example of marketing mix in business plan

Marketing Mix Examples: The Building Block of a Successful Brand

Learn about marketing mix and its examples through advertising campaigns of various leading brands..

• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="what">What is marketing mix?
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="origination">Origination of the 4P's
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="important">Why is marketing mix important?
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="examples">Examples of marketing mix
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="7">7P's of marketing mix
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="why">Why is it important?
• overview#goto" data-overview-topic-param="write">Best practices to write marketing mix

Marketing mix can make or break a product’s success. We have put together the best marketing mix examples of leading brands for your understanding and a guide to help you craft an effective marketing mix strategy for your brand.

What is Marketing Mix?

Let's start with the Marketing mix definition before moving on to the guide.

A marketing mix is a blend of business strategies brought into execution that make up the overall marketing strategy for a product.

Typically, marketing mix collectively includes the 4 Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

With dynamic changes in the business environment, these four Ps were further expanded into the 7 P's of marketing mix to include: people, process, and physical evidence. 

The intersection of these factors leads to the formation of a distinct marketing strategy that is tailored for a brand. Having a marketing mix that is compatible with your brand values is crucial for the success of a company. 

Origination of the 4 P's of Marketing Mix

Prof. James Culliton was the first one to mention the marketing mix in the late 1940s. Later his colleague, Neil Broden published an article - The concept of the marketing mix .

Jerome McCarthy first introduced the concept of the 4 P's of marketing mix in his book “Basic marketing: A managerial approach”.

Why is Marketing Mix important?

Imagine if Tiffany diamonds were sold in Walmart.

Or McDonald’s was located in remote locations.

Or Red Bull was advertised on a kid’s Television channel.

Or an artist was the brand ambassador of Nike.

This would have gone terribly wrong, and these brands might not even be in the market today. 

The slightest angle change in a marketing mix can tremendously impact the market you are targeting. Every element must be selected carefully after rigorous market research and analysis.

A right marketing mix ensures you are -

creating a product that solves a problem

selling it at the correct price

promoting it to your target customers

distributing it at a place easily accessible by the consumers

All these factors need to work in tandem to ensure the creation of a well-oiled marketing engine.

Is Marketing Mix rigid in nature?

The marketing mix isn’t set in stone. It ebbs and flows in alignment with the dynamic changes in the business environment and company growth. Often a company might test various combinations of the marketing mix elements to settle on marketing tactics that give the highest returns.

With that let’s dive into the world of marketing mix with marketing examples from leading brands around the world to give you a practical understanding.

4 P's of Marketing Mix with Examples

A marketing plan must be based on thorough market research and analysis of the many factors of marketing. A marketing design without a solid blueprint is like aiming in the dark, you’ll never hit the target. Understanding the 4 P’s of marketing is crucial for devising a marketing scheme that hits home.

Here are the 4 P's of marketing mix with examples.

Product Marketing Mix

Product is at the core of all marketing strategies. The product attributes don’t only refer to tangible goods but also intangible service products and ideas. It is what a company has to offer to its customers.

A great product is at the center of a brand’s success. Noteworthy marketing tactics can get the product in front of the target customers and get them to try it once, but after that, the product is on its own. The product must have the potential to survive and thrive in the market.

The product must solve customers’ problems efficiently, and better than others in the market, otherwise, customers won’t buy it. The question is, what’s in it for them?

Product marketing refers to product benefits, market research, product features, design, quality, technology, and warranties.

To develop a product mix, a marketing manager takes into consideration the following questions:

Who is your target market?

What are their pain points or problems?

What quality product are they looking for?

What is your competitor’s offering?

How can you gain a competitive advantage over them?

How large is the target market?

What pain point are you solving?

Which product features and benefits solve that problem?

Apart from the above checklist, feedback from the customers about what they like or dislike about the product is taken further to mold the product to suit their needs.

This will help you craft customer-centric marketing instead of product-centric.

Product Marketing Mix Example

Apple 's unique selling proposition is its product marketing mix by producing products with innovative features, advanced technology, and sleek design. From their iconic iPhones to their ingenious MacBooks, Apple’s products are the perfect combination of form and function. Apple’s product mix includes more than just hardware. Their services and add-ons make their products irresistible. Customers have access to the world of entertainment and convenience with iTunes, iCloud, and Apple Music.

Apple treats its customers like a kind by providing a simple user interface, exceptional support, and warranty claims. Apple is a legendary marketing example everyone must take notes from.

Source: Apple Website

Source: Unsplash

Price Marketing Mix

Price is the money paid by the customers to own, access, or avail of your product. Pricing strategies must be profitable to the company. Prices are determined based on the cost incurred, the expected profit margin, and how much the customers are willing to pay.

Does your product solve a problem better than others, is it sold for an appropriate price, and is it worth the price? Based on your business strategy, product prices can be luxury, premium, or bargain price.

Price marketing mix elements include pricing strategy, payment terms, credit policy, discount, allowances, and payment mode.

To develop a pricing strategy, the marketing manager first determines:

The income range of their target consumer

Brand’s value perception by the customer

How much are they willing to pay?

How much do their competitors charge?

Do you want to adopt a luxury, bargain, or premium pricing strategy?

How will your price portray your brand?

Premium prices give the impression that the brand must be superior. The right price is the one that meets your profit margins and keeps more customers happy, a win-win situation.

Price Marketing Mix Examples

Coca-Cola uses a competitive pricing strategy for penetrative marketing. It is a pricing expert such that it matches the competitor’s prices head-on combined with a value-based pricing approach to push discounts for stimulating higher sales. The business is adaptable and it also changes its prices to meet local laws and market conditions.

Another example is Walmart which uses Everyday Low Prices (EDLP) pricing strategy that entails selling products at a low price to attract more customers, higher sales volume, and increase profits. Walmart does this by buying products in massive quantities from all over the world and use economies of scale to sell products at high discount rates depending on the demand.

Source: Walmart Website

Source: Tech Crunch

Place Marketing Mix

The third P, Place refers to the chain through which the products go from manufacturer to customer. This chain is determined based on who is the target audience, where will you find them, and how will you reach your product to them.

The quicker the goods travel from production to point of sale, the higher customer satisfaction.

Place mix determines the distribution channels and place where the product will be sold like online/eCommerce stores, physical locations like retail, wholesale, convenience stores, brand owned outlets. It is significant to research where your customers will be looking for your product and how to best serve them.

Place marketing mix elements include warehouse, transport, distribution channel, inventory control, and areas covered.

To determine the place marketing mix strategy, marketing managers find the answers to the following questions:

Where will your customers find your product?

Where will you sell your products?

Will they be available in eCommerce stores, retail stores, or brand store chains?

A well-optimized distribution channel is even more important for retail businesses. You can read our marketing mix case studies on Costco , Pepsi , or Airbnb to get more perspective on how they manage their distribution.

Place Marketing Mix Examples

McDonald’s has more than 36,000 franchises and company-owned outlets all across the globe. It also has drive-ins, online ordering through its app, and food delivery partners. Consumers can either dine at the restaurant itself or get a takeaway at their convenience. McDonald’s is located in easily accessible locations providing its customers serving tasty food quickly at low prices.

Source: McDonald's blog

Tiffany & Co is a high-end luxury jewelry brand. It sells its signature Tiffany True only in its stores creating exclusivity and an elite user experience.

Source: Harpers Bazaar

Promotion Marketing Mix

Promotion defines the strategies to make your potential customers aware of your brand. Simply put, how to get the word out about your product to your potential customers. Promotion marketing mix advertises, differentiates your product in the target market, and convinces your ideal customers to buy your product.

Promotional mix elements in the digital age include television ads, publicity, sales promotion, digital marketing, social media ads, personal selling, direct marketing, public relations, print advertising, search engine marketing, and online marketing.

Questions marketing managers ask when devising a promotion marketing mix strategy:

Where do your customers hang out online & offline?

Where will you promote your product?

What promotion tactical marketing tools will you use?

One needs to perform a lot of trial and error in devising promotional channel strategies. You can read this book to know many possible growth channels - Traction by Gabriel Weinberg

Promotion Marketing Mix Example

Red Bull spends extensively on promotions to stay at the top of its consumer's mind. 'Red Bull gives you wings' tagline has made a home in people’s minds. It’s impossible to plainly say it without dragging out the wings in a high-pitched voice. Red Bull promotes itself as a high-energy drink for intense activity. Its promotion strategy includes creative ads, digital marketing, content marketing, and sponsorship of extreme sports events .

Nike’s target buyers are athletes and people seeking a sporty and healthy lifestyle. It collaborates with high-profile sportspersons to promote its product line and maintain its brand image of being a premium sportswear brand. Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, and Kobe Bryant are a few of Nike’s brand ambassadors. Managers must study Nike's marketing example to devise their promotion strategy.

Source: Footwear News

Source: WWD

The 4 Ps of marketing work in unison to create a brand’s marketing strategy. It’s like a four-legged chair. If one leg is of the wrong height or broken, the chair won’t stay upright.

As businesses became more dynamic, more elements were added to the 4 Ps of marketing to derive an effective marketing plan to meet today’s business needs. 

What are the 7 P’s of Marketing Mix?

The 4 Ps were expanded into the 7 P's of marketing mix to keep up with the modern business environment. The additional P’s are Physical evidence, people, and process.

Let’s learn about each one of them with marketing examples.

Physical Evidence Marketing Mix

It is the look and feel of your product and brand. It includes exterior design, interior decor, ambiance, atmosphere, furnishing, packaging, employee appearance, and overall experience. 

Physical Evidence Marketing Mix Example

Starbucks serves exquisite coffees in a soothing ambiance. It positions itself as a place where you can work, interact, or hang out in a peaceful atmosphere with utmost ease. The experience Starbucks offers is what makes users choose it over others.

Paperboat’s packaging is vibrant and colorful with unique shapes and sizes because its consumers are children. Kids are attracted to colorful things that catch their eye in an instant. This way Paperboat distinguishes itself in a sea of competitors.

Source: Elephant design

People Marketing Mix

People marketing mix refers to the people involved in the development, distribution, and selling of the product. Personnel is the backbone of a company because they represent the company in front of its consumers and leave an impression. Hiring the right people, and training them thoroughly to match the quality of your brand is crucial for a brand’s success. The people marketing mix includes employees, service providers, sales executives, delivery staff, and work culture.

People Marketing Mix Example

Taj is a world leader in hospitality. It keeps customer satisfaction at the forefront. They train their personnel, right from the front desk to managerial staff, rigorously to provide the best customer experience.

Source: Taj Hotels

Process marketing mix

The process consists of the direct and indirect activities involved in the manufacturing, delivery, and consumption of the product. It also includes customer feedback to solve any inconvenience and give consumers what they need. The efficiency of the process decides the performance of a product.

Process Marketing Mix Example

Starbucks holds customer feedback in high esteem to refine its product offering. Starbucks' “My Starbucks Idea” platform was in operation for nearly 10 years before being retired. It provided consumers with a better way to share their concerns and submit requests. The aim was to give consumers exactly what they want while building a relationship and a loyal customer base.

Source: Braineet

Marketing mix elements work in agreement with each other to formulate the right marketing design for a brand. You cannot focus on a single element and call it a day. If there are internal discrepancies between the elements then those must be eliminated to provide the best value to the customer.

Why should you care about Marketing Mix?

The marketing mixes work in unison aiding each other. They are interrelated like the tires of a car, driving the company forward.

A correct marketing mix ensures you target the right buyers, make them aware of your product, position yourself distinctly, and offer a product they want, at a price they are willing to pay, and at a place easily accessible to them.

Each element decides the strategy for other elements. For example, a luxury product with a premium price cannot be sold at indie shops that follow cost-sensitive pricing strategies.

Best Practices to write a Marketing Mix Strategy

Use these best practices to write an effective marketing mix strategy for your product:

Clear, measurable, time-specific and stretch goals for a marketing campaign improve marketing success rate as one works towards a defined outcome. Is your aim to attract more customers, get more sales, differentiate yourself from competitors, enhance brand image, or increase brand awareness?

Perform Market Research

Market research gives a direction and validation to your marketing mix as to whom you need to sell in the first place. It helps define a target audience, finalize product's features, get inspired from competition's promotion tactics, etc. The result is a customer-centric product stand that has a distinct unique selling proposition backed by research.

Incorporate customer feedback

Are your product's benefits truly aligning with your customer's expectations? What is the perceived value of your product in front of your potential customers ? Can you increase your product pricing? Should you invest in search engine marketing?

All such present and future product decisions can be made by actively taking customer feedback. You also get a clear data if your marketing mix work on your target audience as strategized.

Get started with your brand's marketing strategy today

The marketing mix is crucial to successfully market your product and achieve marketing goals. Effective marketing mix results in higher customer satisfaction, larger market share, increased sales, and finally soaring profit margins. Now that you have a clear understanding of the marketing mix, it’s time for you to devise a marketing mix plan for your product and achieve those banger sales and profit goals.

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The 4 P’s of Marketing Mix and how to master it in today's world (updated with example and template)

This article addresses how to use one of the oldest marketing concepts in today's online world: "The Marketing Mix," which is based on the 4 P's: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

If you’re ready to take your marketing seriously, you’ll need to start with a marketing plan. A classic marketing concept called “The Marketing Mix” or “The 4 P’s” of Marketing is a perfect place to start.

