The 4 Ps of Digital Marketing — Are You making Most of them?
You might have heard about the 4 Ps of marketing in a blog post, a textbook, or a course.
It’s not as boring as it sounds like. In fact, the ideas in it are basic and easy to grasp.
And don’t think that it’s just for big-name brands like Microsoft, Amazon, etc. You can leverage its power as well.
So what are these 4 Ps of marketing?
They are the four basic building blocks of any marketing strategy:
- Product: The goods you sell. Apart from the physical good, it can be any type of services, consulting, etc.
- Price: What do customers have to pay for the product? How does it impact your image as a brand?
- Place: What channels do you use to promote the product?
- Promotion: The strategies involved in getting in front of the customer.
As you can see, the concept is simple. It’s how you approach it is different. So let’s get into further details.
The 4 Ps of Marketing
Product
This thing is the center of attention. It’s what you sell. It’s why people come to you.
It can be a physical product like a water bottle. Or it can be SEO consultancy services. Everything is centered around it.
In terms of the 4 Ps, you must understand your offer when it comes to having a competitive advantage over other customers.
What makes you stand out? Or are you just another brand selling the same thing?
For example, you have seen dozens of SEO tools. But is each one of those tools the same?
One tool might win at competition analysis. Another tool might be good at generating keyword ideas. A third tool can be simple to use, which will attract newbies.
Hotjar is a good website that can help you get ideas for products. It lets you create a free account and run polls.
You can start polls with questions like these:
What’s the biggest problem you want to solve? This helps with the basic idea of a product.
What products do you like the best? And why? This will let you know about top competitors.
How can we improve our products? This will help if you have existing products.
Last thing about the product: Spending too much money and time on making a product without taking feedback can be wasteful. If people don’t want to use it, it’s a bad product.
Price
We have our product. Now it’s time for the price. Or in other words, how much you will charge for your product.
The concept seems simple, but it can be difficult to define the right price that gets the most sales and profit.
First, ask yourself: how would you like people to see you? You can sell cheap things without coming off as a “cheap brand.” You can run a campaign about the pricing of your product and educate them why does this product not cost much. This transparency will save you from being a bad brand.
Now, think of a luxury brand like Louis Vuitton. Can you expect a $50 bag from them? No, you can’t!
So picking the right price can be tough. You might also want to consult a pricing expert. Reading the Price Intelligently blog will also help with pricing.
As a general rule, premium pricing will work in a new niche or if you are an established leader. And a cheaper price is a good option if it’s a crowded niche.
Place
Or call it location.
The right location is vital. You’ll hear stories about businesses having everything right except their terrible location.
Either digital or brick-and-mortar, your business’ location is super important. You have to find where your customers are.
When it comes to the web, you might not consider the place important. But look at my example.
I run a digital marketing agency. What if I focus 100% on TikTok, will I get any leads? Probably, not.
But if I focus on search engines, Facebook, and Twitter, I’ll have more chances of becoming successful.
So you have to pick the right place. It can be Google. Or it can be an offline venue like conferences. It has to be wherever your audience hangs out.
Promotion
This final p is promotion. You’ll find that most of my blog posts are on this topic.
You have a product that’s priced right. Plus, you know where to find customers. Now let’s promote your offer.
Specifically, it’s about generating revenue. You wouldn’t want to waste time on a promotion that doesn’t bring a good ROI.
Start with running competitor analysis. Use tools like SimilarWeb and Ahrefs to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for. This way, you’ll see what keywords bring them traffic, who links to them, and how many social shares they are getting.
Again, promotion can be time-consuming, but it boils down to simple questions, such as:
How and where does your audience consume content?
Do people respond to a certain type of message when it comes to promotions?
Do trends affect your brand?
And
Do you understand your competitors?
For promotion, I’d like you to read the following articles on my blog.
7 Ways to Start With SEO — A Beginners Guide
Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2021
Google Ads — 5 Methods I Use On This Platform
5 Email Marketing Hacks You Can Try Today
Conclusion
The 4 Ps of marketing are important for marketing plans. They help you understand your business using simple concepts. They also help you stand out from the competition.
Are you using these 4 Ps of marketing most effectively? Let me know in the comments.
