4Ps of marketing

The '4Ss' of marketing, also called the Marketing Mix are: 

• Product, including services
• Price that the customer pays (possibly including lifetime costs)
• Place, which is a kludge for distribution, accessibility, delivery ('I want the system on my desk, tomorrow!')
• Promotion, which, from the customer's eyes, means 'information that allows me to make purchase decisions'.

Promotion can also be broken down into:

• Public Relations (PR)
• Direct sales (ie. by salespeople, person-to-person)
• Advertising
• Sales promotions (literature, merchandising, exhibitions, etc.)

There are various extensions to these, for example the '7Ps' adds People, Physical premises, Profit. None of these are that common. The 4Ps are very common, appearing in most basic marketing texts.

The four Ps, when looked at from the customer's viewpoint have been described as the four Cs:

• Consumer
• Cost
• Convenience
• Communications