What can you do about the weather? Throughout history, there have been a lot of thoughts about how to make it rain. Ancient cultures tried dancing to make it rain. I remember when I was a boy, the U.S. military did experiments "seeding” clouds in the area where I lived. They attempted to entice rain out of the sky by flying through clouds and dumping crystalline substances into them. It didn’t work, and the experiments were abandoned. Since the dawn of time, we have been trying to figure out how to turn the spigot in the sky on and off with no success.

Sales are also like the rain. In fact, in business, we often call sales reps "rainmakers”. But is it just as easy as the boss telling the sales department to hit the road and make a few calls to make it rain money in your business? Probably not! This is where marketing becomes essential. If you want to get more sales, you will have to do some marketing strategizing around what is referred to as your Marketing Mix. This term was introduced by Edmund Jerome McCarthy, who published a study in 1960 that suggested there were four inter-relational components to building a successful marketing strategy that he called the Four Ps: Product, price, placement and promotion. His marketing mix is still used today to build strategic marketing plans. Let’s take a look at the four components.

Product

The first thing you need to figure out is who is likely to need what you produce – either a product or a service. What are the needs of this target market? Make a list of these needs. What do you produce that meets the needs on that list? How does it help them? Get specific but uncomplicated in describing the best features, advantages and benefits of your products. Now compare those best features to your competition and make a second list. Where does your product or service beat your competition? Where the needs of your target market (the first list) cross with the ways you are better than your competition (the second list), create a third list of these product features. Use this third list in your marketing strategy.

Price

The second P has to do with competitive pricing. How much will the market pay for what you are selling? There is a tipping point where you have become too expensive and your competition can easily undercut your price. At the same time, you don’t want to sell on price alone. If you do, you will do a lot of work with no rewards. You need to price your product competitively. That comes down to your value proposition. What is the customer getting at your price? Do they perceive that as a bargain or not?

Placement

The third P deals with where you will be showcasing your products. Where will your target market look for what you have to offer? Placement becomes key in making a sale. You can have the best product in the world, priced competitively, but if a consumer cannot find it, you will lose sales. This goes beyond just putting a product on a website with SEO in the hopes consumers will search for it and find it. A smart placement strategy studies the target market and finds out where they would look for your product.

Promotion

The fourth P is promotion. What is the best way to catch the attention of your target market? Is there a medium they frequent? What message will cause them to take a look at your brand? And when they do look, what will cause them to want to try it? All of this needs to be put into your marketing promotion.

When you have all four Ps figured out, then you are ready to make it rain. Too often businesses want to take shortcuts when it comes to marketing strategy. If you do, you might as well do a rain dance in the parking lot. A marketing strategy that is nothing more than staring at the clouds in the sky in the hopes that it will rain is not really a strategy at all. A strategy that is based on your target market’s thinking will make it rain. Take it in stride and bring an umbrella.