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The 4C’s of the Marketing Mix
Traditional marketing tactics dictate that organizations follow the 4P’s model of the marketing mix which is a more business-oriented model, as opposed to a customer-oriented one, consisting of the following variables: product, price, promotion, and place.
Modern marketing tactics, on the other hand, follow the 4C’s model of the marketing mix as proposed by Bob Lauterborn in an article written for Advertising Age back in 1990. Lauterborn declared that the 4P’s were no longer relevant and helpful in aiding today’s marketer address any real issues. Instead, he transformed the 4P’s in the variables he believed were vital.
He started with ‘consumer wants and needs’ as the primary focus of any organization’s marketing strategy. Next, he used the variable of ‘cost to satisfy’ to debunk price as the deciding factor in customers’ purchases. Following that was the third variable, convenience to buy, a vital concept in today’s world of 24/7 availability. The often neglected variable, i.e., communication was the fourth one, which implied that instead of the manipulative one-way communication of traditional marketing, organizations should invest in a two-way dialogue between the customer and the company. Therefore, the 4C’s model of the marketing mix came into existence that consists of the following variables: consumer, cost, convenience, and communication.
While on a surface level, the 4P’s and the 4C’s model may look like two sides of the same coin, there is a critical distinction between them; the 4C’s model reflects a change in the overall organizational mindset of viewing their customers as more than just an unspeaking and unthinking audience. 4C’s model encourages an overhaul in the traditional marketing process and value chain and urges marketers to view everything from a customer’s point of view. The model diverts action towards niche marketing, where the conversation is often one-to-one between customers and companies, and a more significant effort is put into understanding just what it is that customers truly want. This entails a thorough knowledge of the market a company wishes to target and come up with solutions designed to be optimal for both the organization and the customer.
