ABSTRACT
Success in the marketplace is never guaranteed, even for companies that understand that the marketing team must innovate just as much as the R&D team. There are simply too many imponderables that can get in the way of success, and predicting customer behavior has never been and will never be an exact science. However, market failure can certainly be assured when companies ignore the essentials. The paramount element in the 4A’s framework is “Acceptability.” While all four factors are necessary, the core requirement of any marketing effort is to ensure that the offering delivers true, unquestioned value to target customers. If the product or service doesn’t achieve high marks on the Acceptability scale, customers won’t even begin to consider Affordability, Accessibility, and Awareness. Companies may achieve some short-term success with sub-standard offerings through saturation advertising campaigns and massive pre-launch hype; they can also buy sales in the short run by making the price attractive enough. But sustained success means that the offering must achieve and maintain a high level of Acceptability.
