Forget the 4Ps – Meet the 4Es

The world is changing, and marketing has to change with it. The methods we’ve been using are obsolete now and must evolve in order to stay relevant and effective. This might not be the most exciting news you could expect if you spent years studying the same techniques. Just know the change is not big, these are the same approaches but with a different point of view, one that will work better with the contemporary public.

The 4Ps used to be the go-to for marketing strategy. It stands for:

• Product: It refers to the physical goods or the intangible services that you offer
• Price: The money value you give to the product
• Place: Refers to the distribution of the product
• Promotion: It lets people know that your product solves a specific need

It’s time to accept that this famous alliteration ‘Product, Price, Place, Promotion’ from Marketing Mix is no longer effective. The digital world is evolving at an extremely quick pace and if you don’t keep up with it, you might waste your time, money and resources.

What is replacing the 4Ps then?  Welcome the 4Es. These replacements for the 4Ps are current and more relevant points of view of how marketing should be handled considering the rapid and constant growth of technology usage. They stand for:

• From Product to Experience: Selling a product is not enough anymore, there has to be a focus on the experience when buying it. If experience itself is not what you are selling -aka a spa day, dinning or travels- you must focus on the quality of customer service delivered to the clients.
• From Place to Everyplace: The concept of Everyplace includes the idea of allowing customers to engage with retailers on their own terms, through their own paths to purchase, whether it be online, in store, at home or by phone. Many retailers have embraced the idea of Everyplace by creating beautiful sites and mobile platforms to deliver seamless customer interaction.
• From Price to Exchange: Exchange involves more than money in the till; it is the entire value experience a customer derives through the process of engaging with the retailer. Part of the exchange can be respect for the customer’s time, which is at a real premium today. It can be special insider knowledge or know-how that helps customers navigate their lives.
• From Promotion to Emotion:  By making the retail shopping experience personal and the exchange valuable, retailers can tap the potential of its customers to evangelize their experience of the store. The highest mark of engagement is turning customers into store evangelists that will spread the message of your store. It’s activated through content marketing, social media, traditional public relations, influencer blog posts, and through good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing.

In conclusion, to continue or start selling to the fullest of its capacity, any businesses and retailers should consider changing their marketing model from the old 4Ps and evolve to the new 4Es approach where Experience, Exchange, Everyplace and Emotion guides the customer interaction. The 4Es of marketing are essential to transform retail from a product to a people-based business. Which is what statistically customers are looking for today.