by This model is more consumer oriented and this focus has led to a primary use in niche marketing. This does not exclude it for use in products serving a mass market however. This alternate marketing mix is made up of four key variables:
- Consumer
- Cost
- Communication
- Convenience
1) Consumer (and Product)
Here, instead of beginning the story with a product itself, the focus is on selling only what the customer specifically wants to buy. This means that it becomes an absolutely vital activity for the marketer to spend time studying these consumer wants and needs in-depth. Only this detailed understanding will allow a company to sell with accuracy what the customer will buy.
At the core of any marketing effort is the product itself. This however, is just one piece of the puzzle. The product must be something that the customer finds desirable and there must be something unique about it that sets it apart from all the rest of the competition. The most effective way to achieve this is to first find the right untapped market, and then develop the product instead of trying to fit a ready-made product into a market. Product testing, therefore, becomes a key element of both the product variable and the customer variable. The understanding should be of what the product can give the customer both in the eyes of the manufacturer and in the eyes of the consumer.
2) Cost (and Price)
When understood correctly, the cost variable gives more detailed information about the customer than the price variable does. A good way to understand the difference in price and cost is given here. Price is the amount of money that a consumer will be willing to pay to acquire a good or service. On the other hand, cost is the amount that goes into the production of a good or service. This is the sum of the value of all inputs to production such as land, labor, capital and enterprise.
Within the total cost to satisfy a customer need, price becomes one of the many factors. Other factors may include the cost of time to acquire the product, the cost of conscience when it comes to consuming the product, the total cost of ownership, the cost to change to a new product and the cost of not selecting an alternative.
There is a common misconception among marketing professionals that the main motivation for a product purchase is the price. Though price-based positioning may provide some initial success, in the long term, this turns out to be a less successful move. If the product is given a price that undercuts cost to gain the market, then the company will be at a disadvantage. If the product is priced at a premium without understanding its value to a customer, it will never be purchased.
Instead, a focus on cost to satisfaction will mean that there is more important information being taken into account than just the purchase price. A focus on this C will help find ways to actually increase the price of the item while decreasing the cost to satisfaction through measures that have a minimal influence on the company’s bottom line.
3) Communication (and Promotion)
Promotion to be a manipulative factor driven only by the seller. Instead, he viewed communication as a more cooperative activity and driven more by the consumer of a product.
A traditional marketing mix uses promotion as a tool to put information about the product in front of the customer. Promotion and its methods continue to evolve with new avenues and means to reach the consumer. Though these methods of promotion remain effective, a niche marketing focus needs a bit more.
Communication will work toward creating a meaningful relationship with the customer with a focus on what they need and what their lifestyle is. The focus is wider and more inclusive of the different form’s communication can take. There is more of a give and take between buyer and seller. Looking at advertising as this form of communication can help a marketer understand their market better and increase sales and customer loyalty.
4) Convenience (and Place)
The proliferation of online marketplaces, credit cards, catalogues and cell phones has made the provision of products to the customer a whole new ball game. A customer is not bound to actually go to a physical location to meet a need and there is an endless variety of places online to do so. This means that a marketer needs to be aware of how a particular customer group likes to make their purchases in order to make it convenient for them to buy. While place from the 4P model took into account the traditional value chain involved in getting a product into a customer’s hand, the convenience variable considers much more.
