This means that the company must be smart with its distribution, focusing on key retailers and channels to introduce the product to the public. There are exceptions, however. For a lot of consumer electronic products -- smartphones, for example -- companies prefer nationwide rollouts of new products through major telecom distributors. Such a strategy is often supported, however, with penetration pricing and extensive ad campaigns. For companies that cannot afford this, regional distribution or through specialty stores is often a first step during the introductory phase until some word of mouth has been built up to support the product. Promotion is critical during the rollout phase. At this stage, most consumers are unaware that the product exists, so promotion needs to not only introduce the product, but explain where it fits into the competitive mix, its positive attributes, and convince the consumer to buy. Promotion levels can be very high during this stage -- new cars, for example, receive extensive promotion to support their brands. For some companies -- especially smaller ones...

Before the product is earning for the company, the company must find ways to get exposure for the product without spending much.
The most important thing, however, with marketing at any stage of the product life cycle, is that the different elements of the marketing plan need to be cohesive. For example, a massive promotional campaign needs to be supported with excellent distribution. High pricing needs to be matched with a high quality product. If the different elements of the marketing plan are not coherent, then the product may never leave the introductory stage of the product life cycle.

Works Cited:

No author. (2012). Pricing strategies -- penetration pricing. Tutor2U.net. Retrieved February 24, 2012 from http://tutor2u.net/business/marketing/pricing_strategy_penetration.asp

QuickMBA. (2010). The product life cycle. QuickMBA.com. Retrieved February 24, 2012 from http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/product/lifecycle/