Product, Price, Promotion and Place are the key elements of the traditional marketing mix, commonly referred to as the ’4 Ps’, which identify the variety of instruments available to marketing managers to achieve their objectives. With the emergence of the internet and smartphones the traditional Place element has slowly been shifting to the internet browser or the Smartphone app with ever increasing sales through eCommerce. This has also driven the traditional advertising Promotion element on-line through search placement and banner ads, with the ever increasing sophistication of highly targeted marketing through preference controls and cookies.
However the traditional Place, whether it be the store shelf or the point of sale display is now in a position to fight back against the online experience using just the same technologies as those which drove consumers away from the physical store. And in fact these technologies can be used to extend the boundaries of the physical store and enhance the traditional Place. We are talking about the latest extension to location based marketing, sometimes known as proximity marketing, and which uses QRcodes, NFC tags, and iBeacon smart label technologies.
The purpose of each of these technologies is to deliver internet based digital content onto the customer’s smartphone when in the vicinity of any of these smart labels. This internet delivered content presents the opportunity to deliver your marketing message, the Promotion element of the ’4 Ps’, at the location of the label.
The physical Place is therefore back into the marketing mix and taking advantage of all of the virtues of the internet. Dynamic, rich, interactive Promotional content with the added benefit of being alongside a physical product which adds the traditional touch and feel elements.
In addition iBeacon technology builds and extends on your traditional Place with the potential to deliver your Promotion element to a responsive app in the vicinity of your product such as outside your store while a potential customer is walking by. So the technology is effectively enlarging your physical Place.
So proximity based marketing has sent the ’4 Ps’ in full circle with Place now extending back to the physical location for the digital marketer.
Here at Tap2Connect we’ve been focusing on making it as easy as possible to incorporate these proximity marketing technologies in the marketing mix. Our Tap2Connect internet platform is easy to use and ready to go so why not request a trial to see for yourself by contacting [email protected].