Understanding 4 Ps of marketing

Have you noticed how many service businesses – large and small and in-between – describe themselves as “marketing” firms? Web design companies say they’re in marketing; PR firms do, too. Even business consultants put the word “marketing” at the end of their brand names.

So what is marketing?

There are many aspects of marketing, so if you are thinking of hiring someone to help you improve your business, you should really know about marketing’s four Ps … and decide which P is perfect for you!

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Product. It all starts with a product (or service) that you want to bring to the market. You come up with the idea and then you seek to sell it. That’s P No. 1: the product. How the product (or service) gets packaged, what its unique positioning is, the consumer research that goes into finding out if there’s enough potential demand for it, the competitive studies you embark upon, the form factors your industrial designers experiment with, how you might allocate precious resources to the product, what repairs and support you’ll provide to buyers and how long the product or service’s life cycle will be – all this is a single consideration set in a category of marketing.

Price. What will the market pay for your product? Where is the breakeven point and how quickly should you reach it, given market conditions? Will there be any volume discounts? Merchandising allowances? Rebates? Coop funds? What can you afford to give away to gain rapid adoption? What will your credit terms be? All these concerns are a critical aspect of marketing, but not every marketing firm can play a role in helping you establish price.

Place. Place is a way of referring to distribution of a product (or service.) Place considerations include: will you sell this product through retail outlets, on the internet, in big box stores, via multi-level marketing, using affiliates, only at select trade shows and conventions or through franchising? Perhaps you’ll use direct salespeople to go to business to business targets and take orders directly from them – or manufacturing reps who work strictly on commission to do the same. This P is all about how you get your product into the buyer’s hands – and is the expertise of a certain kind of marketer with a specialized emphasis on distribution.

Promotion. This is where the majority of marketing firms are set up to serve their clients. In this case, promotion covers all aspects of how you will get the word out to your target buyers. It starts with a marketing communications plan that defines the messaging, the target audiences, the seasonality of the selling cycle and the tactics you will use within a certain time period – typically the coming year.

The tactics can vary, depending upon the audiences you will target and the expenditures you can afford to make. They range from grass roots efforts – like hanging flyers on lampposts and getting your name into free directories – all the way to paid placement on radio and TV, in online and print publications and on Google. A website can be considered a core tactic for any business these days, which is why web design firms sometimes add the word ‘marketing’ to their names.

Public relations is a marketing tactic, as is social media. Graphic design of a brochure and selling kit can make a product jump off the shelf – hence, visual stylizing is a valuable marketing tactic.

The fourth P covers a wide range of ways to get your product (or service) noticed – how it is differentiated, described, photographed and advertised can all be communication tactics or – as we’re calling it here – promotion.

Generally, marketing agencies are experts in promotion. So if you need help formulating a business plan, as opposed to a marketing plan, with all its promotional tactics and timing, seek assistance from your local small business development center or hire a local business consultant who concerns him or herself with the first three Ps.

And leave the final P (promotion) to the marketing communications experts.

Laurie Macomber, owner of Fort Collins-based Blue Skies Marketing, can be reached at laurie@blueskiesmktg.com or 970-689-3000.