Big movie hits don’t happen overnight! There’s a lot of thought that goes into creating the story, the angles of the scenes, the choice of settings and much more. For a company, a Product Marketing strategy plays a similar role.
Product Marketing involves everything from product development and positioning to the strategy for launching your product into the world. It’s all about creating an exciting and persuasive narrative about your product, seeking to captivate and attract your audience.
But to ensure success in sales — as well as at the box office — it is essential to know which strategies to put into practice. Follow the 9 suggestions I have put together!
What is Product Marketing?
Imagine that a person wants to start running comfortably and safely. They will probably need items such as appropriate running shoes and socks, sportswear and other accessories, right?
If a company intends to sell sports items and wants to capture this target audience, it will be necessary to develop items that correspond to these interests. In practice, this is Product Marketing.
The strategy is about identifying the demands and desires of customers, focusing on creating and marketing products that meet them. And, to spark interest, it is necessary to create offers that provide tangible and intangible benefits.
This type of Marketing also includes defining a unique positioning in the market to promote and sell the product effectively and, of course, as it is put into practice, it is possible to make the necessary adjustments based on the results observed.
The Product Marketing Strategy
When adopting Product Marketing, one of my main tips is: be consistent and truthful. After all, when you promise something about your product, you create an expectation in people.
The problem is that if these expectations are not met, there is disappointment and frustration. This also reduces trust in the brand. If this experience is repeated, consumers will trust your company less and less.
And since the idea is to be truthful and consistent, it is essential to know your brand in depth. In my view, this involves knowing:
- Who is the company?
- Who does she want to talk to?
- What are its characteristics, such as values, mission and vision in the market?
The product needs to be a manifestation of the brand’s identity. It’s how it appears on the shelf, in your customer’s home and in people’s daily lives.
To understand the power of efficient, true and coherent Product Marketing, just think about Nike, one of the most successful companies in the world.
The brand is associated with issues such as execution, speed, achievement and reaching goals. So when someone wears a Nike product, they are not just wearing a shoe!
The person actually feels empowered, fast, and capable of achieving their goals. This is what creates the unique value proposition, ensuring that the product and brand stand out from the competition.
Product Marketing Challenges
When designing a Product Marketing strategy, you must know what challenges you face.
The first thing I want to mention is the increasingly fierce competition. Brands are competing for the public’s attention and launching a product that stands out requires a lot of strategy to create and communicate the value proposition.
Another challenge to consider has to do with changes in consumer behavior and tastes. Generational differences, the emergence (and disappearance) of trends, and the speed of information are some factors that can make something become obsolete in a short period of time.
From a financial point of view, one challenge in Product Marketing is the investment required. It is common to have to go through research, development and validation stages, in addition to the costs of materials, technologies and product creation processes.
Effective communication poses some challenges because it is necessary to find the ideal way to convey the benefits and differences to the public. More than just talking about the product, the goal is to convince, delight and engage people!
How to Market a Product
Developing a strong positioning for your brand and product is crucial to differentiate yourself from the competition and attract your target audience. But how can you do this effectively?
To get it right, check out 9 tips for doing Product Marketing:
Target audience
The first step to putting Product Marketing into practice is to understand your ideal customer profile, their needs, desires and preferences. Only then will it be possible to make a coherent promise that truly sparks people’s interest.
If you notice that your customers are engaged with sustainability, for example, it may be a good idea to develop a line of eco-friendly products.
It is also necessary to understand the environment in which the brand operates so that it can gain a competitive advantage. After all, the idea is to have a unique positioning, and it is necessary to know where your company fits in.
But be careful: this data must be based on reality! To do so, it is worth carrying out market research, competitor analysis and demographic studies. I will talk more about this in the next tip.
Market research and product development
When I talk about conducting market research, the reason has to do with the fact that it serves as a kind of X-ray of the public. It is through it that you are able to evaluate consumer behavior and understand what their preferences are.
This type of information serves to guide product development, ensuring that it meets the expectations of the market segment it aims to reach. This is how your company can create exactly what people want to buy from you.
Using this information is also useful for standing out from the competition, including by identifying opportunities and threats and predicting future trends.
Marketing Mix: product, price, place and promotion
The Marketing Mix is composed of the 8Ps (Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Processes, Positioning and Performance) and the 4Cs (Customer, Cost, Convenience, Communication).
When you look at these items, it’s common to conclude that product development is just one part of the mix — and, in a way, that’s true.
However, without a truly good product, the other elements of the strategy are at greater risk of failure. After all, this will be an empty promise, right?
Therefore, Product Marketing has everything to do with overall Marketing success. With a good product, there is a better chance of creating a strong positioning for the brand, differentiating it from the competition and attracting the right customers.
