Every marketing decision fits into one of four boxes: Product (what you sell), Price (what it costs the customer), Place (where and how they can buy it), and Promotion (how they find out about it). Together these are the marketing mix, or the 4 Ps. Students usually jump straight to Promotion ("we'll make a TikTok!"). This activity makes them decide all four, and check that the four fit together, before they make a single ad.
The worked example is TagBack, the student business from our Entrepreneurship teacher guide, which sells waterproof QR name labels so lost hoodies and water bottles find their way home. Students then map the 4 Ps for a product they invent themselves (or the business they built in the Entrepreneurship guide).
| CELL | WHAT STUDENTS SHOW | EXAMPLE: TAGBACK |
|---|---|---|
| Center: The Product Idea | The product's name and the customer it is for. | TagBack: name labels for kids' stuff, for busy families of middle schoolers. |
| Product | What it is, what it does, and what makes it different. | A pack of 25 waterproof stick-on labels in three sizes. Scanning the QR code shows "Return me to the school office" and never shows a phone number. |
| Price | The price, what it costs to make, and why customers will think it is fair. | $10 a pack. It costs $3.50 to make, and it is cheaper than replacing one $25 water bottle. |
| Place | Where customers can buy it and how it gets to them. | An online order form linked from the PTA newsletter, plus a table at back-to-school night. |
| Promotion | How customers find out about it and the main message. | A poster at back-to-school night, a 30-second video on the morning announcements, and the slogan "Name it. Scan it. Get it back." |
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Create a spider map that shows the 4 Ps of marketing for a product you invent.
Hold up a pencil, snack, or pair of earbuds and have the class name its product, price, place, and promotion together.
Walk through the TagBack spider map and point out how the four Ps all fit busy parents of middle schoolers.
Students or teams choose a product they will market through the whole unit and put it in the center cell.
Each cell needs a number, a place, or a named channel. Push back on vague answers such as "sell it online."
Partners swap boards and look for one P that doesn't fit the same customer, then students revise.
The 4 Ps are product (what you sell), price (what the customer pays), place (where and how they buy it), and promotion (how they hear about it). Together they make up the marketing mix. Students should see them as four decisions that have to fit the same customer, not four separate boxes to fill in.
Start with a product students already know and ask them to name its 4 Ps, then change one P (double the price, sell it only online) and discuss what else has to change. Then have them storyboard the 4 Ps for a product they invent. Drawing each P makes vague answers like "we'll advertise it" easy to spot and fix.
One 45-minute class is enough for most groups: about 10 minutes for the warm-up with an everyday product and 30 to 35 minutes to build the spider map. If students are inventing a product for the whole unit, give them a few extra minutes at the start to agree on one idea as a team.
Give up to 2 points per P: 1 point if it is specific (a real price, a named store or website, a named channel) and 1 more if it fits the same customer as the other three. Add 2 points for a clear center cell. A $10 product sold only in luxury boutiques, for example, loses the fit point.
Yes. Grades 6 to 8 can choose from a short list of products you provide and write one sentence for each P. Skip the cost-to-make detail under Price and focus on whether the price seems fair to the customer. The visual spider map works well for younger students and English language learners because each P has its own picture.