what are the new 4Ps of the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is one of the many strategies that companies usually carry out to improve their marketing, and like everything else, it has to be reinvented over time and with the new objectives that marketing demands of us.

what is the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is an analysis based on the internal strategy that companies usually develop. The way in which the marketing mix develops this analysis is based on four variables known as the 4Ps: Product, price, distribution (place) and promotion.

The aim of this analysis is to understand the internal situation of our company in order to subsequently develop a specific strategy that will help us to better position it. We can start this strategy with a market study.

This marketing mix we are talking about is also known as the 4Ps, as it focuses its study on four variables: price, product, place and promotion.

The traditional 4Ps of the marketing mix

We are going to develop each of these four variables, which are traditionally known as the 4Ps of the marketing mix, the ones that are considered the new ones will be developed later on.

1. Price
   

   In this variable, the main information offered is the price of the product that the company is offering to the market. This is the most competitive element, because a large part of the demand depends on it and on whether our target customers choose the competition or us. We must take care and think a lot about this variable as it is the only one of the four that directly generates income for us, apart from having all the power over the consumer.

   By changing the price of the product what we are doing is affecting the whole marketing strategy, as well as the demand for the product itself. In economics, this is called price elasticity of demand. Depending on the price of our product, it is obvious that there will be a different demand. If we have a coffee shop and the coffees are 1.2€, there will be more demand than if they were 5€, this taking into account that it is the same coffee shop and we change the price from one day to another, because there are also many more variables such as branding that can make a large number of consumers willing to pay 5€ for a coffee. As happens, for example, in Starbucks.

2. Product
   

   This variable is the central element of the strategy, we need to have a product to place in the market so that the other three variables make sense. If we do not have something to satisfy the needs of our consumers, we have nothing. We must bear in mind that this variable not only encompasses the product, but also all the complementary elements and services that encompass the product itself. Within this we have customer service, packaging, and a long etcetera.

   Within the analysis of the product, it is very important that the company takes into account the life cycle of the product, as we have to be prepared to stimulate demand when it decreases. If we sell costumes, there will be times when we have more demand than others. It must be specified that when we talk about product, we also refer to services, anything that the company offers.

3. Point of sale or distribution (place)
   Within this variable what we are analysing is how we are distributing our product to our consumers, this is essential to satisfy or not the needs of the consumer. The analysis in this variable focuses on the channels that a product goes through from the moment we create it as a company until it reaches the hands of the consumer, including the analysis of storage, or the points of sale. As is logical, we must keep an inventory management that will help us to see whether or not we have sufficient stock of the product.
   
   
4. Promotion
   

   Here we can analyse all the efforts made by the company to make its product known and increase its sales to the public. A large part of the analysis of this strategy is based on ROI, i.e. finding out whether or not the return on investment is positive.

   These are the 4Ps of the marketing mix that traditionally existed, now we are going to look at the new 4Ps that have been formed over time.

The new 4Ps of the Marketing Mix

Within marketing, new variables have emerged that also complement each other. Since the emergence of inbound marketing and the product ceases to be the centre of the strategy, changes have occurred in all marketing variables. The new four variables are as follows:

1. People
   With inbound marketing, the centre of any strategy has become the customer, as well as the concept of the internal customer, which enhances the valuation of the employee within the organisation itself. The customer is also beginning to be perceived as a person and not just as a consumer, since the most important thing in marketing is the customer's relationship with the brand.
   
   
2. Processes
   The analysis of this variable includes the structural system, the creativity and the discipline that exists within the marketing management, thanks to having them well optimised, we will obtain multiple benefits.
   
   
3. Programmes
   This includes the traditional 4Ps mentioned above, in addition to all the companies that focus on the consumer, as well as multiple traditional or non-traditional activities that have to do with the fulfilment of the company's objectives.
   
   
4. Performance
   This variable is the one that is linked to the digital world, this focuses on the collection of data that we use to design our campaigns in the best possible way. Here we find all the databases and strategies that help us to achieve the maximum return, the greatest benefit and the best impact indicators.

With this, it is now clear what the new 4Ps of the marketing mix are, and you, did you know them?