The 4 C Model of Marketing - How to Implement?

In today’s business environment, marketing plays an important role in shaping the future of a specific business. Marketing helps us to understand the needs and preferences of their customers and implement the modifications in our strategies as per the latest market trends. Earlier, the businesses focus on the traditional marketing models i.e. the 4 Ps- Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. But nowadays, businesses work on the new 4C model of marketing i.e. a customer-centric approach to succeed in the business world.

The 4Cs of the marketing model consist of the following components namely Customer Value, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. If we go back in time, the 4C model of marketing has been introduced by Lauterborn in his article, published in an Advertising Age magazine. This article explains that marketing should be more consumer-focused rather than emphasizing the producers. This 4C model has changed the face of marketing in today’s business world.

So let us start this blog, and know in detail about all the 4Cs of marketing. We will also discuss the implications of the 4C model on the business enterprises and also provide suggestions that how a company can implement this marketing model in their business. So let’s move forward in this journey with us.

What are the 4C’s of Marketing?

The 4Cs of marketing are nothing but a customer-centric approach to enhance a business's marketing strategies. This marketing model consists of four pillars i.e. Customer Value, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. All these components equally play an important role in creating successful marketing strategies and help in reaching more and more customers. This new model of marketing offers a new perspective in this field, unlike the traditional model. Let‘s know about each 4Cs of marketing in detail and explore how they have initiated changes in the marketing field.

Customer Value

The first of the 4Cs of marketing is Customer value. This is about understanding the customer's needs and choices. Then, offering them services or products that satisfy those needs and fulfill those choices. 

Giving priority to the needs and preferences of the customers helps us to get ahead in the market, as we all know who are the kings of the market, our customers. To understand what actually a customer wants, one must research thoroughly about the same and then design their marketing strategy.

To understand this concept accurately, let us take an example- there is a smartphone company that aims to deliver the latest technology smartphones at a reasonable price. So here we can clearly see that this company has understood the customer’s need of having a smartphone with the latest technology at an affordable price. This type of offering not only has an impact on customer satisfaction but also helps in increasing customer loyalty towards the company. 

Cost

Cost stands for the second C of marketing, which emphasizes the price that a customer has to pay for a product or service. The cost of a product must be decided in a way that not only compensates our investment in the product but also emphasizes making available a quality product at a better price to our customers.

For instance, a business might charge more for a product if it is of premium quality and has innovative features. However, charging a high price for a product that is of average quality and has comparable features from the same company would not be reasonable. A product's price should be reasonable and comparable to other similar goods with comparable features and/or quality.

In order to attract customers and boost sales, businesses can also employ a variety of price strategies like discounts, promotional offers, and bundle pricing. Fair pricing enables businesses to gain the trust and loyalty of their clients, which in turn can increase sales and revenue.

Convenience

Making a purchase easier for a consumer is what the third C of marketing is i.e. Convenience. This helps in addressing customer issues they face during purchasing a product, and offering hassle-free solutions to resolve them. 

In this hustled life,  everyone prioritizes convenience over other things. Due to this, convenience has started playing an important role in altering the decision-making process of customers. Customers are tilted more toward the products or services that are convenient and easy to purchase.

We all have seen nowadays that online products and services have captured the whole market, whether we talk about food, clothes, accessories, electronics, and even education. Everyone prefers the online mode for shopping and ordering these products and services. This is because the online mode is more convenient and accessible than the offline mode. There is no rush to travel anywhere, products can be accessed from the comfort of our homes, and we got multiple options to choose from. 

Customer convenience should be always kept in mind when designing a business marketing and selling strategy.

Communication

Communication plays an important role in business marketing strategies. This 4th C of marketing helps in the effective promotion of our products and also helps in creating brand awareness among consumers. Effective communication strategies results in increased engagement of customers. Various communication channels include social media, e-mail, advertisement, and marketing campaigns. 

Let's use social media platforms as an example of effective communication. Most businesses today utilize social media channels to advertise their goods and engage with customers. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter enable us to interact with our target market, acquire their helpful comments to enhance our products, and respond to their issues. Businesses can develop loyal consumers and a strong brand image by frequently communicating with their customers.

In this digitized era, several businesses are using communication tools like chatbots and online forums. These tools help in getting us more personalized feedback and also help in addressing the customer's issues closely. All this results in enhancing the quality of our product and building a strong link with our customers.

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Implications of the 4C Model On Small & Large Businesses

The 4C model of marketing plays an important role in shaping businesses of all sizes whether it is a small business or a large one. But the implications of this model on both businesses might differ from each other. Let us discuss what possible outcomes a particular type of business may expect after the implementation of this marketing mix. 

