The first thing that I would mention is that whether you’re in B2C or B2B, transactional sales will almost always follow the 4 P’s model–that’s because price and placement still matter to people who buy things off the shelf–especially physical product. In fact, it doesn’t matter if that physical product is just a CD/DVD with intellectual property on it–placement and price still matter.

As for services, again in B2C, placement and price of those services still matter–i.e., is it convenient to get to those services and is the price good enough for my return. For B2B organizations that offer some type of extended service, that’s where the 4 P’s get sketchy. The reason why that’s the case is that I’ve come to believe that when dealing with services in a B2B framework, price is fluid. In fact, the sale is rarely dependent on the price–it’s more a function of how much value can be created over the life of the sales cycle. Additionally, placement seems to be out of place–for lack of a better term–because B2B service companies don’t work in the same type of distribution channels that other companies do. So, for these organizations, I think there needs to be a new model. And I think your model gets close–but it’s missing a few things, in my opinion.

One of the earlier commenters mentioned that your model is more of an expansion to the promotion P. I agree with that. Given the fact that marketing still needs a seat at the strategy table for any business to be successful, following these 4 C’s as you’ve outlined them doesn’t really get to the strategic part of marketing. What you’ve outlined, to me, is the 4 C’s of Marking Communications–not actual strategic B2B marketing. Again, just my own view.

So, to that end, I thought about a few different ways to approach this and have come up with a couple of other suggestions for you. Take them for what they’re worth (maybe nothing) and do with them as you see fit. My only hope is that this extra long comment gets read!

4 C’s of B2B Services Marketing (in a VERY particular order):

Connection – The goal here is to connect the business to the outside world–the marketplace–and to bridge the gap between sales and product development. Connection isn’t about conversations with the marketplace, in my opinion, it’s more about making sure the business stays connected with what the market is demanding and building that into your strategic plan.

Communication – This, to me, is more about defining your strategic message, rather than building a conversation. For example, I always craft a strategic positioning statement for every business I work with that defines the audience, the benefit of the product and the compelling reason why our business is better at achieving outcomes. Crafting this strategic communication then allows you to use it as a guidepost in all of your communication so that you’re ensuring that the market hears exactly what you want them to hear. Additionally, I find that most B2B marketers believe that writing whitepapers and doing webinars is intrinsically valuable in and of themselves–as if it’s the delivery mechanism that is the most important part of the marketing communication. Not so.

Channels – This is really where the MarCom side of things comes in. This is where you define your marketing mix–how you get your message out. For some B2B service companies webinars and whitepapers are a great idea–for others, not so much. Maybe for them it’s more of an online product demo or tradeshows, or PR. The point is that here, you need to decide where your audience is how to get them the message you crafted earlier. And, for every business, it’s going to be different based on what kind of services are offered.

Classify – Analytics and data are so important in today’s marketing space that without them, you’re flying blind. It gives weight to your intuition and substance to your arguments. It’s what ultimately, gets you a seat at the strategy table. But here’s the caution. Not all conversions are created equal–that’s why I called this classify. Every marketer should be able to effectively assess what a prospect’s interest is and what exactly they’re interested in, but we should be able to do that on our side too–essentially, are we really interested in having this prospect as a customer or are they just a window shopper? Classifying those people that convert so that you know who your best prospects are for possible sales is crucial. That way, you can sort through all the people that read your whitepapers for fun and those who really are evaluating your services.

So, there you go. Those are some thoughts. Like I say, take them for what they’re worth, but hopefully, they’re worth something.

By the way, I enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.

I even launched my own business based on this post BUT I narrowed it down to just 3 things – Content, Conversation and Conversion – see my INFOGRAPHIC here – http://www.marketingtechnologistgroup.com/services/

Thanks for asking!