Forget the 4 P’s! What Are The 4 C’s of Marketing?
As marketers, we’re all taught about the four pillars of business marketing. The 4 P’s- Product, Price, Place, and Promotion are ingrained in our memory from day one of our education in the marketing world. However, these four categories can be easily aligned with four other, more realistic pillars of marketing: the 4 C’s.
The 4 C’s of marketing, which consist of Consumer wants and needs, Cost, Convenience, and Communication, are arguably much more valuable to the marketing mix than the 4 P’s. The 4 C’s of marketing focus not only on marketing and selling a product, but also on communication with the target audience from the beginning of the process to the very end.
The 4 P’s focus on a seller-oriented marketing strategy, which can be extremely effective for sales. However, the 4 C’s offer a more consumer-based perspective on the marketing strategy.
To further explain the importance of the 4 C’s, I’ll break them down piece by piece for you.
1. Customer Wants and Needs
The first C in this marketing mix is the customer’s wants and needs. Instead of focusing on the product itself, the first C focuses on filling a void in the customer’s life.
This marketing strategy is important for businesses that are interested in seeking an understanding of their customers. Once you understand your customer, it becomes much easier to create a product that will be of benefit to them. The customer makes the purchase decision and is therefore the most valuable resource in any marketing strategy.
2. Cost
The Second C in this marketing mix is cost. Don’t confuse the cost of your product with its price. Price is only a small segment of the overall cost of buying a product to a customer. It is important to determine of overall cost – not price – of your product to the customer. Cost not only includes price of the item, but also may include things such as the time it takes for the customer to get to your location in order to buy your product, or the cost of gas that it takes to get them there. Cost can also include the product’s benefit, or lack-there-of, to the customer.
3. Convenience
The Third C within this marketing mix is convenience. Convenience is often compared to “place” in the 4P’s marketing strategy. However, these two are very different. Place simply refers to where the product will be sold. Convenience is a much more customer-oriented approach to this marketing strategy.
Once you have analyzed your customer’s habits, you should be able to know whether they shop online or in stores as well as what they are willing to do to buy your product. The overall cost of the product will determine in part its convenience to your target audience. The goal is to make the product cost effective and simple enough for the customer to attain the product without having to jump through hoops.
4.Communication
The fourth and final C in this marketing mix is communication. Communication is always key to business marketing; without it, the 4 C’s would not be effective. Communication is often compared to the fourth P, promotion; however, it is very different.
Promotion of a product is used to sway customers in order to get them to buy a product. Promotion can often be manipulative and ineffective. However, communication is (again) a customer-oriented approach to the task of selling products. Communication requires interaction between the buyer and seller. This marketing strategy can very easily be implemented through the use of social media.
Marketing a product on your social media sites, or even including links to your social media profiles can be very beneficial to your customers. This allows them to interact with your brand on a personal level and will eventually lead to greater brand loyalty among your customers.
The 4 C’s of marketing can be highly beneficial to any marketing strategy. This strategy forces marketers to really understand their audience before they even being to develop a product. This strategy requires communication throughout the entire process, from start to finish, and begins with understanding what the customer wants and needs out of your product.
When utilizing the 4 C’s, just remember to always think of your customer first, and communicate with them along the way.
Do you prefer the 4 P’s or the 4 C’s of marketing? Tell us in the comments below!
Shakespeare once said: “what’s in a name?” This is an interesting article but I would argue that the 4 P’s and the 4 C’s are the same save for the name itself. The only difference here is approach: one from a business/sales direction and one from a customer direction. Depending on the business, one approach will naturally make more sense than the other. Many businesses have been approaching the 4 P’s from a customer standpoint for years, effectively turning them into the 4 C’s long before Lauterborn came up with his concept. Also, if businesses always approached from the Consumer standpoint, rather than the Product, I would argue we wouldn’t have things like the iPad for example. Consumers never said they wanted it, instead Apple said they were going to make it and then consumers will want it. As Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Its very informative article i like it