2007
Marketing Your Food
Product
Adapted from: www.sba.gov/
Module designed by Tera Sandvik, LRD, Program
Coordinator; Julie Garden-Robinson, PhD, LRD, Food and
Nutrition Specialist; and Kathleen Tweeten, MBA, Director,
Center for Community Vitality, Community Economic
Development Extension Specialist
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Presurvey
Before we begin, let’s take a presurvey to
see how much you already know.
 Click here to begin the presurvey.
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Do you have a new, exciting product?
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If you do, that’s great, but keep in mind
businesses need more than a great
product to be successful.
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A high percentage of home-based food
businesses fail their first year because
they didn’t have a market to support their
product.
Let’s learn about marketing basics
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Marketing is based on the importance of
customers to a business and has two
important principles:
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All company policies and activities should be
directed toward satisfying their customer wants
or needs.
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Profitable sales volume is more important than
maximum sales volume.
How do I use these principles?
Find your customer wants or needs
through market research.
 Analyze your competitive advantages to
develop a market strategy.
 Select specific markets to serve by target
marketing.
 Determine how to satisfy customer needs
by identifying a mix of products (market
mix) they want.
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Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy identifies target
customers that a particular business can
better serve than its competitors, and
tailors product offerings, prices,
distribution, promotional efforts and
services toward those target customers.
 The strategy should address unmet
customer needs that offer adequate
potential profitability.
 A good strategy helps a business
focus on the target markets it can
serve best.
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Target Marketing
Owners of small businesses often have
limited resources to spend on marketing.
 Concentrating their efforts on one or a few
key market segments - target marketing
- gets the most return from small
investments.
 These are two main methods used to
segment a market:
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Geographical
Customer
Geographical Segmentation is:
Specializing in serving the needs of customers
in a particular geographical area.
 For example, a neighborhood convenience
store may send advertisements only to people
living within one-half mile of the store.
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Customer Segmentation is:
Identifying those people most likely to
buy the product or service and targeting
those groups.
There are two main methods to segment
a market. Do you know what they are?
Click to see the answer.
Geographical and customer
What type of segmentation is the
following example?
A local pizza place puts fliers in everyone’s
mailbox within a one-mile radius of the pizza
place.
A. Geographical
B. Customer
Click to see the answer.
Managing the market mix
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Every marketing program contains four
key components:
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Products and services
Promotion
Distribution
Pricing
Products and Services
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Product strategies may include:
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Concentrating on a narrow product line
Developing a highly specialized product or
service
Providing a product-service package containing
unusually high-quality service
Promotion
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Promotion strategies include advertising and direct
customer interaction.
Good salesmanship is essential for small businesses
because of their limited ability to spend on
advertising.
Good telephone book advertising is important.
Direct mail is an effective, low-cost medium
available to small businesses.
Web presence may be an important and effective
part of a successful strategy
Pricing
The right price is crucial for maximizing
total revenue.
 Generally, higher prices mean lower
volume and vice versa.
 Small businesses often can
command higher prices
because of their personalized
service.
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Distribution
The manufacturer and wholesaler must
decide how to distribute their products.
 Working through established distributors
or manufacturers' agents is generally
easiest for small manufacturers.
 Small retailers should consider cost and
traffic flow in site selection, especially
since advertising and rent can be
reciprocal:
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A low-cost, low-traffic location means spending
more on advertising to build traffic.
Distribution Cont.
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Products/services, promotion, pricing and
distribution combine into an overall marketing
program.
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The nature of the product or service is also
important in citing decisions.
Purchases based on impulse should be in a
high-traffic and visible area.
 Location is less of a concern for products or
services that customers are willing to go out
of their way to find.
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Distribution Cont.
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The availability of fast shipping and highly
segmented mailing lists, developed or
purchased from list brokers, magazines or
other companies, has enabled certain small
businesses to operate from any location, yet
serve national or international markets.
Which of the following is not one of the
key components to a marketing plan?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Pricing
Promotion
Distribution
Planning
Click to see the answer.
Marketing Performance
Entrepreneurs must evaluate their
marketing program.
 Every program should have performance
standards to compare with actual results.
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Researching industry norms and past
performances will help develop appropriate
standards.
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Entrepreneurs should audit their company's
performance at least quarterly. The key
questions are:
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Is the company doing all it can to be customeroriented?
Do employees ensure the customers are
satisfied and leave wanting to come back?
Can the customer easily find what he or she
wants at a competitive price?
Let’s move on to our marketing plan.
A sound marketing plan is key to the
success of any business.
 Marketing plans include:
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Market research
Location
Customer group you have targeted
Competition
Positioning
Product and service you are:
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Selling
Pricing
Advertising
Promoting
Positioning your product is defined as:
A. Pricing your product higher than its competition
B. Pricing your product lower than its competition
C. Creating a unique, consistent and recognized
customer perception about a firm's offering and
image
D. None of the above
Click here to help find the answer.
Click to see the answer.
Marketing, planning and promoting
Begin with current information about the
marketplace.
 Visit the local library.
 Talk to customers.
 Look at other businesses’ advertising
strategies.
 Consult with relevant industry
associations.
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Write down your plan
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Define your business
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What’s your product or service?
Where are you selling your product or service
(neighborhood, regional or national)?
Who’s your competition?
How are you different from the competition?
What’s your price?
How do your competitor’s market their product?
What are your promotion methods?
How are you going to distribute your product or
where will your business be located?
Define your customer
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Who is your customer?
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Age
Sex
Income
Neighborhood
How will your customers learn about your product
or service?
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Advertising
Direct mail
Word of mouth
Yellow Pages
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Web site
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Newsweek
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Patterns or habits your customers and
potential customers share
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Qualities your customers value most about
your product or service
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Where they shop
What they read, watch and listen to
Selection
Convenience
Service
Reliability
Availability
Affordability
Qualities your customers dislike about
your product or service
Define your plan and budget
Know previous marketing methods used to
reach your customers.
 Know methods that have been effective.
 Know cost compared to sales.
 Know cost per customer.
 Research possible future marketing
methods to attract new customers.
 Figure out what percent of profits you can
use for your marketing campaign.
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Examples of marketing tools
Newspaper
 Magazine
 Yellow Pages
 Radio or television advertising
 Internet
 Direct mail
 Telemarketing
 Public relations activities
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The final stage in your marketing plan should
be your overall promotional objectives:
To communicate your message
 To create an awareness of your product or
service
 To motivate customers to buy and
increase sales
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Post-survey
Let’s see what you’ve learned.
 Click here to begin the post-survey.
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•The last slide shows additional
resources.
•After the slideshow is done go to
“File” and click on “Print.”
•A box will open up.
•Click on “Slides” under “Print Range.”
•Type in “36” and click on “okay.”
Additional Resources
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Marketing plan outline
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Marketing strategies for the growing business.
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www.bplans.com/targetonline/index.cfm?s=specs&i
d=4&affiliate=sba
http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage
/marketandprice/SERV_MARKETSTRATEGY.html
Marketing Plans
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http://www.bplans.com/targetonline/index.cfm?s=
specs&id=4&affiliate=sba