Marketing Executives: The Four Ps of Marketing Don't Work Anymore

If you?re a marketing executive or brand analyst, you know about the Four Ps ? product, price, promotion and place. Established in the mid-1960s, this concept of providing consumers with a ?marketing mix? did work simply because of the kind of advertising venues available.

Potential customers were interrupted by television commercials, newspaper ads and radio spots. There was no Internet and no one ever thought about social media marketing or the World Wide Web.

Today, however, using the Four Ps of marketing may not be the best thing for a branding campaign. Why? They are tired, old and well, people just don?t turn to television, radio or newspaper ads anymore when they can find all they need to know, when they want to know it, online!

Old Fashioned Marketing Mix

Old marketers loved the Four Ps. They included:

• Product ? A product or service
• Price ? Setting the right price for the consumer
• Placement ? Finding your target audience
• Promotion ? TV, Radio, Newspapers?and highway billboards

If a client came to you with a new product using the Four Ps you?d determine product attributes, used pricing strategies based on competition, find the ideal end-user and then promote the hell out of the product.

These methods, however, are old fashioned in today?s Internet world and if you?re still using them, you better think about realigning your marketing efforts for your clients.

Step Into the 21^st Century

Marketing is a science and an art. Some marketing executives look at branding, advertising and marketing as being in the right place at the right time or being lucky enough to get a client with a new product everyone will want.

In reality, today?s marketing is different. Sure, those in the traditionalist generation may still read the Sunday newspapers looking at every ad, cut coupons and read about new products or services, but of all the generations out there, grabbing the attention of only one of them makes marketing and branding campaigns fail miserably. Plus, there are many traditionalists who are fond of the Internet and even mobile marketing.

Essential Tools

Today?s marketing and branding tools include social media marketing, unique content on websites and blogs, listening to Google and their crazy search algorithms as well as paying attention to the competition.

Entire brand identity processes involve not just the product or service itself, but everything about the company producing that product or service. That means branding the CEO, management, employees and your customers.

What if we switched up the Four Ps a bit using 21^st Century technology?

Product ? Once you?ve determined the product attributes, you need to find ways to brand it. That means ensuring your client has a website and a blog, and using an analytics type of software to see how well the website is doing as far as leads. Clients will need a Twitter account, a Facebook and Google+ page, be LinkedIn and take advantage of every social media venue out there. The product must be blasted similarly in every venue as well. Colors, logos, and even visuals like vehicle wraps and graphics must be considered. Understanding the product means understanding how to brand it!

Price ? What will consumers pay for products today compared to the 1960s? More or less? Today?s consumers are Internet savvy and you must research what they research to see what they?re willing to pay. A friend of mine who owns a car dealership told me most of his customers visit the online website Edmunds, a consumer vehicle research site dedicated to educating vehicle buyers before they hit the showroom. Consumers have set prices in their minds they are willing to pay and if your client?s product is over-priced, customers will know it right away because of Internet access and most of all?free Google reviews!

Placement ? Where should the client sell the product and to whom? Sure you can still use this old-fashioned P method to define an age group, but as far as where to target customers, again, you need the Internet. Depending on the product, you should think about selling it globally or at least including the entire United States, Canada and Mexico (North and South America). Your client may have a brick and mortar store but for customers who have to have that new product, they want the option to buy it online so that means advertising it online and to the right age group. If it?s for the young, you need to invest in YouTube videos and Tweeting about it if you want product sales to go viral. Do you even use Pinterest?

Promotion ? Using television and radio spots and even newspaper ads only works for so long. People use DVRs and skip the commercials and tend to listen to music on CDs in their vehicles or satellite radio with no commercials.? As far as newspapers go, they?re thrown away after they are read or used to start fires in fireplaces.? Your promotional marketing needs to be consistent in appearance but should include free Internet offers, pop-ups, banner ads, learn more content web pages, and FAQs.? Don?t forget the ?About Us? and ?Testimonials? web pages either! And, as we have proven in the past, vehicle wraps and graphics are much cheaper than conventional advertising methods. And, in one busy city, a wrapped vehicle can gain between 30,000 and 70,000 visual impressions daily! Billboards are also a great way to promote. You also need to visit advertising elements like Google Adsense.

Building Better Ps

If you?re still marketing the old-fashioned way, you may lose that valuable client if you can?t produce results. ?As far as gaining more visuals per day to promote the product, why not download our free car wrapping kit and ROI calculator to see how vehicle wraps are tops in branding.

Marketing experts, it?s time to step into the 21^st Century and lose the Four Ps of marketing and above all, make sure you?re educated enough to explain to your clients why the Four Ps are dead?just in case in their minds they still love the Four Ps!

Image Credits:

4 Ps of Marketing ? WikiFB3/Wikimedia Commons/GNU Free Documentation License

Social Media Network ? jscreationzs/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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