Coined back in the 1960’s by Jermone E. McCarthy, the 4 P’s of marketing – product, price, place, promotion – for decades served as the strategic playbook for marketers everywhere. But in recent years, it has widely been concluded in the marketing and communications industry that the days of the 4 P’s are over, and a more detailed review of the rationale supporting each of the ‘P’ tenets reveals why – they are startlingly narrow-minded in their approach. While the importance of providing insights into product viability and name, price positioning, promotion and availability all remain key elements of the marketing role, the 4 P’s represent a “push” mentality that in today’s multi-media, highly consumer-centric world no longer stands.

What the 4 P’s also reveal is the extent to which technology and social media have changed the role of the marketer. Today technology enables us to track the consumer’s journey and get a far better understanding of how they interact with our products and services, or why they switch to a competitor. The watchword now is ‘engagement’ – achieve standout by being a useful, relevant and timely addition to your customers’ daily lives. It’s about starting with what problem or pain-point your product solves for your client, not talking in isolation about what great features it has.

We take a 360 degree approach to marketing at ARTÉMIA. Yes, there’s a rigorous examination of the product and price, but we also look to build a much wider context to help inform a more robust strategic direction. We’ve swapped P’s for C’s to create the following outline:

Company: From boardroom executives to operational and sales managers to HR, we conduct in-depth research – of which your staff play a major part – to understand the human profile of your company, and to uncover key insights to help shape the messaging plan.

Consumers: In order to build a fully consumer-centric strategy, we focus on your consumers’ want and needs – including cost , motivation and convenience to buy. We build out a view of the full customer journey.

Competitors & Category: We go beyond SMART analysis and goals to provide fresh insights into your competitive set. What messaging and media are they using? What key selling points are they beating you on? What are the strategic risks in mid to long term? We cover all this and more. And we don’t just look at immediate competitors, we take a much wider look at the category and industry as a whole. How has this sector been disrupted by technology? Are there new, formerly non-competitors looking to break in and claim market share? How can you maintain a clear voice for your company in an increasingly busy marketplace?

Communications: With so many channels available to reach your audience in evermore direct and targeted ways, we create messaging strategies that suit the tone of each medium, while always remaining true to the core brand values. The proliferation of social media and online reviews mean transparency and integrity are key to building trust and brand value – both emotional and financial. We create strategies that do just that.

If you’d like to hear more about how we can expand your marketing horizons, as ever please get in touch.