Before we can dig deep into this articles subject which is product marketing lets first define marketing:
-First of all marketing is one of the many branches of management; marketing consists of studying the market :
One has to determine which product, services he can offer to the market by studying the demand the behaviour of people, of society the marketer has to analyse the market very methodically, he has to keep in mind that he has competition, indeed nowadays monopoly is becoming rare on a giver market, I admit that some companies have more power than other on certain markets (For example Microsoft when it comes to Operating Softwares
Microsoft is the leader on the market. Even if It has competitors like Apple.
– The marketer should also enquire about laws; regulation to make sure his product isnt illegal in any way.
-The marketer needs to specifically target a market segment:
For example if a company is selling toys the consumers will be children so the market segment that will be targeted will be children but the actual buyer wont probably be the child himself so the marketer has to keep in mind that he should not make a product that wouldnt be appreciated by parents as well as children.
Now that the notion of marketing is defined (although I gave a very general definition and explained the concept) lets go deeper into the subject of Product marketing.
Product marketing is part of marketing mix which consists of 4 politics also called 4 P rules:
-Product
-Promotion
-Price
-Place
What is a Product?
A product could be anything from a car, a table, a rug
What is common between all these items?
The answer is that they answer a need; every product is made to answer the need of a particular market segment
There are different categories of products:
-Consumer goods
-Capital goods
Product marketing is the activity that
-adapts the product according too the need of the market
-Differentiates the product from the products of their competitors for example when a company decides to launch a new portable video game console they have to make sure that their product is bringing something new compared to the products of their competitors or if their product is very similar to the ones of their competitors they have to offer it at a lesser cost. The targeted market would be young adults.
Product marketing is a direct result of the marketing strategy concerning the offer of a product.
Another aspect of product marketing is distribution:
Now that we know what product we will offer, and to whom we need to find a way to make the product reach the consumers In other words: Distribution
To distribute the product a company has several choices:
-The company can distribute its product itself this distribution mode helps preserving the image of the company, (the product will be available at some places, it will be in a sense rare. (Available at places selected, owned by the company).
-The company can distribute a product threw a retailer, in this distribution mode the product will gain reach (it will be available at many places), the retailer will then sell it to resellers who deal directly with the consumer.
Once the distribution mode is set a price has to be fixed for the product, and the price is once again fixed by the market ,indeed if a company is selling a product at 200 its competitors cant possibly sell a similar product at 500.
The marketer has to study the market price for a given product and adapt it according to the features of his own product.
-And last but not least the promotion for a product how should people get to know that there is a new product or a new range of products on the market. The marketer can use several platforms:
(TV, radio, newspapers) one important aspect I can emphasize is:
For example if a company is making toys and chose to advertise their product on tv they have to make sure that their ad will be seen by kids and place it accordingly (for example between two children entertainment programs).
-The dimensions of the product are also an important matter :
A product has 3 dimensions
– Material: represents the purpose of the product its characteristics, what it can accomplish
-functional: represents the utility of the product from a consumers point of view, the way the consumer will use the product.
-psychological: is in a way how the market perceives the product the image of the product on the market.
Product mix is not only applicable on products but also on services for example in the hotel industry all the hotels have the same purpose: lodge their clients , but some are rated as five stars other are rated less , its because of the services they provide to their clients
(Leisure, conciergerie, spa, massage)
Hotels also have to target their market segments; a five star hotel wont of course target the same clients as a 2 star hotel
An article by Mon Hotel