Powell Marketing and Business Info

Remember, the primary goal of the marketing plan is to get people to buy your products or services. The Sales and Distribution part of the marketing plan details how this is going to Happen.

There Are Traditionally three parts to the Sales and Distribution section of the marketing plan, although all three parts May Not Apply to your business.

Outline the distribution Methods to be Used.

How is your product or service going to get to the customer? For instance, will you distribute your product or service through to Web site, “Through the mail, Through sales representative, or retail-through?
What distribution channel is going to be Used?

In a direct distribution channel, the product or service goes Directly from the manufacturer to the consumer. In a one stage distribution channel it goes from manufacturer to retailer to consumer. The traditional distribution channel is from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Outline all the Different companies, people and / or technologies That Will Be Involved in the process of getting your product or service to your customer.

The pricing strategy you outline in your marketing plan will answer questions the Following:

• What is the cost of your product or service? Make sure you include all your fixed and variable Costs When You’re Calculating this, the cost of Labour and materials Are Obvious, But You May Also Need to include freight Costs, Costs adminstrative, and / or selling Costs, for example.
• How does the pricing of your product or service compare to the market price of similar products or services?
• Explain how the pricing of your product or service is competitive. For instance, if the price you plan to charge is lower, why are you Able to do this? If it’s higher, Why Would Be your customer willing to pay more? This is Where the “strategy” part of the pricing strategy eat into play, your business will Be more competitive if you charge more, less, or the Same as your Competitors and why?
• What kind of ROI (Return On Investment) are you expecting with this pricing strategy, and Within What Time Frame?
• Continue on to the next page to learn how to put together the Sales and Distribution part of the marketing plan.

The pricing strategy of the marketing plan Portion Involves Determining how you will price your product or service, the price you charge to Be competitive But you still allow you to make a reasonable profit.

The keyword here is “reasonable” You Can charge any price you want to, But For Every product or service There’s a limit to how much the consumer is willing to pay. Your pricing strategy consumer Needs to take this Into account threshold.

The most common question Have small business people about the pricing strategy section of the marketing plan is, “How do you know What price to charge?”

Basically you your pricing in September through to your process of Calculating Costs, Estimating the Benefits to Consumers, and Comparing your products, services, and prices to Others That Are similar.

Set your pricing by Examining how much it cost you to produce the product or service and Adding a fair price for the Benefits That the customer will enjoy. What Others Are Examining charging for similar products or services will guide you when you’re Figuring out what a “fair” price for Would Be Such Benefits. May you find it Useful to conduct Breakeven Analysis .

Products and / or Services

This part of the marketing plan Focus on the uniqueness of your product or service, and how the customer will Benefit from using the products or services you’re offering. Use These questions to write a Paragraph summarizing These Aspects for your marketing plan:

• What Are the features of your product or service?

Describe the physical attributes of your product or service, and Any Other Relevant features, Such as What it does, or how your product or service differs from competitive products or services.

• How will your product or service the customer Benefit?

Remember That Benefits Can Be intangible as well as tangible, for instance, if you’re selling a cleaning product, your customers will Benefit by Having a Clean House, But They May Also Benefit by enjoying better health. Brainstorm as Many Benefits as possible to begin with, And Then choose to Emphasize the Benefits That Will your targeted customers in your marketing MOST Appreciate plan.

What is it That sets your product or service apart from all the rest? In Other Words, What is your Unique Selling Proposition, the message you want your customers to Receive about your product or service That is the heart of your marketing plan? The marketing plan is all about central Communicating this message to your customers.