Category marketing is the type of marketing where a full line of products (instead of individual products or brands) is managed as a strategic business unit.

The main advantage of this strategy is that one is able to easily judge market trends and consumer buying patterns by focusing on the entire product category.

While some people have been successful with the strategy, others have failed miserably. According to experts, the effectiveness of the strategy depends on how well you develop it. For the strategy to be successful, you need to follow the following steps:

Determine the category of your product or service

Here you need to analyze your product or service and determine which category of the market it fits. The product can be ideal to the lower, middle, or upper class members of the society. After analysis you will know the right people to market your product to.

Determine the right channel to market the product

Once you have identified the right market for your product, you should now determine the right channel to market it. The channel can be TV, Radio, or Internet. As rule of thumb you should use a channel that is mostly used by majority of your target customers.

Once you have identified the right marketing channel you should concentrate most of your energy there and ensure that you reach as many customers as possible.

Determine sub-marketing channels

In addition to the main marketing channel, it’s common to have other minor channels that you can use to reach a good portion of customers. You should identify the channels and try to reach some customers using them.

Make use of internet

With the latest technological advances, it’s paramount that you consider maximizing the use of internet in your business. This calls for you to set up a website where customers can reach you and make purchases.

Although, you may think that internet is ideal for selling non-physical products such as software and online games, this is untrue. The truth is that there are many people who are willing to buy physical products and pay for shipping.

For example, a couple doing a wedding in Singapore is ready to buy a wedding cake in America-as long as the cake is of the highest quality.

These are the steps that you should use in category marketing. By religiously following the steps you will set yourself apart from your competitors and you will most definitely be more successful than them.