The 4’s are
The Last Original Idea in Marketing
by: Thomas Ballantyne
A quick crash course in marketing could be summed up as the 4 P’s. 1-Product, 2-Price, 3-Place, and 4-Promotion. A creative mind could take anyone of these key elements and spin off and entirely original idea. Hence the last original idea in marketing could have happened moments ago.
To clarify, the last original idea in marketing versus the last successful marketing idea are two different beasts. Further, classifying what original means may take a few more pages of arguments. So for the sake of brevity, lets assume that we all want to hear of the last successful idea in marketing, being measured by all four key elements of marketing. Groupon.com takes the cake.
As unexciting, dull, and debased as it seems, a coupon website is currently valued at $5.3 Billion. But how unoriginal is coupons, right? Get past the uninspiring coupon face and dig in a little deeper to uncover the marketing value of Groupon. Groupon’s product is not coupons. Groupon’s product is a low cost lead generating website. Place in traditional marketing meant buying real estate on a high traffic street for high dollar or a low traffic street but close enough to the right market. Place in marketing factors in a lot of additional variables, such as who is your target demographic. Groupon’s target market is advertisers. Yet to create a value for advertisers Groupon also had to create a place within the advertiser’s market. Groupon’s literal market place is online. Groupon’s value place is local geo specific markets accessed via digital media. Promotion of Groupon is driven by customer/ advertisers and user satisfaction. In addition to Google PPC, some media pushes and supplemental advertising. The Price of Groupon is promoted as FREE. In reality the price is revenue share, or a per unit cut.
How is any of this original? Their complete coupon-marketing package has never been done before with such refinement. While Groupon may be similar to so many other things out there, the cook’s in their kitchen made the perfect dish using the same ingredients available to all. Groupon is an original.
The Last Original Idea
... is a chronicle of communication and commerce as seen through the lens of the Internet. It is a must-have reference book for marketing people..
Jim Sterne Founder of
eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit
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