The original concept of the 4 P's marketing mix

The original marketing mix, or 4 P's, as originally proposed by marketer and academic Jerome E. McCarthy , provides a framework for marketing decision-making. Effectively summing up the 4 pillars of the business cycle, McCarthy's marketing mix has since become one of the most enduring and widely accepted frameworks in business.

The essential base ingredients of the 4 P’s are: Product , Price , Place and Promotion . While this combination doesn’t appear to be rocket science, a company’s ability or lack thereof to embrace and implement the 4 P’s can make all the difference between thriving and failing as a business.

Each of the 4 P’s build upon and interact with one another, and are governed by both internal and external factors within the business itself, and our ever-changing marketplace. The 4 P’s of marketing primary purpose is to help us take into consideration potential roadblocks to widespread product adaptation and ongoing success.

So let’s get to them, shall we?

4 P's of marketing in simple and familiar terms:

A PRODUCT is a service or good offered to meet consumer interest or demand. It could come in the form of occupational therapy or a fidget spinner - choices are only limited to the imagination, BUT, are highly dependent on marketplace curiosity or need.

PRICE is the cost people pay for a product. This includes base costs (materials, manufacturing, and shipping) plus expenses (rent, office supplies, healthcare, etc.). While you should always look to the competition, a smart business will tap into what people will actually pay for it. That's the only thing that counts. If you can't rise above your bottom line and make your target profit, then it’s a losing proposition.

PLACE is the “home” where the product resides, and that “home” can live in many different channels, such as a physical store display, a newspaper, radio or TV ad, or a website or blog spotlight. Really, a place is anywhere you can get your product in front of your target customers that compliments your budget, including the price point.

PROMOTION is product exposure and public relations efforts via advertising (through the channels mentioned above) as well as word of mouth, direct mail, email marketing and social media. Promotion is a communication tool that encapsulates the first 3 P’s by putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time, with the goal of it being irresistible to customers.

The 4 P's example and template for a service business

The Marketing Mix of “HVAC Plumber” reflects a real life example of how a service company covers the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) in their marketing strategy.

“HVAC plumber” (a fictitious company) provides heating and cooling services in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

HVAC Plumber marketing mix elements strategy and example:

HVAC Plumber offers industry standard services, but also innovates to provide more value to our customers and captures more of the market. We are insured, licensed and provide warranties for our work. Our high quality services and focus on a pleasant customer experience helps us get repeat clients, referrals, and builds our reputation. Also, our motto is: “Leave the place cleaner than we found it” - so you’ll always see us with a broom in our hands before we leave.

At present, the following are the main categories of HVAC Plumber products:

• Furnace installation and repair
• Water heater maintenance, installation and repair
• Air conditioning installation, maintenance and repair
• Complete plumbing system design and installation
• Drain, sink and toilet unclogging and jet rodding and repairs

Our extra value added products:

• Emergency services
• Indoor air quality testing services
• Air duct and dryer vent cleaning services
• Warranty services
• Equipment sales

Our reputation and successful marketing generates more demand than we can handle, so it allows us to charge premium for our services. We train our service technicians to upsell our other services. We also have a customer loyalty program in place to reward our long-term clients with better rates and provide coupons to first time clients. We also seek partnerships with organizations such as: homeowner associations, insurance companies, builders and general contractors, and offer exclusive pricing options based on quantity.

The company has offices in downtown Chicago, but walk-in customers are unusual. We are physically represented by our company vans, uniforms and warranty stickers. We consistently attend industry trade shows, and belong to the Chicago Chamber of Commerce.

We nurture partnerships with our equipment vendors, participate in their trainings, and have certifications, which allow us to be listed “licensed technicians” on their websites. We serve the Chicagoland Area, which is about a 30 mile radius from our warehouse, but we do make travel exceptions for long-term clients and bigger projects.

Our company website is the most important communication tool, and is a place where our clients learn about our services and make initial contact. We invest a great deal of money and time to keep it updated and useful to our audience. We plan to expand our website to include ecommerce and make some of the package services, equipment and accessories available for purchase online. None of our competitors are doing this at the moment, so we’ll take advantage of being pioneers in this regard.

Most new business comes through our website and we focus all of our promotion efforts to drive more traffic to it. Our promotional mix is as follows:

• Search engine optimization
• Paid traffic
• Social media marketing
• Content marketing
• Email marketing

Our value proposition statement

HVAC Plumber is an industry-leading HVAC and plumbing service provider serving the Chicago area since 1999. We specialize in new installations, repairs, and 24 hour emergency services.

Start with 4 P's of marketing template

Check out our 4 P's of marketing template to help you work through your first few ideas.

But why stop there?

The 7 P’s of marketing mix

Since the inception of the original 4 P’s of marketing, marketing experts have expounded upon the mix to include three additional P’s to enhance brand exposure and sales performance.

These additional P’s include: People , Process and Physical evidence .

PEOPLE have always been at the epicenter of the business world. Whether it’s the company visionaries, the movers and shakers, or the daily doers, unless (or until) commerce is fully automated, you’re only as good as the people who keep the business operational and flowing. And believe you me, customers are quick to notice when there’s a glitch in the matrix.

PROCESSES ensure consistent service delivery to every customer, at any time of day, on any given day. And, a successful business incorporates scenarios where customer preferences can be accommodated to provide them a unique experience.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE – Almost all services include physical proof of a transaction, even if the bulk of what the consumer bought isn’t tangible. It’s something the customer can hold onto and recall about working with you. Physical evidence also describes consistent branding across communication channels.

How can you actually use this?

How the 4 P’s apply in today’s online marketing

The how’s and why’s of how we approach marketing have become much more dynamic since the inception of the internet. However, the driving factor is still and should always remain: PEOPLE. Actually, it’s more about people than ever before. Having an honest marketing approach has never been more important and is both emotionally and financially rewarding if you do it right.

PRODUCT and how it lives online versus the shelf

It seems like not much has changed as far as the product or services goes, right? Wrong. No matter what type of product you offer, the landscape shifted majorly to the consumer benefit. The majority of customers now prefer to shop online, and perform in-depth research before making their buying decisions.

Besides the original, product-related marketing factors such as: product quality and design, branding, packaging, returns and guarantees, in your marketing plan, you should also consider NEW factors.

User-centric customer support - your product now has a digital voice. And it must talk to your audience and be both personalized and timely. Not only across all the common channels such as phone or email, but also should be proactively involved in social media. Resource: Social media customer service 101: the beginner's guide

New PRICING models to consider

Pricing your product or service is never an easy task. It sure helps if you can find a unique product positioning on the market, otherwise you fall into price comparison wars with your competition. And, to compare prices has never been easier than today. The original Marketing Mix suggests considering pricing strategy and tactics, discount structure, payment terms and options for both customers and distributors.

Competition pricing research - this is an in-depth review of the pricing models of your direct competitors. In comparing products, you should focus worldwide. With local services, of course, should compare within your own service area. Remember that you don’t have to anchor your pricing based on competition, but it helps to know the market.

Shipping and handling strategy - it’s not an obvious, but very important factor in online sales conversions no matter the item price. Offering free shipping is one of the most effective purchase incentives. Resource: How to offer free shipping and still make money

"9 out of 10 online shoppers consider free shipping as one of the main reasons why they shop at a particular online store. To offer free shipping is not a new thing, thanks to Amazon it became essential running an online store. The main question now is how to make it profitable. It looks impossible, but with the right approach - offering it most, not all, of the time, setting a flat shipping or order threshold, it is possible."

Diana Bukevicius - Scube Marketing

Product positioning - I know I’m repeating myself, but I have to. Positioning is strongly engraved into each pillar of The Marketing Mix. As far as pricing goes, having strong niche positioning eliminates the number of competitors that your product or service can be compared with and it opens up an opportunity to go for value pricing . Resource: Everything you need to know about pricing

Upsell strategy - this is an underestimated source of cash flow. It’s always easier to sell to the people that already bought something from you and were happy with the product. It can be an additional items or warranties, maintenance or a product upgrade.

PLACE for marketing is now on the mobile screens

Back in the 1940’s “place” was all about brick and mortar. Location, distribution, and logistics are still part of the process, but it heavily shifted from the marketing department to operations. No doubt you’ll boost sales if your product gets featured in physical Walmart stores, but you also can sell at Walmart Marketplace online with way less effort for the approval process. Same goes for Amazon. Online selling has undoubtedly taken over as the place to peddle your wares. Resource: How to sell on Walmart marketplace in 7 easy steps

Website - this is by far your most important marketing piece. It’s your 24/7 storefront and your sales rep that never sleeps. Any marketing efforts that you take will end up on your website. I mentioned 3rd party sources like Walmart Marketplace or Amazon, but I still highly recommend you focus on your own website first and use other sources as secondary. Why? Because you own it and you control it.

Any 3rd party retailer could change their policies tomorrow and you might be out of business. Plus, websites grow more powerful over time if supported by thoughtful and consistent marketing decisions. When you build your website, the decisions on design, structure and content should be made based on your promotional strategies.

3rd party platforms - Your audience is on or a few of these platforms already. Identify those platforms and utilize them. It can take the form of direct eCommerce platforms like Amazon, or it can be social channels like LinkedIn or Facebook etc.

PROMOTION is in your inbox

Search engine optimization (SEO), social media, email marketing and paid search. I hear that Super Bowl ads are worth their weight in gold, but if you can afford a Superbowl ad, you are on the wrong blog!

Jokes aside, make sure your marketing strategy is built around driving traffic to your website and converting it to leads or sales.

Traffic generation - getting targeted visitors to come to your website is the ultimate #1 goal. There are numerous ways you can achieve that, and they’re all worth considering:

Search engine optimization (SEO) - is the practice driving traffic to your website through organic search engine results by optimizing (making relevant) your website for targeted keyphrases. SEO is an ongoing process that requires patience and consistent efforts.

Paid search - in other words - “bought traffic.” Platforms like Google AdWords, Bing Ads or Facebook Ads allows you to buy highly targeted traffic in an auction-type of fashion. It’s typically based on “per click” pricing, where each visitors cost you x amount of dollars.

Social media marketing - is the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. If you sell to people then it’s a great idea to invest time and effort (and sometimes money) into one or several social media sites. That’s where the people hang-out these days. Resource: Welcome to the beginner's guide to social media!

Email marketing - is the modern equivalent of oldschool direct mail, I believe. Even if one more email in our inbox is the last thing we want or need - email is still one of the best performing marketing tools. Resource: A beginner’s guide to successful email marketing Resource: A comprehensive guide to email marketing platforms

Conversion rate optimization - converting website visitors into leads is the ultimate goal #2 to achieve. Firstly, to be able to calculate conversions you need to have Google Analytics or other tracking system integrated to your website. Conversion rate optimization are an ongoing process where you optimize your website and measure the outcome looking for the optimal version of each page. Resource: Conversion optimization made simple: a step-by-step guide Resource: Learn Google Analytics with free online courses

2 extra P’s from Angle180

The team at Angle180 takes the “4 P's of marketing (Plus 3)” two steps further, to include Positioning and Positive Reviews.

Positioning - again and again. Positioning is a fundamental piece of your marketing plan and your overall business success. Essentially, if you answer all the questions related to each P you’ll arrive to your business positioning statement.

Positioning is how you differentiate your product or service from your competitors in your niche market.

A good positioning statement is the first thing people read when they visit your website. Typically, it’s a 7-10 word sentence on your Home Page that succinctly answers:

There’s a science behind positioning, and it’s wise to research how others in your field describe themselves.

Positive reviews - positive online reviews are pretty self explanatory, but I recommend creating a strategy for collecting positive reviews, as well as dealing with negative ones.

Unfortunately, it’s human nature to take positive experiences for granted and feel revengeful about the negative ones.

Reviews definitely affect local search rankings and customer buying decisions.

Local consumer review survey by BrightLocal reveals the importance of reviews:

97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2017

85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

49% of consumers need at least a four-star rating before they choose to use a business

Responding to reviews is more important than ever, with 30% naming this as key when judging local businesses

4 P's of Marketing Mix in a slideshow presentation (PPT) and downloadable PDF

Here is a PDF version of 4 P's of marketing presentation.

Our conclusion? The original 4 P’s of the marketing mix withstand the test of time

There is one common trait to all classic things - they never get old or obsolete. So, even with all the changes that technology has brought us, the 80 year concept of The 4 P’s of marketing mix are still relevant and applicable today. Marketing platforms and tools have certainly changed, but the foundation is rock solid. And, let’s hope it always remains personalized and people-driven.

I'm Sarunas Budrikas, CEO of Angle180, a B2B marketing company delivering results through high performance web design and traffic generation.

You can also find me on LinkedIn and Twitter .

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“The 4 Ps of marketing” — an overview (with examples)

Designing and building a marketing campaign is a big project. Even experienced leaders sometimes find it hard to get started because there is so much to consider, plan, and organize.

But there are several strategies that can help, and “the 4 Ps of marketing” is one of them. It’s not a new concept, but the 4 Ps are so foundational that many marketers are using at least some of them without even knowing it. Understanding the whole framework of the 4 Ps of marketing can help make planning your next campaign simple and straightforward.

To help you get started, this piece will provide:

• A definition of the holistic concept of the 4 Ps of marketing
• A detailed look at each one of the 4 Ps
• Insights on how to put the 4 Ps into action

Getting started with the 4 Ps

What are the 4 ps of marketing.

