<p>Marketing is much more complex than it appears. </p>
<p>Quick and dirty:</p>
<p>Marketing deals with:
- what product should the company make. This is determined by the available resources and what customers want or need. No point in making cake if you don’t know how to make it and your customers are all on Atkins diets.</p>
<p>2) Then product package: What value does the product bring and how do you relay that value. It’s everything from your company logo to what type of box are you going to put your cakes in. It is going to be a box? What is special about your cakes? are they a quick snack? are they specialty cakes for events like weddings. Do they have a theme? do they have special ingredient? How doe you advertise - is it commercials or word of mouth?</p>
<p>3) Product price what are the basic economics of your product. What are the production costs? how much do you need to charge to cover your manufacturing and general and administrative costs and make a profit. How many do you need to sell to break even? a question of marginal returns and economies of scale. How much will the customer be willing to pay? If these are gourmet cakes maybe the customer will pay $100. If they are tasty cakes $100 is a pipe dream. How much demand is there. The greater the demand the higher you might be able to charge.</p>
<p>4)placement - What are your distribution channels? do you sell direct? do you contract distributors? What are distribution costs and pay arrangements. Do you sell on credit? do you have shelf placement requirements? Do you have a sales staff, and what is their sale process</p>
<p>5)people - Sale and after purchase service. Are these cake machines? Is there a warranty and service program after purchase?</p>
<p>That isn’t even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing. Marketing requires and understanding of all of the other business disciplines and how they effect marketing decisions.</p>
<p>No business can survive without a marketing department.</p>