If you studied marketing during your high school or university education you would have learnt about the four ‘Ps’ of marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. They are fairly self-explanatory but unless you are a seasoned marketing professional, you should be seeking help with one or more of them.

• Firstly, Product which refers to your goods or service that fulfill consumer needs or desires
• Price means making decisions in terms of the basic price, discounts, price alteration, credit terms, freight payments, and more
• Promotion includes advertising, direct marketing, website, brochures, public relations, digital marketing, social media, and more
• And finally, Place which encompasses managing trade channels to ensure that your product or service is readily available to your customers at the right time and place.



Focus on your brand not your product

There is a big difference between creating an organisation that sells a product or service and creating a brand that lasts for years.

If you just build a business so you can make more money in the short term then it’s not going to last for long. As soon as your product or service becomes irrelevant, priced out, or copied by someone else, all those hours you invested will have been wasted.

To build a brand, you need effective marketing, even when you’re just starting out. The world’s most successful companies are all brand-driven like Apple, Nike and Google. All of these organisations started small, and all understood that promoting their brand was the key to their phenomenal success.

As your business grows, you need to keep your brand at the forefront of all your marketing activities.



Which part of the marketing mix should I outsource?

You could consider outsourcing all aspects of your marketing but the two most obvious to begin with, are place and promotion. You should definitely seek expert advice on product and price but these two elements if you’re already running a successful business should be under control.



Seeking help with ‘Place’ or distribution

If you’re building a business from the ground up, you likely began distribution from your home office, and perhaps moved to your garage. If you’re going to grow larger, you’ll need to take the next step.

Many fledgling businesses see the natural next step as listing their products on online shopping sites. That might get you a much larger audience but it erodes your brand. Building your brand as we mentioned earlier is the key to growth. If you use a ‘big brand’ online shopping platform, your brand identity is quashed and you become just one of many small companies listing products.

What you really need is an eCommerce partner to who you can hand over your eCommerce fulfillment, and know it will be handled professionally. In short, eCommerce fulfillment is the part of your eCommerce operation that delivers your products to customers.

Your eCommerce partner needs to have a proven track record, but they also need to operate behind the scenes seamlessly without promoting their brand. So your customer buys from your website and is unaware that you use a third party to send the item to them. It’s all part of the customer journey, every step of which, should reflect your brand.



Promoting your business

The promotional part of marketing is the most high profile and while many business people think they understand it, chances are, they are missing out.

It’s an ever-changing part of marketing, and it needs to be tailored to your unique set of circumstances including your customers, your product, your messages and your brand.

For most fledgling organisations hiring a marketing agency is beyond their budget but there are other alternatives like an automated marketing system like Odee.

Odee is specifically designed to provide ongoing marketing support for small to medium-sized businesses. The Odee system allows users to:  

• Generate a tailored marketing plan
• Access an in-depth, easy to follow digital marketing dashboard linked to Google Analytics
• Access competitor analysis data
• Monthly 1:1 consultation with your marketing account manager
• Access and set up marketing services that scale up as your business grows.



How we can help at Orange Canvas

Consider the Orange Canvas team your experienced eCommerce fulfilment and marketing support team. We don’t just give you the tools to succeed – we operate them for you under the complete understanding of your business with your brand upfront.

For more information on how Orange Canvas can support you to keep your team engaged, whether in the office or when working remotely, reach out to our team for a chat.