How Marketing Changes Depending On Your Product

Marketing is a constantly evolving field for nearly every type of business and company. The current practices, concepts and ideas that are prominent in marketing today will no doubt change in the future. The world is constantly in motion, and while we as marketers move through this dynamic landscape, so will our methods.

Marketing always revolves around the end consumer and the specific individual we want to target. So we must make informed decisions on how we market our products based on these parameters. Not all campaigns will follow the same formula; it mainly depends on who we are selling to and what products we are releasing to the market.

If you wish to run a successful campaign, you must first consider the customers you will be targeting and the products you will be selling. When these parameters change, so does the strategy. This piece will outline how marketing changes depending on the product you’re selling and what we can do to maximise our results as marketers.

Product Marketing

Product marketing is different to traditional marketing. Traditional marketing is about promoting companies or brands as a whole and inspiring demand from consumers. It doesn’t look at individual goods or services that the brand may provide. Its sole aim is brand awareness which makes it different to product marketing. Although brand awareness does come into play, product marketing is solely geared towards strategies and marketing campaigns based on a single product.

When you’re focusing on product marketing, your approach changes, you will need to hone into specific audiences to show that you can solve problems and get them to purchase your product. This may require more research in understanding the pain points of a particular demographic and how we can position our product to appeal to them. It takes a very different and more focused approach.

Types of Product and Approaches

There are many ways to categorise products, and all require different strategies. As a company, you can sell physical goods or services; both require different approaches. We can also differentiate products between consumer products and business products. Consumer products are any items you’d sell directly to consumers purchased for use, and the demand is direct. Business products can be bought for use or resale, and the need for these products is derived from the market. In this article, we will be looking at consumer products.

Convenience Product

The convenience product is a consumer product. These products are goods or services that individuals don’t spend much time considering or making decisions about before purchasing. They mostly buy these products out of convenience.

The strategy for convenience products is to make these items available and highly visible as not much thought needs to be made into the purchase. The quicker the customer can purchase the item and exit the store, the happier they tend to be. These products don’t require extensive campaigns or advertising as everyday items are used out of necessity.

Specialty Product

The specialty product is a good or service that individuals don’t purchase very often. Like the shopping product, customers will need to make a decision and take time. An example could be buying a home or deciding on an aged care facility. The marketing for aged care facilities would have different approaches from marketing for a restaurant or fast food.

Specialty products will need a focused approach as marketers. You will take advantage of social media, advertisements, word of mouth and testimonials. If consumers are looking for higher ticket items, you must ensure that sufficient information is available and that the offer is competitive.

Shopping Product

Shopping products are the next level up from convenience products, items that the consumer may find necessary but potentially in a high price bracket. The consumer usually is more willing to put time and effort into making a choice and often compares the shopping product with other options to find the best deal.

These products require more effort on the marketers' behalf as competition and other conditions come into play. It is essential to ensure that your shopping product has sufficient details and specifications available to the consumer and comes at a competitive price point. These are factors that may contribute to purchase and should be considered.

Conclusion

We have many methods and considerations to make when marketing products to consumers. This article is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of techniques and strategies we can use, but it is essential to distinguish between products and the general approach we use for each. I hope this brief article has clarified some points and given you the proper framework to position your products—best of luck.