The 4 Ps of marketing are a collection of four essential elements of a marketing campaign — namely product, price, promotion, and place. Also known as “the marketing mix,” the 4 Ps collectively create a framework for organizing and planning a marketing strategy for a product or service.

Professor Neil H. Borden first described the concept of the 4 Ps and the marketing mix in the early 1950s at Harvard University. In the 1960s, marketing professor E. Jerome McCarthy at Michigan State University officially named these concepts “the 4 Ps of marketing” in his book Basic Marketing: The Managerial Approach .

Borden later published his conclusions in a 1964 article, “ The Concept of the Marketing Mix . ” The 4 Ps have remained a key reference for companies in consumer marketing and advertising for decades.

Marketing has evolved dramatically since the 1950s, and the marketing mix continues to develop as well. As early as the 1960s, the Ps were expanded to include people, process, and physical evidence. The marketing mix concept continues to be developed as marketers apply the concept to modern marketing.

Understanding the 4 Ps of marketing

The 4 Ps help marketers consider a product or service in the eyes of their consumers and buyers. It’s a framework that helps marketers build a holistic marketing strategy based on a deep understanding of the product, strategic consideration of pricing , unified view of promotional tactics, and unique insights into the places your audiences are.

Product — the object or service for sale

The product is the object or service for sale, and the marketer needs to know the product well. Understanding the product is about more than just knowing what it is and what it does. In order to design a strategic marketing campaign, you need a complete picture of:

• Your product or service
• How users relate to your product or service
• How your product compares to the competition

All of the details are important, and it will take a little bit of time to pull together a complete view of the product — but don’t skip it. It’s easy to get a very basic product description and then skip ahead to designing a marketing plan, but this almost guarantees that some insights will be left out — and the advertising strategy won’t be as strong as it could be.

Business owners and entrepreneurs should be especially careful here. You’ve probably spent a lot of time working on your product already, but thinking about it from a marketing perspective is a little different. Make sure you have a complete marketing portrait of your product before moving forward.

An example of product

A media streaming subscription is an example of a product. The company may offer a limited, free plan but also provide another tier of service for a monthly fee. As the marketing team considers the product, they may note that this plan offers more types of media than their competitors. Market research may reveal that while the product was designed for desktop devices, most users are actually engaging on their smartphone apps. Or they may discover that even though they thought the service was being used for casual entertainment, there is actually a large audience segment streaming educational podcasts in the mornings.

Price — cost of the product or service

As part of the marketing mix, “price” refers to how the cost and pricing structure of a product will impact the marketing strategy . In some cases, pricing will be designed in conjunction with a marketing strategy. But even if pricing details are simply handed down to the marketing team, it shouldn’t be overlooked as a key consideration.

The concept of price becomes a marketing strategy in a couple of ways, including:

• Brand perception. Pricing affects how your audience perceives your brand and your product. If you can design pricing structures as part of your marketing campaign, consider whether you are offering an economy or a luxury product. If pricing is predetermined, the marketing campaign will need to be consistent with the perception that pricing creates.
• Lead generation. Pricing strategies can be designed for lead generation by using free trials or limited free pricing tiers. Whether or not lead generation is built into your product’s pricing structure will impact your marketing campaigns.

An example of price

In our media streaming example, the company offers a free account with limited access. If the paid subscription costs more than competitor subscriptions, the marketing team may choose to describe and illustrate their service as a more sophisticated option. Ad campaigns may associate the product with a more expensive lifestyle, highlight the larger library of content, direct content at adults more than teenagers, and establish partnership marketing relationships with other brands that market to the same audience.

Promotion — reach the target audience

Promotion is communicating with customers and target audiences. Promotion is what comes to mind for many people when they think about marketing because it’s the piece of the marketing strategy that considers how to tell your audience about your product.

Promotion includes SEO and content marketing, online ads, social media advertising, email marketing, public relations campaigns, media placement, and more. It’s about all of the considerations that will help you get your product to your audiences. Some of those considerations include:

• The types of messaging your audience responds to
• The ideal time to communicate with them
• Market segmentation and demographics
• How people interact with your brand

You’ll take all of those insights (and more) and use them to design visual ads, videos, email campaigns, and content calendars that speak directly to your target audience at every stage of the customer journey. You’ll also want to consider how to use personalization at scale in order to create a truly unique, engaging experience for each individual that helps move them through the funnel.

https://main--bacom-blog--adobecom.hlx.page/blog/fragments/personalization-at-scale

An example of promotion

For example, the media streaming service may consider a promotional campaign that targets business professionals in major US cities. The company may partner with popular tech brands and design messaging that advertises the largest collection of educational podcasts — perfect for learning about your business or favorite subjects during your morning routine.

Place — location of consumers

Place is about where and how your product is available, as well as where your marketing messages are shared. The idea of product ”place” is an important marketing consideration because it also affects brand perception. The “place” of your promotions has a similar effect because people associate the medium with the message. Many exclusive brands, for example, are not available in big box department stores. Selective product placement reinforces the customer’s view of the brand as something elite.

It’s important to note that most marketing places are now digital. Digital marketers need to consider where their customers and buyers are online, both for product and promotional placement.

An example of place

Let’s take one last look at the media streaming company example. The marketing team may focus a lot (if not all) of their campaign resources on digital platforms. LinkedIn might be a more valuable place than Facebook, and podcast sponsorships might be a valuable place for influencer marketing.

How to use the 4 Ps of marketing

You can put the 4 Ps of marketing to work by using them as a framework for planning your next campaign. Think through and document how each one applies to your strategy and how the implications of each can improve your marketing performance by asking some strategic questions:

• What is unique about your product?
• Why is it better than the competition?
• How is the product designed to be used?
• How is your audience actually using the product?
• What needs does the product meet?
• What frustrations does your audience have with the product?
• What frustrations does your audience have with competitor products?
• How does the product relate to our current branding and company mission?
• What does the price communicate about the product?
• What does the price communicate about your brand?
• How will the pricing likely influence buyer perception?
• Does the pricing model support lead generation strategies?
• Based on the product and pricing, who are my target audiences?
• Why do my target personas need this product?
• When are my target personas most aware of their need for this product?
• What type of messaging and content most resonate with my target audiences?
• Where should my product be available? Is it exclusive or widely available?
• Is my target audience geographically limited?
• Where does my target audience spend their time?
• What digital channels does my target audience prefer?
• What marketing partners align with the strategy for this product and our brand identity?

The 4 Ps of marketing are not a new strategy and — like most marketing strategies — the strength of the marketing mix lies in its flexibility. It continues to develop to suit marketers’ needs and remains a key framework decades after it was first documented.

For your next marketing campaign, start by making sure your whole team has a clear definition of the product from every angle. Then use the remaining Ps to outline a successful marketing campaign.

When you’re ready to get started, check out Adobe Experience Manager to learn how the industry’s most robust digital asset management solution can help you put the 4 Ps into action. Deliver timely, relevant, and personal experiences — and reach your audience faster.

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/36376

The 4 P’s of Marketing + Marketing Mix Examples

The 4 P’s are a concept from the business world that helps you define your business offerings and create the best individualized marketing strategy possible. 

What are the 4 P’s of Marketing? 

The 4 P‘s stands for: 

• Price 
• Place 

All aspects of marketing can be categorized under one of these 4 terms. According to conventional marketing wisdom, optimizing each of these 4 categories is a successful strategy for marketing. 

Marketing Mix Definition 

Because each of t he 4 P’s are supposed to work together like ingredients in a recipe, the 4 P’s are also called The Marketing Mix.

What is the marketing mix? Just your business’s unique blend of the 4 P’s to create your own custom recipe for marketing success. 

History of the 4 P’s 

The term “marketing mix” came first, when Harvard professor James Culliton used the recipe metaphor to describe the components of marketing in a 1948 paper. The book The Concept of the Marketing Mix further refined the idea and by 1960 the elements had been reduced to the 4 P’s we know today. 

This concept has proved remarkably useful through the decades, even as businesses move increasingly online. 

The First P of Marketing: Product + Example 

Defining your product is the first step in determining your unique marketing mix. What do you sell or provide to the customer? 

This can be a physical product like cars or hair accessories; a service like business consulting, or even a digital product like a membership to an online forum. 

The marketing mix 4P approach suggests that you clarify your product as much as possible by defining the following attributes:

• Who is my target customer?
• What are they searching for?
• How does my product meet their needs? 
• What makes my product distinctive? 
• What makes my product stand out from competitors? 
• What are my product’s features? 
• What are my product’s benefits? 

This will help you craft the most appealing description of your product and drive more consumer interest and sales. 

4 P’s of Marketing Example: Product 

Let’s take a barbershop that caters to families with young children. Their product is - obviously - haircuts. 

Applying the 4 Ps, the barbershop might describe its product this way:

“ We know your kids may be nervous about a new haircut. We offer a fun, no-pressure shop where your kids can watch their favorite cartoons from our custom-painted chairs. Our trained stylists can give your little ones the latest style or just a trim quickly and easily. It’s so much fun, your kids will want to come back every week!”

In this example, the barbershop is offering a very ordinary product -haircuts. But they know that their target customers are parents who are worried about their children not sitting still for haircuts. Therefore, they position their product as unique - a “fun” haircut. 

The Second P of Marketing: Price + Example 

Much ink has been spilled determining the pricing sweet spot for any given product. The marketing mix strategy acknowledges that different businesses will use different pricing strategies. 

• Premium pricing - especially for “luxury” or “premium” brands
• Undercutting competitors 
• Offering a loyalty program
• Offering purchase points redeemable for rewards 
• Coupons 
• Sales 
• Free shipping 
• Bonus offers/free gift with purchase 
• Entry-level pricing 
• Accepting credit or pay-later systems 
• Financing 

4 P’s of Marketing Example: Pricing 

Google now offers a range of smartphones that are positioned to compete with the iPhone. 

We can see that Google is using several pricing strategies here to promote the Pixel: 

• Trade-in old phone for purchase credit
• Free shipping
• Added products (phone protection; Google One storage) 

As part of the 4ps, Google is choosing pricing strategies that will appeal the most to its customers: those who want a good phone but still want a deal and those who want easy integration with their existing Google products. 

The Third P of Marketing: Place + Example 

Since a big part of the marketing mix definition is place, it’s not a relevant concept in the digital age, right? Not quite. 

Keep in mind that some businesses will always be local: you can’t hire a remote plumber, for example. 

Furthermore, around 70% of Americans say that shopping locally is important to them. So actual geographic location is still quite important. 

That said, over 80% of consumers worldwide shopped online. Unquestionably, customers are online. But located exactly where online will be a key to deciding where to place your product’s promotion.

The Third P of marketing refers more to where your product is marketed than your actual physical location. This means finding where your customers spend time online and placing your product there. 

Do your target customers frequent any of the following sites:

Determining this will rely primarily upon your demographic research, but competitor research can help too. 

Are your competitors placing their products on Facebook? Have they ignored Instagram because your audience doesn’t spend time there, or is this an opportunity for you to locate your product near customers but away from competition? 

4 P’s of Marketing Example: Place 

Popular skincare brand Curology uses the marketing mix to reach its target customer on social media. The company’s headquarters is in San Francisco, but that is irrelevant to the “place” component 4P. 

Curology sells customized skincare 100% online, so it places its promotions where customers are - social media. 

Take a look at the promoted ad from Facebook below:

This ad uses the marketing mix concept well because it summarizes the product by highlighting a few of its key benefits - it's customizable, and it’s delivered to you (which means convenient). 

The ad is placed on a site that people check almost reflexively, so they are likely to see the ad and follow it for more information on the brand. 

Next, we’ll turn to the final element of the marketing mix definition: promotion .

The Fourth P of Marketing: Promotion + Example 

The 4Ps wouldn’t be complete without promotion. This refers to how you reach your customers and what strategies you use to incentive purchases.

This may include some of the following tools and types of digital marketing : 

• Search engine marketing
• Direct emails
• Targeted ads
• Content marketing 
• Word of mouth
• Influencer marketing
• Billboards 
• Direct Mail 
• Radio 

Anything that gets your product in front of your target audience is part of your marketing strategy. 

Now, many new businesses are inclined to go for all the promotion strategies.

As any seasoned marketer can tell you, this is a waste of time and effort. It’s better to research which strategies work best for your product and audience and build quality promotions. 

Remember, The 4 Ps of marketing maintain that each business has its own unique recipe. Just because billboard advertising works great for the auto repair shop down the street doesn’t mean it will work for your marketing consulting firm. 

4 P’s of Marketing Example: Promotion 

Email marketing is an effective strategy, with studies showing it has some of the highest return on investment of all digital marketing strategies. 

Here is how an online vitamin company, Puritan’s Pride, used email marketing over a holiday weekend sale: 

In this image, you can see how the company is using price to incentivize a sale in the form of 75% off. 

The promotion comes as an email. These are quickly skimmed, so this promotion is visual and easy to scan, relying on images rather than text to get its message across quickly before the potential customer moves on to a different email. 

Do You Know the 4Ps of Your Business?  

Does your business have a well-defined marketing mix? Here are some ways you can tell:

• Your marketing goals are clearly defined 
• You have a strong brand voice
• You know what percentage of business occurs in-person and online
• You know what online channels your customers frequent 
• You are clear about your product(s) benefits
• You’ve invested in market and competitor research
• You have chosen your distribution channels
• You have a clear pricing strategy

If your business is fuzzy on some of these basics, you probably need to revisit your unique marketing mix. 

