Briefing on marketing versus sales, and two key principles in marketing: The four P’s of marketing and the marketing mix.

How many sales are necessary to keep the business going? What is the cost of gaining one sale? Is there any way to keep sales coming in regularly? Possibly facing loan default and layoffs, business owners realize the importance of marketing to gain sales.

Remember Your P’s and Mix When Marketing for Sales

Sales are necessary to keep the business operating from day to day. Determining the cost of the product or service being sold is necessary for budgeting and other planning considerations. Getting enough sales, on a regular basis, is crucial-even for the largest companies in existence.

Most of the time, a business needs to create the demand. Selling is a good way, but marketing is an excellent way. Selling focuses of putting the product or service in front of potential customers. Marketing is a combination of decisions, including sales factors. There are two things to consider when constructing your marketing plan to help drive sales. The four P’s of marketing and the marketing mix.

The four P’s of marketing consider the following elements:

Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Product answers how a product or service fits the market. Price reveals what the market is willing to pay for your product or service. Place is where or how a product or service will get to the target consumer. Promotion involves making the market aware of your product or service.

The marketing mix is a how a company effectively uses the elements of marketing efforts, especially as they affect sales results. When business owners realize the importance of marketing, sales is a less random occurrence. Marketing is one controllable factor among many uncontrollable elements in business that will likely return its cost to a business owner that is willing to piece together each element of the marketing puzzle.