When it comes to business, strategy is everything. From the moment you start developing your business idea, you need to start thinking about a strategic plan.
Strategy is particularly important when marketing for your business. In fact, it’s so important that there is now a model for marketing strategy known as ‘the 4 C’s.’
If you want your marketing campaigns to be successful, you need to strategize by using the 4 C’s model. We’re going to be explaining what the 4 C’s are and how you can make sure you tick all the boxes in your marketing strategy.
Different 4 C’s Models
The tricky thing about implementing the 4 C’s into your marketing plan is that there are actually two versions of this model. One was created by Bob Lauterborn in 1990, while the other was developed more recently in 2009.
While one model is more recent than the other, both are still useful in the context of marketing today, so we’re going to go over both sets of 4 C’s in this guide.
John Fahy And David Jobber’s 4 C’s
The 4 C’s of marketing and business strategy, as outlined by John Fahy and David Jobber in 2009, are: Clarity, Credibility, Consistency, and Competitiveness. Here’s what these terms mean in a business context:
1. Clarity
In order for your marketing to display clarity, it needs to have a clear message that is easy to understand.
A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to summarize your idea for a marketing campaign in a sentence or two. If you can’t, you might need to streamline it to avoid confusing your customer base.
2. Credibility
Credibility is key when it comes to marketing and business strategy. Customers are quite good at figuring out when something sounds too good to be true, so don’t be tempted to make unrealistic promises about your products.
Your business as a whole also needs to be credible, which means you should be well-established and have good (real) customer testimonials.
3. Consistency
In addition to being clear and simple, your marketing messaging needs to be consistent. That means consistent in terms of frequency and consistent in terms of the message itself.
If you’re constantly going back and forth on what you’re trying to convey to your customers, they will get confused and frustrated.
If you drop your marketing campaign for weeks or months at a time only to then send a dozen emails, your customers will likely forget about your business and then get frustrated by what looks like spam.
4. Competitiveness
Of course, the point of marketing your products and services is to make them stand out and persuade your customers to buy from you as opposed to another company. Therefore, your marketing strategy must be competitive.
Basically, both your products and the techniques you use to market them to your customers should have an edge on the competition. That might mean you’re selling unique products or that your promotions are especially appealing.
The 4 C’s Of Bob Lauterborn
The 4 C’s as defined by John Fahy and David Jobber are all essential for successful business strategy.
However, we shouldn’t forget about Bob Lauterborn’s 4 C’s model, which is also very useful and can help you to ensure that your marketing strategy makes sense from a business perspective.
1. Consumer Wants And Needs
The first of Bob Lauterborn’s 4 C’s is ‘Consumer Wants and Needs’. This means that you need to start your business and marketing strategy by thinking about what your customers actually want, or what they really need.
It’s easy to get carried away with a product idea based on the fact that you like it and think it’s new and exciting, but at the end of the day, if your customers don’t want or need that product, they won’t buy it.
You also need to take this into account in the way you market your products to your audience. You need to make it clear why they should want your product, or why they need it.
This is usually done by presenting the product as the solution to a common problem.
2. Cost To Satisfy
The cost of your products and services should be enough to cover your expenses and make you a profit, but ideally, the price also shouldn’t be so high that your customers are put off buying altogether.
If you’re selling premium products, for example, you want to make sure that the price reflects this, but you should avoid making the cost higher than it needs to be.
3. Convenience To Buy
If your products are too difficult to buy, customers won’t go to the effort of seeking them out.
Therefore, it’s not enough to make your products seem appealing through clever marketing. You also need to make it easy for customers to purchase your products.
The best way to ensure convenience for your customers when it comes to buying your products is to sell them online and in store so that everyone has access to your goods and services.
4. Communication
Marketing is basically a form of communication with your customer base.
You need to be communicating with your customers regularly to keep them interested in your business and to let them know what promotions and new products you have. After all, offering a promotion is more or less useless if you don’t advertise it.
Make sure your email marketing or social media presence is consistent, but also bear in mind that too many posts or emails can be annoying for your customers.
Final Thoughts
There are two different 4 C’s models for business and marketing strategy, and while one is more recent, both can be used to ensure that your business strategy is smart and effective.
When designing, producing, and marketing your products, make sure you’re being clear, consistent, and competitive. Also, keep your business’s credibility in mind.
You should consider consumer wants and needs, cost to satisfy and convenience to buy, and make sure you’re communicating regularly with your customer base.