please help?

Question

maureen, a talented painter, started a business making handmade furniture with customized designs painted on each piece. because she knows nothing about marketing, you'd advise her to
a) ask a relative to handle marketing for her
b) teach herself how to market the products
c) rely on word-of-mouth to sell her furniture
d) hire an outsider with marketing experience

Answer 1

c is the answer because it is cost effective and goes long way in the business.Patience is required and maintain the standard of quality& integrety.You will definately make long term customer.

Answer 2

Maureen needs to decide what direction she wants her enterprise to go. If her role is more on the creative and she wants to focus her energies on creating these works of art, then I would suggest an outside entity be tasked with providing the marketing support required to move the products.

If Maureen is secure in her ability to Market the items successfully herself, she should be encouraged to do so. Speaking from personal experience, no one sells the companies products better than the owner. This also create opportunities to network which would also facilitate more sales and interest. The other downside to having outside people market for you is that you have to pay them to do so which cuts in to your profits, sometimes substantially.

Depending upon the price point and the target audience those factors should help determine who the person doing your marketing should be. A marketing professional who understands your product or service and is well connected in the marketplace will most often produce the best results.

Answer 3

Word of mouth can be used in two ways... to both help her original peaces sell to exclusive clients so that she is able to increase the value and to use word of mouth to find a marketer that is willing to build a trusting relationship with her so that they can come to a mutual agreement that this marketer gets a percentage every time something sells.

If her peaces of work are original and she finds a niche, then she could find someone with that kind of knowledge that is willing to help her for a peace of the pie... Its the "You scratch my back I'll scratch yours" relationship.

Answer 4

One of the best ways is to let her teach herself and learn how to market her on her own, that way she will learn. Good sources would be the internet, library or book store. Or even take a course on marketing.