Planning Market Strategy 



GAIL MCWILLIAM 



You may consider marketing to be the biggest 

 thorn in your side or the most exciting part 

 of your business. Either way, if you offer a 

 product or service for sale, marketing is a key part 

 of your business operation and deserves a significant 

 portion of your attention. 



Keep this in mind: Growing your product is the 

 easy part. Selling your product is the challenge. 



Often, when people are considering starting an ag- 

 ricultural business, it seems that most of their plan- 

 ning and preparations are focused on production and 

 not much thought is devoted to marketing. Certainly 

 production is not a trivial part of an agricultural 

 business, but selling does not happen by itself. A 

 business plan must include a plan for marketing as 

 well as for production. 



Marketing is an endless cyclic process that in- 

 cludes finding out what the customer wants/needs 

 and providing it at a profit to the seller. The basics 

 of marketing are the same whether you sell plants, 

 cheese, or microchips. The key elements of marketing 

 are known as the "marketing mix", also sometimes 

 called the "3 Ps and a D:" 



• Product (what makes it unique) 



• Price (value) 



• Promotion (telling the customer about the 

 product) 



• Distribution (how you get your product to 

 market) 



Your goal is to find the optimum combination of 

 this marketing mix to maximize profits. Start by do- 

 ing some research and analysis to help identify and 

 define your market: 



What is unique about your product(s)? How is 

 your product going to stand apart from the rest? 



Who are your customers? What do they want? 

 Will your product have broad appeal or be spe- 

 cific to a certain audience? 



Who is your competition? 



Evaluate your location. Where are you located and 

 how will that effect your business? 



How will you promote your product? How will 



you let people know about your unique products? 

 What price will you charge for your product? 

 How will price effect your product's appeal? 



Research and analysis are absolutely critical to 

 substantially reduce trial-and-error, saving you time 

 and money. Research can pinpoint the prospective 

 target audience, identify any product modifications, 

 and help design pricing, promotion, and distribution 

 strategies. The customer is a key component of any 

 marketing strategy. Your marketing efforts should 

 target the customer most likely to buy your product. 

 You must know and understand everything about 

 your customer so that your products meet his/her 

 goals, objectives, wants, and needs. Remember, it's 

 not what you sell that counts, but what people want 

 to buy. Research will help you understand and meet 

 your customer's needs. 



Determining potential outlets for your products 

 will help you define your target customer. Potential 

 market outlets for greenhouse and nursery plants in- 

 clude: 



• Direct-to-consumer sales at your location 



• Sales to other retailers, garden centers, 

 supermarkets/home centers, or florists 



• Wholesale flower market 



• Farmers' markets 



• Contract growing 



• Landscapers/landscape designers 



• Municipalities 



Each outlet category involves a different set of re- 

 quirements. For example, selling to the consumer at 

 your location means you are in a relatively accessible 

 location and you provide things like adequate park- 

 ing, staff for customer assistance, carts or wagons for 

 easy moving of plants, information about plant care 

 and use, related products, etc. Selling to other retail- 

 ers means in addition to some of the above men- 

 tioned, you are also likely involved with trucking or 

 shipping products. To sell to landscapers, you might 

 need to carry more mature, fully grown plants to 

 create finished landscapes. 



Another important component of market strategy 



TH E PL ANTSMAN 



