AMBIT News

Edition 8    September 2009

Marketing Tips

The first of the four Ps of marketing: Product

In the last marketing tips article the four Ps of marketing were discussed: product, price, place and promotion. In this article the first P, product, will be discussed in more depth.

As was discussed last time, product is the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The product includes warranties, guarantees, and support.

Several things should be considered when creating your product to market your target audience:

• Features: Basic features or add-on specialty items

• Optional services: Will customers be charged for fixes or updates? Will you install your manufactured item for free or for a cost? Will customers be able to add or remove features later?

• Product quality: What level of quality will be offered and will there be different prices for the higher quality items?

• Staff quality: Are you the only person in your company or will you hire people or family members to help you?

• Packaging: What types of packaging will you use for your product? Will the packaging convey the quality of what you have made?

• Services: Are you packaging your service with other services that may benefit your customer?

• Guarantees: Is your product warranted for a certain amount of time?

The most important question to consider when manufacturing a product is, will the product I am making be purchased? How do you know that people will buy your product? Consider the type of research you have done to find out what potential customers are looking for in your type of product.

In the next marketing tips article, the next of the three Ps of marketing will be discussed: place. If you have any questions or comments, contact AMEP at info@alaskamep.org.

We Want to Hear From You

AMBIT staff regularly gathers feedback from clients to improve services. we would love to hear from you about what types of impacts our services are having on your business and your community. Please call us at (907) 279-2637 with any comments or questions you have about the AMBIT program.

Alaska Manufacturing Business, Industry and Technology Program (AMBIT)

(907) 279-2637   www.ambit.cc

Term of the Week

Web Browser

A web browser is software installed on a computer that allows a user to receive and read hypertext documents. All web sites are made up of hypertext documents which can contain a variety of information including text, graphics, sound and video. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are currently the two most popular browsers for PCs.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox

How To...

Get Technical Support

Occasionally, you may run into a problem or have questions about the Alaska Business Portal or the Virtual Office that aren't covered in the training manual or other AMBIT resources. If so, how do you get answers?

The first step in getting support is to document the problem. If you see an error message, write it down and include it in any e-mail to technical support staff.

A handy technique that can assist technical support staff is to take a screen shot from any area of the system where you have a question or encounter a problem. A screen shot is an image of your current computer screen.

To take a screen shot, press and hold the CTRL button on your keyboard and tap the Print Screen button. You have just stored a copy of the computer's current screen. Paste the image into a document or e-mail by placing a cursor in the document and pressing and holding the CTRL button and tapping the V key on your keyboard.

To contact technical support staff, login to your AMBIT account and click on the Contact Us tab in the Virtual Office. If the question is about a technical problem, select Site/Data Admin from the drop down list.

If it is a question about your subscription, select Business Admin from the drop down list. If the question is a general one about advertising online, select Advertising from the drop down menu. Enter your subject and question and press the submit button. In addition, you can always contact AMEP staff at info@alaskamep.org

AMBIT is an affiliate of the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. (AMEP). AMEP is one of 59 centers located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. each center was created by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) to help stem the loss of American manufacturing jobs. Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

A public and private partnership funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, The Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc. is committed to developing the state's economy through the provision of technical, business and economic training and assistance to Alaska's small manufacturers and to rural Alaskans producing, marketing, and distributing Native art and other home-based manufactured products.

Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc.
701 Sesame Street, Suite 200
Anchorage, AK 99503

(907) 279-2637   www.alaskamep.org