The five moves of marketing practice
Marketing means finding what people need and offering it so that they are happy to buy. In practice, do these five moves:
- Find: ask customers what they want (a survey).
- Choose: pick your target customers, the group you serve best.
- Mix: decide the 4 Ps.
- Test: run the plan for a short time and count.
- Check: compare with your goal. Change what did not work.
Then the loop starts again. Good marketing never stops learning.
Find and choose: survey and target group
A survey is a short list of questions you ask many people. Keep it to 2 or 3 simple questions, such as "Which juice do you like?" Count the answers with tally marks.
In the project, 11 of 20 chose mango, so mango is the product to sell first.
Next, split visitors into groups (students, teachers, parents). This is called segmenting. Your target group is the biggest or best-fit segment. Here it is students: 14 of 20. You cannot please everyone, so aim at one group and serve it well.
Mix: the 4 Ps
- Product: what you sell (fresh mango juice, 200 ml).
- Price: what the buyer pays (20 per cup).
- Place: where it is sold (stall at the school gate).
- Promotion: how people hear about it (poster, announcement, free taste).
The four must fit each other. A very cheap price with an expensive shop place does not match.
Price and demand
Demand is how many people want to buy. When the price goes up, demand usually goes down. In our model: cups sold = 90 − 2 × price, plus extra buyers from promotion.
Test and check: numbers decide
Cost to make one cup is 10. So each cup gives contribution of price − 10.
Profit = cups sold × (price − cost per cup) − promotion cost.
At price 20: cups = 90 − 40 = 50. Profit = 50 × 10 = 500. At price 30: cups = 30, profit = 30 × 20 = 600. A higher price here gave more profit, because the extra gain per cup beat the lost buyers. But at price 40 cups = 10 and profit = 300, so there is a best price in between.
A poster (cost 100) may bring about 12 more buyers. It is worth it only if the extra profit is more than 100.
Try it
At home, ask 10 people which snack they like. Count. Choose your target group, then write the 4 Ps for that snack. Then use the sliders in the 3D to try 3 prices.
Key formulas and definitions
- Cups sold (model) = 90 − 2 × price + promotion boost
- Contribution per cup = price − cost per cup
- Profit = cups sold × contribution − promotion cost
- Revenue = price × cups sold
- Goal check: profit ≥ goal means success
Worked examples
1. In a survey of 40 people, 18 chose samosa, 14 sandwich and 8 roll. Which product first, and what share chose it?
Samosa, the biggest group. Share = 18 ÷ 40 = 0.45, so 45%.
2. Price 20, cost per cup 10, demand 90 − 2 × price, no poster. Find cups and profit.
Cups = 90 − 40 = 50. Profit = 50 × (20 − 10) = 500.
3. Same stall, price raised to 30. Is the profit higher or lower than at 20?
Cups = 90 − 60 = 30. Profit = 30 × (30 − 10) = 600. It is higher than 500, even though fewer cups sold.
4. With price 30, a poster costing 100 brings 12 more buyers. Is the poster worth it?
Cups = 30 + 12 = 42. Profit = 42 × 20 − 100 = 740. That is more than 600, so yes, the poster pays for itself.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the survey and guessing what people want. Always ask first.
- Trying to sell to everyone. Choose one target group.
- Changing the price without checking demand. Test, then count the profit.
- Forgetting promotion cost when finding profit. Subtract it.