How to Apply the 4Ps in Your Own Business 

So - what is the marketing mix you should be using? 

Your marketing mix may be different for any given product or phase of your business growth. Ideally, you will be determining your mix before you even finish developing your first product.

This is because you want to make sure you are actually offering something customers need. 

Step 1: Research: Customers, Competition, and Market

• What products or services are people looking for?
• Is there dissatisfaction with the current offerings? 
• How can you offer something distinctive?
• What is your competition doing well and poorly? 

Step 2: Determine your Pricing Strategy

• Will you position your product as a luxury/premium offering?
• Will you undercut existing prices?
• Do you plan to offer customer loyalty incentives?
• Do you plan to offer free services or loss leaders?
• Do you anticipate raising prices over time? 

Step 3: Placement 

• What are your primary distribution channels?
• Online, in-person, or hybrid purchase offers?
• Will you need a physical location for promotion?
• Do you plan to work through wholesalers and retailers?
• What online channels will you place your ads on? 

Step 4: Determine Promotional Strategies 

• What is your promotional budget? 
• Do you have a digital promotion strategy?
• What promotions are most effective with your target audience?

These are a lot of questions to ask. The more time and thought you can invest in the front-end of developing a new product, the more specific you can be about your approach to business. 

Ultimately, this means you can more effectively track the success of your chosen strategy and determine what is and is not working. 

Case Study: The 4Ps of SEOptimer.com 

Since we are a marketing company, after all, let’s use the SEOptimer website as an example of the 4 P’s at work. 

4 P’s of Marketing: Product 

SEOptimer offers numerous tools to make online marketing easier. One of our key products is the SEO Audit and Reporting Tool.

The headline of this page immediately tells visitors what they will get: a free, comprehensive SEO audit of their URL. When visitors scroll down, they learn the features and benefits of this product. 

Search Engines rely on many factors to rank a website. SEOptimer is a Website SEO Checker which reviews these and more to help identify problems that could be holding your site back from its potential.

Additionally, we provide a clear, actionable, prioritized list of recommendations to help improve.

This further defines the value of the product for potential customers and increases their chances of trying it out. 

4 P’s of Marketing: Price 

SEOptimer offers the free SEO audit tool (and lots of other SEO tools), as part of a “freemium” strategy. This means that our tools are freely available, but advanced features require a paid subscription.  

This is a pricing strategy. We also offer paid SEO consulting services. Customers use our free tools, which builds their confidence in us as digital marketing experts. If they need professional services, they are then more likely to turn to our company. 

4 P’s of Marketing: Place

Since our products are digital, they are accessible from anywhere in the world. For a company like ours with a global reach, “place” is more about reaching customers digitally. 

Maintaining a strong presence on multiple social channels is one way we do this. Another is by focusing on our SEO strategy, which reaches costumes across the world, rather than in one limited geographic location. 

4 P’s of Marketing: Promotion

While SEOptimer uses multiple promotional strategies, one good example is our organic search strategy.

Not only do we provide free and paid SEO tools, but we also offer valuable guides, articles, and how-tos to our customers. 

This content is indexed by Google and other search engines, making it more likely that potential customers will find our content, read it, and then engage with our brand. 

The 4P’S - Find Your Custom Marketing Recipe 

The 4 P’s of marketing have successfully guided marketers for over 6 decades. Far from being obsolete, combining these 4 elements is a tried-and-true method of defining your business’s overall goals and strategy. 

Try this exercise today: see if you can clearly define the 4 P’s for any given product in your company: 

If you’re clear on these 4 elements, then chances are you have the marketing mix for your business mastered. 

Adam Krzywda

SEOptimer's CEO and venerable leader. Adam has a wealth of experience across Digital Marketing, SEO and software, and enjoys sharing his learnings from growing SEOptimer to an audience of over 100,000 monthly users.

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4Ps of Marketing (Marketing Mix with Examples) The 4Ps of Marketing or the Marketing Mix is one of the most basic concepts taught in Marketing. At the same time, it makes up for an extremely large part of a successful marketing plan. The fact is, the 4Ps of Marketing are really important because they, together, form the marketing strategy of your company. Let me tell you more about it.

Marketing mix - the 4Ps of marketing can never be overestimated when it comes to determining the success or failure of a marketing campaign.

In this article, I will explain to you what is marketing mix and also each of the 4Ps of marketing mix. Not just that, I will share with you four examples of how each of these elements of marketing mix makes a lot of difference in marketing.

Before that, let’s ponder over something basic. And also let me tell you what all I will be covering in this detailed article on the 4Ps of Marketing.

Let me begin by telling you, what exactly is Marketing Mix all about?

What is Marketing Mix? 

Marketing Mix is ideally a brilliantly coordinated combination of Product, Price, Place and Promotion strategies.

I wrote about marketing it in detail in my blog post titled ‘But really, what is Marketing?’. In simple terms, you could say marketing is about “ putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time”.

That is what it really is.

That one statement defines everything, from what is marketing to what is marketing mix to how to create and deliver an amazing marketing campaign.

Source: thefinancialbrand . com

If you’re in marketing, you have some basic ingredients that you would use to create some magic out of your marketing plan, these ingredients are called the 4Ps of Marketing or the Marketing Mix.

What is Marketing Mix? Marketing Mix is a set of elements, the 4Ps, that are the four decision-making areas in Marketing . Again, getting any of these elements wrong may destroy the rest of the factors you got right.

This is true because, the 4Ps factors are interdependent and rely on one another for an effective strategy. And if you begin to think, any marketing decision that you take essentially lies in any one of these areas.

4Ps of Marketing and all other basic marketing concepts!

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What is the purpose of the 4Ps of Marketing Mix?

Its purpose is to ensure the creation and execution of a successful marketing strategy ; the attempt is to satisfy both the customer and the seller. You will often come across your managers telling you to create marketing plans.

And this is what a marketing plan predominantly covers. The purpose is to ensure that every marketing initiative that you take is brilliantly coordinated with each other.

Marketing incorporates all these physical and non-physical, real and perceptual attributes into four elements of the marketing mix.

The 4Ps is basically about asking relevant questions that will help you to define your marketing mix.

Let me explain to you each of the elements of the Marketing mix , or the 4Ps of Marketing here. Stay tuned for the later part of the article where I will share with you the examples for each of the 4Ps.

Product  

First, it is important to understand the problems your product is trying to solve, because without it, you don’t have a place in the market, and you certainly can’t sell or advertise something that doesn’t exist or doesn’t have any demand.

The key to get this element of the marketing mix correct is by writing down a product definition .

This should include what is your product , what is your target market and most importantly why is your product different from the alternatives out there.

A product can be a physical object, an intangible service, an idea, a campaign or even a personality.

Also, the Unique Selling Proposition of the product must be determined as well as the potential buyers of the product.

There are questions you need to ask when you want to determine the kind of product you should have. They include:

• What problems can this product solve for customers?
• What features are included in the products to meet this need?
• What will differentiate it from the competitor’s own if any?
• How is it supposed to be used by the customer?

Let me know take you through the second P of the 4Ps of marketing - which is Price .

Price  

The price of a product should reflect its value to the customer. This also entails the relative price versus quality level that the product maintains against the competitors.

The marketer’s challenge is to come up with a price that is attractive to consumers while still turning an acceptable profit for the company.

The price of a product will directly affect how it sells . This must be determined by what value the customers attach to the product rather than the objective cost of the product.

If the product is priced higher or lower than its perceived value, then it will be difficult to make sales. Simply put, the value of the product in the eyes of the consumer determines the price.

I have written a series of articles on how to price a product and those articles shall help you with this particular element of the 4Ps of the Marketing mix . Here are some of those posts:

• How to Price your Product – The Fundamentals
• How to Price your Product better in 8 Steps (Part 1 of 2)
• How to Price your Product better in 8 Steps (Part 2 of 2)

Hence, if the value is low or negative , the product may need to be under priced to make sales.

The questions to ask here are:

• What is the perceived value of the product to the buyer?
• What is the market fixed price for this kind of product?  
• How much is your price when compared with the competitor’s?  

Moving on to the third element of the marketing mix and the 4Ps of Marketing - the Place .

Place  

There is a way how the product will be provided to the customer , this is the “Place” factor. Once the place has been decided, the marketing channel to reach the customer is chosen.

The place refers to where the product is to be sold (distribution) .

In the past, this meant how visible your product was in the physical marketplace. In today’s modern world: where your product appears on the Internet is even more important because your reach online can be global whilst as your reach in the physical marketplace is limited by physical space.

You can determine this by answering questions like:

• Where is the first place buyers check when looking for your kind of product. Is it a store, or a boutique, or maybe they check a catalogue?
• How can you determine the best distribution channels?
• Do you need to take a multi-channel approach? If yes, then which channels?

And finally, let me tell you about the 4th element of the marketing mix - Promotion .

Promotion  

Promotion refers to the marketing communication methods used to inform, persuade, and remind the target market of the product or services , basically any interaction that your company has with the consumer regarding your product.

This may include advertising, sales, promotions, special offers, and public relations.  Promotion is quite different from marketing, because promotion is the communication aspect of the entire marketing function.

The marketing mix is a crucial tool to help understand what the product or service can offer and how to plan for a successful product offering. 

• What are the promotion methods of your competitors?
• Which digital channels does your target market use often?
• What is the return-on-investment from each of the promotion channels?

After a brief explanation of the Marketing Mix and the 4Ps of Marketing , I am going to talk about them in a more direct and practical way. I explain elements of marketing mix with examples to show you how simple (and impact driven) the Marketing Mix can be.

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4Ps of Marketing - Video Explanation

Here is a decent video that I found on the 4Ps of Marketing. Purely Branded, explains in brief what the 4Ps of Marketing are all about and how to use them. For all of you who like to watch videos, I suggest you to have a look at it.

4Ps of Marketing - How to develop the Marketing Mix?

If you were to ask me the steps to determine the 4Ps of Marketing Mix , I would suggest to you the following 4 steps.

As you use these four steps in your marketing projects at your college or your work, you will realize that these are the exact steps that will help you bring out the best and the most coherent marketing plans.

4 Steps to Develop the 4Ps of Marketing Mix

• Identify the product to be analyzed. 
• Answer the 4Ps questions surrounding this product. 
• After getting a well-defined marketing mix for the 4Ps, try relating them with the 4Cs (i.e. from the customer's perceptive).      a. Product - Consumer Value      b. Price - Cost      c. Promotion - Communication      d. Place - Convenience
• Review your marketing mix regularly, because things can change.

4Ps of Marketing - Key Features

I had to write this out as a separate section because of how important it is for you to understand the nuances attached with the 4Ps of Marketing.

Let me share with you the 4 points, the 4 features that will make a lot of difference in your understanding of the marketing mix.

They are Interdependent variables. That is, they have different functions, but they must work together. One can hardly do without the other.

The 4Ps of marketing are flexible in such a way that, you can always play around with each of the variables. See the the 4Ps of Marketing as the four lever that you as a Marketing Manager will have with you to pull and do different things with.

Constant monitoring is required to make sure that the elements in the marketing mix stays relevant and updated. Again, as I mentioned, they are lever you can play around with.

The focal point of the marketing mix activity are the customers . Therefore, as I mentioned in one of the paragraphs above, you should at all times evaluate the 4Ps of the Marketing Mix from the 4Cs stand-point, i.e. the standpoint of the customers.

Elements of Marketing Mix with Examples

In this part of the article, my aim is to give you a feel of the four elements of the marketing mix through relevant real-world examples of the 4Ps of marketing . 

In each of these examples, I will take you through those examples that caught my attention and will help you understand the concepts better.

Product: Coca-Cola Life  

When you come to know that there is a Coca-Cola with the Green Label somewhere in the world and that it is still not sold worldwide you probably think

“What-The-H...?”.

Most people still find it weird but after years of dominating the market with the product and powerful advertising campaign, Coca-Cola found itself in a world where everyone wanted to feel more sustainable and healthier.

So, after 5 years of research, they came up with the Coca-Cola Life , with less sugar and stevia, a natural sweetener.

After a Market test in Chile and Argentina, the product was launched in different countries of the world.

What does this teach about the first P of the marketing mix?

Well, that products must always respond to the needs of the market .

No matter how strong your starting position is, no matter how strong your marketing is (so strong that in the case of Coca-Cola they influenced the way the Western World sees Christmas), there are moments where you have to start from a product.

Seth Godin said: Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.  

Price: Organic Apples aren’t Cheap  

Pricing doesn’t just mean: go as lower as you can to attack the market.

The Book “Ecological Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman talks of how producers and sellers of organic products must raise prices otherwise none will believe it’s REALLY organic!

This is the concept of Price Positioning on which I happen to have done a blog post some weeks back. 

Same happens with Apple: considering the hardware and the competition they can be defined unreasonably overpriced but if Apple will launch a new iPhone for 200$ the strong Apple fan base most probably will not react in a positive way.

So, choosing one price instead of another can automatically identify your product to your customers. 

Also Read:  Edible Cutlery won't sell until you do this

Place: Don’t tell everyone what you did last Friday  

Another mistake that most people do is trying to get through as many channels as possible . A lot of “improvised” entrepreneurs without any education in that make this mistake to multiply their distribution channels. 

