As a business leader, you’re familiar with the product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
Now, consider this: does the accompanying marketing life cycle get as much attention, or do you treat it as if it’s on autopilot?
At every stage of the product life cycle, there are marketing challenges and decisions that should be carefully considered. By neglecting the marketing life cycle, businesses fail to capitalize on opportunities, shorten the product’s life cycle, or worse, accelerate the product’s demise. Below are a few examples and questions to illustrate.
(Two notes: In this post, “marketing” focuses on all forms of advertising, digital, social media, deals, and other outreach. Distribution, product, and price are less of a focus here. Also, most services follow similar patterns.)
Introduction
Product examples:
Marketing examples: PR and publicity, stunts and events, demonstrations and sampling
- The product is brand new so marketing must grab attention, communicate its existence, and provide information, thereby establishing market share with early adopters.
- If it’s unlike anything out there now, how does it work? Why should we believe that it would work?
- (It is VERY rare that there is not some existing product serving broadly the same need. For example, you can address double chins with surgery or liposuction, but now there is a drug, ATX-101, that is a less-invasive option.)
- If the product is an improvement on previous ones, why is it better?
Growth
Product examples: Mini tablets, organic foods, Blu-ray players, and the Toyota Prius. The Prius started the hybrid revolution in 1997 and arrived in the U.S. in 2000. In 2013, it surpassed 3,000,000 vehicles sold worldwide and is sold in over 80 countries.
Marketing examples: Advertising, word of mouth, social media, referral programs
- The product needs to reach a broader consumer base, so marketing must generate attention among that larger group and provide compelling reasons to buy.
- A great product that never reaches a large audience is usually a failure except in the case of niche or luxury products like Ferraris.
- By dramatically increasing market share, you fend off competitors, and the associated economies of scale should increase the product’s profitability.
- For this broader audience, what is the appeal? This may be a different message than the one that appealed to early adopters who are more involved.
- What simple, clear, quick message–without a lot of technical speak–can you deliver to convince this larger group?
- How can you generate word of mouth? Give your early adopters tidbits to pass along so that they become evangelists for you. Prius has used word of mouth to great advantage. The Prosper Insights & Analytics’ 2012 Media Behaviors & Influence Study of 22,000+ adults points out that 88.7% of respondents regularly/occasionally seek advice prior to a purchase. Fully 80.2% will seek that advice face to face, 24.7% will share an email, 23.8% will text a friend, and 22.9% will communicate via their mobile device. When consumers are talking about your company and product/service, give them the message you want them to carry forward.
Maturity
Product examples: Coke, flash drive data storage, Barbie, and iPhone.
Marketing examples: Advertising, loyalty programs, promotions, charity tie ins
- The product is well known and has significant market share, but now there are direct competitors so marketing is necessary to defend market share and continue to increase it, even if at a slower rate.
- Advertising and outreach should remind and highlight new news, communicate the product’s differentiating benefits, and keep the brand top of mind.
- Becoming a household name may be every brand manager’s dream, but it can backfire. Consumers tend to favor the new and different, the upstart company, and the little guy who is trying to knock off established companies. Therefore, continually refresh the product/brand image to avoid feeling dated.
- What new news can you offer?
- What have you done to refresh your product? New colors, new sizes, new features/benefits that make life easier, new potencies, and new partnerships all support a perception of newness. Think of the new iPhone 5c and 5s.
Decline
Product examples: Music CDs, hardcopy newspapers, landline phones, CD/DVD data storage
Marketing examples: Promotions, new markets overseas, new groups of consumers (ex. Wii and senior citizens)
- We all hope to avoid this stage, but here the product is undeniably in decline. It is losing share and/or the overall category is shrinking. You need to remind your remaining customers of the product and offer them reasons to stay loyal.
- A product does not fall out of favor overnight. You will see it coming in declining sales, decreased interest from retailers, press, and other partners, and increased interest in competitors or substitute products.
- What special deals can generate interest and sales? A few examples: bonus CD music tracks offered by
Target and rollout techniques such as books offered first in hardcopy form. - What can you do to provide for a soft landing, a planned obsolescence? (Until then, reduce expenditures and milk revenue, as long there is profit.)
- What incentives can you offer–deals, promotions, sales–to close out remaining inventory?
- What are you doing to migrate customers of that declining product to one of your newer products? Ideally, you will start the product life cycle all over again.
As much as marketers are tempted to sit back and reap the rewards following a successful product launch, all stages of both the product and marketing life cycles must be actively worked.
We plan extensively for new products and services, from innovation brainstorms to launch events; now, we need to be just as careful in planning for the entire marketing life cycle. At each stage, we are faced with critical decisions, and we are presented with opportunities to realize the full potential of the product and to benefit the business.
Do you plan for marketing efforts at every stage of the product lifecycle? Have you had products or services that were eclipsed by new offerings? How do you continually provide new news? How do you encourage early adopters to evangelize for your product?
