I’ve written before about the academic arguments against the 4Ps, but what about some alternatives?
The 4Ps main fault is that they are focused on the Marketer and their offering, not the customer and their wants, assuming that we start with the offering and adapt the mix for the customer. The Customer Marketing Mix attempts to overcome this by emphasising
- Cost
- Communications with the Company
- Customer Needs and Wants
- Customer Convenience
Surely this is a big improvement, but the customer and the offering don’t exist in vacuums. Today’s competitive landscape requires us to consider more than the customer and company. Crittenden (2005) proposes;
- Customer Centrality – the basis
- Competitive Capabilities – what we can do and offer
- Company Collaborations – who can help us? who can we help? In today’s environment its both easier and necessary to join with other companies to add value. Concentrating on our value offering and then adding the value of other companies= multiple and high quality value elements for the customer
- Cyclical Connections – strategy and implementation are part of the same process. Ignoring implementation is a great way to make sure it doesn’t happen. Also consider what was learned from implementation, what were the results, what can we change next time
A part of me is very tempted to come of with my own mix…but I’ll spare you 
Victoria L. Crittenden (2005) The rebuilt marketing machine Business Horizons 48:5 Sept-Oct (409-420)
