Help: the market is shifting

V Grow your business through marketing

By “marketing” I am not referring to new promotions. There are basic routes to grow your business through marketing. Depending upon your current conditions, several of these methods can be used.

1. Market up

“Market up” can mean two things, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive:

i) Go for high end market, catering to people with plenty of disposable income. Look for ways to provide value added by variety and/or uniqueness thus switching from a lower income to a higher income target market.

ii) Go for a niche market. Many producers can keep prices high as spending declines by staying focused on a niche that may have been their strength to date. These may be specialties like organic and sprouted, or rich and decedent. A small percentage of a large market can still offer profits.

2. Market down

Take a quality products and make versions that the greater percentage of the population, who don’t have as much disposable income, can buy.

3. Simply raise prices

Maybe you have a highly successful brand or label. People will continue to go out of their way to come to your store or purchase your product where available. Don’t change a thing, just focus on replication of the same quality experience that has differentiated you up until now and adjust your price.

4. Grow and evolve the approach to business

Give the purchasers of your product more reasons to rely on you.
i) If a franchise or retail chain is in need of a product to be developed, timely responses, outsourced expert data (passing questions on to experts for quick resolution), and developed interpersonal relationships can cause a customer to use you as their “go to” guy for new product lines etc. Many companies have grown exponentially through these relationships.
ii) Efficiency in handling requests can bring business while limiting the trend of potential customers just passing the development costs on to you with little incentive. If a product idea can’t be made profitably tell them. In most cases they will learn to trust you.

5. Review customization of products

Tailoring your products and services to a particular customer’s needs can brings in valuable business; it can also mean time and effort that’s not worth your while. Always project your unit cost prior to agreeing to sell something or you risk creating monsters.

Bakers, like all business people, see the market as a profit system. However we need to remember that it is also a profit loss system. As profits tell us what to continue to do or what to do more of, losses tell us what to stop doing. By taking a critical second look at our businesses at points in time during the day to day struggles, we can find new ways to do profitable things and unprofitable behaviors that can be eliminated.

People love food, and demand for food is always high. Market fluctuations need to be met head on, because when demand disappears it often pops up some place unexpected. The key is to grow your way out of difficulty, or you risk shrinking your business or giving up opportunity to others who will remain creative. Analyze your situation, take action, and move forward. The industry is always a challenge. It can also be highly rewarding.

Dan Ettling is Bakery Consultant at MonkeyMedia Software.