Anyone that first formally started learning about marketing is familiar with the 4 P’s. Edmund Jerome McCarthy introduced the Marketing Mix which we now know as the 4 P’s. Professor Philip Kotler (who I love) popularized the 4 P’s even more in his 1967 book called The Principles of Marketing, which is now in its 16th edition. Here are the the famous 4 P’s:
Product – item that satisfies what a consumer demands
Price – amount a customer pays for the product
Place – distribution of the product
Promotion – methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product
But now marketing is going through a paradigm shift and some are calling for these to be reinvented and change part of the mainstream thought process mix. Jagdish Sheth, Professor of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, wrote in 2011 a book titled “The 4 A’s of Marketing: Creating Value for Customer, Company and Society.” Robert F. Lauterborn, Professor of Advertising in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of North Carolina wrote in 1990 about the 4 C’s of Marketing. Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO, OgilvyOne Worldwide wrote in 2009 about the 4 E’s of Marketing.
Here is my breakdown of the A’s, C’s, E’s and P’s:
Acceptability—>Consumer—>Experience—>Product
Affordability—>Costs—>Everyplace—>Place
Accessibility—>Convenience—>Exchange—>Price
Awareness—>Communication—>Evangelism—>Promotion
The 4 A’s: Acceptability, Affordability, Accessibility and Awareness. According to Professor Sheth, “the 4A framework derives from a customer-value perspective based on the four distinct roles that customers play in the market: seekers, selectors, payers and users.”
The 4 C’s: Consumer, Costs, Convenience, and Communication. According to Professor Lauterborn, you have to start studying Consumer wants and needs, understanding their Cost to satisfy that want or need, thinking about Convenience to buy and communication that creates a dialogue.
The 4 E’s: Experience, Everyplace, Exchange, and Evangelism. According to Fetherstonhaugh, you have to stop thinking just about your product and start thinking about the full Experience, intercept consumers on their turf and on their terms, and that could be anyplace or Everyplace, offer your consumers something valuable in Exchange for their attention, their engagement and their permission, all to inspire your customers in becoming Evangelists for your brand.
All of these mixes have one thing in common: Creating “Value” by looking at marketing through the lens of the Customer.
I am sure there are more 4 letter marketing mixes out there but I really liked these because they are customer-centric. The 4 P’s for me stand as the foundation of any effective marketing campaign. Realizing we do have to speak the in the language of the customer I think the 4 A’s C’s and E’s are a great way for the modern marketer to get started in a world where demand for inbound/content marketing is increasing to provide a valuable customer experience.
Originally posted on LinkedIn on March 16, 2015.
Manpreet Jassal
Fearless Success 