Introduction

Many business owners are not familiar with some basic concepts and strategies when they start their businesses. The ideas of how to best bring a product or service to market are really quite well defined and make a lot of sense.

First, the market. No, we're not talking about your customers here. A market, just like a real fruit and vegetable market, is not only customers but a whole structure including other suppliers, the people who run the market, the regulations, the look, smell and feel of the place - everything about it.

As far as you're concerned, the most important part of this market is - no not the customers yet - it's your stall. It has to fit in, yet call attention to itself. It has to respect the rules but call attention to the value of its products. If your marketing strategy fits the market well, you'll be an asset to that market, bring in extra customers, serve your customers well and you and everyone in the market will be happy. Bad marketing strategy is to offer goods and pricing that don't fit the market.

Once you know everything about your own business, you're ready to develop specific strategy. Are your apples bigger because you have the best soil in the area? Then a very strong strategy is to sell the bigger apples at the same price as the others. You will sell all your apples, provide extra value to customers, bring in extra customers and generally benefit the market. But to start with, you have to be able to identify where in your business you can provide extra value. Or, at least, perceived value.

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