4 P's - Part One

"What did you say?" Beth asked over dinner one night.

"Pass the corn chips -- please?" I said, adding "please" this time, assuming I'd forgotten my manners.

"No, before that," she said holding the chips ransom. "About the P's..."

"Peas?" I asked staring at the chips. "Oh, P's! Yeah I think people forget there are 4 P's in Marketing."

"I've never heard you say that before. It needs to be a marketing tip."

"If I promise to make it a tip, can I get the chips?"

And so this four-part marketing tip series was inspired by Beth.


In Marketing 101 you may have learned the four P's of Marketing: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion.

Advertising is only part of Promotion. And Promotion is only part of the Marketing Mix. But marketers sometimes lose sight of that fact.

Over the next four weeks I'll give you my unusual perspective on each P and some practical applications.

Let's start with an overview:

Think of Marketing as a cheese and sausage pizza. (A food analogy -- It must be nearly mealtime)

The pizza has four essential ingredients: crust, sauce, cheese and sausage. The quality and quantity of those ingredients will change from recipe to recipe and region to region. You can add other ingredients like herbs and spices, but without the basic ingredients, you don't have a traditional cheese and sausage pizza.

In the same way, a marketing program has four essential ingredients: a product (or service), a place (some method of distribution) a price (everything has a cost, even if it's just your time), and some type of promotion (advertising, direct mail, public relations, email, website, door-to-door, word of mouth, etc.) Combined, these four elements (commonly known as the "Four P's") are the Marketing Mix. You can add other ingredients like people, politics, and positioning, but without some mix of these ingredients, you don't have a traditional marketing program.

Just like with pizza, there's an art to choosing and mixing the right ingredients in just the right amount. It can make the difference between Dominos and Chicago's Pizzeria Uno. There are a myriad of different ways to mix your ingredients to get a good result. But there are also a myriad of different ways to fail.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm getting a little hungry.