In 1960, McCarthy categorized the marketing mix proposed by Neil Botton into four aspects: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, which is what we now call the 4P theory.
Marketing is 4P, and 4P is the only correct marketing theory.4P=1P+3P,
that is, 1P drives 3P.
This can be divided into four situations: product driven, price driven, channel driven, and promotion driven, which are the four marketing models.
1. Product driven: First, set the product, then set the price, channel, and promotion.
For example, when Steve Jobs created the Apple phone, he first conceived the product and created a touchscreen smartphone. Then, he customized the price and played through his own channels. His promotion included his press conferences and advertisements.How did Xiaomi enter the mobile phone market? He set the price first because it was a prerequisite for him to enter this market, and it was precisely because of Steve Jobs' extremely high pricing that he gave later opportunities to Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, VIVO, and others.If Steve Jobs had positioned the price of Apple phones at 2000 RMB, then these subsequent phone manufacturers would not have appeared.
2. Price driven: Set the price first, then determine the product, channel, and promotion.
Xiaomi set the price first and then set the channel. At the beginning, Xiaomi did not have offline channels and only ordered online.Why can Xiaomi do it? Once there were enthusiasts who said they were passionate about Xiaomi, but in fact, wherever there are any enthusiasts, they are all born for cost-effectiveness.
3. Channel driven: First determine the channel, then determine the product, price, and promotion.
For our kitchen bond peanut oil product, we need to first establish a channel.Chef Bang makes soy sauce, why do they make peanut oil? The purpose is to meet the needs of channel merchants.Soy sauce distributors come to us to purchase goods, but usually the soy sauce is not enough to fill a truck, so our peanut oil distributors will distribute the goods. Peanut oil is not sold much in Chef Bang, but it can also be sold for hundreds of millions and has a profit.For example, his hobby is stationery. Although he makes pens, he also has a homework book, which is still distributing goods for his channel distributors.And now channel brands are even more powerful, for example, Watsons has its own mineral water and sparkling water, and Sam's also has its own brand products.This is completely a channel brand, which is to first determine the channel, then determine the product, price, and promotion.After the channel becomes strong, they have a great impulse to build their own channel brand, which is the new competitive landscape we are facing now.
4. Promotion driven: First determine promotion, then determine products, prices, and channels.
For example, Ice Throat 30 Minute Moisturizing Throat Candy is a predetermined promotion plan. Due to Keke's years of cough medicine and numerous advertisements, I think we have the opportunity to create a throat moistening candy brand at a very low cost, and it has indeed been made.So, the 4P marketing mix is driving 3P with 1P.So, how should we understand these 4Ps?
1、 The product is a reason for purchase
The product definition includes three levels.The first level is the core customer value, which is the reason why customers purchase this product.The second level is to use specific products to achieve value, including product attributes, brand design, packaging design, etc.The third level is the supporting services of the product, committed to improving customer satisfaction.
Why do customers purchase your product? Actually, it's because of a purchase reason.So the product is the packaging of the reason for purchase, and product development is the development of the reason for purchase.The 4C theory in Integrated Marketing Communication states that one should forget about the product and consider the needs and desires of consumers. This is a big mistake.Consumers have no idea what kind of product they need. We need to provide what our customers need, not what they want.
At the beginning, Qiaqia Daily Nuts was called Colorful Nut, but it couldn't be sold. Later, it was changed to Daily Nuts. Isn't Daily Nuts just a reason to buy? It gives the impression that this is something I need to supplement every day.However, having this name alone is not clear enough for this product. After collaborating with Hua, we further listed everything inside the packaging and used our mastery of key preservation techniques to complete the packaging of the purchase reason, so we started working on it.
The same thing may become different products due to different purchasing reasons.For example, vitamin pills are used to make melatonin, which is specifically designed for insomnia. It is made into brain platinum, which is specifically designed for gift giving.The material is the same, but the reasons for purchase are different, resulting in different packaging and promotion forms.
2、 Pricing is profit sharing
Price is the distribution of three benefits.In the 4P of marketing, price is the only source of revenue, while product, channel, and promotion all mean cost investment.So the importance of pricing cannot be overemphasized, as pricing determines life and death.
