5 Ways to Use Your Marketing Plan to Define Your Business – Products

So far we have covered how knowing your market and defining your brand can help a business owner understand more about what they will need to build an exceptional business that their clients will be drawn to. This week let’s look at the product.

Tip #3 Define Your Product

As part of the 4-P’s of marketing (Product, Place, Promotion, Price) product is usually where we start. When we think about getting into business for ourselves the first thing we picture is the product or service we want to offer. If we are first-time business owners we often choose this product or service because this is where our expertise lies. This is great and now you have to create a product that others will want to purchase. So what are the key points about the marketing of the product we should focus on to ensure we can afford to create and distribute this product?

• What does it look like to your customer? What is the perceived value? The customer needs to see the product as a must-have because it fills a need they have. Go back to your description of your target market and see what it is you have defined as their greatest needs. This will help you ensure that the product or service you are offering is viewed by your customer as the fulfillment of that need.
• What is the known value of the product or service? Are you going to have to sell 6 packages a year or 600,000 widgets to meet your goals? Does the product require all your time or can you leverage your time by using others, outsourcing, or creating group package to earn more while working less?
• Do you have different levels of the product or service to allow for more sales? The same product with options will allow you to leverage the time already spent creating one product by selling it at a higher price because of the perceived higher value to the client. Note – if the client perceives a higher value then there should be a hirer value. You always want your clients to come back and bring their friends.

Knowing how your product fits with your needs and goals will help you define what products and options you should be selling and from that you can define what the costs to your business will be upfront and in the future.