Sales Marketing Strategy

Written by Owen Jones Tuesday, 10 May 2011 07:58

Each product has to have a sales marketing strategy to support it. You can sometimes promote a few things together like a table and seats, but any device for which you do not have a sales marketing strategy is doomed to failure.

Each product has to have a sales marketing strategy to support it. You can sometimes promote a few things together like a table and seats, but any device for which you do not have a sales marketing strategy is doomed to failure.

Let me put it simply, if you went out one day and noticed that someone was selling his entire stock of bicycle tyres cheap because they were going bankrupt and you bought them, who would know except you and the person you bought them from? And he is not going to like them back!

You might say: 'But I would not do that. I would put an advert in the paper'. Well, that is your promoting marketing strategy. I am not saying that it is a decent one, but at least it is something. Something to improve on really.

The first thing to consider is who your target market is and how can you best reach them. The solutions to these two questions will allow you to make a decision about whether you are going to concentrate on on or off line sales. Never forget that the overwhelming bulk of sales are off line, although the on line market is growing every day.

If you have a shed load of bicycle tyres, for example, you would almost certainly be better off advertising them in the classifieds section of the local paper. Or you could promote a one-off garage sale of cheap bicycle tyres or you could take them to a car boot sale. In your spare time, you could make a small website, but in this example off line sales are more likely than on line sales.

If however, you hook up with a bicycle tyre company that is willing to drop-ship (ie deliver) from their warehouse for you then a car boot or garage sale is useless to you. In this instance, you should go straight on line, create an automated sales and payment processing page and promote it on line by the various methods available.

If you really would like to, you could back up the on line sales with a bit of off line marketing. For instance, you could put a postcard in the newsagent's window advertising that your website has a stock of cheap bicycle tyres that can be delivered to the customers' door. Then imply add the URL of your website.

Your sales marketing strategy must be tailored to what you are attempting to sell. In other words, you have to have a lot of marketing tactics so that you can pick the ones that are correct for your product. No one sales marketing strategy is ever going to fit all the products. Therefore, if you rely on just one sales marketing strategy you will not succeed.

In summary, once you have your irresistible product ready for sale, sit down and think about who will purchase it and how you can reach them - ie how you can tell them that you have what they want. Then draw up a plan - yes, I mean set something down! Set down how you are going to achieve this and write down when the stages of your sales marketing strategy have to be completed by.

It is merely by having a solid sales marketing strategy that you can refer to that you will succeed in marketing. Failing to plan is tantamount to planning to fail.