Product. Price. PROMOTION. Place.

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The title of this blog was originally thought of as a group in the late 1940’s and once the clever phrase “The Four P’s” was coined in 1960, the concept really took off and wound up in many a hard bound Marketing 101 text book.


And more recently, three more P’s were tagged on: Process, Physical evidence and People. Uh, okay.


But what about that third word in the original four P's: Promotion? Encarta describes promote as: To publicize a product so that people will buy or rent it.


And that’s still true; however, the parameters have changed just a bit. Well, namely, the channels. There’s still “traditional”, such as direct mail, billboards, radio, TV, and magazines of course. And then there’s social media. And that one gets more convoluted, complicated, and time consuming all the time. 


Promotion was so much easier before the days of social media! You just hired a PR agency and they took care of most of it. Then social media came along. And many businesses decided to handle that themselves. Sure, let's post the special on the menu a couple of times of week and maybe throw a 10% off on there or two. Oh and maybe a blog post now and then. That’s what social media is all about, right? I’m selling my product.


Well guess what? That’s not it! It’s not even about you or your business. And I’ve written about that so many times. It’s about creating awareness for your service and/or product, in essence, promoting, but more importantly it’s about the people who have an interest in what you have to say!


It’s a kinder, gentler, type of promotion. It's a long term commitment. It’s conversational, thought provoking, and community oriented. It brings to you both interested fans and people who like to throw pebbles and stones. And it continues to require more and more planning, thought and time. If you’re feeling bogged down by it, get someone else to do all that so you can plan menus, paint great works of art, fix broken plumbing, prepare taxes, or whatever it is you do exceptionally well.


LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. Google+. Interest specific Social Networks. And now, Pinterest has come in like a hurricane! Too much. And you’ve got to have a presence on all the big boys to ensure that your audience is hearing you. Sigh.


How are all of you folks with businesses managing all that?


Double Sigh. 


Promotion. Sometimes you wish you hadn’t heard the word!  Pink Floyd even sang a song about it. See below.


This is P in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. Here's N and O.  If you haven’t had enough of me, stop by for more on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.