Determining your four ps of marketing can greatly boost your marketing. But many small business owners don’t know how to start analyzing their four ps of marketing.

This article provides 20 questions. If you take the time to think about them and answer them in as much detail as possible, your answers will stimulate your business and help you avoid marketing mistakes.

The four ps of marketing are product, package, price and promotion.

Four Ps Of Marketing
1. Your Product Influences
Your Marketing Decisions

Creating or selecting your product is one of the most important decisions that you’ll make in your business. It’s dictates the type and amount of marketing that you’ll need to make sales.

Because it is so important, there are twice as many questions about your product than about the other three ps.

1. Who is the target market for your product?
2. How well does its features provide target market members’ desired benefits?
3. How does your product compare with competing products?
4. How does your product compare with buying trends, experiences?
5. How intense is the desire for your product?
6. How much volume of product will it take to meet demands?
7. What is the time period that the desire will be expressed?
8. How much product needs to be in place at any time to meet the desire?

Once you’ve answered all the product questions, you’re ready to consider the package questions.

Four Ps Of Marketing
2. Your Package Can Help
Sell Your Products

How much thought do you put into packaging your product? Do you realize that your package can give your product a competitive advantage or disadvantage.

It also contributes to cost. The right package can save you money in distribution and eliminate having to replace damaged products.

So give your package some thought by answering the next four questions.

9. Does your package offer a distinguishing characteristic?
10. Is your package weight and size appropriate for your product?
11. Does your package provide enough protection for your product?
12. Is your packaging excessive, requiring increased handling?

Consider your answers about your product and package before you finalize the price for your product.

Four Ps Of Marketing
3. Your Price Must Match
Your Market And Product

You’ll also need to answer four price questions before making a final price decision.

13. What price do the forces of supply and demand dictate?
14. How does the cost of producing each unit decrease as volume increases?
15. How does your price decrease as volume increases?
16. At what point does volume costs and volume discounts combine to set the most profitable price?

Only after you’ve answered all the questions on product, package and price are you ready to consider what many small business owners consider “marketing.”

Four Ps Of Marketing
4. Your Promotion Builds From
Product, Package and Price

Promoting or marketing your product will be much easier after you’ve succeeded in answering the first 16 questions. They form the base of your marketing.

The remaining four questions will then leverage your marketing strategy and tactics.

17. What percentage of your promotion budget should be advertising, sales, and other promotion tactics?
18. How well does your promotion mix match your business’ other marketing practices?
19. How well does your promotion mix match your product, and its stage in the product life cycle?
20. How well does your promotion mix match your target market?

After you’ve answered these last four questions, you’ll be ready to develop a marketing plan.

Four Ps Of Marketing:
Conclusion

Your answers to all 20 questions ground your marketing and maximize your ability to create a strategic marketing plan. Just going through the process of answering them enables you to diagnose potential problems, to see opportunities, and to develop a marketing goal.

Your answers establish your marketing budget, generate your marketing strategy, and reveal the best marketing tactics to jump start your marketing efforts.

You can get more information on budgeting at How To Allocate Start-up Funds For A New Business.

You can get more information on each of the 20 questions at 4 P’s of Marketing.

Would you like to learn marketing from one of the biggest names in marketing, Dan Kennedy? Dan’s offering loads of marketing tools in his Magnetic Marketing System.

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Originally Submitted to Article Directories:
20 Questions to Determine Your Four Ps Of Marketing

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