The four instruments for successful marketing activities

instruments
Photo by: Franck Rouanet

It is particularly important to know which kind of marketing instruments you need to use. In the following classification you will gain some hints no matter if your interest is entrepreneurship, sales or advertising activities. So you can just pick out what you consider interesting for your field of activity.

In this article I want to give an overview and in the following articles I will fill every part of this classification with more details. So when conceptualizing your marketing activities you should think about your product, price, distribution and communication.

1.) The product is…

No matter if you are running your own start-up, working in sales or in the advertisement sector you should have a clear concept of your product. Only if you are clear about what you actually want to offer you are able to compare with what others are offering on the market and find out what needs your potential target has. So you can adapt your product with the time and make it more competitive… Here are some questions that might be helpful in defining your product:

  • What will your product be (material or immaterial)?
  • What is your idea behind it?
  • When do you want to launch it on the market and why? When do you plan to retract it from the market and why?
  • How do you want to design the product?
  • How do you want to position it economically and psychologically?

Once you know what you like to offer on the market it is know time to think how much this should cost. For this reason you have to take in account different factors.

2.) The product will cost…

Hereby you should think about all actions connected to payment. As entrepreneur you should necessary consider the price you offer your product for before launching it on the market. As salesman working in management area you might have decisional power to decide for example when and what products are on discount. In advertising pricing is important in creating an image of a product. Following questions might illustrate factors you should taken into account when calculating the product price:

  • What are the relationships between producers and salesman?
  • What are the prices on the list?
  • What are the conditions for delivering a product? What are the freight costs/ custom duties/ free delivery/ sales discount/bonus rewards/cash discount?

Be aware how you want to position with your product on the market. This can be also reflected by the price.

3.) The product will be distributed by…

This part is more important for people who running their own start-up and salesman working in management area. The following questions should give you some hints over different distribution possibilities:

  • Which ways of distribution do you have? Wholesale/ Retail sale/ Distance selling/ Passengers/Sales representatives?
  • How do you want to sell your product? Specialized shop/self-service in the Super Market/ via Internet/Catalogue etc.?
  • How should the salesrooms be designed?
  • What is important for personal sale?

Now you have decided what your product is, how much it costs and how to distribute it, the final step is to bring it to your target. This step is facilitated through advertising.

4.) The product will be promoted (communicated)…

Here we talk about the attraction of consumers by advertising (all psychological aspects of marketing). This part addresses more people in enterprises and people working in advertising sector. In this sense you will find four hints below :

  • What kind of message do I want to send to my clients?
  • How is my product designed?
  • Which price do I choose for it?
  • How exclusive is the location of the business?

 

After taking into consideration the four instruments it is now up to you to see what makes sense in your case.

 

Literature

  • Kirchler, E. (2011). Wirtschaftspsychologie. Individuen, Gruppen, Märkte, Staat. 4. vollständig  überarbeitete Auflage. Hogrefe: Göttingen.

 

 

I would be very curious to hear if this classification helped you and in which way?

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