­Product Marketing and Its Importance for A Business

Marketing is one of the essential components of a business. Without the right marketing strategies up your sleeve, you wouldn’t be able to survive in this competitive industry. Today every company out there, whether small or large scale, is spending thousands of dollars on marketing projects to reach out to the customers and make an impact in the society.

Product marketing has been a tactic that has been used by marketers all around the globe to help businesses promote specific products, especially in the B2B industry. People often tend to misunderstand product marketing and ignore its value. But today, we are going to discuss its importance in detail to help you understand how it can be beneficial for your business.

What is Product Marketing?

Product marketing is the process of promoting a product in its respective markets to targeted customers by connecting the dots between the product’s capabilities and the needs of the customers. It is the critical function that is accountable for the increase in demand for a product, which leads to its success and growth in the markets.

Product marketers focus on promoting the product directly to targeted customers. The key idea here is to hit the primary source of demand directly, which is the targeted audience. The marketing agents design a well-developed strategy by understanding the needs of the market and the customers. They then use strategic messaging to promote the product in that specific market to boost revenue.

How Product Marketing Differs from Conventional Marketing?

We can say that product marketing is specific, whereas traditional marketing is comprehensive. Thus, this means that product marketing is a crucial principle of conventional marketing.

If you look at the seven P’s of marketing, you will find product marketing on the top. The critical element in conventional marketing is business. In contrast, when it comes to product marketing, the significant factor is the product that the company has manufactured and wishes to sell in the market.

Instead of focusing on the entire brand, product marketing only focuses on a specific product and aims to create its demand in the market by hitting the potential customers directly. The critical purpose of product marketing is to understand the needs of the customers in the market and link those needs to the product at hand to lure the already existing customers into making the purchase.

For instance, take Apple as an example. Apple itself is a huge tech company, one of the biggest in the world at present. But when it comes to marketing, they tend to market their products individually instead of promoting the Apple brand as a whole.

On the day closer to the launch of the new iPhone models, the marketers promote the new smartphone to the already existing customers by linking the new features of the phone with the needs and requirements of the customers. The marketing campaign isn’t about the brand itself but the product that it is going to launch in the market soon.

In product marketing, the marketers focus on the targeted audience related to that specific product. Marketers develop a deep understanding of the audience and the markets and determine the position of the product. Later, they use this position to come up with a strategic messaging approach to reach out to the targeted audience.

The work of a product marketer lies in the center of the marketing team of the business. Not only that, but he also works in collaboration with the production and sales team to get a better understanding of the product and what it has to offer to the targeted audience.

In contrast to product marketing, conventional marketing covers broader areas of marketing such as website development, social media marketing, SEO ranking, lead generation, conversation rate, etc. It is more about the business itself, thus covers everything from the culture and mission of the company to the products it manufactures. Conventional marketers ensure that a consistent message is behind all brand/company related marketing campaigns.

Importance of Product Marketing

Product marketing is curial for every product-based business out there. Without it, the marketing strategy of a company will remain incomplete. The importance of product marketing shouldn’t be ignored because, without it, your product will fail to reach its maximum potential. Not only the product, but your business will also fail to achieve the goals that it has in place.

To highlight the importance of product marketing, here is the list of benefits that it has to offer to you and your business marketing strategy. It will help you get a better idea of the role that it plays in the success of your business.

• Helps you target the personas of your buyers effectively
• Helps you get a better understanding of your existing and targeted customers
• Ensure that all departments (sales, marketing, production) are on the same page
• Helps you identify the position of the product in the market
• Helps you get an understating of your competitors
• Boost your sales and revenue if done correctly

In short, it helps you understand the product and the targeted customers in-depth, which allows you to make a connection between the two. Use can use this connection to come up with a strategic marking strategy to reach out to the customers and pull them into making the purchase.

What you have to do as a Product Marketer?

As a product marketer, you have specific responsibilities to your business, brand, and the product itself. Understand your company and the product itself to come up with a product marketing strategy that increases demand and boost your revenue.

Here is a list of responsibilities that you have to bear in mind as a product marketer.

1. Identify the target audience

The very first thing that you have to do is to identify the targeted audience for the product. It is essential to reach out to the customers that are likely to buy the product to create demand for the product once it hits the market.

To do so, one first has to identify their personas. The personality of a person helps you understand the challenges that he faces. It also enables you to figure out whether your product would act as a solution to those problems or not.

2. Your product marketing strategy

Next in line is the product marketing strategy. It includes setting the right price for your product, identifying the position of the product in the market, and using the right tactics for the promotion of the product.

Develop, build, and execute a successful marketing strategy for your product. It is based on the fundamental principals of your business, understanding of the product, and the market in which the product is to be released. Developing a strategic and well-calculated marketing strategy helps you lead the targeted audience to make the purchase.

3. Work with the sales team

It is essential to work side by side with the sales team to ensure that you are on the same page.

When it comes to product marketing, it is vital to ensure that the sales team understands the product inside out. The reason behind it is that, when it comes to purchasing, the customers are in direct contact with the sales team and not the marketing team. Thus the sales individuals must know what the product has to offer to the customers and how it can help them overcome their problems.

Another essential thing to keep in mind here is that only a limited amount of information is shared with the customers – the information which we believe is of use to them. Nothing more and nothing less! So it is essential to collaborate with the sales team to ensure that consistency in the amount of information shared is being maintained by everyone who comes in contact with the product.

4. Ensure its relevance

Getting an understanding of the product and the targeted audience allows us to ensure the suitability of the product before the actual launch. Although, initially, when the product is created, it is done so to solve the problems of the targeted customers. But it is essential to get an overview at the end as well to ensure that it will meet the requirements of the customers.

If the product fails to meet the needs of the targeted customers, then there would have no reason to purchase it. Therefore, it is essential to re-evaluate its relevancy to check whether it needs modifications or not. It helps prevent failure of the product in the long run.

5. Launch the product

The most exciting role is the final launch of the product. It is your responsibility to cater to the internal and external aspects of the product launch. Your crucial role here is to identify the marketing channels and platforms that we need to use to market the product to the outside world.

The channels and platforms that you choose depend on the number of resources that you have at the end and the goals that you have in place for the product. You can stick to one single channel, or you can go with multiple channels such as social media, in-store launch, lunch parties, and events, exclusive product promotional events, etc.

6. Keep the product relevant over time.

You have to bear in mind that one can’t use the same product marketing strategy over time. You have to understand the needs and challenges that the customers face with time. Thus, you must make slight changes to the marketing strategy to keep the product relevant over time.

Final Words

Product marketing is one of the essential principals of conventional marketing. Without it, a business might struggle to sell its products to targeted customers. It is vital that you find the right market for your product and use strategic positioning and messaging to reach out to the already existing customers to create a demand for your product and boost your revenues.