What are the 4ps of marketing and why they’re important

What are the 4Ps of marketing?

The 4Ps of marketing is a simple way of thinking about marketing plans across four main areas: product, price, place, and promotion.

This ‘marketing mix’ can help you formulate a plan to ensure the introduction of your product or service to the market is successful. It’s important to always put the customers needs at the center of your marketing plans. This will ensure you are always delivering a product they actually want, not what your company wants. 

While it’s an essential step in any product launch, it’s not easy. A well thought-out marketing mix can lead to huge sales, while overlooking just one tiny element could spell disaster. Imagine if you were trying to launch a new steak restaurant during Vegan week, or you planned on launching a new toy after the Christmas period. Taking the time to create this plan with your team can help you in the long run.

So let’s take a look at what the 4Ps are:

Definition of the 4Ps of marketing

Product: Define what exactly is the product/service you are offering, and what benefit it will give customers. Plus, why will it stand out compared to existing competitors in the market.

Price: How much will this product be sold for, and how does this compare to competitors in the market. 

One rule of thumb from Neil Patel is: If you are in a new space or already a leader, you can charge a premium amount. If your space is saturated and you are late to the market, you’ll want to consider having a cheaper price.

Place: Where will potential customers go to learn about and purchase your product. This covers the distribution channels, sales outlets and e-commerce markets.

Promotion: Where, when and how will you advertise your product to ensure it reaches your target audience.

4Ps of marketing template

The 4Ps model is a simple way of capturing and filtering through your ideas during the planning phase. Whether you are working alone, in a distributed team, or collocated, using an online template makes it easy for everyone to participate, and store your ideas for future reference. Follow the steps below to start defining your marketing mix using our template:

1. Invite your team members to join the Conceptboard template by sending them a link.
2. Collaborate together on identifying the product or service you want to work on.
3. Go through each of the four sections, encouraging all participants to add their ideas using the existing sticky notes or add more as ideas progress.
4. Once the template is full, you can further evaluate points by asking Why? or What If? to determine their importance or flow-on effects.
5. The final step is to review and make sure the elements all meet your customer’s needs. You can do this by asking questions from the customer’s perspective:
   -Does the product meet a current real need? (Product)
   -Does this price seem valuable? (Price)
   -Do my customers actually shop here? (Place)
   -Do my customers watch/read this channel? (Promotion)

After the template is approved by all team members. You can begin taking steps to implement those ideas. Remember, this plan is not static, and it can be reviewed and changed as often as necessary to deliver results.

Use template

4Ps of marketing example

If you want to see an example of 4Ps marketing mix, check out this example below for Nike.

Now that you understand what the 4Ps are and how to create a marketing mix, it is time to get started on your own. Using our free template, you can invite your team to start collaborating together in real-time, and begin implementing a plan of action to how you are going to differentiate yourself from the competition through a clever marketing mix.

If you want to explore more of Conceptboard’s library of free business strategy templates, check them out here. Plus, our blog is full of helpful advice and tools to ensure your team can adapt to remote working with ease.