Marketing: Place

• The catalog: For every company with more than one product.
• Geographical targeting is cost effective.

Place. Location, location, location -- your location, your customers' location, and your resellers' locations. Though the Internet truncates space, makes the world more accessible, opens markets 24x7, there is still much to consider about location or place.

There are just two points that we explore in this section -- as it increases, there will also be links added for the streaming video.

Each of these points are from the transcripts of shows:

Key Idea #1. The catalog is for every company that has more than one product.

JOHN: The catalog is for everybody that has more than one product. If you only have one product, you don't need a catalog. If you have multiple products, catalogs work. People love catalogs. Catalogs today are like magazines.

The key to a catalog is more than just a listing. For example, look at this - Buck Eye Beans and Herbs. Great cover. I mean, it's compelling to open and read. And they have interesting stories. They talk about their product. The catalog is a way to say more than, `This is the list number. Here's the price.' What does that tell you? It tells you the list number and the price. Four color, it's appealing, a little story, it's interesting.

A small-business person has the opportunity to take a catalog and create their company personality around it, so what happens is every time somebody sees it, they know the personality of the company. And here's what a small-business person does that a big person, a big company, can't do. It gets this personality. It gets this rapport with the individual. When they pick the catalog up, they think they're talking to the company, they think they're working with the company.

See other catalogs at Dawn Sign Press, International Wine Accessories and Jim Morris Environmental T-Shirts.

Key Idea #2.Geographical targeting is cost effective.

JOHN: A movie theater or any retail establishment is you're going to use newspaper advertising, radio and even television. Another cost effective technique for retailers is mailing with geographical targeting. They can draw a line around their movie theater, draw a line around the retail establishments. They can go to a letter shop and get all of the addresses, all of the carrier routes within a three mile radius, a five mile radius.

They can find their market and they can now supplement their newspaper advertising with a direct mail program. And the combination of the two will really work well for them.

HATTIE: OK, now I don't have to know everyone's name?

JOHN: Right. No, you really don't have to know anybody's name because there's an industry out there that has addresses. Now what you can do--you can be very, very creative with the name.

HATTIE: What do you mean?

JOHN: Well, you can address the mail to `Movie Lovers'. And next think about the offer. You have movie lovers, what do they want from you? Free popcorn? Free drink? Free parking? By offering a coupon you can now track your efforts. Change the offer to see what gets you the most traffic.

There are eight functions of marketing: (1) creating awareness, (2) building traffic, (3) generating leads, (4) qualifying leads, (5) selling directly, (6) providing service, (7) customer dialogue and (8) building loyalty.

The Marketing Watchword: Kiss everyone. Keep it simply simple.

Your Marketing Plan should always include:

• Product. What is your product? How does it compare?
• Price. What is your price? What are your costs? What are your projected campaign costs!
• Place. From where is the product being sold?
• Promotion. What's your offer? What is the pending event?