Marketing Strategies Regarding Place

Where the product is located when the potential customer is exposed to a buying opportunity can often mean the difference between success or failure. The distribution plan for a given product may be determined by several of the factors listed below.

Product Characteristics

Perishability - Refrigeration or frozen storage requirements can severely restrict place options and raise operating expenses.

Bulk - A product requiring large display space, or one that is heavy, may restrict transportation options as well as display opportunities.

Displayability - Package design that prevents stacking on store shelves can severely restrict customer exposure. (Log Cabin syrup was originally packaged in slanted-roof metal containers. As supermarkets placed increased value on shelf space for customer selection, the inability to stack the log cabins forced a change in package design.)

Buying requirements - If the item must be tried on to determine fit or if it must be demonstrated before the sale can be made, the place element is more restrictive than for a product that requires no package opening at the time of purchase.

Customer Characteristics

Impulse versus planned purchase - Items displayed in a high-traffic area can increase unplanned purchases.

Frequency of purchase - Items purchased once a week usually require more outlets than those purchased once a year. Grocery stores, for example, always outnumber retail furniture outlets.

Distance - How far is the customer willing to travel to purchase your goods or services?

Use Characteristics

How the customer uses the product after purchase also can determine place characteristics.

Do you need to train the customer to use your product, or supply instructions or a repair parts list?

Can you make more sales for service contracts, accessory items, consumable supplies, repair parts or companion items?

Location

For most small businesses, especially those involved in retail, finding the best location at the lowest price becomes an important consideration. You can draw customers to a poor location but the cost of advertising is often prohibitive. You should learn how much money you have to pay for the better location and see how that compares to the cost of drawing the same number of customers to the poorer location. Do not overlook parking, public transportation, quality of the neighborhood, sign restrictions, lighting, traffic flow and other factors that determine your store's convenience and safety.

Promotion

Perhaps the most versatile of the five marketing Ps is promotion. It covers all phases of communication between the seller and the potential customer. It is versatile because a change in budget, media or target audience can be made quickly. Promotions also can be effectively changed for specific market segment efforts. Major promotional concerns include the following.

Budget

Because promotional costs can originate from several sources, it is vital to establish a written budget and closely monitor actual costs. The budgeting procedure is simplified if separate budgets are prepared for advertising and promotional activities. Sales goals in dollars, units or both are usually the basis for promotional budgets.

Timing

Selling when the consumer wants to buy is a fundamental factor in the marketing concept. Promotional efforts, whether in-store or through mass media advertising, should be timed to coincide with maximum seasonal or cyclical demand.

Distribution of Promotional Efforts

Advertising - The major portion of a firm's promotional budget is advertising. Some advertising media, such as the Yellow Pages, where a specific amount is charged each month, can be budgeted as fixed advertising expenditures. The mass media-newspapers, radio, TV, direct mail and magazines-should be individually budgeted to achieve sales goals, improve your image and expand your customer base.

Promotion - Many firms classify promotion as a separate budget category. In this case, promotional efforts include in-store displays, sampling, specialty advertising, giveaways and other nontraditional media efforts.

Publicity - This is the no-cost element, meaning there is no charge by the newspaper or other medium for carrying a news release or feature. There will be an internal cost, however, for the preparation of publicity releases and photography. Many businesses miss publicity opportunities because they do not have a written marketing plan. Every promotion or addition of personnel is an opportunity for free publicity, but only if the news release is prepared and sent to the media. Business expansion, remodeling, automation or changes in product name all deserve a publicity program.

Promotion Strategy

All advertising and other promotional activities should be in tune with the firm's stated position in the marketplace. This suggests that not only advertising themes but also media selection must be based on building and strengthening that position.

Benefit approach - Regardless of your media, to make your marketing concept work in advertising messages you must analyze each product and service in relation to these two elements:

Product point - Those features built into the product or service. Product points are usually highly touted in advertising messages, but they are relatively ineffective unless they are integrated with the second ingredient.

Benefit - The advantage a customer receives after purchasing the product. Your advertising should promise benefits and make those promises believable by naming the product points that will produce the benefits. For example, "You'll feel better about your family's safety (benefit) when they are riding on the new steel-belted radials from Armstrong-thanks to the interwoven blankets of steel embedded deep in the tread (product point)."

Media - Consider many types of media in your promotional campaigns.

Newspapers

Shoppers

Television

Radio

Online (Google, Facebook)

Billboards

Direct Mail

Magazines

In summary, the importance of promotion in the overall marketing strategy suggests you devote time to its written plan and constantly monitor the plan's performance. Be creative but avoid cuteness. Stick to the benefit approach, and your customers will respond.

