The 4 P’s of Brand Marketing - Branding

For an organization to market its products & services, four things are required to be considered, which comes under the umbrella of the marketing mix, a famous marketing term. The marketing mix is considered to be the tactical part of any marketing plan. This marketing mixes is also called 4P’s, which include Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Join us in this article, as we discuss The 4 P’s of Brand Marketing.

As Kotler and Armstrong have alleged that

“The marketing mix is the set of manageable strategic marketing tools: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion- that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.”

These four elements should be viewed as one unit and supposed to support each other, which holds special importance of branding in today’s world. For a brand, it is essential, what product to be marketed by creating needs or identifying needs? What should be the price, by identifying the competitor price or purchasing power of the consumer? Set a perfect place or area, and then do the right promotion.

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Evolution of Marketing Mix

An organizational environment has changed many phases since 1953, as this was the first time when an American Professor Neil H. Borden introduced the world with the term “marketing mix” in his speech at the American Marketing Association.

“It is a combination of all factors through which managers can satisfy market needs.”

-Jerome McCarthy, A Managerial approach 2^nd ed. (1964)

4P’s has intensely penetrated in the traditional concept of marketing

Marketers are bestowed with the responsibility of managing the elements of the marketing mix, but trends are now transferring to digital platforms. Due to social and economic environment changes, the competitive market is transformed now, and that has a strong impact on the marketing mix. 4P’s were introduced at that time when the distribution method and direct communication were dormant. Now with a new business environment that is created by digital transformation, marketing is transformed into a new paradigm. It currently holds the capacity to include additional elements for performing effectively in the modern business environment. With changing trends, the marketing mix has evolved from 4p’s to 7p’s model.

“The managerial school of marketing involved through various stages in times, from the marketing concept of the 1970s, through the introduction of total quantity management in 1980 and relationship marketing in 1990s changed into digital context”

(Yedelson J. 1999) – Journal of marketing education.

How To Use 4p’s Of Marketing Mix

“Marketing management is the art & science of selecting target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value” – Philip Kotler

Either you have product business or services, but you must fulfill your customer needs or wants. You can get results at maximum by providing better products or services to solve customer problems. It is suggested to avoid marketing myopia.

Price elements add a core value to any business since it is directly associated with demand & supply. Products and brand awareness and success is highly based on price positioning. The price must be competitive, but it should be justified with your product quality. Millennial are highly conscious of the price, and they want low brand costs.

“Your brand is associated with price. However, you have to be very careful while dealing with your clients. Some value money/discount offers and some demand quality. Deal every client accordingly. First, research your targeted market and then plan your pricing.” – Adam John (Content Developer) from Academist Help

To make your product reach to potential buyer places has to be specifically targeted. Nowadays, location has been changed into retail, digital platform, and multiple channels. To identify a target place, the organization must inquire about the area where the target market spends most of its time. Try to understand which kind of media customer prefers.

“Your positioning must set your offering apart from that of your direct and indirect competitors” – Al Ries & Jack Trout-1980 “The Battle for your mind”

Promotion being a part of the marketing mix, is the most important element. All previous elements discussed above depends upon promotion. Organizations use content for marketing their products, influencing communication that attracts your audience to purchase your product or services. A personality endorsement method can be used for a successful promotion. For having clarity regarding this concept, let’s take a quick example of Diet Coke (Coca Cola) who hired Ft. Taylor Swift for promoting the product. That 33-second advertisement had made a blast. – Atlanta, April 11, 2013

The 4P’s have enabled you to market your product. When it comes to the practical application of marketing mix, marketing managers play an important role by understanding the product, its target audience and the needs & performance of the target audience. All the 4P’s are combined with each other for a unique positioning. The firm also sets a product positioning following its own positioning. When you need effective marketing, then the targeted customer profile should be focused. You cannot offer an expensive product to those who don’t have the power to purchase them. So, the price must be matched with the customer profile. Funds availability is necessary for an organization when it launches 4P’s in the market. During the brand promotion, if there would be unavailability in the fund, it will damage the organization’s harmony in the market.

The Transition From 4P’s To 7P’s Model

4P’s of the marketing mix is further refined by including People, Process and Physical evidence which is then transformed into 7P’s marketing mix model. This transformation has occurred due to changing market trends and because of the way people perceive to fulfill their demands. It is understood that marketing initiates with identifying needs and end with the distribution of the ultimate product or service. These need identifying, and the fulfillment process is the resultant of 4P’s, so the demand can be conveyed as soon as possible. The origin of Starbucks is an example of 7P’s model of marketing mix strategy. Another example of a company which has successfully utilized the 7Ps strategy is:

Product/Services: Have incorporated blogging, social media, SEO, website, email, and other intelligence-based tools.
Price: Monthly base subscriptions, Service Model fee based on the number of contacts in the database.
Place: Online platforms and networking with partners in groups.
Promotion: Arranging webinars, events where directors speak, linkage with PPC social media marketing
Physical Evidence: Communication is performed using consistent branding
Processes: Sales team are more involved in the conversion of potential customers
People: Focus is more towards investment in online services
Partners: Company is actively involved in creating partnerships with giants such as Google and Facebook, along with local partnerships with Smart Insights regarding research.

Conclusion

Marketing principles are all based on circumstances. The internet media has transformed traditional trends into a modern perception. Due to internet facilities and technological impact, the mind of an individual gets more exposure. But above all, marketing charm and purpose will remain the same either its tradition or non-traditional.

In a nutshell, it can be summarized that the journey started with 4P’s which got improvised with time and further elements got inserted in it to formulate a new model. The idea is to help any business to attract and keep customers grasped with certain service. Hence it is essential to find the right balance between all these seven tactics and make your business successful in the marketplace.

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Author Bio
Currently, Elaine Vanessa is a senior graphic designer in a reputed organization, and she often blogs at King Essay. She has extensive experience in training, consultancy, and research. Elaine often runs social media workshops in various educational institutes and also provides marketing dissertation help to the students.