• In Small Businesses

By using the 4C marketing model, small businesses can tailor their marketing strategy to offer great services or products that their target audience wants and also that fulfill their needs. These businesses can create a more personalized and customer-focused marketing strategy, that will ultimately result in their business profit. 

Small businesses can especially focus on improvising the cost and convenience of the product. This helps in differentiating themselves from large businesses that generally offer lower flexibility in terms of both pricing and distribution. 

• In Large Businesses

Large business enterprises can use this 4C marketing mix in creating innovations in their products and services as per the customer's needs and preferences. If these enterprises emphasize mainly the feedback of the customer, they can easily identify the problem areas in their business and can make necessary improvements. This feedback process helps large businesses to always stay ahead in the market and helps them in achieving a customer satisfaction level.

In a nutshell, we can also imply that the 4C marketing model has applications in every kind of business. By prioritizing the needs of the customer, this approach helps businesses provide services that are focused on creating value for the customer.

How To Implement The 4Cs of Marketing?

We have now clearly understood the 4C model of marketing, but how can we effectively implement this in our business marketing strategy? To resolve this problem we have listed down some steps to implement the 4C marketing mix into our marketing strategy.

• Identify customer needs and wants: First, we should identify our target audience and do thorough research about their needs and preferences. For the research purpose, we can conduct surveys, create focus groups and communities, or can employ various other marketing research tactics.
• Determine the effective cost for the customer: The next step would be determining the effective price of the product for the customers. This effective price must be decided by considering all the costs i.e. the product-making cost, its transportation cost, installation charges if any, etc. After considering all these charges, we must decide the effective value of the product.
• Focus on customer convenience: After price determination, one should look out for an easy and convenient method of selling so that customers can easily buy the product. This incorporates various things like offering multiple payment options, designing a user-friendly website to browse and purchase a product, easy returns and exchange services, customer support facilities, and many more.
• Make clear and effective communication: It is quite important in a marketing strategy to communicate effectively with your customers. The audience must have a clear understanding of your product as confusion may result in losing your audience. So always try to develop a clear and consistent message that resonates with your target audience. For doing this we can use various communication channels like social media, advertisement, marketing campaigns, e-mail marketing, etc. 

Correct implementation of these marketing strategies in your businesses can result in creating a marketing strategy that is focused on meeting the needs and wants of your customer. 

Why 4Cs Are Better Than 4Ps?

As we have earlier stated that the 4Cs marketing model is a great improvement over the traditional marketing model i.e. 4Ps. This new marketing model is considered better than the old marketing model because of its focus on the needs and wants of the customer. By emphasizing the customers, businesses can offer services that offer a greater value to their consumers. 

For understanding clearly about these 2 models of marketing let us compare them on various parameters and decide which marketing model is best for our marketing strategy.

Parameter	4Cs Marketing Model	4Ps Marketing Model
Main Focus	Customer	Product
Composition	It consists of Customer Value, Cost, Convenience, and Communication.	It consists of Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.
Customer Needs	Always emphasizes the needs and wants of the customers.	Customer need is not the main focus of this model. It emphasizes mainly promoting the product and generating sales.
Communication	Focus on building healthy relationships with customers through effective communication strategies. This helps in enhancing the customer’s overall experience.	Mainly focus on driving sales with the help of promotion and advertising.
Cost	Cost to the customer is a key consideration in the overall marketing mix.	The cost of the product is a key consideration in the pricing strategy.
Convenience	This model focuses on making purchasing an easier and more convenient option for customers.	This model emphasizes getting products to the customer.
Advantages	More customer-centric, with a focus on meeting customer needs and creating long-term value.	Established and well-known marketing framework.
Disadvantages	Can be more complex to implement, with a need for extensive market research and customer insights.	Less flexible and adaptable to changing customer needs.

Hence, from this comparison, we can conclude that the 4Cs model of marketing is a customer-centric approach that helps a business to sustain itself in this competitive market. This new marketing model helps us to improvise our product as per the changing customer needs and market demands, ultimately leading to long-term success for our businesses.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, we can only say that the 4C marketing model enhances our marketing approach by focusing more on the needs and wants of the customers. Any business must first evaluate all the pros and cons of this marketing model before applying it to their business. After evaluations, they can find solutions to implement this marketing mix in their business strategy and can succeed in this competitive world. This marketing model is beneficial to all the business sizes both small and large ones. So first take knowledge about these 4Cs of marketing then start modifying your marketing strategies to gain heights in this competitive business world.