Marketing

The marketplace has become more diverse, and competition has increased. New technologies as well as an affluent society have created a need for products that fit the food safety, lifestyle, and health concerns of an ever-changing market. To help meet this need, more than 10,000 new food products are developed every year. Many of these products succeed due to a successful marketing plan.

Marketing is a key component for the success of any new product. Marketing involves all the steps it takes to move the food product from the producer to the buyer or end user.

Marketing should inform your target market about your product, make them aware of its existence, its quality and persuade them to buy it, and even make them feel as if they need it or cannot do without it.

This is done through:

• Personal selling.
• Visual merchandising.
• Advertising.
• Public relations.
• Sales promotion.
• Agents and partnerships.

Marketing must be carefully planned and controlled. The main objective is to stimulate demand by using messages to attract new customers and remind past customers. Before starting a marketing campaign, you need to define your potential market. This will determine the type of message to project to influence your customers. Defining your market will indicate the best form of media relevant to the age, sex, social class, income level and location of your target market. We discussed this briefly in our last lesson.

Who is your target market?

To ensure success of your product you must know and understand your audience or target market. This allows you to plan appropriately for your target market. Internal and external data will provide you with information on the size of your target market.

Target markets include:

• Business to business (B2B) marketing where a business is seeking interest from other businesses on its products or services.
• Business to consumer (B2C) where a business is promoting products or services to consumers.
• Business to employee where an organization is internally communicating to its employees.

You also need to focus on the demographics of the target market. This will assist you in planning how best to interact and communicate with different groups of people. You should analyze and understand the following about your target market:

• Age and gender.
• Income level.
• Ethnicity.
• How they buy.
• Commonalities, for example business background or profession.

The 5 Ps of Marketing

Your marketing plan should address the ‘5P’s of Marketing’:

1. Product – The first of the five Ps of marketing is product. A product can be either goods or services that fulfils a customer need or want. Whether you sell gourmet hot dogs or provide luxury massages, it is imperative that you have a clear grasp of what your product is and what makes it unique before you can successfully market it.
2. Price – Once you have a firm understanding of the product you can decide on pricing. The price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for it to enjoy it. Price is a particularly key component of a marketing plan as it determines your company’s profit and survival. Adjusting the price of the product has an enormous impact on the entire marketing strategy as well as affecting the sales and demand of the product.
3. Promotion – You have a product and a price now you need to promote it. Promotion includes elements such as advertising, public relations, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing and the like.
4. Place – Marketing is about putting the right product, at the right price, at the right place, at the right time. It is critical to position and distribute the product in a place that is accessible to potential buyers. This comes with a deep understanding of your target market. Understand them inside out and you will discover the most efficient positioning and distribution channels that directly speak with your market.
5. People refers to the staff, salespeople, and those who work in the business, those who sell your product. People decisions are usually centered around customer service and product knowledge – how do you want your employees to be perceived by customers and what do they need to know to sell your product or service?

Ideas for marketing your product

• Create your marketing plan.
• Use advertisements and promotions.
• Create brochures.
• Provide tasting samples.
• Visit and take a stand at a tradeshow.
• Take a table at markets.
• Consider your website and internet sales for non-perishable products.