The problem is that people will also judge not just what you sell and how much you charge for it, but also where they see you.

Imagine that in your city there is a club that is famous for being a place where illegal activities happen.

Now imagine you end up there on a wild Friday night and your partner’s dad finds out: won’t he get a really bad impression of you?

At the same time, your friends will think you are a real bad-ass. 

So, the place where you are seen can give you a certain identity according to your target. You want your friends to know where you were Friday night but not your in-laws.

 This is the same reason certain brands decide to only sell in their own stores, others don’t sell online and some only sell online: you have to select your sales channels carefully. 

Promotion: Loud Enough doesn’t mean Louder  

This point can get into thousands of pages without saying anything. With the concept of promotion, you talk about marketing, advertising, sales strategy and a lot more. 

What people hardly understand at the beginning is that in a crowded market like our World, being loud enough to be heard in the constant buzz doesn’t mean being louder than everyone.

So, the promotion has nothing to do with exaggerated claims, fake claims, obsessive  advertising and all these old-school-tricks .

Yes, they still work for others in certain cases, but they don’t give long-lasting positive fame and sooner or later it will ruin your business.

These old tricks work when you didn’t work on the marketing mix for real (maybe because you don’t have anything valuable to sell) so you have to work all with the promotion.

We tend to think that the 4th P is the most important but this is just because it is the tip of the Iceberg. Promotion is what you see more but there is a lot more than you don’t see. 

Conclusion  

At the end of the day if you want to succeed in business you have to be looking to create long-lasting relationships with your customers. 

The four elements must be in harmony and none most portray conflicting messages. The marketing mix must be customer-centric, that is why the 4Cs must be used alongside the 4Ps while determining answers to the variables.

• The price must be a cost the customer can afford
• The promotion must solely be based on communicating with the customers
• The product must offer a solution to the problem of the customer
• The place must be one that is convenient for the customers to reach  

And, just as in your personal life, you don’t create any long-lasting relationships by shouting loud, showing off and lying.

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What Is Marketing Mix And Why It Matters In Business

The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing : price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.

Table of Contents

Understanding marketing mix

While many understand marketing as “putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time,” few know how to implement this in practice.

Identifying the individual elements of a marketing mix and then creating robust plans for each allows a business to market accordingly.

It also allows a business to market to its strengths while minimizing or eliminating its weaknesses. 

At the very least, a marketing mix should include the four Ps of marketing :

This can include a tangible good or an intangible service.

Businesses must understand their product or service in the context of the problem that it aims to solve.

If the product does not seem to address any problem, then the potential profitability of the product should be re-analyzed.

The target audience, or those who will buy the product, must also be identified.

Price has a direct impact on how well a product will sell and is linked to the perceived value of the product in the mind of a consumer.

In other words, price is not related to what the business thinks the product is worth.

Thus, it is important to know what the consumer values and price it accordingly.

To a lesser extent, price may also be influenced by rival products and value chain costs.

Promotion includes all marketing communication strategies, such as advertising, sales promotions, and public relations.

Irrespective of the channel, communication must be a good fit for the product, price, and target audience.

Place describes the physical location in which a customer can use, access, or purchase the end product.

Determining where buyers look for a product or service may seem simplistic, but it has implications for marketing and product development.

For example, place determines which distribution methods are most suitable.

It also dictates whether a product needs a sales team or whether it should be taken to a trade fair to be sampled and advertised.

Other elements of an effective marketing mix

Conventional marketing mixes are product-centric, but services and other intangible goods are also commonplace for many businesses.

People, process, and physical evidence are three more Ps that these businesses should implement.

People refers to the staff who are directly and indirectly involved in marketing the brand.

Employing the best people for the job is crucial since people shape the direction of the brand and therefore the goals and values of the business.

Process covers the interface between business and consumer, otherwise known as customer service.

Process is important because customers often give feedback on their service, which enables a business to improve its systems across the board.

Effective processes should make purchasing pleasing and simple while simultaneously increasing brand equity.

• Physical evidence

Physical evidence describes anything that consumers see when interacting with a brand. Physical evidence can take the form of packaging, branding, and even the physical layout and design of retail spaces and shop fronts.

Physical evidence also extends to how staff dress and interact with customers and the possible impact that this has on sales.

Principles of the Marketing Mix:

• Alignment: The elements of the marketing mix should be aligned with the overall marketing and business objectives.
• Customer-Centric: The marketing mix should be designed with a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences.
• Adaptation: It may need to be adjusted over time to respond to changes in the market, competition, and consumer behavior.
• Integration: The elements of the marketing mix should work harmoniously to create a consistent and compelling marketing strategy .

Advantages of the Marketing Mix:

• Strategic Planning: It provides a structured framework for developing marketing strategies.
• Customization: The marketing mix allows businesses to tailor their approach to specific target markets.
• Market Expansion: It facilitates entry into new markets and the launch of new products or services.
• Competitive Advantage: Effective use of the marketing mix can create a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Challenges of the Marketing Mix:

• Complexity: Balancing and optimizing the four elements can be complex, especially in dynamic markets.
• Changing Consumer Behavior: Consumer preferences and behaviors may evolve, requiring adjustments to the marketing mix.
• Resource Allocation: Effective use of the marketing mix often involves resource allocation decisions.
• Global Considerations: In the case of international markets, cultural and regulatory differences may impact the marketing mix.

When to Use the Marketing Mix:

• Product Development: During product development, the marketing mix helps define the product’s features and positioning.
• Market Entry: When entering new markets or launching new products, it guides market entry strategies.
• Competitive Response: In response to changing competitive dynamics, businesses can adjust their marketing mix to maintain or gain market share.
• Strategic Planning: The marketing mix is a central component of strategic planning for businesses of all sizes.

What to Expect from Using the Marketing Mix:

• Market Responsiveness: Effective use of the marketing mix can lead to improved responsiveness to market demands.
• Customer Engagement: It enhances customer engagement by delivering products and services that meet their needs.
• Revenue Growth: A well-implemented marketing mix can contribute to revenue growth and market expansion.
• Brand Building: The marketing mix plays a significant role in building and strengthening brand identity.

Long-Term Impact of the Marketing Mix:

• Sustainable Growth: Businesses that consistently adapt and optimize their marketing mix are better positioned for sustainable growth.
• Competitive Edge: A strong marketing mix can provide a sustained competitive advantage.
• Brand Equity: Over time, the marketing mix contributes to the development of brand equity and customer loyalty.
• Innovation Culture: A focus on the marketing mix fosters a culture of innovation in product development and marketing strategies.

Key highlights

• Marketing mix refers to a suite of actions that a business uses to promote its products or services in the market.
• Marketing mix should as a minimum have strategies devised for product, price, promotion, and place.
• Service-oriented businesses should adopt a broader marketing mix, otherwise known as the seven Ps of marketing.

What is marketing mix modeling and why it matters to understand how to balance your marketing mix?

Marketing mix modeling (MMM) is a statistical method for evaluating marketing campaign effectiveness.

The method quantifies the impact of multiple marketing inputs on market share or sales which then determines how much to spend on each.

Understanding marketing mix modeling

Marketing mix modeling uses statistical analysis to analyze the past and future impact of different marketing tactics on sales or profit.

The approach is based on the popular 4 Ps marketing mix theory.

In essence, the purpose of MMM is to measure the past performance of a campaign and improve future marketing return on investment (MROI).

Conclusions drawn from the statistical analysis then determine how resources can be better allocated across various tactics, products, segments, and markets.

Marketing mix modeling utilizes the multi-linear regression (MLR) statistical technique to assess the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

The dependent variable is normally market share or sales, while the independent variable could be price, distribution, or ad spend for different channels.

The four phases of marketing mix modeling

Each MMM project has four distinct phases that we have explained in detail below.

Phase 1: Data collection and integrity  

In the first phase, the business collects data on the products to be analyzed, the desired timeframe, and the markets to be modeled.

The sales performance metric should also be quantified at this point.

Will it be volume, units, sales, or some other metric?

Brand margin rates and marketing spend should also be determined so that the MROI can be calculated later on.

MMM also requires the business to use data that will yield the best results. In other words:

• Has the best available data been incorporated? 
• Is the data consistent over the entire life cycle?
• Are there multiple years of data to account for factors such as seasonality?

Before moving to the next phase, key project stakeholders should also hold a review session to ensure data integrity.

In some cases, data will have to be aggregated or cleansed before moving forward. 

Phase 2: Modeling

In the second phase, brand managers must collaborate with their internal analytics staff to discuss statistical details, specifications, and methods.

We noted earlier that a multi-linear regression is commonly used, but other methods such as time-series regression are also used. 

Ultimately, the method chosen will depend on the organization’s goals, data quality, and in some cases the entity providing the statistical analysis on behalf of the client.

Phase 3: Model-based business measures

Once the statistical analysis has been performed, it will produce output data that measures how each tactic impacts sales.

The data must also answer or address the overarching purpose of the project, with many organizations choosing to frame project purpose as questions such as:

• What is the best marketing plan to maximize future net profits with respect to the current and future budget?
• For a particular demographic, what are the most efficient or effective marketing tactics?
• What is the impact of advertising on consumer price sensitivity?
• Which competitor advertising campaign is having the most negative impact on sales?

Most MMM projects will also feature a pie chart showing the decomposition of sales where sales volume is broken down according to each tactic.

These charts separate two types of tactics:

• Core tactics – or those not controlled by the marketing team such as seasonality, distribution, weather, and competitive trade. Core tactics can also encompass the sales that would occur in the total absence of any promotional effort.
• Incremental tactics – or those that are controlled by the marketing team.

Once a decomposition of sales has been performed, the organization can calculate three important metrics:

• Effectiveness – which is determined by dividing the number of incremental sales by each marketing effort.
• Efficiency –  where incremental sales are divided by the expenditure of each tactic. This is normally the total media spend, and
• Marketing return on investment – the MROI can be calculated by dividing the gross profit of each tactic by its total spend.

Phase 4: Optimization and simulation

In the final phase, MMM outputs are transformed into inputs for future marketing campaigns. 

Simulations help the organization model the impact of a new tactic before it is used in a real-world scenario.

They also enable teams to determine the best combination of tactics that will enable them to achieve campaign goals.

Marketing mix modeling examples

In the past few decades, marketing mix modeling has been adopted by several Fortune 500 companies such as Kraft, The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi, AT&T, and Proctor & Gamble.

While there has been particular interest from consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, others now use MMM because of the increased prevalence of companies providing these specialist services.

Indeed, marketing mix modeling is popular in the retail and pharmaceutical industries because firms like Nielsen can provide syndicated data on stores, product categories, geographic markets, and distribution channels .

What’s more, the increased availability of time-series data has also seen MMM incorporated into industries such as telecommunications, financial services, hospitality, and automotive.

However, in these industries, it is acknowledged that marketing mix modeling is still in its infancy and will require further standardization to be effective.

MMM case study for Facebook advertisers

Facebook (now Meta) is one of several modern platforms that offer a family of services and apps that have dynamic and nuanced advertising needs.

Since consumer preferences are in a constant state of flux, this makes it difficult for brands to assess the impact of Facebook advertising compared to traditional channels such as television and print.

A standard marketing mix modeling project assesses data from two or three years. But for online social platforms, data over this time span may become outdated.

To counteract this tendency, Facebook recommends advertisers analyze data over a 6 to 12-month period.

They should then adjust their methods to account for the statistical power that is sacrificed when analyzing a shorter time frame. 

Professional services company Accenture ran multiple MMM analyses in 2021 for disruptor brands requiring a reliable and cost-effective system to optimize their promotional efforts and produce actionable and granular results.

How was this achieved?

Tailored data was first sourced from Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network, which considered standard engagement metrics such as clicks but also paid impressions.

Data were then integrated with machine learning techniques such as the Bayesian belief network to analyze potential synergies between multiple channels.

This involved analyzing the relationship between six independent variables (video, display, Facebook app, organic search, Instagram, and paid search) and their dependent online and offline channels.

The results of the analysis showed how various marketing channels could drive impacts across other channels. A few of the more significant results are listed below:

• Drivers of paid search – paid search (78%), offline drivers (10.9%), and organic search (5.5%).
• Drivers of Facebook app – Facebook app (87.6%), offline drivers (7.4%), and display (4.0%).
• Drivers of Instagram – Instagram direct (87.9%), video (6.0%), and Facebook app (3.7%).

In summary, Accenture found that disruptor brands that focus their resources on social, organic search, and offline channels could better impact paid search and, ultimately, increase their web traffic.

Key highlights on marketing mix modeling

• Marketing mix modeling uses statistical analysis to analyze the past and future impact of different marketing tactics on sales or profit. The approach is based on the popular 4 Ps marketing mix theory.
• Each marketing mix modeling project should have four distinct phases: data collection and integrity, modeling, model-based business measures, and optimization and simulation.
• MMM is popular among consumer packaged goods companies such as Kraft, The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi. It is also useful for brands advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook where markets and consumer behavior are more dynamic.

Amazon marketing mix case study

How does Amazon balance product, price, promotion, and place to create and sustain its competitive advantage?

Let’s delve into Amazon’s marketing mix below.

Amazon offers a diverse selection of products to maintain its status as the foremost company in online retail.

These products support the  company’s mission and vision  and, thanks to continued expansion, can now be found in industries such as cloud infrastructure, database services, content production, artificial intelligence, gaming, and pharmaceuticals.

