How Product Lifecycle Influences Marketing (Knowledge)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, "That Branding Guy" for Once a Day Marketing™. Today we are discussing the classic product life cycle introduced by Raymond Vernon in the 60's and how it still impacts marketing in 2017.

Products evolve a lot like people. They are born, grow, mature, age and then pass on. There are four stages to the classic product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

During Introduction an idea is transformed into a product that is introduced into the market place. Production and marketing costs are initially high at the outset and profits may be low.

Next is Growth. Branding and marketing are driving a sales increase, consumers are gaining awareness and adopting the product; the company is beginning to make a profit.

In the Maturity phase the product is established in the market place. Sales are still climbing but profits are declining because competitors have now entered the market. Other companies latch on to the original product and emulate it, resulting in reduced market share. In this phase, before the product slides into decline, marketers have an opportunity to remarket the product by focusing on differentiators that make the customer feel great about using it.

During the Decline stage, when sales and profits are falling off, a business has to evaluate whether they want to reinvent the product or retire it and bring a new innovation into the market place. 

You can alter your marketing strategy anywhere during the stages based on the marketing mix that is required at that time. At introduction perhaps you employ more promotion strategies and later on move into leveraging pricing strategies.

Remember that the life cycle is different for every product. Some offerings may see sales rise rapidly and then decline while others may be slower to rise and fall. You have to be the expert in analyzing your own product life cycle to determine the marketing strategies that are the best fit for each phase.

Once a Day Marketing™ inspires clients to brand bold. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11:00am (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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