This document outlines the fundamentals of marketing for entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs and developing a unique selling point. It covers the marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion, and provides strategies for promoting creative products and finding market niches. It also highlights the value of social media and online platforms for reaching customers and building a brand.

1. Entrepreneurial mind sets
This programme has been funded with support from the
European Commission
The Marketing Mix
Module 6

2. Overview of marketing
No matter how much you might love your idea,
there’s no point in taking it any further if
nobody else is going to love it.
That’s where good old marketing comes in.

3. Overview of marketing
Here are just a few of the questions that you’re
going to need to answer:
•Would your “target market” actually want this?
•What is your Unique Selling Point?
•Where will they buy from me?
•Have you thought about the price or fee you can
charge?
•Is it going to be worth your while?
•What type of marketing will work best for you?
•Where and when and how are you going to
market it?

4. What is marketing?
Identifying and satisfying your customers’ needs at a profit
Selling
Marketing Mix (4 Ps)
Market Research
MARKETINGPROCESS

5. Marketing mix - The four P’s of Marketing
Goods or services provided by a businessPRODUCT
PRICE
PROMOTION
PLACE
Where customers can buy products/services or
how products/services are distributed
Amount charged for products and services
How a business creates awareness in the market

6. Market planning is about getting the right balance
between the four marketing Ps. Different marketing
mixes can be used for different target customers.

7. Products and services must appeal to potential
customers. You have to ensure there is demand for
your product and state what is unique about it.
Factors to consider:
• Customer needs and wants
•Product mix / portfolio
•Features and benefits
•Quality
•Appearance
•Market position
•Costs
•Profit margin
•Product shelf life
PRODUCT

8. Features Benefits
Greek yogurt is nutritious and packed
with protein
Choosing Greek yogurt makes you
healthies and more satisfied
This phone case is made with layers of
carbon fibres and reinforced plastic
With this case your phone could survive
any fall
Just add to only add water, stir and cook Requires minimal kitchen time and labour
Free shipping Saves you money
Wig – made from real hair More durable
The features are great ways to define what a product is, but the
benefits speak right to the people buying your product, and
communicate how the product makes their lives better.
PRODUCT

9. USPs
The ‘Unique Selling Points’ of a product/service
states clearly the features and benefits that make
your product or service different from your
competitors. For example, is it made of better quality
materials? Is it more prestigious? Or the only one of
its kind on the market? Your product may share
certain features with similar items, for example, all
fruit drinks include fruit and are drinkable. The
unique benefit of your product may be that it’s
proven to improve your skin. This would be your USP
if it’s the only fruit drink on the market that can do
this.
PRODUCT

10. Examples of USPs:
•Unique function or feature
•Higher specification
•Unique design
•Technical feature
•Better quality
•Locally sourced materials
PRODUCT

11. Find your niche
The creative, digital and performing arts
industry has plenty of businesses offering
similar or the same product and it can be
especially hard for consumers to
differentiate between all the options.
The truth is, no matter how talented you
are and no matter how awe-inspiring your
art may be, some consumers may not be
able to tell the difference, and when faced
with a choice, they will almost always
choose the most convenient option.
PRODUCT
What niche?

12. Find your niche
This is why you need to find a niche product/service, something
that others aren’t offering, something that will make you and
your business unique and recognisable – make is stand out from
the crowd!
Maybe that means focusing on portraits if you are an
accomplished painter, or 3D designs if you are a graphic artist.
No matter what the niche is, you should try to find one. That
doesn’t mean you can’t include your other art in your business,
but you may find a much more passionate customer base if you
specialise in one type of art and become known for your ability
to create that one type of art.
PRODUCT

13. PLACE
Where will customers buy your work?
There are now many different options for you to sell your
products as a designer or maker. You can sell direct to the
public through markets, pop-ups and online shops, or you
can sell through established retailers, boutiques and
galleries.

14. Show & Sell - Ways of selling your creative products:
• Work from home
• Porta cabin
• Directly at specific events -
exhibitions, open studios, pop-
up shops, markets and catwalk
shows
• Online marketplace i.e. Etsy,
eBay, Not on the High Street
• E-commerce website
• Shop
• Wholesale via galleries, shops
or at trade shows
• Van / mobile sales
• Through re-sellers
• Rented workshop space i.e. for
workshops
• Directly to private collectors or
through commission
• Customer’s premises
• Innovation/start up hub
• Unit at a Local Enterprise
Agency
• Unit at an industrial park
PLACE

15. Factors to consider
•Cost
•Reliability of distribution channel
•Customer location
•Convenience
PLACE

16. Factors to consider
•Cost
•Reliability of distribution channel
•Customer location
•Convenience
PLACE

17. PRICE
It is vital that you understand the relationship between
price, cost and profit. This is outlined below:
COST PRICE PROFIT
What is costs to make
including time, materials
and overheads
What you can charge in
the market place
based on value and
cost
= Price - cost