By combining Product Marketing and the Marketing Mix, you can use the 8Ps and 4Cs to identify product differentials and ideal advertising channels, for example. This way, you can have a broader and more effective vision.
Pricing
Developing a Product Marketing strategy also requires getting pricing right. The reason for this has to do with performance, as price can significantly impact the demand and profitability of the product.
While it’s important to know your costs, that shouldn’t be the only factor you consider. You also need to understand the market, including your competition and their prices.
If you charge significantly less than the average price for a product of equivalent quality, your company may experience a lower return on investment and your product may be seen as inferior.
This brings us directly to another essential point: the perception of value. The construction of positioning also connects with the way the brand is presented and perceived.
If people believe that your product has different features, is of higher quality and adds greater value, they are likely to be willing to pay more.
This is what happens with many luxury brands. No matter how high-quality the products and processes are, and how the brand’s communication conveys this, much of the price has to do with intangible benefits, such as exclusivity and differentiation. That’s why people pay tens or hundreds of thousands of reais for certain items.
Product Life Cycle in Marketing
Another step involves understanding the relationship between the product life cycle and Marketing. I can already say that this connection is total and cannot be separated.
Thinking about the concept, the product life cycle is made up of the stages that the product goes through, from its conception and launch to its withdrawal from the market. Therefore, it totally influences how the brand should position itself and communicate.
It all starts with development, since the intention is to create a product for the market. So this includes understanding the customer, what their purchasing journey is like and how they use this type of product.
From the moment the product is launched, Marketing is present in all interactions between the customer and the product. When they see the box on display, when they take it off the shelf, when they talk about the product or when they write a review — all of this is Marketing!
Therefore, consider this entire cycle to outline a strategy that helps place the product in the right place, at the right time and for the right person.
Lifetime
Since I’ve talked about the product life cycle, it’s worth mentioning its lifetime. It refers to the estimated duration that a product remains relevant and competitive in the market before being replaced by a new version, technology or solution.
Want an example? The iPhone! Typically, the lifespan of an Apple model is tied to the release of other models.
An iPhone may not become obsolete immediately after the release of the next version, but it will decline in the market as new alternatives from the same brand arrive.
However, this is not the case for all brands and the lifespan can vary significantly, did you know? It depends on several factors, such as the type of product, industry and market trends.
When developing a Product Marketing strategy, it is a good idea to invest in research and development, as well as in Marketing and differentiation actions. This is a way to prolong relevance, maximizing the use of the product’s life cycle.
Unique Value Proposition
I’ve already talked about the unique value proposition here, but I want to delve deeper into this issue because I believe it is essential for Product Marketing.
In practice, this proposal seeks to answer one main question: what do your product and your brand offer to the public?
The answer could come in the form of a unique feature, a differentiated benefit, an innovative approach, or even a set of values that resonate with the persona.
For example, think of a water brand that positions itself as a much more sustainable option because its bottle uses less plastic and pollutes the environment less.
In this case, the unique value proposition is more closely linked to the values that the brand shares with its customers, since the product itself is no different from the competition. Therefore, there are many ways to define the unique value proposition.
The important thing is to have this element very clear from the beginning of the strategy. This way, it is possible to build the positioning around this characteristic and achieve true differentiation — check out the next tip to understand how to do it.
Core message
Once you’ve identified your brand’s unique value proposition, I recommend developing a clear, compelling message to communicate what makes your brand or product special.
The goal is to demonstrate why customers should choose your offering over what your competitors are offering. This is when the brand makes a promise — and delivering on it also depends on the quality of the product.
Feedbacks
Feedback plays a very important role in any business, but it is essential in Product Marketing. Through it, it is possible to gain insights into the effectiveness of Marketing strategies, for example.
This is also a way to understand how the product is accepted by the market and what customer needs have not been identified. In other words, this is a valuable source of knowledge for the brand and its strategies.
To use feedback, collect it from different sources, such as market research and social media mentions. The more channels you use, the broader your understanding of audience opinions will be.
It’s also important to analyze feedback for trends and patterns. If multiple people on different channels make similar suggestions, this could be an unmet need, for example.
The lessons learned from feedback should be applied to improve the product and its marketing strategy. Sometimes, a change in positioning or USP can have interesting effects on sales.
And be careful: these steps should not be performed just once. Make the collection, analysis and application of feedback a cycle, as this will make the performance increasingly robust and efficient.
Your product will be remembered!
Investing in Product Marketing strategically is essential for success. Through this approach, you can differentiate your brand, increase the perception of value, generate more sales and build customer loyalty, among other benefits.
I believe that Product Marketing can take your business higher and further, creating opportunities even in the face of fierce competition and constant changes!
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