Essay on Four Ps Approach to Marketing Versus the Value Approach

The marketing mix is a set of tactics or actions that a firm employs to get value in the market. The 4 Ps which comprise a typical marketing mix is the product, price, place, and promotion (Baker & Hart, n.d.). Product is the item that is being sold in the market. The firms try to make a consumer good that has unique features as compared to those of competitors in the market. A product with unique features is easily sold in the market. Price is the value which is attached to a product. The price attached to a product depends on the demand-supply trends, costs of production, segmented market and the ability of a market to pay among other factors.

The place is a point of sale of a product in a market. This step involves the delivery of goods to locations where the customers can access the products with ease. The success of any retail business is the place where it is placed. Promotion refers to the all activities which are undertaken to make a good or service to be well a versed to the final consumer in the market. This involves word of mouth to customers, advertising, press reports and commissions and among other forms of advertising.

The Value Approach to Marketing

The value approach to the marketing involves four activities, or the components of the value approach to marketing are creating value, communicating value, exchanging value and lastly the delivering value. The first activity in the value approach marketing is creating value.

Creating value is similar to the product step in the 4Ps approach because in both instances a first product is created according to the customers demands and specifications. In the 4Ps approach, only product is created while the value approach entails creating an offering which yields value to the client and it might not necessarily be a product. An offering, in this case, might be a product with a post -sale service. In short, the value approach involves the value of an offering and other factors which are associated with a product. (Walker et al., 2011)

Communicating value is the second step in the value approach and is similar to the promotion step of the 4Ps approach. Communicating entails informing the customer of the offer, but the difference arises in the kind of information which is delivered to the client. The 4Ps approach advertises the product whereas the value approach, the value of the offering is promoted to the final consumer for example product plus service. Delivering value involves making sure that the final consumer can get the offering and besides of the value, products, and benefits which can arise. It can be compared to the place of the 4Ps approach.

Exchanging value entails trading value for the offerings which are being provided to the final consumer. The firm gives the offering in which some charge is attached to the offering. Routine problem-solving concerns a kind of problem-solving that has immediate and future pay off. Example: A sales promotion in a warehouse advertises a trouser daily which costs $ 300 but sales it at a discount of 20%. The warehouse also does not charge the tax on the trouser. If one has $ 200, can he purchase the trouser? Non-routine problem solving is concerns developing proper mathematical reasoning of students. The product and price are bound to be the same if we adopted both approaches between two companies and the communicating channel will be different.

References

Baker, M., & Hart, S (n.d.). The Marketing Book (pp. Pg 12-16).

Walker, O., Mullins, J., Mavondo, F., Gountas, J., Kriz, A., & Osborne, C. (2011). Marketing strategy (7th ed., p. Pg,6). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.