The Four P's

Back in college, as with most young students, I thought quite frequently that much of what we were learning in school would never be used in the real world. The irony of this is that much of what I learned in the most basic of marketing courses keep coming up in brainstorming sessions. Just this morning, as a matter of fact, I was reminded of The Four P's while discussing strategies for the roll-out of new vacation package promotions.

It got me to thinking that sometimes we do need to go back to basics when conceiving business strategies. Many times we get hung up on promoting our products while neglecting other important factors that could affect sales.

An important strategy in maintaining a healthy balance is called The Four P's which stand for Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Allow me to break it down:

Product
Concept, development and implementation of the best product possible that will generate demand from a given target market.

Price
Determining the best possible price in order to maximize profitability while maintaining a competitive advantage.

Place (or distribution)
This refers to both the location of the sale whether it be a physical location or through virtual channels. This also refers to the distribution and delivery channels by which the customer purchases and receives the product or service.

Promotion
Promotion refers to the development and delivery of messages designed to call customers to action with regard to purchasing or following a product.

Think of every 'P' as a leg of a stool. When one leg is cut short, the stool becomes unstable. Most businesses tend to focus more on the promotion part and neglect attention to the other important areas of the business. All the promotion in the world may not make up for a badly priced, low quality product. The key is to maintain focus equally to all four legs in order to remain fully competitive in the market.