Posts Tagged ‘product’

What is Marketing?

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Marketing can be described as a business function communicating and delivering what customers want in ways that benefit the business. The business is the selling of flowers. Customers in the area that would like something special to give a loved one during a holiday season and jewelry is becoming a habit. The flower business has fresh flowers in an elegant arrangement that would satisfy the customer wanting to give a gift other than jewelry. Marketing is the tool to convey the message that flowers make the perfect gift to the customer.

Marketing consists of four Ps: Price, Product, Promotion, and Place. In order to build a successful business, organizations need to implement all four of these items. Many organizations have already implemented one or a couple of these items, but successful organizations have combined all four into a winning marketing strategy. Examining each element of the marketing mix provides a better understanding of how the organization can maximize the marketing effort.

Price: Price is what a customer is willing to pay for our product or service. This can be perhaps the trickiest part of the marketing mix, because low pricing can drive away customers as quickly as high pricing if quality becomes a question. E-business juncture presents methods to lower cost-per-unit, so you can maximize profits while not calling into question quality.

Product: Product is why the business was incorporated in the first place. Someone had a grand idea and wanted to share it with as many customers as possible. Products or services enable the organization to generate revenue and image. The business wants to show the World the product so the World wants to purchase the product or service. This means quality from the first step in the production process to when the buyer has the product in their possession. E-business juncture will provide the personalized tool to enable the organization to get the quality product into the possession of the purchaser.

Promotion: Promotion is the core of marketing. Promotion involves increasing customer awareness of your product, like newspaper advertisements, telemarketing, and mailers. No longer do organizations need to rely solely upon expensive, and sometimes fruitless, advertising means but can create their own promotions and catalogs, which are viewable by anyone with a web browser around the Globe. E-business juncture is going to aid in adding this new promotional tool to your arsenal, the Internet.

Place: Place is basically having the product available in the correct area in relationship to customer requirements. In the past, a snowmobile dealer would not be able to generate sales if they were located in Florida. However, with the advent of the Internet and e-business juncture, a snowmobile dealer in Florida can now market directly to customers in regions across the globe that have need of the product.

Marketing: Product needs thought

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Product is the last in our series. Some may argue that product should be first; however, for those considering e-commerce product should be considered last. The reason is that many people are looking for ways to generate revenue through the Internet. These people will need to take inventory of their individual skill sets and resources.

Products vary from in-house produced items to resale items. Would an automobile be considered an in-house item or a resale item? If you said resale you would be correct, because the automobile manufacturer sells the product to a dealer for resale. Many people in e-commerce will be involved with resale, so they will need to consider the other three principles of marketing before settling on a product.

Product volume needs to be considered. Do you have a product that is geared towards high volume sales, repeat sales or more towards a one time purchase? High volume sales generally result from low cost items or staples, like food and greeting cards. High volume sales can represent repeat sales; however, if your product has intense competition the repeat sales may be to your competitor.

Inventory needs to be considered with product. By inventory we are not only talking about what you have in your warehouse or stockroom, but also supply chain. You may have a great price on laptop computers; however, if your battery supplier goes on strike or cannot keep up with your sales you are going to lose sales. You want to stay away from products that have a complex supply chain while just starting out.

When we consider the other three principles of marketing: price, promotion and placement, product will tend to fall into line. We will tend to want to market products that we have heard about or used ourselves due to the comfort level and user acceptance. However, I have seen products that were re-marketed after not gaining user acceptance that performed quite well. Enjoy selecting your product(s) and remember marketing is about people.

Mike Kniaziewicz, MIS