Marketers name product, price, placement (distribution) and promotion as the traditional elements of marketing. These terms apply to the Web as well.
Product:
Your product is whatever good or service you sell, regardless of whether the transaction takes place online. Review your competition to see what features, benefits or services they offer. Product also includes such elements as performance, warranties, support, variety and size.
§ Are you selling what people want to buy?
§ Do you have the right product mix and product offering?
§ Are you keeping track of your inventory and replacing out of stock items with new and exciting offerings.
Price:
Do the research! What are others charging for the same or similar products or services? Check out the competition. Is your pricing competitive? If you must charge higher prices on commodity goods, review your value proposition so that people perceive an extra benefit. A few ideas to separate yourself are: offer $5 promo code for a discount on another purchase, a no-questions-asked return policy, exclusivity, 100% guarantee or your reputation for quality service.
Remember: You don’t need to compete with offline prices as people value the convenience of and time saved by shopping online. Also, leading with loss leaders (selling something for less then you buy it for) is ok, however, this makes a poor (literally) business model.
As a quick side note to shipping, just remember that 75% of abandoned shopping carts are due to high shipping costs. If necessary, bury some of the handling and shipping costs in the basic product price and reduce the visible price for shopping.
Placement (Distribution):
Placement refers to your distribution channels. Where and how are your products and services available? Whether selling direct or through retail or reseller channels, careful consideration should be taken to ensure channels effectively support your business model.
Avoid channel cannibalization (the use of multiple distribution channels that pull sales from each other). Don’t compete on price with your retailers or resellers. Otherwise, your direct sales might cost you sales from other outlets, in a destructive cycle of eating your own. Before competing with these channels, review the increased level of staffing and expenses that are required to meet expectations of consumer support. Are you really able to take this on. If yes, then you may consider opening a completely separate retail site at a different URL from the one your dealers and distributors see.
Promotion:
Your Web marketing plan is one of the four P’s. All the different ways you communicate with customers and prospects are part of promotion. Careful integration of online and offline advertising is critical. Are your methods (optimized and effectively) reaching your target audience? Are you sending the right message to encourage customers to buy?
Think about the 4 P’s when developing your business / marketing plan.
1. Product: Understand your target customer to meet their needs with the right product/service mix
2. Pricing: Understand your competitors and the market place to price products / services accordingly
3. Placement: Understand your options regarding channels of distribution choose wisely and don’t cannibalize one with the other.
4. Promotion: Again, understand your target customer. Find the fish, put out some tantalizing bait, and reel them in.
Have any “tricks of the trade” to share? If yes, post them here.
