Internet marketing is a spinoff of traditional marketing. Marketing seeks to satisfy human needs by exchanging money for information, services, or products. To be a successful Internet marketer, you need to know the basics of the marketing process. The goal is for consumers to purchase your company’s products or think of your services before anyone else’s.
Most marketers manipulate the following factors—product, place, promotion, and price—until they bring about a positive response in their target audience. This article will cover the first two factors-product and place. In our next blog, we will discuss promotion and price.
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What is your company’s product?
Your product can be a physical item, digital item, service, or even a blog in a marketing mix. Ask yourself the following questions: Are you selling something your customers want? If so, you are on the right track.
Physical product features include brand name, functionality, styling, materials, quality, safety features, packaging, repairs and support, warranties, and accessories and service. Virtual product features include functionality, quality, delivery mechanisms, and other less tangible concepts. Service features can consist of efficiency, quality, customer service, warranties, attention to detail, and other elements that differentiate one service provider from another.
Unfortunately, many businesses sell their products and services head-to-head with competitors without convincing the consumer to purchase them. Showing your audience how your product is better will be essential to your marketing messages. Then potential customers want your products or services and have the resources to buy them.
Where can your customer find your product?
Direct to Consumer
If you have a transaction-oriented site selling your business’s products or services to end users, you use a direct-to-consumer model. The direct-to-consumer model is the online store (e-commerce). It can include other ways of selling directly to consumers—pop-up or permanent retail operations, door-to-door sales, and mail orders.
The direct-to-consumer model can generate higher profits because it eliminates links within the supply chain. This model affords the product/service owner complete control over pricing and promotion. Selling direct-to-consumers means handling the tasks that a distributor or retailer might traditionally do. The owner needs to pay for retail space, storage facilities, shopping cart technology, a sales force, a marketing department, and numerous other business necessities, all of which can be costly and can keep the business from focusing on product development.
Direct to Retailer
A retailer is a middleman who sells in small quantities directly to the consumer at a physical store or via e-commerce. An advantage of selling directly to retailers is that the product/service owner maintains an independent company or product identity but can also benefit from access to the retailer’s customers and perhaps an association with the retailer’s brand. These partnerships can bring broad exposure to the business’s products and services that might be hard to come by in a competitive online environment.
Because selling to retailers means selling at a discounted price, the disadvantage is that each sale brings in less profit than direct sales to consumers. A sales team can be necessary for negotiating contracts and pricing with the retailers, and the product/service owner needs to handle logistical issues like product delivery to retail sites.
Wholesaler or Distributor
Wholesalers and distributors are middlemen that mainly sell to retailers or businesses for resale. The retailer may often put their logo and brand name on the product you sold to them as a wholesaler. Without a logo on your product, there is no visible connection to the consumer. If you enjoy developing branding for your business, selling to a wholesaler is not likely to be an attractive model.
Selling as a wholesaler has its advantages. It allows the owner of the business to focus on product development. Another firm handles product distribution and contracts with retailers for you.
You will decide how your customers will find your product/service and which model works best for your company’s goals.
Credit for Header Photo Brooke Lark on Unsplash and is available for hire.