Amazon’s core product remains its eCommerce platform where the company sells private-label and third-party items to consumers across categories such as consumer electronics, art, home appliances, sports and outdoors, car accessories, jewelry, and home improvement. 

Through its highly successful Amazon Prime membership program, the company offered free expedited delivery and discounted priority and residential express delivery.

Prime members also receive access to exclusive discounts and Amazon’s video, music, and e-book platforms.

Amazon primarily uses market-oriented pricing to attract customers to its eCommerce platform.

Prices for the company’s private label Amazon Basics range are based on similar products sold by competitors. 

As a retailer with a near-global presence, Amazon also uses the price discrimination strategy to vary prices for identical products according to region.

For example, the price of a Samsung television in Spain may be different to the price offered to consumers in the USA.

This enables the company to adjust prices based on local market conditions, consumer preferences, and perceived product value. 

More generally speaking, Amazon uses technology to set and adjust prices based on the time of day, season, and competitor activity.

It also cleverly prices its Prime membership option to attract customers who want to take advantage of deals and discounts.

In addition to marketing to broader audiences, Amazon also markets to individuals by analyzing their shopping habits and purchase behavior.

Using this information, it strives to turn one-time visitors or buyers into repeat, high-value, long-term customers.

To attract repeat purchasers, the company frequently promotes its fast delivery.

Amazon promotes is various products and services with ads on other websites, newspapers, billboards, television, and social media.

The Amazon Affiliate Program – one of the largest in the world – is also a vital promotional channel for the company with around  1.235 million affiliate sites  advertising or reviewing products on the Amazon website.

Amazon is primarily an online business that reaches customers on Amazon.com and its various region-specific derivatives. 

However, the company does operate in the real world to some extent. Its acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017 allowed it to establish a bricks-and-mortar supermarket presence.

Amazon also operates several Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, with the latter a chain of convenience outlets without cashiers where consumers pay for goods using an app.

In August 2021, Amazon announced it would open several new physical retail stores  to extend its reach across electronics, home goods, and clothes.

Many see this move as a way for the company to own as much of the retail industry as possible.

Case Studies

• Product: High-quality smartphones, laptops, and wearables with sleek designs.
• Price: Premium pricing strategy for a perception of exclusivity.
• Place: Apple Stores, authorized retailers, and online store.
• Promotion: Creative advertising campaigns and product launches.
• Product: A menu of burgers, fries, and beverages.
• Price: Value meals, combo pricing, and occasional promotions.
• Place: A network of drive-thru outlets, dine-in restaurants, and delivery services.
• Promotion: Television ads, social media campaigns, and Happy Meal toys.
• Product: A range of vehicles from compact cars to SUVs and hybrids.
• Price: Competitive pricing with options for customization.
• Place: Dealerships, showrooms, and online configurators.
• Promotion: Television and digital advertising, sponsorships, and test drive events.
• Product: Trendy clothing and accessories for men, women, and children.
• Price: Competitive pricing with seasonal sales and discounts.
• Place: Brick-and-mortar stores in prime locations and an online store.
• Promotion: Seasonal fashion shows, social media marketing, and email newsletters.
• Product: A range of banking services including checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, and credit cards.
• Price: Fee structures, interest rates, and introductory offers.
• Place: Physical branches, ATMs, and online banking platforms.
• Promotion: Advertising financial products, referral programs, and online tutorials.
• Product: Various types of accommodations from luxury resorts to budget-friendly hotels.
• Price: Room rates, loyalty programs, and seasonal discounts.
• Place: Hotel locations, booking websites, and travel agencies.
• Promotion: Online advertising, partnerships with travel websites, and loyalty rewards.
• Product: Software suites for productivity, collaboration, and communication.
• Price: Subscription-based pricing models and one-time purchases.
• Place: Online stores, authorized retailers, and corporate licensing.
• Promotion: Product demos, webinars, and advertising tailored to specific business needs.
• Product: A wide range of beverages including carbonated soft drinks, juices, and bottled water.
• Price: Various pricing strategies, including premium pricing for specialty products.
• Place: Distribution through supermarkets, convenience stores, and vending machines.
• Promotion: Extensive advertising campaigns, sponsorships, and product placements.
• Product: Comprehensive medical services, research, and patient care.
• Price: Transparent pricing for medical procedures and insurance coverage.
• Place: Hospitals, clinics, telehealth platforms, and partnerships.
• Promotion: Healthcare seminars, educational content, and patient testimonials.
• Product: An extensive online marketplace offering a wide range of products.
• Price: Competitive pricing, discounts, and subscription services (e.g., Amazon Prime).
• Place: Online platform accessible worldwide.
• Promotion: Personalized recommendations, customer reviews, and Prime Day sales events.

Key Highlights:

• The marketing mix encompasses a comprehensive strategy for effective marketing planning.
• Traditionally, it consisted of the four Ps: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.
• Additional elements have been introduced, including Physical Evidence, People, Process, and even Politics.
• A well-rounded marketing mix involves creating plans for each element to address strengths and weaknesses.
• It ensures that marketing efforts align with the target audience and the problem the product or service solves.
• Product: Tangible goods or intangible services that address specific problems and target audiences.
• Price: Directly affects sales and is linked to perceived value in the consumer’s mind.
• Promotion: Includes marketing communication strategies like advertising, sales promotions, and public relations.
• Place: Refers to the physical location where customers can access or purchase the product.
• People: Refers to staff involved in marketing the brand, influencing its direction and values.
• Process: Encompasses customer service and ensures effective interactions and purchasing experiences.
• Physical Evidence: Anything consumers see when interacting with the brand, including packaging, branding, and more.
• Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is a statistical method to evaluate marketing campaign effectiveness.
• It quantifies the impact of various marketing inputs on market share or sales to optimize resource allocation.
• MMM involves four phases: data collection and integrity, modeling, model-based business measures, and optimization and simulation.
• Facebook used MMM to analyze its advertising impact compared to traditional channels.
• Analyzing 6-12 months of data, Facebook adjusted methods to account for the dynamic nature of social media.
• Accenture ran MMM analyses, integrating data from Facebook and other channels to optimize promotional efforts.
• Product: Amazon offers a wide range of products and services, including eCommerce, cloud infrastructure, content production, and more.
• Price: Utilizes market-oriented pricing and price discrimination based on regions and market conditions.
• Promotion: Targets individuals by analyzing shopping habits and uses ads, promotions, and affiliate programs.
• Place: Primarily operates online but also has physical retail presence, such as Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores.

What are the 4 types of marketing mix?

The four main elements of the marketing mix are:

What is 7 P's marketing mix?

The 7 P’s marketing mix is an extension of the traditional marketing mix. In a 4 Ps marketing mix, you get Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. In a 7 Ps marketing mix variation, you get three other elements:

Why is marketing mix important?

A marketing mix is critical as it enables companies to structure an effective marketing strategy by understanding the main channels that can be leveraged to build a viable business.

In some instances, some channels will be more critical in a marketing mix strategy .

Over time, it will be critical to balance out various channels as part of the marketing mix to build a solid business model.

Visual Marketing Glossary

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Marketing Mix

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Push vs. Pull Marketing

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360 Marketing

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What Are the 4 Ps of Marketing?

• Understanding the 4 Ps

4. Promotion

How to use the 4 ps of marketing in your marketing strategy, the bottom line.

• Business Essentials

4 Ps of Marketing: What They Are & How to Use Them Successfully

Product, price, place, and promotion are the four Ps in a winning "marketing mix"

The four Ps of marketing are:

These are the key factors that are involved in introducing a product or service to the public. Often referred to as a marketing mix , they provide a framework that companies can use to successfully market a product or service to consumers. Since the four Ps were introduced in the 1950s, more Ps have been added to the mix, including people, process, and physical evidence.

Key Takeaways

• The four Ps are the four essential factors involved in marketing a product or service to the public.
• The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion.
• The concept of the four Ps has been around since the 1950s. As the marketing industry has evolved, other Ps have been identified: people, process, and physical evidence.

Investopedia / Julie Bang

Understanding the 4 Ps of Marketing

Neil Borden, an advertising professor at Harvard, popularized the idea of the marketing mix—and the concepts that would later be known primarily as the four Ps—in the 1950s. His 1964 article "The Concept of the Marketing Mix" demonstrated the ways that companies could use advertising tactics to engage their consumers.

Decades later, the concepts that Borden popularized are still being used by companies to advertise their goods and services.

Borden's ideas were developed and refined over a number of years by other key players in the industry. E. Jerome McCarthy, a marketing professor at Michigan State University, refined the concepts in Borden's article and named them the "four Ps" of marketing. McCarthy co-wrote the book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach , further popularizing the idea.

At the time the concept was introduced, it helped companies breach the physical barriers that could hamper widespread product adoption. Today, the Internet has helped businesses to overcome some of these barriers.

People, process, and physical evidence are extensions of the original Four Ps and are relevant to current trends in marketing.

Any successful marketing strategy should be revisited from time to time. The marketing mix you create is not intended to be static. It needs to be adjusted and refined as your product grows and your customer base changes .

Creating a marketing campaign starts with an understanding of the product itself. Who needs it, and why? What does it do that no competitor's product can do? Perhaps it's a new thing altogether and is so compelling in its design or function that consumers will have to have it when they see it.

The job of the marketer is to define the product and its qualities and introduce it to the consumer.

Defining the product also is key to its distribution. Marketers need to understand the life cycle of a product , and business executives need to have a plan for dealing with products at every stage of the life cycle.

The type of product also dictates in part how much it will cost, where it should be placed, and how it should be promoted.

Many of the most successful products have been the first in their category. For example, Apple was the first to create a touchscreen smartphone that could play music, browse the internet, and make phone calls. Apple reported total sales of the iPhone for FY 2022 at $205.4 billion. In 2021, it hit the milestone of 2 billion iPhones sold.

Price is the amount that consumers will be willing to pay for a product. Marketers must link the price to the product's real and perceived value, while also considering supply costs, seasonal discounts, competitors' prices, and retail markup.

In some cases, business decision-makers may raise the price of a product to give it the appearance of luxury or exclusivity. Or, they may lower the price so more consumers will try it.

Marketers also need to determine when and if discounting is appropriate. A discount can draw in more customers, but it can also give the impression that the product is less desirable than it was.

UNIQLO, headquartered in Japan, is a global manufacturer of casual wear. Like its competitors Gap and Zara, UNIQLO creates low-priced, fashion-forward garments for younger buyers.

What makes UNIQLO unique is that its products are innovative and high-quality. It accomplishes this by purchasing fabric in large volumes, continually seeking the highest-quality and lowest-cost materials in the world. The company also directly negotiates with its manufacturers and has built strategic partnerships with innovative Japanese manufacturers.

UNIQLO also outsources its production to partner factories. That gives it the flexibility to change production partners as its needs change.

Finally, the company employs a team of skilled textile artisans that it sends to its partner factories all over the world for quality control. Production managers visit factories once a week to resolve quality problems.

Place is the consideration of where the product should be available—in brick-and-mortar stores and online—and how it will be displayed.

The decision is key: The makers of a luxury cosmetic product would want to be displayed in Sephora and Neiman Marcus, not in Walmart or Family Dollar. The goal of business executives is always to get their products in front of the consumers who are the most likely to buy them.

That means placing a product only in certain stores and getting it displayed to the best advantage.

The term placement also refers to advertising the product in the right media to get the attention of target consumers.

For example, the 1995 movie GoldenEye was the 17th installment in the James Bond movie franchise and the first that did not feature an Aston Martin car. Instead, Bond actor Pierce Brosnan got into a BMW Z3. Although the Z3 was not released until months after the film had left theaters, BMW received 9,000 orders for the car the month after the movie opened.

The goal of promotion is to communicate to consumers that they need this product and that it is priced appropriately. Promotion encompasses advertising, public relations, and the overall media strategy for introducing a product.

Marketers tend to tie together promotion and placement elements to reach their core audiences. For example, In the digital age, the "place" and "promotion" factors are as much online as offline. Specifically, where a product appears on a company's web page or social media, as well as which types of search functions will trigger targeted ads for the product.

The Swedish vodka brand Absolut sold only 10,000 cases of its vodka in 1980. By 2000, the company had sold 4.5 million cases, thanks in part to its iconic advertising campaign. The images in the campaign featured the brand's signature bottle styled as a range of surreal images: a bottle with a halo, a bottle made of stone, or a bottle in the shape of the trees standing on a ski slope. To date, the Absolut campaign is one of the longest-running continuous campaigns of all time, from 1981 to 2005.

The four Ps provide a framework on which to build your marketing strategy. Think through each factor. And don't worry when the factors overlap. That's inevitable.

First, analyze the product you will be marketing. What are the characteristics that make it appealing? Consider similar products that are already on the market. Your product may be tougher, easier to use, more attractive, or longer-lasting. Its ingredients might be environmentally friendly or naturally sourced. Identify the qualities that will make it appealing to your target consumers.

Think through the appropriate price for the product. It's not simply the cost of production plus a profit margin. You may be positioning it as a premium or luxury product or as a bare-bones, lower-priced alternative.

Placement involves identifying the type of store, online and off, that stocks products like yours for consumers like yours.

Promotion can only be considered in the context of your target consumer. The product might be appealing to a hip younger crowd or to upscale professionals or to bargain hunters. Your media strategy needs to reach the right audience with the right message.

