Too often, marketing is framed as the art of getting people to buy stuff they don’t need – promoting consumerism and materialism. They do this with a mix of slick charm and lies about the efficacy of their products. At its best, marketing is about understanding customers deeply and creating meaningful exchanges of value.
While there are dishonest, conniving salesmen trying to pawn off inferior products on unsuspecting customers, these are the bottom of the barrel and probably unsuccessful beyond targeting elderly pensioners like scam call operators. Of course, Elizabeth Holmes and other modern day scams still do pull of unbelievable heists. The vast majority of salesmen, however, serve a more valuable purpose: connecting people with solutions that genuinely address their needs and desires. The most successful marketers understand that sustainable business growth comes from building trust, delivering genuine value, and develop a solid reputation.
I love this interview with Jordan Belfort, the man who inspired the Wolf Of Wall Street series. A good marketer is not one that pushes, but rather has an understanding of the target customer and their needs. They use this information not just to tailor communications but also for product development.
The 4P Framework
Belfort’s emphasis on understanding customer needs aligns perfectly with the classic 4P marketing framework-a time-tested model that remains relevant in today’s complex marketplace. The 4Ps – Place, Product, Price, and Promotion – provide a comprehensive structure for developing marketing strategies that truly connect with customers. Rather than viewing these elements as separate tactics, effective marketers understand that they form an interconnected system, each element reinforcing the others to create a cohesive customer experience. When properly aligned, the 4Ps create a powerful foundation for marketing that delivers genuine value. Let’s explore how each component contributes to effective, customer-centred marketing in today’s environment.
Place
This refers to where you are selling the product – your distribution channels. Do you sell online by establishing your own audience, or through a retailer that already has an existing customer base? This is a deceptively simple aspect of marketing. Richard Branson recounts how Virgin Cola disappeared off the shelves of supermarkets. The rise of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands such as Warby Parker and Dollar Shave Club also exemplifies the means in which new technology can disrupt existing distribution channels.
Today’s most successful brands often employ hybrid strategies. Apple sells through its own stores, online, and through retail partners, creating a seamless experience across all touchpoints. This approach maximises reach while maintaining brand control.
Product/service developmentย
Marketing is vital to creating an iterative loop between product development and customers. That is why many lean startup principles focus on speaking with your customers and pivoting from there. This approach reduces the risk of developing products that miss the mark by keeping customer needs central to the process.
Geroski, back in 2003, considers how firms meet inchoate demand, or the latent demand for products that consumers don’t even know they want. Customers should be co-creating your product with you, since they are ultimately the ones who will judge whether your offering provides value or not. No one else’s opinions matter. Companies like LEGO have formalised this through user communities that directly influence new product lines. This approach recognises that customers ultimately determine a product’s value.
Pricing
Pricing represents one of marketing’s most powerful yet nuanced tools. While theoretically flexible, pricing decisions carry significant strategic implications:
Price too high, and you won’t even get a sufficient critical mass of early adopters. That can curtail both cashflow and valuable customer feedback. Furthermore, it will be difficult to reverse a high price rapidly, because you would anger the early adopters who had faith in your product, but now find themselves holding a cut-price product.
You can set a low price to penetrate a market and treat it as a marketing expense, but this could also distort the product validation. Furthermore, people could churn when you raise the price, resulting in wasted resources on onboarding these price-sensitive consumers.
Furthermore, products do not simply follow a simple demand curve. Price serves as a powerful quality signal in markets with information asymmetry. Premium pricing can enhance perceived value-Apple consistently leverages this principle to maintain higher margins than competitors while building a quality association.
You can also price discriminate for different customers – compelling those who need your product more to pay more, hence maximising your own surplus. Some examples are:
- Tiered offerings that appeal to different customer segments
- Contextual pricing that reflects urgency or need intensity
- Geographic or industry-specific pricing that reflects different value perceptions
Effective pricing aligns with the actual value delivered to customers rather than simply covering costs plus margin. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies excel at this by pricing based on value metrics that grow with customer success.
Promotion
Every customer undergoes a decision-making process:
- Need recognition
- Information search
- Evaluate alternatives
- Purchase
- Post-purchase
A marketer’s aim is to inform consumers who have a need of the product about why the value the product will bring is greater than the opportunity cost. As a marketer, you want to:
- Need Recognition: Appear to the consumer when need recognition appears – That is why pop-up notifications from McDonalds are far more enticing near mealtimes, because you perceive your hunger then
- Information Search: Appear when the consumer seeks out information. Whether that is the consumer asking friends for recommendations or asking Google, you want to pop up through word-of-mouth or through Search Engine Optimisation
- Evaluate Alternatives: Have an established place in the consumer’s mind – that way, when a consumer conducts an evaluation of alternatives, your brand will be considered as a contender. That is why McDonalds continuously bombards us with advertisements, even when they are not at meal times. This is an expensive proposition, however.
- Purchase: Ensure the purchase method is easy and convenient – there is a reason why Amazon’s 1-click (to save payment details) is deemed a highly valuable patent
- Post-purchase: Provide post-purchase support to ensure people are kept happy and will come back
The Ethical Marketer’s Advantage
Marketing at its best serves as a bridge between valuable solutions and the people who need them. While manipulative tactics might generate short-term gains, sustainable success comes from creating genuine value and building trust.
The most effective marketers today combine time-tested principles with emerging technologies and channels. They recognise that modern consumers are increasingly sophisticated and value-conscious, seeking authentic connections with brands that understand their needs and respect their intelligence.
By focusing on customer understanding, value creation, and ethical practices, marketers can build sustainable businesses while making meaningful contributions to customers’ lives. This approach not only drives business success but also transforms marketing from a sometimes-maligned practice into a respected profession that creates genuine value for all stakeholders.
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