We’ve all heard about the four P’s of marketing.
Product
Price
Placement
Promotion
The four P’s were created mainly to describe the ideal “marketing mix”. The term “marketing mix” became popularized after Neil H. Borden published his 1964 article, Concept of the Marketing Mix.
I would argue this killer combo of marketing is mainly for B2C marketing and thus it is best applied to the marketing of products, especially mass retail products.
So let’s take a look at another more contemporary framework for B2B marketing – the Four C’s. This framework is newer, and in my opinion, more applicable to a wider range of today’s marketing challenges.
The 4 C’s of B2B Marketing are:
- Content – the creation of a steady stream of engaging content
- Connection – connecting with the audience you wish to attract
- Communication – communicating with them in an ongoing conversation
- Conversion – and then converting them at the illusive moment of need
Since B2B Marketing is arguably more of a marathon than a sprint in marketing – you need to always have your 4 C’s engine going – creating the best content, finding the connecting with your target audience, sustaining the communications pattern until they are ready to convert – this way you have a fighting chance at making all your marketing efforts count toward one goal – Sales!
In the next post I will show you the new 4 S’s for Social Media Marketing …
Related posts:
- The 4 P’s to Social Media Marketing Ok ok – based on the great response I got...
- B2B Marketing Content: Lure or Lasso? I picked this saying up from Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book...
- Sharing is how you build a Brand In a recent BusinessWeek article featuring Tony Hsieh from Zappos...
- 5 Tricks to B2B Marketing Socially Whenever I ask members of sales team from around the...
- Creating Engagement in B2B Marketing A recent Cone Inc.’s Social Media in Business study found...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Get email updates
Get RSS updates
Friend me
Follow me
Network with me
Hi Paul,
Interesting take on the distinction between b2c and b2b for the 4 Ps.
I have to say I think you are merging two concepts: a) the need to update the 4 Ps, which is dated b) taking social media concepts and applying them to b2b.
It sounds trendy and cool, but having been a Communications Manager for a major b2b company for the last 5 years, I would say that the principles of solid b2b marketing still apply, and yes, they are different from b2c. And yes, social media does have implications for traditional b2b marketing techniques.
But its making it a bit too simple, dare i say trite, to simply say “here we are, the 4 C s”.
Edward04
Ok fair point Ed – but I do think there is a fundamental shift from a more product orientation b2b or b2c to a more content orientation which is what led me to the 4 C’s
I think the concept of the 4 Cs is a great one, but even in the B2B context, they are merely a subset of one of the 4 Ps – namely, “Promotion”
If you look at each “C” individually, they are all elements of the classic Kotler “Promotion,” no matter what part of the organization is executing it. While there is more of a “two-way” (interaction, conversation, whatever you want to call it), the objective of that content/connection/communication/conversion must be tied to delivering a product or service that benefits the customer – hence a measurable transaction.
With time, the “newness” of social media and all the shiny fun platforms we all enjoy will dovetail into “Promotion” and no one will think twice of it.
@ Joe – Thanks for commenting Joe – I hear you its almost a blow out of the P for Promotion and that is a fair point. Let me try again and see if I can apply this to just social media in my next post …
Paul,
Your proposed 4 C’s is thought provoking. I agree with Joe above that they are very “promotion” centric, at least in the context of the traditional 4 P’s. After all, in B2B Product, Price and Promotion still apply. Place has become the sales channel.
In my view the potential controversy is that the “etiquette” of contemporary marketing has become very “social” and therefore to call it promotion is not received well by some. But, if you can’t produce conversions (in B2B) do you have a job? We don’t get paid just to be social. We’re in business to sell a widget or service. The 4 C’s have become a means to an end. To sell something. I for one, am very good with that!
@ Bernie – great point – and I would add with the long lead times typical in B2B Marketing as well as the need for a “trusted relationship” – the 4 C’s will serve you well!
Perhaps a 5th ‘c’ for measurement? Calculate, calibrate, check?
