‘Soft power’: How marketers can exert influence over the 4Ps
Marketers looking to exert more influence over the full marketing mix may be better trying to use “soft power”, rather than simply looking to seize control.
Influence over the 4Ps is sometimes more of a normative concept than it is a realistic one for marketers.
The full marketing mix consists of promotion, price, product and place. But quite often, marketing can find itself confined to the first P: promotion, with the role limited to communication and advertising.
For those marketers who find themselves trapped in a promotional box, there might be a desire to break out to flex their influence over the other three Ps. Yet, rather than trying to land grab across different areas of responsibility, marketers wanting greater influence may be better trying to wield a softer form of power.
