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Marketing: The Four "P's" by Simon Burne
Many projects also operate under more or less severe time restrictions (both from funders and also because of the acuteness of the deforestation problems facing many countries) and active marketing can help to speed up the process of adoption quite significantly. There are four key factors to be considered when working out how the stoves are going to be disseminated. These are often called the four P's: Product, Price, Promotion and Place. The combination of these four is called the "Marketing Mix". The relationships between the four and the target market are shown in Figure 1. We will consider each one in some detail.
[top] [end]ProductThe stove has to deliver what it promises. That is, its quality must be good. Quality control has been a problem for many stove projects once production has moved away from the project's own workshop. This has often led to stoves being produced that save little over a three-stone fire - there have even been cases of stoves that are less efficient.Registering a brand name which only approved producers can use can help. More important is to design the stove as simply as possible so that the key dimensions and details can be stressed. This is equally valid for artisan/factory built stoves as it is for self-built stoves. Some projects in Mali were using Bic pen widths and lengths to measure the critical dimensions of a user-built mud stove as they are ubiquitous there. Hand measurements (fists, fingers and palms) and tins (margarine, fat, meat, etc) can also be useful. Simplicity holds the key to quality control. Adoption of the stove will be further helped if the stove "looks" improved, especially if people are going to pay for it. It should look different from existing models and "worth the pricer. A certain amount of styling can sometimes be introduced without adding to the cost. However, it should not look so different that people cannot recognise it as a stove! [top] [end]PricePrice, of course, is unimportant for self-build stoves. However, an increasing number of self-build designs incorporate a ceramic liner which means that pricing of these can be important.Prices have to be high enough to encourage producers to make the stoves and low enough to encourage consumers to buy them. What tends to happen is that prices are high initially to encourage production and then, as more producers become interested and competition increases prices will fall to more realistic levels. This means that the initial purchasers of the stove will tend to be wealthier people. As long as prices subsequently come down, this is only a small problem. If the project wants to reach poorer people more quickly, then discounts may have to be offered (bearing in mind that wealthier people will demand the discounts too). This form of "market skimming", that is, targetting the wealthier people first, does have one advantage though: should the stove not be as good as was hoped, it is wealthier people who have borne the risk and the cost, not poorer people. [top] [end]Place"Place" refers to where and how the stoves will be made available to customers. Of all the parts of the marketing mix this is perhaps the most important, simply because it tends to get forgotten. In the early phases of the projects, project vehicles are often used to deliver stoves or trainers or stove builders without any consideration as to what will happen when the demand grows or when the project ends. Consequently when project funding ends, it is not uncommon for stove production to end too because no one has the means of selling the stove.For self-build stoves, "place" is important to ensure that training and back-up are made available at the right place. This might be through village visits or more centralized training at market places. Mobile units to provide follow-up can also be very effective. For purchased stoves, it is important that the stoves are on sale at places where your target market are used to shop and preferably where they buy their fuel or existing stoves. In a country or region where the new stove is replacing an existing stove which was already purchased, it is advisable to try and use the existing production and distribution network as much as possible. Even when there is no tradition of purchasing stoves, you should explore existing production and distribution systems for similar household goods such as cooking pots, kerosene lamps or washing bowls. These will tend to offer better long term stability for a stove project than setting up some new network. [top] [end]PromotionWhat springs to mind when people talk of promotion is advertising. This is an important part but not all of the picture. Demonstrations, point of sale material and publicity are all very important. Let us consider each one in turn.Advertising can be very effective at raising people's awareness of the availability of a new product. Contrary to popular belief, it is unlikely that advertising on its own creates demand, but it certainly lays the foundations for that demand. Advertising has to be treated very carefully. Whatever medium you choose (posters, hoardings, newspapers, cinema, radio, television) there are certain rules that must be followed. The simplest of these is to seek professional advice. If none is available you should restrict yourself to the simplest (and usually the cheapest) media. In most cases, this will be posters, but local radio can also be very effective. The second rule is to decide on the message you want to get across, which will depend on your target market and their perceiving priorities for an improved stove. Each advertisement should concentrate on one aspect of the stove - on one message. Otherwise, advertisements easily get cluttered and boring. Use the message that will make the stove attractive to the consumer, not to you as a stove practitioner. If you have a brand name for the stove (always a useful way of linking all parts of your marketing mix together and an effective way of getting the stove fixed in people's minds) make sure that all advertisements carry it. Thirdly, only use those media which you know a substantial part of your target market have access to. Newspapers and television are little use in rural areas of most countries, while radio is often listened to avidly, especially at certain times (often at cooking time). Fourthly, make sure your advertising is not socially or culturally offensive. This is especially important if humour is introduced into advertising or if a country is divided between different religions. Demonstrations can be a very effective promotional tool. People see the stove working and can satisfy any doubts they have. Demonstrations at markets are particularly valuable since people tend to have money to spend. Invite wholesalers and retailers to watch the demonstrations: when they see people buying the stoves, they will be more willing to stock the stoves themselves.
This type of vehicle sticker is available in many West African countries, They are attached to cars and buses and spread the word quickly and widely. Point of sale material helps to bring people's minds back to the product when they are in a "purchasing mood". Point of sale materials are such things as posters, free gifts if a stove is purchased, display stands and many other things to highlight the stove in the shop or market place. Posters are most likely to be effective, especially if posters are used as part of the advertising campaign. Point of sale material should be easily associated in consumers' minds with the advertising. The most effective form of promotion is publicity. This is reports in the press or radio, and their effect is powerful because it is not advertising, which people often mistrust, but "independent. reporting which "must" be true. Thus, slots on radio programmes can be very powerful. It is crucial, of course, that all four "P's", all four aspects of the marketing mix, complement each other. You must tailor what you plan to do to the price that will be charged and which you believe the target market will pay and you must promote the stove in areas where it can be delivered to the people who need it. How do you test the effectiveness of different parts of your marketing mix? It is important that you do so, so that any activities that are a waste of time and money are stopped as quickly as possible and the resources diverted to those things which appear to be working well. When visiting households, you can ask them if they have heard of the new stove and if so, how they heard (friends, radio, market demonstrations). People purchasing the stove can be asked similarly. The reactions of producers and distributors to different marketing activities can also be gauged in a similar, fairly informal way.
[top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 11: Successful Stove Programmes
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29 September 2008; Last edited:
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