When Did the 4 Ps Become the 7 Ps?

The focus on the four Ps—product, price, place, and promotion—has been a core tenet of marketing since the 1950s. Three newer Ps expand the marketing mix for the 21st century.

• People places the focus on the personalities who represent the product. In the current era, that means not only sales and customer service employees but social media influencers and viral media campaigns.
• Process is logistics. Consumers increasingly demand fast and efficient delivery of the things they want, when they want them.
• Physical evidence is perhaps the most thoroughly modern of the seven Ps. If you're selling diamond jewelry on a website, it must be immediately clear to the consumer that you are a legitimate established business that will deliver as promised. A professionally designed website with excellent functionality, an "About" section that lists the principals of the company and its physical address, professional packaging, and efficient delivery service are all critical to convincing the consumer that your product is not only good, it's real.

What Are Some Examples of the 4 Ps of Marketing?

• Place refers to where consumers buy your product, or where they discover it. Today's consumers may learn about products and buy them online, through a smartphone app, at retail locations, or through a sales professional.
• Price refers to the cost of the product or service. Properly determining product price includes an analysis of the competition, the demand, production costs, and what consumers are willing to spend. Various pricing models may be considering, such as choosing between one-time purchase and subscription models.
• The product a company provides depends on the type of company and what they do best. For example, McDonald's provides consistent fast food in a casual setting. They may expand their offerings, but they wouldn't stray far from their core identity.
• Promotion refers to specific and thoughtful advertising that reaches the target market for the product. A company might use an Instagram campaign, a public relations campaign, advertising placement, an email campaign , or some combination of all of these to reach the right audience in the right place.

How Do You Use the 4 Ps of Marketing?

The model of the 4Ps can be used when you are planning a new product launch, evaluating an existing product, or trying to optimize the sales of an existing product.

A careful analysis of these four factors—product, price, place, and promotion—helps a marketing professional devise a strategy that successfully introduces or reintroduces a product to the public.

The four Ps of marketing—product, price, place, promotion—are often referred to as the marketing mix. These are the key elements involved in planning and marketing a product or service, and they interact significantly with each other. Considering all of these elements is one way to approach a holistic marketing strategy .

Neil Borden. " The Concept of the Marketing Mix ."

E. Jerome McCarthy. "Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach." Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1960.

Apple. " Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) Q4 2022 ," Page 1.

Apple Insider. " At 2 Billion iPhones Sold, Apple Continues to Redefine What Customers Want ."

Harvard Business School: Technology and Operations Management. " UNIQLO: What’s Behind the Low-Cost High-Quality Casual Wear? "

Smart Insights. " Campaign of the Week: The Longest Running Print Ad Marketing Campaign in History ."

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Extended Marketing Mix: What It Is and Why It's Useful

Updated: July 30, 2021

Published: July 08, 2020

Cooking is my favorite pastime. It's so much fun to find new recipes and learn about new ingredients. Plus, (usually) the results are delicious. Finding new recipes and ingredients is nothing short of delightful.

One meal I love to make is grilled cheese — but not just any ole' grilled cheese. Instead, I use plant-based ingredients and add two condiments: butter, and mayonnaise (trust me).

If I were making grilled cheese for me, I'd have to add some things. First, all of my ingredients have to be plant-based due to my dietary restrictions. Second, I'd add two more condiments: butter and mayonnaise (trust me).

On its own, cheese and bread is a great duo. But with a few additions, a nice duo becomes an excellent mix — one that I'm always excited to eat.

Like a perfect sandwich, every marketing structure calls for good strategies, or "ingredients," that make it great. Those "ingredients" are generally referred to as a marketing mix, and can be summed up in four categories: Product, pricing, placement, and promotion.

While the marketing mix describes the basics for product marketing, it doesn't have room for services marketing. That's where the extended marketing mix comes into play. And, just like my vegan grilled cheeses, a few additional changes can elevate your service marketing structure to the next level.

Here, let's dive into what extended marketing mix means, and how it can help

Extended Marketing Mix vs. Marketing Mix

The marketing mix pillars work together to help you make business decisions that'll define marketing strategy and activities. Identifying these pillars points out what you need, where your company excels, and where it can improve.

The four pillars of the original marketing mix are as follows:

• Product — This is what your company sells.
• Place — This identifies how you will sell the product to customers in their preferred way to shop. For instance, will you sell your product on a website, or in a brick-and-mortar shop?
• Price — This determines how much money you need to sell your product for to hit revenue goals while remaining within price ranges determined by the industry at-large.
• Promotion — This is where you flesh out the methods you use to engage customers. Promotion, selling, PR, sales, and ads are how businesses commonly communicate with their target market.

Notice how the marketing mix naturally works together. Products need a price, place to be sold, and promotions to reach an intended audience. Promotions need a product, price, and place to make that messaging effective. Ultimately, any way you look at the mix, you'll find how the other three fit.

On the other hand, the extended marketing mix is just that — an extension of the original pillars. Instead of just four components, there's an additional three. These three allow for a more complete, updated mix.

The extended marketing mix came along when marketers noticed the original was outdated and needed a few extra pillars. With the additions, the marketing mix now allows for services marketing.

What is the extended marketing mix?

The extended marketing mix describes three more P's added to the original four. People, processes, and physical services make room for services marketing and round out a complete marketing mix method. Marketers can use the extended marketing mix to flesh out a structure if their business sells a service instead of a physical product.

• People — Describes the people behind the company. No matter the role, the people working with the product are as essential as customers. They advocate for the company and communicate the business' value to their customers.

Example: The baristas at my local coffee shop create an exceptional customer experience. Of course, the lattes are good, but my favorite barista greets me by name and knows my order, and that ultimately keeps me coming back. A company is only as good as the people behind the scenes.

• Processes — Identifies how you will meet customer expectations. Outline what you will do to deliver a fantastic consumer experience every time. Consider creating standard operating procedures (SOPs) to solidify processes.

Example: Let's revisit the coffee shop scenario. Baristas have a recipe to follow when making various drinks that make sure the customer gets their order the way they expect.

• Physical Evidence — Notes the physical elements needed to complete the mix. Even if a company provides services, there are physical aspects that companies use to delight customers and set themselves apart from competitors, like promotional materials.

Example: The coffee shop in my neighborhood thrives and defines itself with being a local business among the mass of coffee chains in my area. Everything is local — the beans, the mugs, and the decor comes from the Boston area — and that's how it's different from a massive chain.

The extended mix, like the original, works with the rest of the mix.

First, let's talk about how the three Ps can intertwine. People at your company have to follow the processes set in place, using physical evidence . We can also say the processes set in place define the role of people and physical evidence .

If we look at the both mixes, we see the same. Companies need the right people to execute promotion of the product or service. To put the connection between the mixes in a different way, the extended mix is a customer-facing toolkit for enhancing the marketing mix.

The extended marketing mix helps companies define their marketing strategy in a well-rounded system. Identifying each portion of the mix gets you one step closer to a functional, complete marketing plan .

Consider using the extended marketing mix to help you make business decisions that sets your company apart from competitors. For instance, fleshing out the tools needed for promotion involves coming up with an individualized marketing campaign audiences love.

Marketing mixes are considered a foundational part of any organization. If you are just starting to define a business plan , use this strategy to help with budgeting for marketing. The different elements of the mix helps figure out costs.

Every pillar, especially price and promotion, help you determine where to allocate your budget . For example, you have to determine a fair price for your product, and finalize how much you're willing to put towards other factors, such as promotion and physical evidence.

Now that you know a little more about the extended marketing mix, are you going to use it to figure out your next campaign's expenses? Remember, this strategy isn't just for start-ups. If you're struggling to define a successful strategy, identifying these pillars can be a helpful organizational tool.

Marketing mixes and their extension. Cheese and bread. Chai leaves and hot water. Duos are best when they work together — how are you going to make your marketing mixes work together for your company?

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Example of a Marketing Mix

Use marketing mix models to build your plan.

Marketing mix is key to your marketing plan. Use this example of a marketing mix and marketing mix models (such as a permission-based email marketing sample) to understand the most important elements of the marketing mix and to develop best-fit tactics and strategies for your business.

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Marketing mix is the balancing and managing of product, price, promotion and distribution or place decisions, tactics and strategies.

Planning your mix requires thorough research and development of an approach that will be strong enough to sustain competitive activity.

You need to develop your marketing plan with a clear understanding that the mix is a key element of your plan; developing a successful marketing mix is necessary to your small business growth and success.

Use Marketing Mix Models: Example of a Marketing Mix:

Note: It is important to recognize that marketing is not an exact science.

It is as much art, as science.

Each business will have different needs and different targets.

This example is to provide you with an overview of how marketing mix fits into your marketing plan and how to build your own marketing mix program.

Company Profile:

Law firm; $5 million in annual sales; business to business services company.

Law Firm Marketing Plan:

Focused on gaining new business (specifically in the small business B2B category) while retaining existing clients.

Sales Plan:

The primary goal is business-to-business sales growth of 10 percent in year one of a three year plan and an increase of 8% profitability.

Elements of the Marketing Mix:

Define the Service(s) : a services features list

• Management legal services
• Employment problem prevention
• Wrongful dismissal
• Severance proposals/packages
• Management and union relations and negotiation
• Human rights
• Workers safety, health, environment, and more

Define the Service(s): a benefits list

• High success rate in management-union negotiations
• Excellent reputation
• Timeliness: quick action and available outside of the regular hours
• Practical and cost effective advice
• Lean firm structure: easy and direct access your lawyer
• Strong understanding of business environment
• Comprehensive database to research similar cases
• Answers to your questions: solutions to your problems

Unique Advantages:

• Skills of highly trained and experienced staff
• Reputation as a highly successful negotiations firm
• Focus on industry-specific planning and implementation
• Focus on business to business environments
• Focus on bundle pricing strategies: for example - monthly retainer; annual retainer; all services bundled for a set rate; certain services bundled together for better pricing, e.g. employee problem prevention, wrongful dismissal and severance proposals/packages.
• Prices/billings compared and analyzed annually against top three competitors
• Costs analyzed monthly; cost containment and reduction a key strategy for competitive pricing
• Advertising programs: local newspapers, local radio, local magazines, business trade journals
• Personal selling: Sales and Marketing staff; face-to-face
• Direct marketing campaigns to targeted and existing clients; including permission-based email marketing
• Educational programs to existing clients and delivered to new clients
• Participation in business and trade associations: networking with clients
• Website: search engine optimized
• Newsletter: hot topics
• Local radio: weekly legal talk show (15 to 30 minutes)

Place or Distribution:

• Direct sales to business clients (this is also an advantage; you are close to your customers and will better understand their changing needs). Keep in regular contact (don't wait for them to call you).
• Selling via ecommerce through the company website; e.g. forms and counselling, etc.
• Another advantage of direct sales is that you control your pricing, although the market will dictate what it pays. Services are considered value added (for example,a value add is 24 hours a day call-in service).

Use this example of a marketing mix to build your own plan. Marketing mix models are extremely useful in building your marketing plan and actions; your business plan and actions; and strategy plan and actions.

You need to develop your plan with strong and effective tactics and strategies. Yes, it is a challenge to commit the time and resources but it is also a core activity for a successful small business strategy and business plan. Also, remember that your planning process is evolutionary (not static); you need to keep updating, adapting and changing with new and changing customers, services, competitors, suppliers and the environment you operate in (your marketplace).

More-For-Small-Business Newsletter:

For more timely and regular monthly information on managing your small business, please subscribe here., additional reading:.

Understand Competition Analysis and how to manage your competitive tactics.

Conduct an Industry Analysis to learn more about your marketplace.

Build strong Market Strategies to win more market share.

Or for more on how understanding market share will help your business compete, return from Define Market Share, Part 1 to What is Market Share? Part 2 .

Why is Product Differentiation a necessity to your Marketing Plan ?

Find out the Importance and Definition of Marketing .

Return from Example of a Marketing Mix to Define Marketing Mix (Part 2 of two parts on overall marketing mix).

Marketing mix planning is key to your strategy and needs to include: product , price , promotion , and the 4th P of Marketing: Place.

Or return to More For Small Business Home Page .

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Marketing and life–cycle.

Marketing is a requirement for all businesses: without marketing strategies and tactics your business will struggle to survive.

Not all marketing activities are planned: you might be building your brand recognition through a social media campaign (that's marketing); you might be conducting market research to analyze your competitors and/or segment and target your potential market or to develop the most desirable features, advantages and benefits of your products or services (that's all marketing).

Marketing is pretty all–encompassing; and a challenge for many business owners. The additional challenge is recognizing that the different stages of your business life–cycle: start–up, mid–cycle, mature or late–in–life.

During start–up you need to develop your marketing strategies to grow sales; for example, you might want to use a market penetration pricing strategy to build sales quickly.

During mid–cycle, you need to grow your customer base (often through lead generation) and that need requires different marketing strategies, such as cold calling on prospective clients, email marketing, newsletter and blog sign ups and distribution (all to grow your list of prospects).

During the mature cycle, you need to build your marketing efforts around your brand; your competitive advantage can be in your reputation, history, and identity and on what differentiates your business from your competitors.

Marketing your products and services is not something that you do once (such as a marketing plan) and then never change or do again. You need to be continually researching and building your strategies and tactics to be ahead of the market, and ahead of your competition.

