If you are into marketing, you have to be familiar with the 4 P’s. The four P’s represent what people call a marketing mix. First defined in 1953 by Neil Borden as an adaptation of a phrase coined by one of his associates James Culliton that 7 years before that date had come up with the “mixer of ingredients” to refer to marketing manager. But what exactly do the 4 P’s stand for?

The first P stands for product that in its most basic definition is a concrete object such as car or a sweater and it can also include services that are mass produced. Other terms associated to this is the PLC (product life cycle) which is the biological life of the product and the CLC (customer life cycle) which is the focus on the products and services the customer will use in his life time.

The second P refers to price, this so essential topic when it comes to marketing. This is simply the amount of money a customer pays for a given product. Usually the more the product is on more stores, the lower the price tends to be, being the opposite when a product can be purchased only at certain selected stores. There are several considerations to establish the right price for a product, that include penetration pricing which is like an introductory price to attract customers, followed by an increase in price one the market for the product has been made. Economy pricing refers to economic versions of a product to address a certain market sector. Price skimming, psychological pricing and product line pricing are all pricing strategies.

P number three accounts for Place, and refers to the place in which a product can be purchased also know as the distribution channel, including virtual stores. In here we can mention the 6 channel decisions to be made. Deciding between direct or indirect channels, single or multiple, cumulative length of the channels, types of intermediaries, number of intermediaries at different levels, and intermediaries to avoid intrachannel conflicts.
Finally, P number four stand for Promotion. Promotion refers to communications used by the marketer, they include sales promotion, advertising, personal selling and public relations.

These four P’s are seen usually as ingredients in a recipe, you can use the same ingredients in different amounts and get completely different results, some more successful than others. Marketing emphasizes these four elements and their interaction in order to market successful products. In some situations the interactions and emphasis given to these four P’s can be the difference between a highly sough after product and one that is destined to disappear without much impact in the market place.

The question to be asked now is if you are ready to come up with your own recipe for succeeding in the harsh marketing environment. Go ahead and give it a try.