Marketing has traditionally been segmented into four separate areas called the Four Ps of Marketing. The 4 Ps of marketing are product, price, promotion, and placement:

1. Product: Product marketing deals with the consumer's needs and wants and how product specifications can satisfy those needs and wants. Product marketing can deal with a whole array of issues such as product size, color, and look and feel of the packaging. Often, first impressions are important, especially if you are marketing a product that sells on store shelves. You would want your product to stand out or for the consumer to want to choose your product over the others on the shelf.
2. Price: Price deals with supply and demand, or how much a consumer is willing to pay for a product or service. It also includes decisions on discounts and special offers. Pricing is not as simple as it might seem. In some situations, a lower price will not necessarily mean that more will be sold as the price level could also influence the perceived quality of a product. For example, affluent consumers may expect a premium product to cost more and, so, may not purchase it if the price is cheap. Pricing often affects the consumer's perception of the attractiveness of a product.
3. Promotion: Promotion deals with the actual selling, advertising, or publicity of the product; it entails your communications with your customers and trying to convince or persuade them to purchase your products or services. This could be done through such things as television commercials, magazine ads, direct mailings to residences or businesses, and billboards.
4. Placement: Placement has to do with the availabilty of your product. You want your product to be visible at the precise moment that a consumer is willing to purchase such a product, be it through an actual need or an impulse buy. Products can reach the consumer through multiple ways, including through retail outlets or mail order. Not every consumer shops the same way and product placement is the art of getting the product to the right consumer at the right time.