Entrepreneurial Toolkit: 1st ‘P’ Of The 4P’S In Marketing

There is a famous saying by Lee Iacocca, American Executive that “When the product the right, you don’t have to be a great Marketer”. But the question is ‘what is a product’. The product is the first element of marketing. The product is to satisfy the target customers. The management must decide about the products to be produced, after knowing the customer demand and need thoroughly. In modest words, anything that is offered by a seller to the market for sale at a price is called the product. An entrepreneur has to take a wise decision about what product he should produce to fulfil customer demand and need.

 Customers' demand, taste, need keep changing as per the trend, the entrepreneur must have to be careful about the change and has to come up with such a demandable product keeping in mind the USP.

Based on the needs and nature, the product can be divided into 3 parts-

1. Consumer Product

Consumer products are mainly bought by the consumers for direct consumption resolution. It is mainly durable products and non-durable products. Products like food products or our daily use products can be considered consumer products.

2. Industrial Product

Industrial products are not products for consuming directly, it’s for industrial use, like goods making machinery. Industrial products can be types of equipment and machinery, can be raw materials, and also can be supplies like lubricants and repairing products.

3. Services

When the products are not tangible, like banging services, internet services, they are grouped into services. The degree of intangibility varies from service to service.

Product decisions always involve other choices, one of the important is the packaging. Packaging is an important element of a product. Packaging has the power to protect the products from external damage. Attractive packaging of the product always affects customer choices, it’s very appealing to the customers.

A wise product policy is essential to meet the market demand. A good strategy is a guide for decision-making for a production process. An entrepreneur must have the ability to reach the satisfaction level of customers in a better way of product quality, design, size, price, and packaging. The plan includes products innovation, modification, and elimination.

So, What Can Be the Steps to Build a Product?

1. Regulate the Target Audience

Once, Seth Godin, American Writer said, that ‘Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.’ Having a target audience for your product will help you to understand what type of product you have to create; this will stimulate your production. Always before producing a product think about what your target audiences want from, you. Regulating the target audience is an effective way to stimulate your marketing process.

2. Research

To know about your target audience the ‘must’ thing to do is thorough market research. Your market research will help you to know about your competitors, what they offer to the target audience, you can be able to identify your and your competitor’s strength and weaknesses and can work accordingly.

3. Plan and Execute

Now after a thorough research as you know your competitors’ criteria, their strengths, and weakness, your products, you can come up with a unique quality of your product. Plan for a product that will fulfill your customer demand and will attract them with your exclusivity. Follow the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) method and then execute consequently.

4. Define your Product

Now you are ready to launch your product in the market. But remember that your target audiences are not aware of your new product. Start product demonstration. Define and demonstrate your product in an attractive, keep the AIDA (Attract, Interest, Desire, and Action) process in mind and start giving free samples and trials. Show the exclusive side of your product and make the customer understand that how your product can fulfill their needs and demands.

5. Promote

Now your product is ready and your customers are aware of it, it’s time to promote now. Build your product image to grow high and higher.

You may think about how the products and the production practices method occurred globally.

Throughout the world, the major and popular brands and companies follow these four steps for their products.

·Product Innovation

Customs, tastes, attitudes, preferences, demands of the customers keep changing according to time and trend. These consumers behavioral change encourages the brands to change their product necessarily and time to time. When the new product is introduced into the market in the place of the existing product the modification is done in such a way that it becomes the new product completely. This is product innovation.

·Product Diversification

Diversification happened when a brand seeks to enter the market with different models and varieties of the product of a particular brand. It is a strategy of functioning a company, so that profit comes from many sources. In this strategy, if one product failed, there will be another more way open to make a profit. For example- ‘Himalaya’ has many ranges of products, beauty products to medical products. It is diversification. Diversification is very helpful to take more advantage in the market, to catch hold of the market full of competitors.

·Product Modification

Has previously mentioned, customers' tastes and demands change according to the trend. For this, the existing products have to be upgraded to reach target audiences’ demand. This process, followed by popular companies worldwide, is known as product modification. Product modification is very important to keep the market holding.

·Product Elimination

When the product is unable to fulfill the customer demand, when the product modification also can’t help, the entrepreneur has no choice than eliminating the product from the market. For such cases, product elimination will be the profiting way or the businessman may run into losses. Such a product can also decline the brand reputation. For this product, elimination is necessary sometimes.

To measure the success and failure of the product, the global market follows the rule of PLC that is the Product Life Cycle. According to William J Stanton, “From the birth to death of a product, exists in different stages and different competitive environment. Its adjustment to this environment determines to a great degree just successful its life will be”.

To measure a product’s lifecycle, the stages that the global market follows, are – Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline.

Now, we came to know every detail of a product and its life. So, it’s time to launch the product in the market. But don’t you think that we have to do thorough testing and checking before the launch. Product checklists are very important to check the faults during production. As we all check our answer sheets before final submission in the exam, we have to be careful in the case of products also.

You have to check that your product is properly tested, the quality is up to the mark and you have completed the proper packaging and pricing.

You have to check the launch date and the positioning of your product.

You have to check the design, quantity, and everything.

Check the marketing and selling team if they are all prepared for the grand launching.

And finally, check if your product is properly promoted.

The checklists help the entrepreneur to save time and make the marketing process easier. It will help the entrepreneur to keep a track of the product and its marketing.