One of the most crucial strategies in marketing is the “Marketing Mix”.
The 4 Ps of the marketing mix are used widely & no marketing campaign can succeed without actually considering the 4 Ps – Product, Price, Place, Promotion.
But in this digital era, digital marketing has become normal marketing. So, are the 4 Ps useful in Digital Marketing too?
Absolutely Yes!
4 Ps of marketing are applicable to digital marketing too. In this article, let us understand the 4 Ps of digital marketing.
4 Ps of Digital Marketing
#1. Product
According to me, Product is the most important “P” of the 4 Ps. What & how will the marketer promote if the product is not adding any value to the consumer’s life? How will the sales person pitch the product if the product is not good and unique enough?
The entire essence of marketing lies in the product. A good product is meant to deliver value to the consumer. It not only solves the problem but also provides “DELIGHT” to the consumer.
A product or service is something which is delivered to the consumer and it must not disappoint the consumer.
In the good old days, a company used to do a lot of surveys and observations before devising a product/service. A thorough on-ground research and a lot of analysis used to form the basis of new product. Today, companies do this using the power of technology.
Consumer behavior and buying patterns is recorded and analysed digitally. Sentiment analysis is one of the powerful tool which is used to understand what consumers are speaking about the present products of the similar purpose in market.
On the basis of this, the company understands that what are consumers expecting and the existing products are not able to deliver. This helps organizations getting valuable inputs before planning a new product.
#2. Price
The price of a product is important for consumers. They compare prices online before buying. The product should neither be over priced nor under priced. Apple phones can be over priced. This is because of the brand image.
Xiaomi cannot price high. Because, the pricing set by Xiaomi is for common man.
What if Apply starts selling iPhone at the price at which we get a decent Xiaomi’s smartphone?
Think on this. Write your views in the comment section.
Maintain transparency and ensure that price of the product is visible to the consumer. Google My Business, Facebook Store or Instagram Shopping allows you to specify the price. Do not make the consumers search for prices.
#3. Place
The placement of the product plays a key role in marketing. The product must be available to the customer at the right place. The product can be sold online, offline and at both the places too. If online then on Amazon or Flipkart or own e-commerce website. There are a lot of options available.
Xiaomi launched it’s first phone in India exclusively on Flipkart. There was so overwhelming traffic on Flipkart that the site went down. Xiaomi chose the online platform and became successful. Gradually, the company realized that they need offline presence too and started opening stores too.
If a B2B company wants to connect with potential customers than LinkedIn would be the right place to promote and not Snapchat.
Similarly, if a college student is starting a small business of handmade gifts than Instagram is the most likely place to promote.
So, identify your target audience first. Then analyse where does your target audience spends time and then proceed.
Also, if a local Mumbai-based company is planning to run a digital campaign, then target location should be set as Mumbai while running Facebook or Instagram Ads. There is no point showcasing the ad to someone in Lahore when you know that you are going to sell only in Mumbai.
Digital Marketing allows you to target people in a particular location.
#4. Promotion
This P deals with how the product will be promoted. Traditional approaches were news paper ads, banners, radio advertisement, TV commercials, etc. These approaches are still used. But, more effective and efficient way to promote today is digital marketing.
The various ways to promote using digital marketing are email marketing, social media marketing, in-app ads, SEO, content marketing, etc.
If you give a news paper ad, you don’t know how many people saw the ad at least once. But, digital analytics allows you to know how many people saw the ad, how many time they saw it, did they clicked on it and many more such metrics which helps you understand the effectiveness of the ad.
Also, digital marketing is cost efficient. You get to target the right people at the right time and the right place. This can be done by making and implementing a good social media marketing strategy.
Importance of 4 Ps of Digital Marketing
In this world of technology and rapid change too, the 4 Ps of marketing remain the same. One just needs to apply them to digital marketing and adapt with the new ways to promote.
4 Ps were applicable then and are applicable now.
Just by ensuring that the 4 Ps of “Marketing Mix” are properly applied, a campaign can be made successful.
Are you applying 4 Ps of Digital Marketing in your business?
Share your ideas/case studies in the comment section.
Quite a helpful article. A must for digital marketers to understand how things work on the internet.
Thank You!