If you are a B2B business and want to grow your business by adding new products to your existing product portfolio, this article and my other related articles will help you. They describe how a 4P marketing strategy can help you develop a successful “product launch” plan for your chosen market.
A marketing strategy based on the 4Ps of marketing examines four key areas of marketing and sales that should be considered when developing your product launch plan:
1. Product. How to choose the right product to sell?
2. Location. Where to find the customers who will buy it?
3. Promotions. How to “package” and promote your product?
4. Price. How to choose an acceptable and profitable selling price?
I don’t intend to cover all the 4Ps in this article. I will focus on the former by providing some tips and guidance on “How to choose the right product to sell”.
Choose the right product
If you already have a successful B2B business or want to grow one quickly, it’s important to be able to assess whether your new product will fit into your current product portfolio and meet your market requirements.
Looking at your product in the context of the 4Ps of marketing is a great way to do this. I have been using the 4P Marketing Strategy approach for many years when launching new products. It is easy to understand and when used correctly it is very effective.
To be sure you are bringing the right product to market, you need to be able to answer the following questions:
– Will the product sell in your market?
– Can it be sold at a profit?
– What skills and experience do you need to sell it?
Will the product sell in your market?
If you are considering buying a new product from another company, do some research first to determine if the product has a good sales history and if your existing customers are likely to buy it?
If the product is not successfully sold elsewhere or is only successfully sold by companies with a very different business profile than yours, you need to make a realistic assessment of the additional marketing and sales costs that may be incurred. be incurred before your new product. can become profitable. You should also do “advisory research” with your existing customers to find out if they would buy your new product. If they don’t, you need to figure out why. (You may find it necessary to speak to other contacts within the same company or consider approaching companies in different market sectors if customers in your main market sectors indicate that they are unlikely to buy your new product).
Can it be sold profitably?
Make a list of all the things you will need to do to market and sell your product. Use this list to create a spreadsheet of your projected marketing, sales, and administrative costs and compare them with your sales forecast for the new product. Use a few simple calculations to determine how long it will take before your product becomes profitable.
Sometimes it makes sense to sell a product even if it doesn’t make money! If your new product is highly complementary to existing products in your product portfolio and can be used to increase sales of those products, it could still be worth selling. It may eventually become profitable on its own or set the stage for another similar product that will be profitable (eg one you develop yourself).
Consider all the factors identified in your previous research and don’t forget to include a cost estimate for the effort and time you and/or your co-workers will need to spend to launch and sell your new product.
What skills and experience do you need to have to sell it?
If your product is a very different type of product than the ones you currently sell, you will need additional help (staff or purchased resources) with your marketing and sales. Alternatively, you can acquire the knowledge and skills to market and sell the product by purchasing consulting and training services.
Whichever option you choose, until you have acquired a good level of knowledge and skills, you will not do a very good job of helping your customers understand what the product will do for them. You also won’t be able to support them well once they decide to buy it.
The Value of 4P Marketing Strategy Assessment
The reason the first step of the 4Ps marketing strategy approach is so important is that it will help you reject a product that may not become very profitable and provide you with information that you can use to select an alternative product. which will fill the same gap in your product portfolio much better.
There may be other questions you need to get answered in addition to the ones we’ve looked at above, but if you can provide complete and satisfactory answers to my three main questions, you’ll be able to move on and start working on the other Ps of your 4P marketing strategy.
I hope I have been very clear that extensive research is very much needed at this point. It’s very easy to decide to skip that search if you’ve been “blown away” by an exciting new product that you want to start selling as soon as possible. But keep in mind that each new product you buy will distract you from other important marketing and sales tasks.
If your new product starts selling well soon after it hits your market, all your efforts will seem worthwhile. You will soon be able to invest in additional resources and help maximize sales of your new product. However, if your new product turns out to be unprofitable or only brings in a small profit, you will have wasted a lot of time and money that could have been invested in marketing and selling your existing products.
In summary, a 4P marketing strategy will help you develop a detailed and solid plan for launching your new product and will also help you feel confident that you have the right product to ensure that plan will succeed.
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