4P’s of Marketing

4PsAs the Digital Economy explained, the industrial age paradigm in marketing founded on traditional media. The old paradigm was one of control, simple and unidirectional: firms market to customers. We create products and define their features and benefits, set prices, select places to sell products and services, and promote aggressively through advertising, public relations, direct mail, and other in-your-face programs.

The Brand was an image, badge, promise, trustmark or “word in the mind.” Industrial age marketing models emphasized pushing images, messages, and other marketing content. All this is best summed up in the famous “Four P’s” of marketing – having the right product, being in the right place with the optimal price and effective (one way) promotion.

There has been some progress in using social media for effective customer interaction but the old paradigm in marketing remains intact. Today companies need to build wiki brands, and integrated customer experience platforms. There are important breakthroughs in mobile and geo-spatial technologies that change many aspects of the customer experience. Social analytics can pay off big time. However firms need to show that they have integrity and consider the interests of their customers to privacy.