Are the 4 P's of Marketing relevant in 2025?

It’s time we had the conversation.

You know the one. Your mother and I are getting a divorce. WAIT wrong chat sorry.

Today I want to talk about the 4 P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. They’re like the shoulder pads of marketing frameworks. Once cutting-edge, and force-fed to all of us at uni. Now a little... outdated?

This is not to say they weren’t absolutely iconic in their day.

Coined by E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s, the 4 P's gave marketers a tidy way to think about what they were selling, how much for, where, and how to tell people about it. But we’re not selling powdered wigs and newspaper ads anymore. We’re building community. We’re nurturing long-term relationships. We’re co-creating with our audiences.

So, are the 4 P's still helping us or holding us back?

Why the 4 P’s might be feeling their age (same, sis)

Today’s marketing landscape is loud, fast, and full of nuance. The classic 4 P’s don’t quite cover:

• Influencer marketing

• Purpose-driven brands

• AI-generated personalisation

• Direct-to-consumer everything

• Communities as marketing channels

In short, the 4 P’s are a little too tidy for the freaking messiness of modern marketing. They focus too much on what you are doing, and not enough on what your customer actually wants, feels, or expects.

Well then, what on earth do we replace them with?

Glad you asked. Enter: the New 4 P’s. There are a few versions floating around, but here are two contenders we love:

Option 1: The Empathy Set

• People: Understand your audience deeply.

• Purpose: Know what you stand for.

• Personalisation: Speak directly to individual needs.

• Participation: Let your audience play a role in your brand.

This version puts the customer at the centre. It’s about listening, responding, and co-creating, not just pushing out messages.

Option 2: The Business-Outcome Set

• Positioning: Where do you stand in the market?

• Proof: How do you build trust?

• Platform: What channels do you own and activate?

• Performance: What are the measurable outcomes?

This one’s a CFO-pleaser. It maps brand-building to business metrics, tying squishy concepts to solid impact.

The 4 P’s are still a foundational framework.

They’re useful when launching something new or explaining marketing to non-marketers. But if you’re operating in a digital, brand-driven, trust-based economy? You’ll need to evolve. If the original 4 P’s were about crafting the offer, the new ones are about crafting the experience. And in 2025, experience is everything.

Marketing isn’t static, and our frameworks shouldn’t be, either. So let's give the 4P’s the makeover they deserve.

-Sophie Randell, Writer