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Three Levels of a product

October 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

The concept of “three levels of a product” actually comes in play when you are finalizing a product for your business or when you want to analyze a product. Just like any business, a product too has its hierarchy. A product can be divided into a series of different features and benefits which helps in its segmentation targeting and positioning. Thus the three levels of the products are the ones which help to define the product in a better manner. These three levels are

Levels of products Three Levels of a productImage courtesy - marketingteacher.com

1) Core product

2) Actual product

3) Augmented product

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Marketing Mix – The 4 p’s of marketing

October 6, 2011 By 2 Comments

Marketing Mix Marketing Mix The 4 ps of marketing

The Marketing mix is a set of four decisions which need to be taken before launching any new product. These variables are also known as the 4 P’s of marketing. These four variables help the firm in making strategic decisions necessary for the smooth running of any product / organization.These variables are

  1. Product
  2. Price
  3. Place
  4. Promotions

Marketing mix is mainly of two types.

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Ansoff Matrix

October 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ansoff Matrix 2 Ansoff Matrix

For any decision to be taken at corporate level, you need the right strategic tools. Ansoff matrix is one of them. Ansoff matrix helps a firm decide their market growth as well as product growth strategies. The 2 questions which the Ansoff Matrix can answer is “How can we grow in the existing markets” and “What amends can be made in the product portfolio to have better growth”.

From the above two questions, it is clear that Ansoff matrix deals with the companies external market scenario as well as the product portfolio which the firm has. The matrix is divided in two quadrants –  The product quadrant and the market quadrant. The Product quadrant on the X axis is further divided into Existing products and New products. The market scenario on the Y axis is divided into existing markets and new markets. Thus the Ansoff matrix divides a firm on the basis of the products it has –  existing products or new products, as well as the markets it is in –  existing markets or new markets.

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Experience Economy and storytelling – new ways in the branding process

October 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I think that probably the majority of us, especially those who are involved in the business area have heard or tried, more than once about  “experience economy”. This is the new phenomenon that has conquered the business market in the postmodern society in which the focus is on senses and emotions. It is known that every business is a stage, so the companies are not basing their offerings on their products or services, but on experiences.

Which is the main purpose of “experience economy”? The most important result of this new way of branding is that the customer’s emotions and senses are influenced. the customers are involved and actively participate into this new type of relationship. Through this the customer is invited to make use of all his five senses.  the sixth one being represented by the atmosphere, the feelings that are created.

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Reeflex by Reebok

September 27, 2011 By 1 Comment

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEpVAw6Kro8

Here’s a lesson on how to design a product and then how to market it. Reebok gets it spot on with its marketing of Reeflex –  its new shock absorber shoes.

The shoes have 76 rubber shock absorbers which give you absolute flexibility. Although the Reezig was good as a product, i feel Reeflex will attract even higher attention because of its unique design. Reeflex has both things going for it, its product design and its looks. The main thing now is the pricing. Knowing Reeboks marketing strategy, we can be sure that the Reeflex will be priced quite high. However, with such a product, shoe enthusiasts will definitely be ready to purchase.

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4 things to know before entering an international market

September 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When planning to expand the production, the selling and the other business activities into some international markets there are many things that one should take into consideration. But not only too little information can create uncertainty, but also an excess of unuseful  information can have the same effect. This is why it is important to make a plan before taking your business into the international market. In the following, we are going to concentrate more on the cultural barriers that might exist  when thinking about expanding abroad.

First of all, let’s think about the motives why you could plan your business abroad. We can classify these motives into two categories: proactive and reactive. At proactive motives  we could include: foreign market opportunities, profit goals, tax benefits, managerial urge, and  as reactive motives we could mention the proximity to international customers (also called “ psychological distance”) or a small and saturated domestic market.

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BCG Matrix

September 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

BCG Matrix BCG Matrix

BCG analysis is mainly used for Multi Category / Multi Product companies. All categories and products together are said to be Business portfolio. Thus, the various entities of your business portfolio may move forward by a different pace and with a different strategy. The BCG analysis actually helps you in deciding which entities in your business portfolio are actually profitable, which are duds, which you should concentrate on and which gives you a competitive advantage over others.

Once you know which businesses stand where in your business portfolio, you also come to know which businesses need investments, which needs harvesting (making money), which needs divesting (reducing investment) and which needs to be completely taken out of the business portfolio. For a major organization like HUL, ITC etc which have multiple categories and within the categories, they have multiple lines of products, the BCG analysis becomes very important. At a holistic level, they get to make a decision on which product to continue and which product to be divested. Which product can give new returns with good investment, and which products are reaching the apex of market share.

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Pepsi’s Brand Report Card by Kevin Lane keller

September 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

1. Customer Desired Benefits : Pepsi has been successful in capturing the Youth Spirit.It has also ventured out to different customer segments with different offering for e.g. Diet Pepsi was introduced to cater to the health conscious people. Pepsi’s entire Product Portfolio caters to the different customer segments.

2. Relevance : It’s my can offering is considered to be a new generation drink, the drink has managed to grab the imagination of Teens and young Adults alike. Pepsi through the combination of innovative ideas (like Pepsi Blue even though a failure), effective communication and aggressive advertising has been able to stay relevant to its customers.

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Priyanka Chopra invites Cricket ke asli champions for Nokia

September 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MCB1BXedAI

After Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka chopra joins Nokia as a brand ambassador especially for the champions league T20. She is seen in this ad promoting Champions leagues new offer “Cricket ke asli champions”

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Strategic business units

September 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Strategic business units are absolutely essential for multi product organizations. These business units are basically known as profit centres. They are focused towards a set of products and are responsible for each and every decision / strategy to be taken for that particular set of products. Strategic business units can be best explained with an example.

Example of Strategic business units –  The best example of strategic business unit would be to take organizations like HUL, P&G or LG in focus. These organizations are characterized by multiple categories and multiple product lines. For example, HUL may have a line of products in the shampoo category, Similarly LG might have a line of products in the television category. Thus to track the investments against return, they may classify the category as a different SBU itself.

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