Marketing Mix - Product Strategies

When a company introduces a product into the marketplace, they must ask themselves a number of questions.

1) Who is the product aimed at? (This will be your core customers aka Target Market)
2) What benefits will the customers expect? (What does your product or service do?)
3) How does the company plan to position the product in the market? (Will it be a luxury item? Or a value item? Remember from the class discussion of the Toyota family of cars: Lexus, Toyota and Scion)
4) What differential advantage will the product offer over their competitors? (Can be anything, but often relates back to the uniqueness of your product)

What makes a product unique?  This is what companies must decide when designing the product.  The uniqueness is often the source of competitive advantage.  In fact, the more unique an item is, the longer the competitive advantage remains.  This should be every company's goal: to create a product with a non-imitable advantage.

The product design decisions focus upon:
DESIGN- Will design be the selling point for the company as we have seen with the iPad, the VW Beetle or the Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner?
QUALITY- Quality has to be consistent with other elements of the marketing mix.  A premium-based pricing strategy has to be reflected in the quality of the product that is offered.
FEATURES- What features will the company add that may increase the benefits offered to the target market?
BRANDING- The value of brands in today's environment is phenomenal.  Brands have the power of instant sales, they convey a message of confidence, quality and reliability to their target market.  This is often associated with companies that have been around for a long time.  Think about Coke, McDonalds and IBM.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Write an argument about which product decision is the most important for a new company.  The paper should be a maximum of 400 words.  Don't be afraid to use your text to help support your argument.  This is due by the start of next class period.