Sales Marketing Strategy: How To Use One

Written by Owen Jones Sunday, 08 May 2011 07:39

Each product has to have a sales marketing strategy to support it. You can sometimes promote a couple of things together like a table and chairs, but any device for which you do not have a sales marketing strategy is doomed to failure.

Each product has to have a sales marketing strategy to support it. You can sometimes promote a couple of things together like a table and chairs, but any device for which you do not have a sales marketing strategy is doomed to failure.

Let me put it simply, if you went out one day and noticed that someone was selling his entire stock of bicycle tyres cheap because they were going bankrupt and you bought them, who would know except you and the person you bought them from? And he is not going to like them back!

You might say: 'But I would not do that. I would put an advert in the paper'. Well, that is your promoting marketing strategy. I am not saying that it is a decent one, but at least it is something. Something to improve on really.

The first thing to think about is who your target market is and how can you best reach them. The answers to these two questions will permit you to make a decision about whether you are going to concentrate on on or off line sales. Never forget that the overwhelming bulk of sales are off line, although the on line market is growing each day.

If you have a shed load of bicycle tyres, for example, you would probably be better off promoting them in the classifieds section of the local paper. Or you could advertise a one-off garage sale of cheap bicycle tyres or you could take them to a car boot sale. In your spare time, you could make a small website, but in this instance off line sales are more likely than on line sales.

If however, you hook up with a bicycle tyre company that is willing to drop-ship (ie deliver) from their warehouse for you then a car boot or garage sale is useless to you. In this example, you ought to go straight on line, make an automated sales and payment processing page and advertise it on line by the various methods available.

If you definitely would like to, you could back up the on line sales with a bit of off line advertising. For example, you could put a postcard in the newsagent's window advertising that your website has a stock of cheap bicycle tyres that can be delivered to the customers' door. Then only add the URL of your website.

Your sales marketing strategy must be customized to what you are attempting to sell. In other words, you have to have a great deal of marketing tactics so that you can select the ones that are correct for your product. No one sales marketing strategy is ever going to fit all the products. Therefore, if you rely on only one sales marketing strategy you will not succeed.

In summary, when you have your irresistible deal ready for sale, sit down and think about who will buy it and how you can reach them - ie how you can tell them that you have what they want. Then draw up a plan - yes, I mean write something down! Set down how you are going to accomplish this and write down when the phases of your sales marketing strategy have to be completed by.

It is merely by having a solid sales marketing strategy that you can refer to that you will succeed in marketing. Failing to plan is tantamount to planning to fail.