Because most fourth-graders have spent considerable time in retail stores, most of them likely have some idea of what a salesperson does. One idea for a sales project for fourth grade is to have the students try selling their own arts and crafts project at a school event. The students should write a list of advantages of each product, and turn this list into a brief pitch explaining to customers why they should buy the product. Students could find out each product's advantages by asking classmates what they liked and disliked about them. Another project idea is to have students read over a list of sales strategies (such as upselling and cold calling) and write a weekly diary describing each time they or their parents were the target of one of these tactics.
Marketers must strike a balance between a price that exceeds the cost of producing an item and a level that customers will actually pay. Fourth-graders usually have basic mathematical knowledge in topics such as fractions and decimals, which means they can understand the basics of pricing. One pricing project for fourth grade involves giving students information about the cost of producing an item, then asking them to set prices to make a profit. Another such project is to have students make trinkets (such as friendship bracelets) and price them for sale at a craft show. The students should determine the prices that the market can bear by checking the prices for similar items on a crafts website (see Resources).
For a company to sell products across a wide geographic area, it must make use of advertising, because face-to-face sales alone cannot move a product into entirely new markets. Advertisers use mass media (such as TV and radio spots) and human psychology to get buyers interested in products. One advertising project for fourth grade involves getting students to draw paper advertisements for small products. These advertisements can be made using word processing and illustration software. In this project, the students should design an eye-catching logo (such as a few letters, or an image made out of shapes), a headline (a statement to hook the viewer's attention, such as "is your house missing a certain je ne sais quois?"), a product name and an image of the product. The logo could be designed in a paint program using the shape, fill and line tools. A photo of the product could be taken with a digital camera.
Marketing is essential to entrepreneurs, who must advertise and promote themselves thoroughly in the early stages of their businesses. For students with an entrepreneurial bent, learning to market through small-business projects can be a fun and educational experience. One entrepreneurship project is to let students come up with their own products and try selling them over the Internet. Have the students form groups of three to brainstorm ideas for products that can be sold over online stores (such as eBay) and classifieds websites. If the students have a hard time coming up with an idea, you could suggest some popular items on online stores: sunglasses, watches and posters, for example. The students could then purchase these items at a secondhand store and attempt to sell them for a profit at an online store or classifieds site. The students would determine an appropriate price by looking at the prices for similar items on the site.