The 4 Cs of Marketing: Customer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication

I am sure you all have heard about the 4 Ps of marketing i.e. product, price, place, and promotion. Which are great pillars for achieving marketing goals. But, do you know about the 4 Cs of marketing, if you do not, you are going to…

What are the 4 Cs of Marketing?

The 4 Cs of marketing namely customer, cost, convenience, and communication are the new marketing strategies to serve customers. These four Cs are arguably better than what we all know about the 4 Ps of the marketing mix.

The 4 Ps marketing model is a great tool to market and sell the product. But this model is producer or seller-centric. It is effective in increasing sales but it does not consider the aspect of customer satisfaction.

Whereas, the 4 Cs are much more customer-focused. The 4 C’s main goal is to achieve greater customer satisfaction. This best fit in today’s market ecosystem as digitalization has taken place where customers have become more aware.

It is Robert F. Lauterborn who proposed the 4 C’s marketing strategy in 1990. This strategy emphasizes the consumer’s requirements and wants the expense of meeting those needs and wants, and the ease of purchasing the goods.

These C’s are commonly known as the 4 Cs of the marketing mix. Let’s understand each of these Cs.

Customer

The customer is someone who will buy your product or service. Every business’s strategy should be customer-focused. And, without customers who would you sell your product?

This marketing mix emphasizes that before making products companies should study the customers. You should first understand the needs and desires of customers and then step into developing products.

Traditionally, products are produced by the seller’s choice but this strategy is not effective nowadays. You should make products with buyers’ choice. This way, the product will best meet the customer’s expectations.

Read Also: What is Consumer Product?

Cost

The 4 Ps of marketing talk about the price whereas the 4 Cs are about the cost. The cost is the superset of the price while the price is the subset of the cost.

The price is only a small segment of the cost consumers will pay to buy the product. Customers have to pay various costs in order to get full ownership of the product they want to purchase.

For example, the cost may be getting to the store (that may be walking or by taxi), switching products, getting to know about your products, etc. These all include the overall cost list of the consumers.

It’s also important to think about the product’s advantages for the consumer and whether or not they can balance out the overall costs.

Related: The 3 Ps of Marketing Mix

Convenience

This is about how conveniently or comfortably you provide the product to your customers. While the 4 Ps of marketing mix talk about the place i.e. distribution the 4 Cs talk about the customer’s shopping experience.

You should not only think about the location of your product and where is it available. It is better to understand whether are people willing to go there and whether is it comfortable for them.

Get to know whether they love shopping online or offline. If they prefer shopping online, your online store should be easily accessible and the delivery should be timely.

Related: Shopping Product

The goal should be to make customers’ shopping experiences as convenient as possible. This makes consumers’ life easier and they are much more likely to return to your business in the coming days.

Communication

Communication plays an important role in any marketing activity. The 4 Ps of marketing focus on promotion which is about promoting products and convincing customers to buy the products. Sometimes, this includes manipulative activities which would negatively affect the business in the long run.

The 4 Cs give much more attention to communication and interaction that happens between the brand and the customers. The goal is to build good relationships between the buyer and the brand. It strongly avoids forcing customers to think about your offerings.

You can do this by putting all of your product information on your website, and online stores, by doing advertising, social media, and so on. Make sure the information is accessible to the customer. Lastly, it includes all the direct and indirect interactions between the customers and the brand (product).

Read Next: The 6 Marketing Philosophies