Mastering the Marketing Mix: Product Strategies

Posted on Feb 19, 2025 in Economy

Understanding the Marketing Mix: The Product

The marketing mix focuses on four key variables of the marketing function: product, price, communication or distribution, and promotion. The ultimate goal is to reach consumers and sell the product. We need an appropriate mix of the four variables to ensure that goods and services to be sold will meet the needs and desires of buyers and arrive at the time of need.

A. The Product

A1) Classification of Products:

  • According to the recipient:
    • Consumer Products
    • Industrial Products
  • According to its durability:
    • Durable Products
    • Products for immediate consumption
  • According to their nature:
    • Services
    • Tangible products

A2) Identification of the Product:

Each product has a number of attributes that allow consumers to differentiate similar products. They are mainly:

  1. Quality: Technical quality refers to their materials, finish, duration, etc., and commercial quality refers to all the product-related services.
  2. Design: Foreign presence.
  3. Size and quantity: Allows the product to reach different market segments.
  4. Services: Make the product more attractive. Eg, transport home.
  5. Packaging: Everything about the packaging, wrapping, packaging, and labeling. Has four functions:
    • Protects the product during transport.
    • Adjusting the product to the law (expiration date, composition).
    • Additional Information (instructions).
    • To act as a tool for advocacy and communication.
  6. Image: The main aspect that influences consumers to form a positive image of a brand product, which is the name that is associated with the product or the company and the symbol or logo that identifies it. Two types of marks:
    • Distributor Mark: Companies that use it do not make the product but outsource production to other companies. Example: Products Day, Carrefour…
    • Manufacturer Mark: The use companies that produce goods. An enterprise may use different brands and associate them with different product lines (The Nestlé company employs several brands: Nescafé, Eko, Nespresso) or use a single brand in which case care must be taken that all products maintain the image that is projected.

A3) The Product Life Cycle:

The product does not have an unlimited life in the market; in fact, all do a life cycle phases whose fixed-term are: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The duration of each will vary depending on the product or service, the market you target, image or company logo, etc.

Introduction:

At this stage, it is common to market the product at a loss because the units sold do not report the income to absorb the costs of production and distribution. The main cause is the ignorance that the public has yet of the existence of products, so the advertising and promotion are very important to publicize it.

Growth:

Coincides with the height of the campaigns, increase sales and profits, resulting tensions by the appearance of other similar competing products.

Maturity:

The key feature is the stability of sales and profits. They begin to detect different buying habits and competitive products begin to gain ground.

Decline:

Appear more competitive products. Decrease in sales and profits. Fewer and fewer companies in the market and finally the product disappears.