Question

Describe how the 5Cs, STP, and the 4Ps fit together to develop a marketing plan.

Answer 1

The 5 C’s in marketing refers to Company, Customer, Collaborator, Competitor and Climate. The 4 P’s refers to Product, Price, Place and Promotion and the STP refers to the Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning model of marketing.

                                    The 5 C’s, 4 P’s and the STP together forms a good guideline to make right decisions and construct a well- defined marketing plan and strategy. It has to be kept in mind that these frameworks always remains interdependent in a marketing plan. The identification of the impacts of this relationships is quintessential for the success of a marketing plan. The 5 C’s helps the marketers to assess any business problem or opportunity in terms of a general analysis of the whole business situation. The analysis states that the customer and the company remains the central players in a marketing exchange, the context which includes the macro environment, the economy, cultural differences, legal constraints and the global segments. The STP helps in identifying the groups or segments of customers who share similar needs and wants. After the preferences are obtained, the organization can then identify the targeted segment and start making marketing efforts. Now, the relationship is being developed with that target segment by positioning the products in the marketplace vis the 4 P’s.

                                    Thus, developing a particular marketing plan starts with the situational analysis by sketching out the solutions to the questions raised by the 5 C’s. With the background obtained with the sketch, the next step is to proceed to the strategic marketing planning via the STP. In order to execute the right positioning of the objects in the marketplace, the analysis and proper modelling of the 4 P’s must be done which concludes a good strategic marketing plan. The better arrangement of this marketing mix results in the development of better marketing plans, strengthen the competitiveness and adaptiveness of a company, helps in making the internal departments of the company work together and finally results in the success of that company in marketing the produce.