The market is constantly evolving; ever more rapidly with the impacts of globalization and technology. You need to invest resources into marketing to ensure that you build and sustain your business.

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If marketing is not your core strength, or if you don't have enough staff to commit to developing your marketing efforts (and acting on the plan), outsourcing your marketing strategy and implementation will allow you to concentrate on developing your business.

Start with a marketing plan that includes the necessary research, strategy development and implementation action plan. We provide you with the plan tactics, budget, schedule and key performance measurements.

Execute the plan yourself or have us at Voice Marketing Inc. manage the execution for you.

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7Ps of Marketing Mix: Explained well with examples

Learn everything about the 7Ps of Marketing mix, Understand why this concept is still relevant today and will be relevant for the foreseeable future. The 7Ps of Marketing is the Price, Place, Promotion, Product, People, Process and finally, Physical Evidence.

It originally started as 4 Ps, but as the world, and the complexities of marketing grew; 3 more were added to formulate an effective marketing strategy. The ‘P’s stand for each of the pillars of a marketing strategy, and together are a part of the concept called the ‘marketing mix’. The term ‘marketing mix’ sounds a little confusing, but in essence, it is a foundation model for businesses. More easily explained, it is the operational part of a marketing plan- the nuts and bolts of it.

Funfact, there are actually 9Ps of Marketing: The above 7+2 viz. Packaging and Payments. But the 7Ps are popular given their wide and timeless application in the World of Marketing. Anyway, let’s just straight in the post.

The 7Ps of Marketing: With Examples

We can understand this with the example of a rainbow. The 7 colours of a rainbow and the 7Ps in a marketing mix bear a resemblance. Just as not all rainbows have the same the composition of the VIBGYOR colours, the same way every marketing plan is unique and contains varying amounts of the 7Ps of the marketing mix. The components are explained in the following points

One very important aspect of any product/success being a success in the market is the price at which it is marketed. The first colour of the marketing mix rainbow is one of the determining factors of what the people will see. Marketers tread very carefully while setting a price that is a win-win situation for both the company as well as the consumers.

There are several pricing models. One of the most famous ones is Competitive Pricing Strategy as is used by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s main aim is to penetrate the markets and achieve the highest market share without compromising on its customer base and product positioning. Thus, the company charges its consumers what its competitor Pepsi is charging. It’s a simple, yet highly competitive strategy as the name suggests.

It is the channel through which your company’s goods/services get moved from the manufacturer to the consumer. Your good/service will need to be brought into the market through a mechanism, and ‘place’ is exactly that- a way for your offering to be seen by the correct audience. An example of this element of the marketing mix can be the numerous branches of McDonald’s all over the world. Almost every country in the world either has a McDonald’s franchisee, or knows of it. And each country has its unique menu, with the standard guarantee of tasty food, served fast, at low prices.

The Product

This is the P that starts it all. The need for this P to be known, positioned, and showcased gets the marketers working hard at strategies. ‘Product’ is the offering that your company has for the market whether it is a tangible good or intangible good (services). The product development has various stages, and it is instrumental in being the deciding factor in many strategies. Various aspects of a product like the product life cycle, the type of need it services, and its positioning come into play with this P.

We can consider the example of Starbucks here, which was solely established to make good quality coffee and coffee beverages accessible to people. Starbucks’ approach to marketing is very focused on its product and the quality of the product provided to its customers.

The Promotion

Directly speaking, the mainstream meaning of the word ‘Promotion’ also applies here. The essence of promotion lies in the activities that a marketer does in order to showcase the product in the market in the right sense. Promotional activities involve multi-channel, multi-level marketing communications in the technical sense. In a more simplistic sense, these activities are the communications that the companies indulge in like advertising, direct calling, using social media channels, as well as print media. There are many instances of how promotional activities have set a product apart from its competitors in the industry. One such is the launch of Sony Xperia Z3 Dual in 2014 as an underwater pop-up store.

The Physical Evidence

Physical evidence is a part of the product. If your product is a tangible offering, then all of its material cues (packaging, business cards, brochures, company branding) will be taken notice of, by the consumers. However, these tangible cues are also attached to a product that is intangible. The example can be, every time you encounter a FedEx delivery vehicle, you’ll immediately recognize it because of its purple and orange color scheme. That’s how they’re set apart from all the other delivery companies.

All the people involved in the making, distributing, and selling of your company’s product are also essential. Mostly, services (intangible offerings) have marketing mixes which are focused on the people presenting the product. The employees you have in the store, the delivery personnels, the sales executives, all of it and more leave a lasting impression on the people. Hotels like Taj, Hyatt, JW Marriott are known for the people that work there to serve the consumers. These brands have established themselves and built loyal customer bases due to the kind of people they employ.

The Process

Process involves all the ways the company and its customers can engage in order to facilitate the product to reach the consumer. It’s a map of how the company and its offerings are accessible to the market. It isn’t just a means to an end, but a roadmap of the company’s operations.

Here again, we can consider Starbucks as it has so many different ways in which the company operates- joint ventures, retail store licensing operations, food service accounts, depending on which country they’re operating in. They have an interactive website in order to collect customer feedback and suggestions, which also tells people how accessible the company is for the consumers.

Now, rounding up these 7 colors of the rainbow. We see that all these aspects ring in something essential for the business to gain competitive advantage. Though every product, every industry will have a unique marketing mix, the underlying structure will always be based on these 7 elements.

The 9Ps of Marketing you say?

Well yes, in the recent times, there appears to have introduced 2 more Ps vs earlier mix, now making the concept 9Ps of Marketing mix. We’ll keep this one short given you’ve gotten the gist. The 8th P is Packaging. Why? Given how connected the packaging has become to a customers journey, we cannot really let this one go, can we? Take the example of Paper Boat, the reason it connects so well is because of the simple packaging.

The 9th P of Marketing is Payments, it talks about the initiatives that companies can undertake in order to make your payment procedure a little more simple. That is introduce one click payment, EMI options, etc.

Anyway, that is all.

And well, the Author

No, this isn’t the 10th P of marketing. However, we believe, given the world has evolved today, there must exist a new P, a new dimension of Marketing. Something around Data Analytics, maybe, Programming? eh?

Anyway, the piece was written by Mahek Mirchandani , a co-author at Casereads. We’ve uploaded 10+ MBA starter concepts to kick start your MBA journey, directly click here .

Before you go, if you liked this piece, and if you have a friend starting their MBA; Why not be a good friend and share this with them on WhatsApp ?

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• Marketing Mix

What Is Marketing Mix - 4 P and and 7 P of Marketing

Definition of marketing mix.

The marketing mix is defined by the use of a marketing tool that combines a number of components in order to become harden and solidify a product’s brand and to help in selling the product or service. Product based companies have to come up with strategies to sell their products, and coming up with a marketing mix is one of them.

Table of Content

• Marketing Mix 4P
• 7Ps of Marketing
• Marketing Mix Example

Marketing Mix Product

Importance of marketing mix, questions on marketing mix, what is marketing mix.

Marketing Mix is a set of marketing tool or tactics, used to promote a product or services in the market and sell it. It is about positioning a product and deciding it to sell in the right place, at the right price and right time. The product will then be sold, according to marketing and promotional strategy. The components of the marketing mix consist of 4Ps Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In the business sector, the marketing managers plan a marketing strategy taking into consideration all the 4Ps. However, nowadays, the marketing mix increasingly includes several other Ps for vital development.

What is 4 P of Marketing

A product is a commodity, produced or built to satisfy the need of an individual or a group. The product can be intangible or tangible as it can be in the form of services or goods. It is important to do extensive research before developing a product as it has a fluctuating life cycle, from the growth phase to the maturity phase to the sales decline phase.

A product has a certain life cycle that includes the growth phase, the maturity phase, and the sales decline phase. It is important for marketers to reinvent their products to stimulate more demand once it reaches the sales decline phase. It should create an impact in the mind of the customers, which is exclusive and different from the competitor’s product. There is an old saying stating for marketers, “what can I do to offer a better product to this group of people than my competitors”. This strategy also helps the company to build brand value.

Price in Marketing Mix:

Price is a very important component of the marketing mix definition. The price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for to enjoy it. Price is the most critical element of a marketing plan because it dictates a company’s survival and profit. Adjusting the price of the product, even a little bit has a big impact on the entire marketing strategy as well as greatly affecting the sales and demand of the product in the market. Things to keep on mind while determining the cost of the product are, the competitor’s price, list price, customer location, discount, terms of sale, etc.,

Place in Marketing Mix:

Placement or distribution is a very important part of the marketing mix strategy. We should position and distribute our product in a place that is easily accessible to potential buyers/customers.

Promotion in Marketing Mix:

It is a marketing communication process that helps the company to publicize the product and its features to the public. It is the most expensive and essential components of the marketing mix, that helps to grab the attention of the customers and influence them to buy the product. Most of the marketers use promotion tactics to promote their product and reach out to the public or the target audience. The promotion might include direct marketing, advertising, personal branding, sales promotion, etc.

What is 7 P of Marketing:

The 7Ps model is a marketing model that modifies the 4Ps model. As Marketing mix 4P is becoming an old trend, and nowadays, marketing business needs deep understanding of the rise in new technology and concept. So, 3 more new P’s were added in the old 4Ps model to give a deep understanding of the concept of the marketing mix.

People in Marketing Mix:

The company’s employees are important in marketing because they are the ones who deliver the service to clients. It is important to hire and train the right people to deliver superior service to the clients, whether they run a support desk, customer service, copywriters, programmers…etc. It is very important to find people who genuinely believe in the products or services that the particular business creates, as there is a huge chance of giving their best performance. Adding to it, the organisation should accept the honest feedback from the employees about the business and should input their own thoughts and passions which can scale and grow the business.

Process in Marketing Mix:

We should always make sure that the business process is well structured and verified regularly to avoid mistakes and minimize costs. To maximise the profit, Its important to tighten up the enhancement process.

Physical Evidence in Marketing Mix:

In the service industries, there should be physical evidence that the service was delivered. A concept of this is branding. For example, when you think of “fast food”, you think of KFC. When you think of sports, the names Nike and Adidas come to mind.

Marketing Mix Example:

This article will go through a marketing mix example of a popular cereals company. At first, the company targeted older individuals who need to keep their diet under control, this product was introduced. However, after intense research, they later discovered that even young people need to have a healthy diet. So, this led to the development of a cereals product catered to young people. In accordance with all the elements of the marketing mix strategy, the company identified the product, priced it correctly, did tremendous promotions and availed it to the customers. This marketing mix example belongs to Honeycomb, one of the most renowned companies in the cereal niche. Following these rules clearly has managed to make the company untouchable by all the other competitors in the market. This makes Honeycomb, the giant we know and love today to eat as morning breakfast!

Related read:

• Why planning in marketing is important?
• What are the principles of Management?

All products can be broadly classified into 3 main categories. These are :

• Tangible products: These are items with an actual physical presence such as a car, an electronic device, and an item of clothing or a consumer good.
• Intangible products: These are items that have no physical presence but can be felt indirectly. An insurance policy is an example of this. Online items such as software, applications or even music and video files are also intangible products.
• Services: Services are also intangible products but they are the result of an economic activity that does not result in ownership. It is a process that creates benefits for customers. Services depend highly on who is performing them and remain difficult to reproduce exactly.

The marketing mix is a remarkable tool for creating the right marketing strategy and its implementation through effective tactics. The assessment of the roles of your product, promotion, price, and place plays a vital part in your overall marketing approach. Whereas the marketing mix strategy goes hand in hand with positioning, targeting, and segmentation. And at last, all the elements, included in the marketing mix and the extended marketing mix, have an interaction with one another.

Q.1 State Any One Advantage of Personal Branding

• It is because of branding that customers are able to identify the products.
• Example, a customer who is satisfied with ‘Dove’ beauty bar need not inspect it every time she buys the product.

Q.2 State the Components of Product Mix.

Q.3 A Company Has to Decide About Its Price Policy, Credit Policy; Terms of Payment Etc. Name the Concept Which the Company is Trying to Decide.

The above mentioned is the concept, that is elucidated in detail about ‘Marketing Mix’ for the Commerce students. To know more, stay tuned to BYJU’S.

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Home > Business Plan > Marketing Strategy in a Business Plan

Marketing Strategy in a Business Plan

… we will get this market share by …

• Product USP : Why buy our product? What characteristics does the product have to meet customer needs?
• Promotion : What marketing activities will be undertaken? What means of communication will the business use to persuade customers of the benefits of the product? Will it use above the line promotion or below the line promotion?
• Place : What are the distribution channels? How is the business going to reach customers with its product?
• Price : What price will the business charge for the product, and what goal is it pursuing with the pricing strategy? Will the business use premium, penetration, economy or skimming pricing strategies.

Marketing Strategy Presentation

The marketing strategy section of the business plan can be presented in four sections relating to each of the four P’s product, promotion, place, and price as shown in the example layout below.

The marketing strategy is a key section of the business plan, at this stage you are not trying to present a complete marketing plan, but simply trying to show the investor that each major section of the marketing strategy has been thought about and that you have a good marketing mix.

All of the four sections should be consistent with and support each other, for example, if you are planning to adopt a high price strategy, then the product would be aimed at an upmarket target customer, distributed at high end stores, and make use of one to one personal selling.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series sets out the business model which the business intends to use to generate revenue.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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