The four P's of the marketing mix, also known as producer-oriented models, have been used by marketing people around the world for decades.

Marketer Jerome McCarthy defined 4P as Product, Price, Promotion and Placement.

However, over time, the growing influence of the Internet has made these classic principles seem a little outdated in the light of the different relationships that develop between a business and its customers.

We are at a time when consumers seem to know everything about a business, and the old marketing mix with the 4Ps that define it is constantly at odds with how jobs and sales are done today.

First, we need to look at the fundamental problems that arise in the way jobs were done in the past. Then, it will be necessary to define a framework that covers the same basic elements but at the same time be more aligned with the way businesses work today.

Below is a more in-depth review and confrontation of old and new ideas.

What's wrong with 4Ps? According to a 5-year study published by Harvard (Harvard Business Review) based on 500 executives and customers/consumers (in different countries) it was found that the 4P model undermines entrepreneurs and marketers in three important ways.

1.   Directs marketing and sales teams to focus their efforts on technology and product quality. Although these factors are very important, the researchers emphasized that they are not important differentiating factors. Rather, they are the cost of entering the market.

2.   The 4Ps stress the importance of creating a convincing hypothesis aimed at explaining a higher value of the product / service for sale (for example, not enough time is spent in educating consumers to understand why the offer is needed).

3.   They disorient businesses from exploiting their advantage as a reliable source for problem solving. Businesses are now able to leverage information in addition to questions / tips to help consumers grow and maintain their customer base. But if 4Ps are no longer flexible enough to help carry out the work of a modern business, what model should marketers and businesses focus on?

According to Eduaro Conrado, Head of Marketing at Motorola and one of the authors of the HBR study, business owners should turn their attention to the SAVE model when designing and defining their unique competitive advantages and offering them to their potential customers.

This model focuses on: Solution, Access, Values and Education in relation with the offered product/service. Below are the important differences between this model and the old marketing mix, which consists of the 4Ps.

1. Focus on Solution vs Product

?Customers are not interested in a product's capabilities or usefulness unless the product solves their problems. We are not talking about the characteristics that the business wants to have in its product, but about the problems that the customer wants to solve through your product. Solve their problem better than anyone else and you'll end up with a product that your customers can't live without." Ruben Gamez

Too often, businesses are dealing with the features, functions and technological superiority of their product over competition.

The harsh reality is that none of them matter to your customers. All they care about is solving their problems.

If a company's product features help the consumer solve their problem, then they will deal with them. If, however, you create a product that is based on features and capabilities and not on consumer needs, then you are working upside down.

Don't let product creators (or even yourself) get caught up in unnecessary features, product additions and improvements. If running your product does not help your customers to a significant degree, then it will be nothing more than a tumor.

 2. Focus on Access vs Positioning

"At a time when many businesses are operating around continuous high-speed internet access, the concept of 'position' seems not to have the same importance. When you can access virtually any set of knowledge available around the world from your mobile phone, you are always able to research, buy and support a business or product. It is no longer about product positioning but about access to it. What can a business give me at the exact moment I want it or need it? This is the obstacle businesses need to overcome today and is certainly not easy. " Jay Baer

At this point the key is not to spread your 'base' (I.e. your store or website), but to create a presence on all the channels available to the business, which include the entire customer journey of the customer, and not just the point where a sale is sealed.

This idea is based on the promotion of the product but extends beyond it. For example, Help Scout's presence on Twitter is related both to providing the best possible customer service through quick response to their queries and by promoting articles and sources.

Customers want access to the business. They want to know that the customer support team is there if they need it. To accomplish this, your customers need to see that you are constantly interacting and communicating with other customers, thus creating the feeling that you will be with them if something goes wrong.

How much is your team available to customers?

How much do you care about your customer reviews?

How good is your customer support?

3. Focus on Value vs Price

"Occasionally, our customers say our product is very expensive, and they are sure they can find some similar service online for free, but for us, price is not just a number, it is a strong component of brand and value of the product. When we hear customers say that our product is too expensive, before we wonder if we should lower prices we should be more concerned about whether we should increase its value. This orientation is vital in our effort to improve the product without competing with other market players regarding the price. " Walter Chen

Are your customers interested in price relative to production costs, profit margins and the prices of your competitors?

We can answer with confidence that they are not interested.

Customers are definitely concerned about prices, but this comes at a later stage after their concern about the value they will get from the product. Do you know the benefits of your product in terms of your prices?

If you do not know them, you should find them and define them. Research by Stanford University shows that competitive pricing is often a bad way to set prices for your product. Further studies on this way of pricing reveal that perception of value is much more important to customers when they see higher prices.

The old 4Ps model does not really encourage this particular need to create a strong case in which it will show your customers why your business offers a higher value than the competition and puts more emphasis on the literal price of the product / service.

4. Focus on Eucation vs Promotion

?One of the oldest marketing truths is the 'Law of 7'. One has to see or interact with the brand 7 times before finally deciding to sign up for the service or buy what you offer. For the last 2 years and since we have shifted our focus to content marketing, I really think we have reduced that number. This is because we provide some useful and free information, which creates stronger links than any banner or press release?. Leo Widrich

The old marketing methods were severely restricted to (interruption marketing, but today's entrepreneur has the ability to deal with the needs of his customers at every point of his purchasing journey.

Businesses today operate as inter-producers, providing current potential customers with information about their interests in order to create a sense of familiarity and confidence long before a purchase is even made.

This way, you will need to look beyond the article you are reading at the moment. In fact, the whole entity of our blog is focused on customer needs rather than business needs.

We write content that customers will want to read about, such as building long-term loyalty relationships with your customers, creating 'WOW' moments for small businesses with a specific budget, and specific tactics we've used to increase responses in e-mail by 340%.

This type of marketing, which is based on attraction, is essential for any business with an online presence. A medium, such as the internet that provides an immediate escape route (for example by simply clicking the button to go to the previous page), does not exist in the traditional interventionist marketing techniques.

Summarizing:

Businesses that continue to integrate the outdated 4Ps model are at serious risk of engaging in a recurring and growing non-productive race with technology.

Today's customer is very important and influential in the relationship between the business and its customers, and the time has come for businesses to begin incorporating such models into their strategy, which are of direct interest to the customer's needs.

S.A.V.E. model allows businesses to keep that mindset at the forefront of their business, making customer-centericity the central element of this new sales strategy.

Businesses that choose to ignore these alerts do so at their own risk for the threats that may arise in the competitive environment!