just as important as the others, but it comes with a few more complexities that you have to look at as it is not as simple as it appears at first glance. Promotion deals with the way a lot of marketing agencies spread relevant information about their product to their target audience and beyond, with a particular look at how they manage to differentiate their product or service from the ones already existing on the market.
Elements like public relations, social media and email marketing, advertising, search engine marketing, even video marketing, and more are key points that need to be looked after. A well-positioned brand in the market will be able to touch base with all the points that come up when promoting its product in order to ensure a maximized return on the initial investment.
Place
Last but not least, we have Place. The final P is one that many people overlook, no matter how many famous marketers talk about the best time to launch a product. After all, you could have an amazing product at the right price, but due to a mistake in timing, you launch it at the wrong time, and it gets lost in a sea of other products, thus losing your place in the market and ending up failing on the Place aspect of your plan.
Time and place are crucial, and while in the past it was all about the actual physical placement, now it is all about where you launch it. And despite the numerous transactions that happen outside of the World Wide Web, the hard truth is that a lot of products find their audience online. Keep this in mind when you devise your plan and evaluate where you have the biggest chance of converting potential customers into actual ones, and advertise your product to them directly.
Do not let the four Ps intimidate you, but rather use them as a guiding model for your next product launch or let them guide your next workshop with your team!
