Are the 4As of marketing a substitute for the 4Ps?
Way back in 1960, E Jerome McCarthy came up with the 4Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion. To this day it still serves as a very useful framework for marketers, but recognising its deficiencies three “soft” Ps were later added. These are people, processes and physical evidence. And since we all know the 4Ps framework, its components and how to apply it, we need not remind you.
INTRODUCING THE 4AS OF MARKETING
Much later Jagdish Sheth and Rajendra Sisodia (The 4As of Marketing, 2014) claimed that poor management, a consequence of not knowing what drives consumers, is behind the majority of marketing failures. Making the case that consumer knowledge is a much more reliable route to success, they offer a customer-centric marketing management framework that emphasises what they believe are the most important consumer values — acceptability, affordability, accessibility, and awareness — which they dub the four As. Let’s take a quick look at them.
ACCEPTABILITY
This is the extent to which a firm’s total product offering exceeds customer expectations. The authors assert that acceptability is the dominant component in the framework and that design, in turn, is at the root of acceptability. Functional aspects of design can be boosted by, for instance, enhancing the core benefit or increasing reliability of the product; psychological acceptability can be improved with changes to brand image, packaging and design, and positioning.
AFFORDABILITY
The extent to which customers in the target market are able and willing to pay the product’s price. It has two dimensions: economic (ability to pay) and psychological (willingness to pay). Acceptability combined with affordability determines the product’s value proposition.
ACCESSIBILITY
The extent to which customers are able to readily acquire the product has two dimensions: availability and convenience. Successful companies develop innovative ways to deliver both, as both Digicel and C&W/LIME/FLOW have done so effectively for topping up their mobile phones with credit across Jamaica.
AWARENESS
This is the extent to which customers are informed regarding the product’s characteristics, persuaded to try it, and reminded to repurchase. It has two dimensions: brand awareness and product knowledge. Sheth and Sisodia say awareness is ripest for improvement because most companies are either ineffectual or inefficient at developing it. For instance, properly done advertising can be incredibly powerful, but word-of-mouth marketing and co-marketing can more effectively reach potential customers.
Sheth and Sisodia base the 4 As framework on the four distinctive roles a consumer plays in the marketplace — seeker, buyer, payer, and user. A fifth consumer role — evangeliser — captures the fact that consumers often recommend products to others and are increasingly critical.
While the substantive points of the framework of Sheth and Sisodia are undoubtably worthy of consideration, this marketer would never regard it as a substitute for the venerable 4Ps. Would you?
– Herman D Alvaranga is president of the Caribbean School of Sales Management which specialises in contextual sales, marketing and brand management education, consulting and research. E-mail hdalvaranga@cssm.edu.jm
