Is your small business minding the essential P’s and Q’s? Companies doing well despite economic down times may be in danger of forgetting essential business fundamentals that create underlying success. Important marketing management decisions can be classified into four categories; Product, Price, Placement (or Distribution), and Promotion.

Product can pertain to the physical product or actual service/s offered to the target customer market. Decisions include aspects such as choosing a brand name, functionality, appearance, packaging style of products and even website presence, service and support, warranties for repair if applicable, and so on. Quality and consistency planning for a product is the foundation for long-term success.

Price decisions can include the obvious task of setting the retail price. Other considerations are pricing strategies including seasonal prices, bundling, price flexibility, volume and wholesale discounts, and discounts based on method of purchase, such as purchases made with cash. Correct and competitive pricing strategies are important for customer retention and profitability.

Placement practices are those associated with channels of distribution that serve as the means for getting the product or service in front of customers. Market coverage of all types; exclusive distribution, inclusive, and selective all fit into this category. Decisions for placement include transportation, inventory management, warehousing, order processing, and reverse logistics to name a few.

Promotion is the final business management decision and is as equally important as the first three. Think of it this way… if you build a professional and well thought-out website or a physical store with a wonderful product on a busy road (or online), yet you do not put out any signs up or tell anyone about it, the chances of that store being a big success are slim. Promotion therefore represents the communication of information about the product with the goal of generating a customer base and as a result sales. Decisions for promotion include having a strategy for your target market, advertising, sales tactics, publicity, promotions, and establishing a consistent marketing budget.

This framework may seem quite simple with all of the new techniques in play in the current marketing arena, yet it is in fact this strong foundation on which other tools and methods have been built. Small business marketing firms like Directionworks, Inc. make a point to keep these basic marketing principles in mind. When a client approaches us with the need to build or expand on their small business we can immediately determine how stable the foundation of their business is now, and then we can then expand on that to enrich and build that business even better.

This brings us to the final and most important essential business fundamental, asking questions. When a client approaches us here at Directionworks it is important to us that they ask a lot of questions. Our passion is offering the same services to small businesses that large corporations get from much more expensive marketing firms. Many small business owners do not realize there is a great wealth of affordable options available that have the potential to boost their ability to compete with bigger companies. When you ask questions as you work with your marketing firm, together you find the answers you need to really pull through in tough economic times and succeed.