How to Apply the 4 P’s of Your Marketing Mix to Social Media
Product – First things first, you need to know how to describe your product or service to your potential clients. Start by writing out a simple description and hand it to a few people that do not know your business to read. Then ask them if they have any questions remaining about what you do and what they are. Rewrite a second draft incorporating that additional information in and repeat the process until you have a solid description that anyone who reads it once will understand. A crucial point, keep it short enough so a person is not intimidated to read the description just because it seems to be too much to read. How many times do you get to a long blog post and read the first paragraph then just skim the bold or first sentences throughout the rest of the article. This is incredibly important for social media because people have to understand what it is you are offering before they will buy it. They are not seeing it in a physical store where they can pick it up and feel it. You are telling them about it through written word. This will allow you to gain interest in your product or service because people will know exactly what to expect when they purchase it.
Price – Understand the price of your product beyond just the price. Understand the demographic you are going after and the social media mediums to reach more of your population. This will also help when posting or communicating with potential clients by know the keywords you need to use. For instance, if you are selling a Rolex, a keyword would be luxury. People that buy expensive things like to think of them as luxury, not expensive. Many of your social media experiences you will need to hit these keywords in order to attract your potential customers. Make your self easier for them to find.
Place – The place where your product or service can be purchased is key. This may be the most important of all when it comes to the 4 P’s and social media. Ultimately you are always trying to lead your potential customers to where they can purchase your goods and services, or at least learn more about them. If you sell it online, constantly show your clients where and how easy it is to do so. If you have a brick and mortar store you want them to attend, use the next P, promotions, to attract clients. Keep in mind your place of business so you know to key in on social media outlets that allow you to search by location.
Promotion – This is where it gets fun. The most important thing about this is to HAVE FUN. Create really fun ways to engage customers. Remember to not always try to sell through promotions. This is also a great way to get very informative feedback. A really cool idea I thought of would be for a product sold at many different locations in the same general area and creating a scavenger hunt via social media outlets, such as Twitter, for clues. How cool would it be to go to 6 different shoe stores and fill out your Nike survey card at each and in order, to receive 50% off a pair of Nike shoes at the end?
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Tags: Marketing, Strategy, The Four P's
Aug 30, 2008
Nice article Chris, your promotion idea sounds great!
Aug 31, 2008
Emma,
Thanks. It is really fun to use your creativity when it comes to social media and marketing. Their is nothing established as the norm or taught in schools, so it is kind of up to each person to decide how to use the tools to best help them.