@ Tracey – I was thinking Conversion would give you metrics like – conversion rate, cost per conversion, convert to sale etc..
You know who developed the original 4 Cs as an update over the Ps? A Tar Heel and professor by the name of Bob Lauterborn. Great guy whom I was lucky to have for some classes.
Here’s how he sees it – http://www.customfitfocus.com/marketing-1.htm
@ Jason – wow another 4 C’s – different than mine and an interesting take – I am going to put out a different take today specifically for Social Media
Great post Paul. I wish they would include more B2B marketing principles and case studies in business school. Non-marketing executives, especially those that attended B-School recently and took a core marketing class, still cling to the 4 P’s when evaluating our marketing efforts.
@ Alec – I agree – which is why I started this blog in the first place! – I had a hard time finding pure B2B material so back in 2006 I started writing my observations down in this blog on HOW we would apply concepts we see in the market to B2B – thanks for commenting!
Hi Paul, I have had the illusion that Content would be king in B2B environments. Unfortunately, it doesn’t (now tells my sales experience in B2B). Maybe one could add a fifth P to the traditional mix: People. Business to business is people’s business (and yes, they need Content and all the rest, but personal relations remain quite essential).
Frank – I don’t disagree – in fact I have been thinking about this issue as well – my view is you need to build trust with the people you are doing business with – and by creating a consistent stream of thoughtful engaging Content – you can build that trust with a much larger audience then you can if you were to take each one to dinner – besides just think of all the calories you would save
thanks for commenting – great point!
[...] are relevant, it may be more beneficial in business-to-business (B2B) interactions to employ what Paul Dunay calls The Four C’s. They are Content, Connection, Communication and Conversion. Dunay believes [...]
I agree with Joe Zuccaro; the 4 C’s can relegate marketers to the Promtional P, which is the back-of-the-bus.
Does anyone really want to go back to the days of promoting whatever gets “thrown over the wall?” (Okay, many of us still do that…). But in our zeal for embracing digital platforms and social media, we’re going bonkers over new promotional media, forgetting that the true marketer has a strategic responsibility for what gets built in the first place.
In the 4 C’s model – the path to the strategy conversation and executive planning table is through the Connections C … if you’re using this C correctly, you’re not limiting your audience connection to promotion, but using it’s conversational attributes to inform the product and service strategy.
If you lose the product P you’ll go backwards … and get stuck in marcom land. So, my advice: make sure you implement the Connections C to inform the product plan.
Paul, is that how to see the Connections C playing out? After all, this C is about 2-way conversation … not one-way promotion. It’s the intelligence you get from the Conversation that gives you a right to participate in the business strategy.
@Richard (and @Joe Zuccaro) – I think you guys raise a really good point – and I am going to fall on my sword on this one.
Honestly I really didnt have the strategic concept wired into this formula well enough. I think Richard did a good job getting it wired into the 2nd C – which frankly I hadn’t thought of – but now that you say it Richard it is the right place for it!
Connections could almost be a feedback loop – which social could really help you with getting the right feedback and making even better decisions.
Thank you both for opening my eyes to this.
@SocialNK – thanks for the link love!
[...] sus versiones: online y offline, inbound y outbound. Tanto es así que algunos están hablando del Contenido como una de las 4 Cs del marketing B2B, junto con la Conexión, la Comunicación y la [...]
[...] you have been following my thoughts on the 4 C’s of Marketing – it all starts with content. Building a solid content creation engine is critical to B2B [...]
[...] you have been following my thoughts on the 4 C’s of Marketing – it all starts with content. Building a solid content creation engine is critical to B2B [...]
[...] Ok ok – based on the great response I got from my readers on my last blog post The 4 C’s of B2B Marketing I thought I would try to apply the same principle to Social Media Marketing. Frankly, I have been [...]
Joe Zuccaro got it right when he says you’re describing the promotional “P” only. I’ve just taken a stab at applying these strategic constructs to social media in my new book, Social Persuasion: Making Sense of Social Media for Small Business. http://bit.ly/social_persuasion