1.3.5 Marketing Strategy

Introduction: Sales start low as the product is launched.
Growth: Sales increase rapidly as the product gains market acceptance.
Maturity: Sales peak and stabilize as the market becomes saturated.
Decline: Sales decline as the product becomes outdated or market conditions change.

Extension strategies are methods used by businesses to prolong the life of a product and avoid or delay the decline stage of the Product Life Cycle.

1. Product Extension Strategies:

Product Modification:
- Improving or updating the product's features, quality, or design to make it more appealing to consumers.
- Examples include introducing new flavours, sizes, or packaging, or enhancing the product's functionality.
Product Line Extension:
- Adding new variants or models to the existing product line to cater to different customer preferences or market segments.
- This could involve launching premium versions or budget-friendly alternatives of the product. 2. Promotion Extension Strategies:
Rebranding or Repositioning:
- Changing the product's image or market positioning to target a different audience or refresh the brand's appeal.
- This could involve updating the branding, logo, or packaging, or shifting the focus of marketing messages.
New Promotional Campaigns:
- Launching new advertising campaigns, sales promotions, or special offers to renew interest in the product.
- Examples include discounts, "buy one, get one free" offers, loyalty programs, or influencer marketing to attract new customers.

Boston matrix

🔗A model used to categorise a business' products based on their market share and market growth.

A useful tool for identifying what strategy to use (E.G Business may move a product out of low growth market to a high-growth market)
Good for business plan
Only focuses on market growth and market share. Two dimensional
Only a snapshot of the current position

🔗 Where a firm decides to ignore specific market segments and appeals to the whole market with one offer or one strategy

Economies of scale -> Cheap cost per person
Builds business recognition with an established approach -> Brand loyalty -> Customer retention
Not specific to consumers -> May not attract customers that want personal treatment
Consumers may have different moral values -> Upset or intimidated by mass strategy -> Negative PR

🔗 Where a firm appeals to a specific segment of the market where customers have specific needs and wants.

Specific to customer needs -> Higher customer satisfaction
More ethical strategy and adapted to area -> Positive PR
High cost of advertising -> Not benefitting from economies of scale
Difficult to understand and identify consumer needs -> Time consuming and costly to research

🔗 Business to business marketing (B2B) – Products and services are sold to other businesses rather than to the general public.

Willing to pay higher prices with purchase more likely to be specialist -> Increased profit margins to reinvest into product
Focused on building relationships with businesses -> Increases brand loyalty and retention sales -> Price inelastic demand to increase profits
Smaller customer base -> Unable to benefit from economies of scale
Longer and more complex buying process -> Longer for businesses to conduct sales -> Slow to achieve breakeven point -> Less working capital for business in the short term Business to consumer marketing (B2C) – Selling products/services to individuals and marketing products for personal use.