Commentary

Using Advanced Measurement To Optimize The 4 Ps Of Marketing

Recently, I was visiting with my nephew, a curious and entrepreneurial fourth grader. He’d just finished reading “The Lemonade War,”  a children's book that tells the story of a brother and sister who start rival lemonade stands during summer vacation.

The book led him to ask me some questions about how larger organizations market their products. After giving it some thought, I realized the best way to answer his question might be to use a concept that marketers have been touting for years: the 4 Ps (promotion, price, place and product.)

That got me thinking about how going back to these basics could also help marketers. While most are familiar with the 4 Ps, many underestimate the role that measurement can play in getting them right. By applying advanced measurement principles to this concept, marketers can make data-driven decisions that improve planning, enhance performance and optimize their marketing spend.

Promotion

Promotion is essential for creating awareness and driving demand for a product or service. But developing the right mix of promotions that will deliver the best ROI can be complex. While identifying the most effective marketing channels to use is a good first move, advanced measurement tools can take this a step further, providing granular-level insight into the isynergies among marketing channels and tactics.

For example, in addition to quantifying the impact that TV ads have on paid and organic search, advanced measurement tools will provide deeper insights into how much lift each TV spot/creative/day-part/station combination provides to each keyword ad/search engine combination.

Price

On the pricing side, marketers must identify which price will drive the highest number of conversions and revenue. If they use last click or rules-based approaches to measurement, determining the optimal price is a constant game of hit and miss. Advanced measurement techniques that incorporate predictive analytics, on the other hand, not only enable marketers to understand how to best allocate their spend, but also to determine how many conversions and how much revenue will be driven at each price point.

For example, if an organization wants to make a certain profit in a specific amount of time, it can test multiple scenarios at different price points, and ultimately determine the optimal price that will deliver the optimal return.
Advanced measurement and optimization can also help manage assist special offers  by enabling marketers to look at different combinations of offers based on budget, duration, location, etc., to identify the offer(s) that will generate the greatest response.

Place

Knowing where buyers look for your product or service is critical to the success of any initiative. For example, do they search for it online before purchasing at a physical store? Geography and demography are two other incredibly important aspects of marketing a product or service, since not all promotions are effective across different regions, locations and audiences. Advanced measurement and optimization can provide marketers with insights for targeting the right customers with the right message, at the right time and in the right place.

Product

Every company has different product offerings, and just like place, certain products will have greater affinity with certain audiences, in certain geographies and at certain price points. While marketing measurement solutions typically come into play after a product is developed, they can collect and process demographic, behavioral, response and customer data to paint a detailed picture of what products, prices, place, promotions are working for whom, so marketers can continually optimize their strategies accordingly.

Ensuring the four elements are optimized through insights derived from advanced measurement will enable marketers to make data-driven decisions and maximize efforts. Whether you like your lemonade sweet or sour, this is good news.

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