Stop Pinching Your Sister! ***

Having focused on marketing during my second year in the MBA program, I can recite the four P’s in my sleep: product, place, promotion, and price. These concepts were drilled into my head with countless case studies teaching me to examine every element of the marketing mix.

 For example, I learned every aspect of the “product” must be evaluated to ensure that it fully meets the needs of the target market.  I learned that “place” doesn’t just refer to where the product is placed on the shelf, but more globally to how the product reaches the consumer.  I learned that “pricing” is a complex decision based on more than just profit margins, and I learned that the concept of “promotion” extends far beyond advertising and coupons.

 So how does all of this relate to parenting, you might be wondering? Well, I promised a set of practical parenting tips based on what I learned at CBS, and what I didn’t, and this is where that whole didn’t part fits in. Now before all you marketing/parent types out there get your panties in a twist, calm down. I’m not saying that marketing isn’t applicable to parenting.  It is, but I’ll get to that another time. For now, I’m merely suggesting that when it comes to parenting, there might be another set of P’s that better suit the needs of today’s busy parents.

 To that end, I’ve developed my own mix, a set of Four P’s that I think you’ll find much more useful than product, price, promotion and place as you navigate the muddy waters of parenting. My Four P’s are as follows: praise, plead, pray and play. Let me give you an example of how these P’s might work within the context of a subject near and dear to every parent’s heart – sleep.

Praise: “I’m so proud of you for waking me up ten times last night to use the potty instead of going in your bed. Tonight, make sure you wake Daddy up so he can see what a big girl you are!”

 Plead: “Pleeeeeeease, please fall asleep before the end of this CD, because if I have to listen to one more rendition of I’ve Been Working on the Railroad or Take Me out to the Ballgame,  I’m going to take that Disneyland Children’s Sing-Along CD and …” (You get the idea).

 Pray: “Dear God, just give me another ten minutes of sleep, please?”

 If all else fails, you can always put up the white flag, haul yourself out of bed, brew up a nice strong pot of coffee, and fall back on the final “P”.

Play: “Yes, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do at 4:45 AM than put together a Dora puzzle with you.”

 If you are forced to resort to number four, try to keep in mind that this phase won’t last long. You’re bound to get a good night’s sleep sometime in the next eighteen years!

 I have a feeling this list is just the tip of the parenting iceberg. Can you think of any other P’s that should be included in our mix? Please share them below!

This entry was posted on February 18, 2010 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Marketing with tags Marketing Mix, Parenting, Place, Price, Product, Promotion, Sleep, The Four P's. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.