There are three basic pricing strategies, namely pricing based on product cost, pricing based on competitors, and pricing based on customer value.There are many pricing methods now, but none of them have touched on the essence.What is the essence of pricing? It is the distribution of benefits.Specifically, there are three benefit distributions: the first is allocated to customers, the second is allocated to upstream and downstream industrial chains, and the third is allocated to competitors.Why distribute benefits to competitors? Because if you set a price too high, it's like dividing the money among competitors.The 4C theory in Integrated Marketing Communication states that one should forget about prices and consider how much consumers are willing to pay to meet their needs. This is the wrong type.Price is largely not a matter for consumers, but for all parties involved in the entire industry chain.
Marketing actually involves two things: one is to encourage consumers to buy from manufacturers, and the other is to encourage sellers to sell on behalf of manufacturers.
The pricing of Apple phones was not allocated to customers, and they also built their own channels, so they were not allocated to channels.And Xiaomi shared the money with the customers, which increased the cost-effectiveness.And OPPO and VIVO distribute the money to the channels, so offline channel merchants are willing to sell for them.These are three different modes.The pricing of Honey Snow Ice City is divided between customers and franchisees, and what he takes is actually very thin. He uses large-scale efficiency to achieve more than a non profit enterprise.Lao Gan Ma is also such a company. Lao Gan Ma's profits are even thinner than paper, so no one can squeeze in.
So, the core of pricing is that you have pricing power.If your product has something that others don't have, then you have pricing power.If there is no unique product, then find your pricing philosophy.
There are three methods for pricing power:
1. Relatively good, absolutely cheap. For example, Evergrande and Country Garden.
2. Absolutely good, relatively cheap. For example, Hua and Hua, Toyota.
3. Absolutely good, absolutely expensive. For example, Rolls Royce, Herm è s, etc.
Similarly, from the perspective of price, there are different channels for different pricing.For the same vitamins, ordinary vitamins go through pharmacy channels. If it's a golden partner, go through big stores. If it's Amway Nutrilite, go through direct sales channels.
A channel is an organization and belongs to organizational behavior.An organization has members, leaders, achievements, systems, incentives, rewards and punishments, goals, and rituals.There are two companies that have excellent channels, one is Morning Light Stationery and the other is Juewei Duck Neck.Morning Light Stationery has truly turned the owner of the enterprise into the leader of the entire channel organization, and truly has a bodhisattva like heart to help these channel merchants grow.The channel organization of Morning Light Stationery is completely led by enterprises, while Juewei Duck Neck has helped them establish a franchisee autonomous management organization, which also includes democratic elections and elections.
How do we look at products, prices, and promotions from the perspective of channels?The same product definitely needs to be developed for different channels.For example, a bag of potato chips may be sold in a 500 gram family sharing package in a big store, 50 grams in a convenience store that exceeds the time limit, or a large gift package combination package in an e-commerce channel.
4、 Promotion is brand communication
The English word for promotion is Promotion, which is often translated as promotion. Due to such promotions, it gives us the feeling of discounts and promotions.But promotion is actually not about discounts or promotions, it means promotion. By extension, promotion can be seen as the entire brand communication.According to the 4C theory in Integrated Marketing Communication, one should forget about promotion and consider how to communicate with consumers in both directions.Should we engage in two-way communication with consumers?
This is another academic issue. The birth of communication studies began with propaganda.Lasswell's groundbreaking work, titled "Propaganda Techniques in World War I," was the study of war propaganda during World War I, which gave birth to communication studies.Later people felt that the promotion had a bit of political significance, and advertisers also felt that mass communication was too low-quality, so they said they wanted to turn it into communication.After the communication, the people behind said that interactive communication, two-way communication, and precise one-on-one communication are necessary.This will make this knowledge darker and darker.
In promotion, we are still willing to do promotion. The simpler the method, the better, it's best to simply brush a slogan.One of the most successful cases of Hua and Hua is "loving cleanliness and living in Hanting".Because we just ran a slogan and didn't do any other advertisements.Is it possible to have two-way communication with customers? Why do we need to interact with customers? Isn't it great if he comes, buys, and leaves?When opening a restaurant, what matters is the turnover rate. If we want to have two-way communication and interaction, the turnover rate will definitely collapse.What we want is to buy it and leave, preferably without anyone selling it. China has over a billion people, where is there any two-way communication?So what is promotion? We say promotion is the entire brand communication, incorporating brand theory into our marketing theory.
