Question

Topic: Strategy

Marketing Tactics For Each Stage Of Plc

Posted by sonu0327 on 7/13/2009 at 2:38 PM ET 250 Points
Hello, I am trying to do some research on what marketing tactics usually work best for each stage of the product life cycle (intro, growth, maturity, decline), more specifically for a B2B technology product.

A mix of branding, web, direct mail, PR, social media would be appreciated.

This is for a marketing plan that I need to submit soon.

Thanks
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by melissa.paulik on 7/13/2009 at 3:14 PM Accepted
    As always, the answer is that "it depends" on the type of products, your target market, and so forth...

    With the "it depends" answer out of the way, let me offer two suggestions.

    1. No matter what you do, measure it in terms of impact on the bottomline- or at least the pipeline.

    I tend to favor social media for hot new product introductions where your target is the early adopters. I like a little more traditional (but still permission based in most cases) marketing for products later in the life cycle. Products later in the life cycle usually have larger customer bases so sometimes community based social marketing can help build repeat business and referral sales.

    But, even though my experience marketing enterprise business software may not translate into whatever your marketing, the critical piece is to always be measuring your results. Let those be your guide as to what you keep in your plan and what you dump.

    2. Build a lead nurturing program. Without it, most of your marketing investment is wasted. I just wrote a post on that today. https://bit.ly/GLbx

    All the best!

    Melissa

  • Posted by sonu0327 on 7/13/2009 at 4:18 PM Author
    it's not for any particular client. Global technology product. The budget is about $100,000.

    I am looking for marketing tactics that usually work well in the intro, growth and maturity stages.

    thanks
  • Posted on 7/13/2009 at 5:28 PM Moderator
    If this is not for a particular client, why are you asking? Is this a homework assignment? If so, we don't do homework here. (We've been there and done that before!)
  • Posted by sonu0327 on 7/13/2009 at 5:49 PM Author
    this is not a hw assignment, and neither is this is the first time that I am posting a question here. I am well aware of the rules so please leave that out.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 7/13/2009 at 6:33 PM Accepted
    As others have said - hard to know what specific activities without knowing the industry and market.

    But, some generalizations:
    Intro - trying to get brand awareness, so high levels of promotion. target early adopters if possible (perhaps sampling). Maybe give early discounts to get usage.

    Growth - still after brand awareness, but more general focused (overall market, not just early adopters). High level of advertising.

    Maturity - emphasis on brand loyalty and differentiating your product from competitors, and trying to get customers to switch from competitor to you. Good to be working at renovating/replacing product line, so that you have a new product to bring through the PLC soon (obsoleting this before sales go away).

    Decline - so long as product is still profitable, reduce marketing expenditures and focus on brand image.

    B2B often uses more trade mag advertisements, PRs, and direct mail than B2C/consumer goods, and less social media and branding. Once again, a generalization that may or may not hold true for your market.
  • Posted by Markitek on 7/14/2009 at 12:29 PM Member
    there are lots of good books that will help you here . . . far more than the brief summary any of us might offer. Think Geoffrey Moore's books (Crossing the Chasm et al) that will be a good start.
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