Products are the first and most important element in a marketing mix. Product strategy calls for coordinated decisions about product portfolios, product lines, brands, packaging, and labels.
When planning a marketing offering or product, marketers need to consider five levels of product. The most basic level is the core interest, which is the basic interest or service that the customer really buys. At the second level, marketers must turn core interests into basic products. At the third level, marketers prepare a desired product, in which the purchaser usually wants and defaults a set of attributes and conditions. At the fourth level, marketers prepare an additional product that includes increased services and benefits that can distinguish the company's offering from the competitors' offerings. At the fifth and final level, marketers prepare potential products, which are all additional and new conversions that the product may eventually achieve.
There are several ways to classify a product. According to its durability and tangibility, it can be divided into non-durable goods, durable goods or services. In consumer goods, it can be divided into convenience products (daily necessities, impulse products, emergency items); optional products (homogeneous products and heterogeneous products); special products; or non-craving products. In industrial products, there are three types depending on the production process they enter: materials and components (raw materials, ie, agricultural products and natural products, and semi-finished products and components, ie, constituent materials and component parts); capital items (equipment and accessories) Equipment); or supplies and business services (operating supplies, maintenance supplies, repair and repair services, business consulting services).
Most companies have more than one product, which can be described as having a certain width, length, depth, and viscosity. The quadratic theory of product portfolio is a tool for companies to develop product strategies to determine which product lines need to be developed, maintained, harvested, and withdrawn. Strong products should be developed or maintained, and weak or non-profit products should be contracted or withdrawn on a regular basis. In order to analyze how much of the product line and decision-making resources should be invested in the product line, product line managers need to observe their sales, profits, and market contours.
A company can change the product composition of its marketing mix by extending the length of the product line (downward, upward, or bidirectional), or product line, product line modernization, certain product features, and reductions and eliminations. Profitable products.
Brands are a major topic of product strategy. Brand building is expensive and time-consuming, it can thrive or break a product. The most valuable must have its assets, it is an important asset of the company. In the consideration of brand strategy, the company must decide whether to establish the brand, product manufacturer brand or distributor/private brand, which brand name to use, and whether to expand the product line, brand extension, multi-brand, new brand or Co-branding, the best brand name inspires people to think of the benefits of the product; prompts the quality of the product; easy to read, easy to recognize and easy to remember; it is different; there is no negative meaning in other countries and other languages.
Many physical products require packaging and labels when entering the market. A well-designed package can create a convenient value for the customer and create promotional value for the product. In fact, they act like a "5-second advertisement." The marketer must establish a packaging concept and test the concept functionally and psychologically to ensure that it achieves the desired goals and aligns it with the policies and social responsibilities of the consortium. Physical products also need labels to facilitate product identification, possible grading, descriptions, and promotions. The law requires sellers to provide some information on the label, so that consumers understand and protect the interests of consumers.
Reprinted from: Internet Marketing