Persuasion

Your business's success will depend on your ability to persuade others to take actions that will help them while also helping you. This is referred to as a win-win situation. Both parties in the transaction must receive a benefit in value or in satisfaction. There are many buying motives that may bring a customer to your business:

Gain

Utility

Conformity

Time saved

Productivity

Saved effort

Health

Convenience

Money saved

Comfort Happiness

Need

Protection

Pride (vanity)

Want

Pleasure

Fear

Economy

Amusement

Love

Luxury

Security

Profit

Safety

This Report offers managing your business tips and manage business advice. But you aren't prepared to start your own business
until you've given any thought to handling it. A company is an ongoing activity that doesn't run itself. As the manager you will
need to set goals, determine how to achieve those goals and also make all the necessary decisions. You will have to buy or create
your product, cost it, promote it and sell it.

You'll need to keep documents, and determine prices. You'll Have to Control inventory, make the ideal buying decisions and keep
prices down. You'll have to employ, train and motivate employees today or as you grow.

Setting Business Management Goals. Good small business management Is the secret to success and great management starts with
setting goals. Set goals for yourself for the accomplishment of many tasks required in establishing and managing your company
successfully. Be specific. Write down the goals in measurable terms of performance. Break big goals down to sub-goals, showing
what you expect to attain in the next two to three months, the next six months, another year, and the next five decades. Beside
each target and sub-goal place a particular date showing when it's to be achieved.

Plan the action that you must take to achieve the goals. While the attempt Required to reach each sub-goal should be great enough
to challenge one, it shouldn't be so good or foolish as to dissuade you. Do not plan to achieve too many targets all at one time.
Establish priorities.

Plan in advance how to measure results so you can know exactly the way Well you are doing. This is what's meant by"measurable"
goals. If you can not keep score as you move along you are very likely to eliminate motivation. Re-work your plan of activity to
permit for obstacles that might stand in your way. Try to foresee obstacles and plan ways to avert or minimize them.

Buying. Skillful purchasing is an important essential of profitably Managing a business enterprise. This is true whether you are a
wholesaler or retailer of merchandise, a manufacturer or a service business proprietor. Some retailers say it is by far the most
important single factor. Product which is carefully bought is easy to market.

Deciding what to buy means finding out the Kind, kind, quality, Brand, size, colour, fashion -whatever applies to your particular
inventory - that will sell the best. This requires close attention to salespeople, trade journals, catalogs, and especially the
likes and dislikes of your regular clients. Assess your sales records. Even the producer should view the issue through the eyes of
clients before determining what materials, parts, and supplies to purchase.

Know your regular clients, and make a Fantastic evaluation of the People you hope will become your customers. In what
socioeconomic category are they? Are they homeowners or renters? Are they looking for price, style or quality? What's the
predominant age category?

The age of your customers can be a prime consideration in Establishing a buying pattern. Young people buy more often than many
elderly people. They need more, have fewer responsibilities, and invest more on themselves. They're more conscious of style trends
whether in wearing apparel, automobiles or electronic equipment. If you decide to cater to the young trade only because they
appear dominate in your area, your purchasing pattern will be wholly different than if the more conservative middle-aged clients
appear to be in the majority.

Study trade journals, newspaper advertising, catalogs, window Displays of companies similar to yours. Ask advice of salespeople
offering you merchandise, but buy sparingly from several providers instead of one, testing the water, so to speak, until you know
exactly what your best lines will be.

Finding suitable merchandise sources is not easy. You will buy Directly from manufacturers or manufacturers, from wholesalers,
distributors or jobbers. Pick the suppliers who sell exactly what you want and can deliver it when you need it. (Distributors and
jobbers are utilized by the majority of business people for fast fill-ins between factory shipments.)

You may spread purchases one of many providers to gain more Favorable prices and promotional stuff. Or you might concentrate your
purchases among a small number of providers to simplify your credit problems. This may also allow you to become famous as the
vendor of a certain brand or line of product, and to keep a fixed standard in your goods, if you're buying stuff for manufacturing
functions.

When to purchase is essential if your company will have seasonal Variations in sales volume. More inventory will be needed ahead
of the seasonal upturn in sales volume. As sales decrease, less product is needed. This means purchases of goods for resale and
materials for processing should change accordingly.

At the outset, how much to buy is speculative. The best policy is To be frugal till you have had sufficient experience to judge
your needs. On the other hand, you cannot sell product in case you do not have it.

To help solve purchasing problems, you should Start to maintain stock Control records at once. This will allow you to maintain the
stock in equilibrium - neither too big nor too little - with a suitable proportion and adequate range of merchandise, sizes,
colours, styles and qualities.

Basically , there are two Kinds of stock control - control in Dollars and control in physical components. Dollar controllers show
the sum of money invested in every merchandise category. Unit controls indicate the amount of individual items when and from whom
purchased by class. A good stock control system can help you determine everything, from whom, when, and how much to buy.

Pricing. A lot of your success manage a business will depend on The best way to price your services. If your Rates are too low,
then You Won't pay Expenses; too high and you'll lose sales quantity. In both cases, you will not Earn a profit.

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