THE 4 CS OF MARKETING

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COMMENTARY

Back in 1953 Harvard Business School professor Neil H. Borden introduced the concept of the "marketing mix" during a speech delivered as president of the American Marketing Association. Borden would later explore the concept in detail in his self-authored article "The Concept of the Marketing Mix" published in the Journal of Advertising Research.

In 1960 Michigan State University professor E. Jerome McCarthy refined this concept into four key marketing processes - product, price, place, and promotion. McCarthy coined these processes the "4 Ps of Marketing" and explored the processes in his book Basic Marketing; A Managerial Approach. To this day, McCarthys concept of compartmentalizing is fundamental to establishing a target-market strategy.

In today's service-oriented economy, University of North Carolina professor Robert F. Lauterborn's notion of the "4 Cs of Marketing" is more appropriate. As detailed in the book integrated Marketing Communications: Pulling It Together and Making It Work, Lauterborn advocates:

* Customer not product Remain focused on customer value instead of product features by engaging your customer and letting value define the product or service in the marketplace.

* Cost not price Consider cost, something customers pay instead of price, something you charge by being mindful of the customer's dilemma: limited money and unlimited needs.

* Convenience not place Strive for convenience not place by going beyond who sells the products and where they are sold. Think about the shopping experience and new ways of connecting with customers.

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