David Kinard: Move Over 4Ps, It’s Time For The 4Rs

Editor’s note: This guest commentary by David Kinard, VP for Business Development at Physicians Insurance, is reprinted with permission. Follow him on Twitter @daivdkinard.

Originally coined by Harvard professor E. Jerome McCarthy in the early 1960s, the 4 P’s of marketing is a simple model has dominated much of the way marketing has operated ever since. It’s time it was buried and forgotten.

There have been many modifications to the original 4, some have made them into five suggesting People be included, and even Seth Godin suggested a new one — Purple cow.

But the best addition to the 4 P’s I’ve ever seen is the four R’s: RELATIONSHIPS, RETURNS, RELEVANCE, and RESPONSIVENESS.

Any organization today should consider assessing their mission and value proposition to the external marketplace against the four R’s. In doing so, I think some will find ways to update and improve their services, engagement, and excitement factor.

RELATIONSHIPS – this has to do with your organization’s ability to create alliances and partnerships that improve your ability to fulfill your mission. This isn’t just about getting customers to love your brand, but rather finding ways to attach your brand essence into their lives so that it becomes their brand too. How expansive are your relationships and alliances into the non profit world? How deep are your connections to not just the decision makers but the myriad of influencers (both people and entities)? How wide is your reach because of these relationships?

RETURNS – this is a big one that many organizations fail to understand, but is so easy to accomplish. Buyers, customers, consumers, partners, stakeholders — all these groups have different needs from your organization, its products or services, and its people. Some organizations go beyond simple value propositions to showcasing and demonstrating value back to the community, the environment, or a cause. But in all cases, you have to answer why the target audience is better because of what you do, what you offer, and the way you do/offer it. Tell the world about what happened as a result of those things. Tell us what happened 3, 5, and 10 years later. What permanent mark did you leave on the world? What is your legacy of good?

RELEVANCE – for anyone who doesn’t get this concept, I have a bunch of 8-track tapes I want to sell you. Music has changed a lot over the past 25 years, and the way we consume it has as well. People continue to shop and share product reviews with their friends just like they did in the 1990’s. But the way they do it has changed dramatically. Your product may be just as relevant today as it was 40 years ago, but is your organization? Have you kept up with the times? Are you a dinosaur in a world of robots? Don’t be fooled into thinking that technology is the driver here. It’s not; people are. You need to ensure your organization, its products/services, and people are relevant in the eyes of your audiences, meeting today’s needs, not yesterdays.

RESPONSIVENESS – I can get same-day shipping from Amazon. Text messages are instant. Netflix knew that receiving videos by mail was too slow so they created instant view from their site. And the sixth generation of the iPhone is about to be released. Keep in mind that the world operates in Web time. Things can be and are instant. This isn’t something to be afraid of or to work against. On the contrary, it is an opportunity. Web sites can be updated hourly, tweets can go out to communities instantly creating buzz and action, and needs can be met in real time, not on 30-day mailing cycles.

When we begin to view our marketing and outreach in terms of relationships, returns, relevance, and responsiveness, we open ourselves up to the dynamics of the marketplace and the complex matrix of how humans interact with it. We move beyond the basics, past interruption marketing tactics, and experience our target audiences with increasing clarity.