4 Ps of Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

I am sure you’ve heard about this particular topic before, but if you have no idea what it is about, then you are on the right page to find out.

Every business, whether big or small, needs to understand marketing strategies. But, if you’ve thought it’s only the big companies that need to understand marketing from this standpoint, then you might be wrong. As long as you own a business, you need to understand all areas in marketing to grow your business further.

The 4 Ps of marketing is the fundamental pillars guiding marketing strategies. They are;

1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotions

It’s pretty straightforward if you finally find out how to use them. The purpose of this blog is to show you how you can use the 4 Ps in your marketing strategies. I will advise you to continue reading to find out all you need to know.

What are the four pillars of marketing strategies?

As previously outlined above, the 4 Ps are product, price, place, and promotion.

Now, let’s explain them one after the other;

1. Product: Your product is what you are selling. It could be a physical product. It could also be a service you offer or consulting.
2. Price: It deals with the amount you charge for each product, service, or consulting hour. It also has to do with how your customers view your brand from the price. Perhaps, there is a discount on the price.
3. Place: ‘Place’ has to do with where your customers can find information about your product or what you do. Also, it could mean the location you promote what you do.
4. Promotion: People will not find a business you don’t promote. Promotion is all about how your potential customers can find you. It also deals with the strategies you put into promotions and whether they are effective or not.

As simple as it may seem, the real work is in implementing them. It could be a bit dicey figuring out how to use promotions effectively. You must always have it at the back of your mind that the entire purpose is to increase your sales: more sales, more profit.

Now, can we take them one after the other and analyze what each stands for?

Product:

Your product could be anything. It could be physical products like cookies or dresses, and It could be provided services or consulting such as therapy sessions or speaking gigs. It could even be teaching.

If we want to keep it simple, a product is anything a customer or client is willing to pay for.

The primary purpose of product being a part of the four pillars is to ensure that you understand how to stand out amidst your competitors. You need to understand your USP (unique selling point) before you can thrive excellently in the market.

You must have a product that users will not want to resist. For example, if you make cookies, your cookie recipe must be different from others. When they don’t eat your cookie, you need to ensure that they would most probably not eat another cookie.

Another thing you could do is that instead of targeting the same market as your competitors, you could sharpen your product to another target audience.

If you want to create an actual product, you need to do the following:

1. First, find out the problems you want the product to solve. People will only pay you for the solution you can provide.
2. Find out about your current competition and what they are doing excellently. Also, get what your competitors are not doing well.
3. Research on why people will come to you instead of going somewhere else.
4. How can you improve your product? It works when you already have a product, and you are only trying to improve.

Now, understand that you shouldn’t just jump to build a product. You first need to get feedback on your product before launching out in full. Feedbacks will help you find out whether or not the product is acceptable to your potential customers.

Price:

Price has to do with how much you want customers to pay per product. It may sound simple, but it’s not. You have to set a price that will drive sales and make you the most profit.

You must find a balance. While there is no harm in making your price inexpensive, it’s all about how you want your customers to perceive you. If your brand has credibility in the market, it will not stop customers from buying from you, even if it’s expensive.

However, if you are just starting out, you may want to make your price one of the cheapest to penetrate the market. One rule you must not forget is to make sure your product is quality. When people find out you offer maximum quality at a low price compared to your competitors, they will patronize you.

Know the lowest price you can sell the product and find out the highest price your customers can pay for the product. Furthermore, know the prices of your competitors before you set your price.

Place:

‘Place’ has to do with location, and the most vital thing about ‘location’ is knowing where your customers are and taking the product to them.

Thanks to the internet age, location doesn’t have only to be physical any longer. It could be virtual. Some of the virtual locations include social media platforms, Google, LinkedIn, and others.

Position yourself depending on the platforms (online or offline) you think your potential customers use more. Also, these online platforms enable you to target people according to their physical locations. So, for example, if you sell cookies in the UK. It will be useless to target potential customers in Boston, US, because the possibility of you making a delivery is almost impossible.

Promotion:

Once you’ve implemented the first 3 Ps, then promotion is the next step. Perhaps, promotions could be the most important one of the four pillars because it’s the only way to get customers to find out about your product. In general, promotions help you to make more sales.

If you want to implement promotions effectively, you need to find out a few things:

1. Find out the platforms your customers use the most. Since we are in the digital age, you could focus more online.
2. What is the best period to promote your product?
3. Do you need to worry about seasons like Christmas, Halloween, Summer, Winter, and other types of seasons? It will generally help you to understand the best time to promote your product.
4. Also, understand how your competitors promote their products.

Once you can answer all of these questions, then you can launch your promotions.

Conclusion:

Although it may sound ancient, the 4 Ps of marketing are still relevant in today’s marketing strategies. This is because they are the four pillars used in marketing, and they are primarily purposed to help you achieve more sales and make more profit.

The first ‘p’ is the product. The next one is price, followed by place, and finally promotion.

If you want to thrive in the market for a long time, you will not joke with any of these pillars.

Read this blog quickly if you are yet to read it. Always remember that the success of your brand in the market is left to you.