The Marketing Mix (Four Ps)

What is the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is a set of controllable variables that enable a company/organization to target/meet the needs of its audience in the most effective way possible. The marketing mix is often known as the marketing baseline and is something that many experienced marketers still find useful. The mix comprises the 4 Ps–product, price, place and promotion. Understanding the 4 Ps helps marketers build a framework for their strategy and analyze their target audience.

Product

Your customers only care about one thing: What your product can do for them. It is your job as a marketer to define the product and its qualities and introduce it to the consumer in an appealing way.
It is important to understand your product because this dictates the rest of your marketing strategy in regard to who and where you are targeting.

Price

Although this variable is often not determined by marketers themselves, it is important to make sure that the perceived value of the product aligns with its actual value as an expensive product that looks cheap may communicate to the consumer that it has been marked up and turn them away from buying.
On the other hand, marketers should keep in mind when discounting is appropriate. While it may draw in more customers, it may also communicate that the product is of lesser quality.

Place

The place is key because it ensures that you are getting your product in front of the correct audience and in the right hands. Through a thorough evaluation of its current customer base/target audience, companies should decide whether they should sell online or in person, in which areas (towns or cities)
The bottom line is to get your product in front of customers who will buy it.

Promotion

The goal of promotion is to convince consumers that they need this product and that it is priced appropriately. Promotion encompasses all the advertising, public relations, and overall media strategy aspects of introducing a product. This is the P that customers see the most.
In the growing digital age, online promotion does a lot of the heavy lifting as it allows companies to reach customers from all around the world. However, it is important for marketers to ensure that all of their brand channels are cohesive and create a unified experience.