Product Marketing: How to Strategize It?
Product Marketing is essentially the process that introduces a product to the market.
However, this process also takes insights from the marketing and incorporates that in the launch strategy.
This article discusses what product marketing comprises and how to strategize a new product launch. Let’s learn more below.
Contents
1.
What is Product Marketing?
This process includes the understanding of the target audience, alongside using messaging and positioning to increase the demand and revenue of the product.
It comprises two stages, before and after product launch.
More below!
The first stage is of shaping the product.For that, you will need to understand the demands and needs of the market by studying the competition and customers.
You will also need to perform market segmentation, create a buyer’s persona to fit the audience’s mindset and update the pricing in accordance with the market and the value of the product.
Once this is done, you need to communicate the product to the market.
Communication involves promotion.
Project the product to the audience by creating more content, and raising awareness about it.
Therefore, product marketing in total becomes about how a product is positioned, reshaped, promoted and sold.
7P’s of Marketing Mix
Using the seven P’s of the marketing mix you can derive a road map for product marketing.
These include:
- Product
- Pricing
- Place
- Promotion
- Physical
- People
- Progress
Product
Not all of the 7 P’s may apply to your product, service or business.
Though, the messaging strategy you use and product positioning in the market will be affected by the consumers, competitors and the product itself.
Pricing
Determining the price of the product is one of the essential components of the marketing mix.
It depends on the competitor’s price, are the consumers willing to pay the price and the conditions in the marketplace.
Place
Place is not only limited to shops and physical stores but also includes online distribution which has recently become one of the important factors towards success.
You can sell via exclusive distribution, selective distribution or intensive distribution.
Exclusive distribution is only in a few outlets.
Selective involves the product being present in relevant settings and outlets.
Whereas, intensive refers to selling virtually everywhere usually through online means.
Through this, you can reach a targeted but also wider customer base.
Promotion
The core of marketing and the P’s is promotion.
How do you present the product to the target market and what promotional channels to use?
Thus, the promotional strategy you use determines how, where and what channels you will use for promotion.
Process
The process will include strategy and execution but the process does not look the same for all.
Modify it on the basis of the company vision and the product.
People
This refers to your internal company structure.
How do you manage the people that produce and promote the product and how many do you need for the job?
Physical Environment
This is the perception of brand and consumer experience of physical or online shop environment.
2.
Strategy
Devising a product marketing strategy involves 6 steps.
It guides the position, promotion and pricing of the new launch.
First begin by knowing your target audience, devising a plan considering a market and then launching the products.
Do a Market Research and Set a Buyer’s Persona
First, get to know your consumers on a personal level.
This will help to make a stronger buyer persona and get you closer to what your audience wants.
Knowing your target audience is usually the first step in product marketing because once you understand what the audience desires, you can tap into it to market your product.
This goes beyond the audience’s needs but also knowing their pain points and challenges.
Speaking of that, 63 percent of B2C customers expect a business to address their needs.
A pain point moves a customer to action and also relieves their worry when addressed.
It also improves conversion rates and can tighten the conversion funnel.
So you need to effectively identify the pain of the customer, remind them of it and then provide a solution.
This data comes from thorough market analysis, competitor analysis, customer service and keyword research.
Knowing what your competitor is selling and what works for them and what not is crucial to understanding what gaps your products can fill.
Work on Product Positioning and Messaging
Once you know about what points and audience your product needs to address, it is time to look into how you will position the product.
The positioning of the product is crucial in setting you apart from the competitors.
It answers the important questions of what makes your product particularly unique.
Also wonder how the product is better than competitors, what makes it ideal for the target audience, what challenges can it resolve, and why should your customers trust in your product.
Once you have the answers, turn these into a pitch and excite your target customers by using action and power words.
Also, include the benefit of your product and use a similar tone to that of the brand itself.
After the product launch, you can assess these answers again and see if you have positioned the products well and are delivering the right message.
Going back can give you new ideas for repositioning if it is not working as well.
Setting Goals, Pricing and Strategy
The goals of the launch will depend on what the business desires.
Usually it is an increase in revenue and sales, improving the market share, boosting brand recognition, engaging with customers and also gaining customers from the rest of the competitors.
While determining the price of the products, you need to go for either competitive or value-based pricing.
Determine whether you are going to base the price on what your competitors sell or the original value of your product regardless of the competition.
The latter bases the price on its value for the customer and is suited to companies that have few competitors and are offering a unique and new product.
The customer relates the value to its profitability and it is a means to maximize profits.
Though, for competitive pricing, the product is usually similar to that available in the market.
If it offers a few more features then you can increase its price point.
Utilizing All Channels and Content
Once, you have set up the pricing and goals, it is time to look into the content and sales strategy.
This is time for content creation, product sampling and advertisement.
Using content effectively can leverage sales and conversion rates.
Use all sorts of content such as videos, blog posts, infographics, guides, white papers and podcasts to promote your new product.
Ensure that you have a compelling content marketing and product marketing strategy at hand.
This includes everything we have discussed i.e.
- Knowing your target audience and their needs
- Looking into their paint points and addressing them
- Solving the pain and need through your product
- Set a lucrative price
Launching the Product
Since everything is almost ready, you have only one last step to go i.e. the launch of the product.
The launch entails both internal and external.
The internal launch looks into what happens within the company after you launch the product.
Your whole team should be in coordination with each other to ensure a consistent and accurate product launch.
Discuss the benefits of the product, the launching strategy and its pricing to ensure everyone is on the same page.
For an external launch, you can plan it beforehand and keep the interested customers waiting.
You can use various channels for this purpose such as social media, website landing page, promotional events, in-store, promotional events and exclusive product reviews.
These channels are also the place where you launch the product.
Mention the product, its description, value to the customer, problems it fixes, its uniqueness and pricing to get your product and its message across.
After that, check for performance monitoring.
Evaluate how much you have achieved versus your set goals.
Track the consumer responses to know your product is conveying the message to the right audience is positioned correctly too.
So, now you have finally launched the product but what’s in it for you to go through all of this hassle?
Let’s know below!
Benefits of Product Marketing
It Allows Targeting the Audience Effectively
It allows you to know your customers better and also appeal to them more effectively.
You will know the exact needs of the audience and that will aid in making the products for the future.
You will get detailed insight into your customer base and will cater the products closely to them.
Positioning the Product and Knowing the Competitor
By understanding how to position your product, you are monitoring how to make the product viable for today’s market, how it is unique from the competitors and whether are there products you will not sell again.
Doing such thorough research will allow you to look into your products and brand carefully enough to launch a successful product.
Through this, you will also learn in-depth about your competitors’ marketing and product tactics.
After that, you can launch a better product with unique features.
Improves Sales and Revenue
Amongst all the goals for working on a marketing strategy, boosting revenue and improving sales can be a priority.
By filling product gaps, looking into the market, analyzing the competitors and giving the audience what they desire, your product can achieve improvement in sales.
Thus, strategically marketing your products benefits your business’s sales and visibility.
Summing Up
So here you have it, the product marketing strategy for your next launch.
Keep it in mind while you work on launching a new product in the market.