Why marketing? I asked myself this question when I first started my business. I was confident that my pumpkin products were delicious and everyone who tried my products would love them.
However, the reality is that other factors play an important role for the success of your business. You need to be aware of competitors and understand how to increase the number of customers. Are there other people who sell the same pumpkin products? If so, how is my product different than theirs?
People in my village Kiambu know about my product, but I would like people in Nairobi to buy my products too. How can I make this happen?
Marketing is about delighting customers in a profitable manner and is central to our business activities. I would like my customers to be happy so that they will come back to buy more and spread the word about my pumpkin products.
Successful promoting your business, requires a clear marketing strategy. I will provide you with an overview of the 7 key principles to marketing: (1) product, (2) price, (3) place, (4) promotion, (5) people, (6) process, and (7) physical environment. We also call these principles the seven Ps (or 7 Ps).
Each of them are important and influence the success of a business in different ways.
Let’s start with Product, as all decisions stem from the type of product you are selling.