The 4 P’s of Marketing is a Hierarchy

The “4 P’s of Marketing”, also called the Marketing Mix, is a common way to describe marketing strategy. They stand for Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Normally, these 4 P’s are depicted as a continuum, each playing equal parts toward marketing effectiveness. We at The Saltzman Company believe something a bit different: the 4 P’s is a hierarchy.

What does that mean? Let’s look at the 4 P’s in reverse.

Promotion

Promotion is what target audiences usually see — the social media content, the television ads, websites, etc. However, all promotional campaigns fall flat if they are not activated in the right Places.

Place

Place is where your target audience consumes information. These “places” can be real (e.g., events, billboards, supermarket end caps etc.) or virtual (e.g., Instagram, Tik Tok, Google Ads, etc.). To identify the places to promote, we need to intimately understand our target customers — their values and attitudes, their needs and desires, where they travel, and when they are most receptive to our marketing message. We also need to understand their willingness to pay, and set price points that align with those expectations. In other words, we can’t determine Place until we know Price.

Price

Price is the quantity your target customer is willing to pay for the goods or services you are selling. While this seems fairly straightforward, pricing strategy often has a greater impact on companies’ profitability than Place and Promotional strategy. Setting prices too low results in leaving money on the table. Setting prices too high could mean turning your audience off to your product or service, rendering any placement or promotions useless. And, yet, to set the right Price, it’s necessary to first offer a Product.

Product

Product refers to the thing being sold, and can be a physical good or a service. Customers will be receptive or not receptive to the product regardless of the promotions being run to market it, or the places the product is being marketed. Customers only weigh the prices of products once they’ve evaluated the value it gives them. In other words, the Product is the most important P of the 4 P’s of Marketing. Pricing, Place, and Promotion strategy are all contingent how the Product is valued by its intended customers.

So, why are we dedicating an entire page to this philosophy? Well, have you ever heard the saying “polishing a turd” or “putting lipstick on a pig”? From our perspective, when marketers try to gloss over Products’ weaknesses by over-investing in promotions, that’s what they’re doing. Even with amazing marketing campaigns, customers tend to be observant. At The Saltzman Company, we don’t want to waste your money running campaigns that won’t have long-term success. We look at our clients’ marketing through the lens of the target customer, applying the principles of the 4 P’s Hierarchy to the strategies we propose. By looking at Product first, then Pricing strategy, then Placement, and then Promotion, our goal is to ensure your investment with The Saltzman Company produces dividends for the long haul.