Marketing strategies for product positioning and customer segmentation

¶ … Marketing

Lessons from the tutorials

The tutorial is mainly focused on the concept of product and marketing of the products that different organizations have to offer to the consumer. There is a dissection of what defines a qualified customer for each product found in the various markets. The most significant thing to consider is the qualities of a qualified customer as the tutorial indicates, these are customers who are seeking a solution to their needs, customers who are also eligible to purchase, they have the financial ability to buy and also have the authority to make the purchasing decision (Know This LLC, 2011 A).

It is therefore important to segment the market for each product so that the business is able to tell the target customer base as the tutorial indicates. This will enable the organization to identify a segment within a larger and overall market, choose a segment that will best fit the aims of the organization as well as being able to develop a marketing strategy that will appeal to the target market. The segmentation is usually done taking into account three major variable; the demographics, customers' purchasing situation and customers' personal information.

There are various marketing strategies also outlined in the tutorial as undifferentiated or mass marketing, differentiated or segmentation marketing, concentrated or niche marketing, customized or micro-marketing. These are the main marketing strategies that each company must consider before they roll out their products.

Apparently it is not only the segmentation that is significant in making the product successful in the target market but positioning is also vital as the tutorial indicates. This is a way of convincing the consumer that the marketer is offering something different and better hence giving him the reason to but from your products range and not the competitor. This can be effective when the marketer knows the key benefits that the market seeks. This should be accompanied by the proper product decision which should result into a well developed product strategy that should include the input from the market lest it risks not having a long-term success since the current trends cannot ignore the market input into making custom made products and only concentrate on the organization. The product can range from goods, services or even ideas that an organization or an individual may want to put up in the market. The tutorial further categorizes the consumer products as convenience products; those that appeal to a wide market segment and are regularly consumed, shopping products; these are consumed on a lesser scale than the convenience products like clothing, electronics and furnishings and the clients are willing to take their time to locate the exact taste they are looking forward to buy, specialty products; which are relatively more expensive than the previous two categories and clients normally know the prices and are ready to shop around for the best deal, they include vehicles, expensive drinks and hair care products.

From the tutorial it is also clear that marketers should know that products are composed of three parts that must be looked into keenly in order to have a successful marketing plan. The three components are the core benefits; like the ease of using home cleaning detergent, actual product; for instance the detergent itself and augmented products; like the guarantees, warranties, customer service, complementary products that come alongside the products, and all these must be catered for in order to have a successful product category. These can be actualized by taking into account key products decisions like the consumable products features, branding, packaging and even labeling.

The significance of brands are also well outlined and the advantages that it gives the marketers are shown as stimulating customer recognition, create brand loyalty and a brand community, making product positioning easier, ease of brand extension, promoting profits through brand equity as some of the significant benefits of having strong brands (Know This LLC, 2011 B).

There is also a well elaborated product management and the various levels outlined in the tutorials. These levels are outlined product item level; concerned with marketing a single brand or product, brand product line level; associated with managing two or more product items that are similar i.e. carrying the same brand name, category product line level; which involves managing two or more product lines though still within the same product category, Product Mix Level; where the marketer is responsible for more than one category product lines and the management efforts are directed to different product categories.

The tutorials also give the various approaches to branding for companies which include individual product branding; where new products are given new names that don't relate in any way to the previous brands already existing, family branding; here the new products are placed under the umbrella of a brand that already exists within the company hence enabling rapid market awareness, co-branding; where a marketer partners with a different firm with an established brand with the vision of making one stronger brand with the synergy of the two, private or store branding; where suppliers produce products for other companies and even place their brands on the products, no-name or generic branding; where some products are intentionally produced 'brandless' to capture the alternative products buyers at lower costs, lastly the brand licensing; where the company owning the brand allows another to use the brand.

Issues relating to information and information systems

The intangible products must be made to have intangible value; this is the scenario that surrounds the information systems industry since they deal in intangible brands. The measure of the success of such brands, as Paul Christ (2011) puts it depends on the brand equity. The brand equity is the financial advantages that are tied to the brand of a particular company; this is the measure of the value that is found in the brand itself. In order to get the required brand equity, there is an absolute need to proper branding strategy as well as brand management that will work for intangible goods. The it marketer must as well be able to segment the target market in a manner that the business will get the best possible profits from the various market segments without losing out on any market be it the corporate world or individual users of the IT product.

The IT marketer must as well brand the product appropriately so that it is visible to the customers and gets to be utilized by the target market segment, this they can achieve easily through co-branding or family branding being an intangible product as is seen with the other IT firms like Apple Inc. (Marketing Minds, 2010).