18. PRICE
Things to consider:
•Competition - what competitors charge for similar
products or services
•Cost to produce it
•Set at a level that the market will accept
•Is it a luxury or mass market item?
Don’t undervalue
your product or your
time

19. PRICE
The dynamics of the creative sector do not necessarily
always operate in the same way as for businesses in other
sectors in the economy. The creative sector is based on
‘symbolic goods’ (films, plays, music) where value is
essentially dependent on the audience/consumer finding
value in their meanings – so value is dependent on audience
perception as much as creative content, which may or may
not translate into a commercial return.
Think profit!
The price of your product or service must include both the
costs to produce it and the additional costs associated with
selling it.

20. PROMOTION
If your business is invisible, it
can't progress, so letting your
target market know about what
your business does and how it
can benefit them is one of the
most important keys to success.
The internet is making it more
and more possible and,
importantly, less expensive, to
reach customers directly. And
there are many effective 'offline'
methods which can provide a
very valuable complement to
your online activities.
Marketing
Communications
Mix
Advertising
Sales
Promotion
Events &
Experiences
PR &
Publicity
Direct
Marketing
Interactive
Marketing
Personal
Selling

21. PROMOTION
Offline Promotional Methods
•Personal selling i.e. networking
•Free samples
•Word of mouth
•Signage
•Demonstrations
•Sales promotion i.e. BOGOF
•Advertising i.e. business cards
•Stationary i.e. Invoices, letter heads
•Publicity i.e. press releases, competitions

22. PROMOTION
Online Promotional Methods
•Social media i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
•Facebook competitions and promotions
•Blogs
•Videos
•Website (include gallery to showcase images of your work)
•Email marketing i.e. Mailchimp (free and easy to use)
The balance of a promotional mix will depend on the
marketing objectives, business type, target market and
promotional budget.

23. PROMOTION
Choosing a promotion method
Choosing the right method of promotion for a
business can be difficult. There are many factors to
consider such as:
•the target audience
•effectiveness
•message
•budgets and costs
•methods available
•timing
•legal issues
•graphic design ability
What? How? When? Costs?
PROMOTIONAL PLAN

24. PROMOTION
Choosing a promotion method
Be clear about the purpose of the promotion
method e.g. to create an awareness of a product
or service. Consider how competitors promote
their businesses and look for best practice
methods.
Monitor the impact of a promotional method
carefully. This can be done by asking customers
how they heard about the business and calculating
the number of sales generated by a promotional
method. promotional activity should be planned
carefully.

25. PROMOTION
Factor Some issues to consider
Branding Logos, colours, trademarks
Appearance Graphics, colour, images, print finish
Message Text, font, grammar, slogans, USPs
Printing Specifications, paper quality, quantity
Costs Printing, graphic designer
Legal Intellectual property, advertising regulations
AIDA Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

26. Social Media
Creative entrepreneurs can benefit from
using social networking systems such as
Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and Pinterest. They are the
equivalent of the ‘small talk’ which happens
in face to face business networking and
meetings.
It is these snippets of information which help
people to bond, like each other and build
trust between them. The message must be
right for the medium and so in contrast with
business websites, the information on social
networking sites is more personal, the
atmosphere is more ‘laid back’, and the
etiquette more informal.

27. Social Media
• Pinterest
• Instragam
• Facebook
• Snapchat
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Google+
• LinkedIn

28. Top tips - Social Media
Social media will come naturally to young, creative
people, so use this to network and reach out to
people online.
As an artist, you can use Facebook to keep up with
other creative people and to follow mentors and
creative groups. Twitter is really useful: not for
direct selling, necessarily, but just to make contact
with people in the creative, performing and digital
arts industry.
As a designer or artist products are visual by nature.
Instagram and Pinterest are a perfect fit to display
your work and visual inspiration.

29. Top tips - Social Media
For many people, image-focused social media channels
are less time and energy draining than Twitter and
Facebook.
Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest,
YouTube, Blogs and Instagram are cheap and potentially
effective tools to promote your work and establish a
voice as an artist. They are also a great way of keeping
people up-to-date about your projects.
Keep your personal life separate from your business
contacts i.e. create a Facebook business page for your
new creative enterprise. This allows you to post on
Facebook and interact with other users without giving
them access to your personal Facebook account.

30. Top tips
Website
A website can serve as a virtual portfolio of your work.
Add some personal information so that customers can
relate to you and become impressed by your
accomplishments.
Videos and blogging are also great ways to promote a
creative enterprise.
Build up a contact list to stay in touch with previous
clients and other creatives.

31. Top tips
Talk to people - Go out and talk to anybody, you never
know where help may come from.
Having a website, blog and online shop is so easy now
that you don’t have to invest lots of money to get
something out there.

32. Congratulations
you have completed Module 6