We are experiencing a challenging business environment with great uncertainty and the associated risks for your feed and grain business. While it is always good management to evaluate your business “basics,” it is even more important now. This is the time to think about your marketing mix, as well as re-evaluate and implement changes that can benefit your business. The 7 Ps of the marketing mix — product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence — provides the framework for this exercise.
Who are your customers?
First, it is important to remind yourself of who your customers are. In the feed and grain business, you often have customers on both sides of the supply chain. The farmers who sell you grain are your customers, just as the agribusinesses are that you sell the grain to. In the feed business, you have customers that you buy commodities from and customers that you sell feed to. All of your customers are important to your bottom line. As you think about your marketing mix, you will often have different plans for your different customers.
1. Product
In the marketing mix, product refers to those things associated with the product/service that you are buying and selling. Specific items that you want to consider are: quality, value, image, branding, customer service and support, availability, and warranties.
2. Price
The price component of the marketing mix is everything associated with what your customer experiences as “price” for your product/service. This includes list price, any discounts/promotions, credit and payment methods and any “free” or value-added elements that you may include.
3. Place
Place in the marketing mix is all about getting your product/service to your customers at the time and place that they need. This includes many components such as how your sales support is serving your customers, your hours of operation, physical setup for delivery and/or pick up. Once again, your customers are your starting point. Hours of operation are extremely important for your farmer customers during critical times such as harvest. Think further and consider the other aspects of place that are important for your customers. Then look at what you are offering — are there changes you can make to increase your customers’ satisfaction and your bottom line?
4. Promotion
The promotion component of the marketing mix is everything associated with communicating to your customers and to the general public about your business. This includes the work of your sales people, your direct marketing (direct mailing, email blasts etc.), public relations activities you engage in, branding, advertising and special offers. Once again, we encourage you to list the promotion efforts that you are using. Examine each of these considering the costs and benefits — and then consider whether you could adapt your emphasis on promotion to better your bottom line.
5. People
It is often said that people are the most important part of any business. Your employees interact with your customers directly and indirectly, and all of those interactions are critical to delivering value to your customers. Think about the customer experience you want for your customers and then consider how you are handling employee recruitment, training and skill development, remuneration, and the culture of your business. Remember this starts and comes from you as the manager. Be sure and set the stage with your employees and they will follow suit with your customers.
6. Process
The process component of the marketing mix is especially important for service components of your business. How are your customers interacting with your business as they receive their services? How are you using information technology (IT) to support your customer service? Is the interface seamless for your customers? The demands on you as a business are great here. People are used to submitting an order to Amazon or another online merchant and getting next-day delivery while being able to have real-time tracking of the delivery of their order. Of course the online merchants have a much larger IT budget compared with yours — but your customers won’t necessarily be thinking about that. Focus on the value for your customers.
7. Physical evidence
The physical evidence portion of the marketing mix is especially important for services. Because services are intangible (i.e., not a physical product) your customers will instinctively use the physical evidence as the proxy for evaluating your business. Your customers will evaluate everything associated with your interface with them — the look and feel of your website, the ease of reading your invoices, the cleanliness and appearance of your business locations, the appearance of your salespeople when they come to call. Careful attention to physical evidence can provide your customers with reassurance about the service provided. Testimonials can be important here, so make use of messages from satisfied customers.
Tying together the 7 Ps
The components of the marketing mix combine and interact to provide value to your customers. Analyzing these components periodically is an important process that ensures that you say on top of what your customers need and are willing to pay for. Comparisons between your firm and your competitors, as well as surveying some of your customers to gain their feedback, can provide valuable insight which can lead to changes in your marketing mix if needed.
