The 4 Ps of Digital Marketing

Since Jerome McCarthy developed the model of the 4 Ps of Marketing, many authors have wanted to add even more Ps or have even proposed some other schemes, such as the 5 Cs. Even Seth Godin himself developed his own scheme. And within the digital marketing sphere, the same can be seen: Idris Mootee is the creator of the 4 Ps of interactive and digital marketing.

Although Mootee developed this in 2001, the concept today is just as valid. These are the 4 Ps of digital marketing:

• Personalisation 
• Participation 
• Peer-to-Peer Communities 
• Predictive Modeling 

Personalisation

The ability to track, measure and store data of web users and their behaviour allows for an increasingly personalised online experience. Google ads in our Gmail accounts, Amazon offers according to previous purchases and even Facebook advertising by profiles are a good example of this. Let's forget about mass marketing; with the internet, the marketing at truly personal levels is a reality.

Participation

This is the direct involvement of customers within your marketing. Once the online experience becomes personal, each individual can participate and give their opinion, which makes the concept of co-creation of value a reality. Clear examples of this trend have been NikeID shoes and the My Starbucks Idea where the customers themselves defined what they wanted from the products, experience and even the social responsibilities of the coffee chain.

Peer to Peer Communities

Having a customer base hooked with a brand through an online community is an irreplaceable differential advantage. The reason why is very simple: we usually trust more in our peers than in what the brands tell us. I trust a friend's opinion on how good a certain product is over the brand when they tell me how wonderful it is. For this reason, it is important that companies full embrace social media as it is your only possibility to spread the message of your brand from peer to peer, "socialising" your market. This tactic should be considered as a fundamental part of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Predictive Modeling

The current nature of the Internet allows each user to be followed, measured and stored in terms of behaviour data. Huge amounts of data, both anonymous and identifiable, are stored every day. The analyses of this data has already set the foundation for new models of online marketing.

Following from this then,  we can see that many traditional businesses continue to be guided with the classic 4 Ps or the 7 Ps in the case of services. However, with the arrival of the web and e-business a new outlook is necessary. In the online world, relationships with customers become much deeper day by day, no matter if they live nearby or on the other side of the world. According to Mootee, marketing today is guided by conversations, driven by social networks, enabled by technology and marked by a high density of information.