What are the 4Ps of Marketing?

Every marketing student learns about the 4 Principles of Marketing, known as the 4Ps of marketing early on in their academic career. These core elements of marketing are something every business should understand. In this guide, we’ll outline the 4Ps of marketing and we’ll apply real-world proven ideas that retailers of souvenirs can put into play. Your business, like many others, is unique. Your customers are often in your store for just a short time. They’re looking to capture their experience. You can offer them more than a memento – through the right mix of marketing activities, price and product blend. Let’s dive right into the 4Ps:

 

Product:

Crafting the ideal product mix based on your customer groups is the essence of the product P of marketing. To really understand your customer, we recommend asking them questions. For retailers, intercept surveys are ideal, as they capture customers right where they are. An excellent idea to capture guests for a short intercept survey is to offer a treat, such as cookies, while they answer a short intercept survey.  Or offer a point-of-purchase coupon to those waiting in line if they participate.

 

Surveying customers is designed to craft a biographical sketch of your ideal customer, called a persona. This persona sketch helps you keep your customer in mind whenever you consider any of the 4Ps. What would Tom Tourist want in our store, or Hillary Hiker? You’ll likely have several personas that drive your retail store sales.

 

You can combine both the intercept survey (which should be short) and offer an opportunity to connect on a deeper level: “this survey today in our store is just four short questions, but we’ll send a followup coupon or freebie if we can get your e-mail address and send you a longer one to complete at home.”

 

Once you understand your customer’s likes, motivations, dislikes, and desires, you can begin to tweak your product mix. Tom Tourist, visiting a national park retail store may have come for wool socks and energy bars, but he might also be tempted with a small gift item that he can collect at the parks he visits, such as a pendant, or lanyard he can attach to his pack. Hillary Hiker probably came in for a lined shell jacket, as the temperature at altitude dropped by an unexpected 20 degrees, but she picks up a birding guide to take with her on her journey and a made-in-the-USA gift item for her brother back home. Understanding what drives each audience helps with a more targeted selection of gift and consumable items.

Learn more by downloading the complete guide to the 4Ps of Marketing for Retailers