The 4 p's of marketing was originally elaborated by Jerome E. McCarthy in the late 1950s. Jerome E. McCarthy came up with the 4 p's of Marketing by condensing the elements in the Marketing Mix model elaborated by Neil H. Borden into for main categories.

The four categories elaborated by Jerome E. McCarthy were labeled:

1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion

Below, a short description of the 4 p's will be presented:

Product
In this category, marketers must contribute to product decisions by evaluating and developing different traits and functionalities of the physical product or service such as:

Functionality
Quality
Styling
Product name
Warranty
Packaging
Service
Disposal
Etc.

Marketers must therefore help to ensure that all traits of a given product or service fulfills the needs and wants of the customers, and that no elements within the product does not fully satisfy customer needs.

Price
In this category, marketers must set the price for a given product or service. The price chosen for a product or service could be affected by the following factors and considerations.

Possible market penetration issues
Competitive prices
Price elasticity of the product - How much will price affect sales volumes?
Buying power of customers
Differences in buying power of different customer segments
Regional buying power differences
Etc.

Therefore, marketers must pay close attention to the pricing of a product or service, so that the price will perfectly match the possibilities for profits and sales volumes.

Place
This category concerns how the company should distribute its offerings to the market, and how the company may satisfy its customer's needs and wants to the distribution and availability of products. When evaluating this category, marketers could look at the following factors and considerations related to maintaining effective and highly costumer friendly distribution channels.

Importance of fast delivery
Importance of reliable deliveries
Importance of constant availability
Importance of flexible deliveries
Etc.

Marketers must therefore also ensure that customers get their distribution needs satisfied, and that the company distributes its products in a way that is satisfactory to the customers.

Promotion
Finally, marketers must pay close attention to how the company may best promote its products or services. Marketers have many ways of communicating with potential and current customers, and the company may use several different means of promotion.

Advertising
Campaigning
Sales promotion
Personal Selling
Direct marketing
Relationship marketing
Etc.

Every company must therefore find out for themselves which blend of promotion activities is most effective, and carefully evaluate which means of promotional communication will generate the highest sales volumes and profits.

When having chosen the make-up of all four categories, the four elements will constitute the marketing mix of the company, which in its totality should provide the company with a fruitful and holistically efficient relationship with customers.