How do I Choose the Best Product Marketing Strategy?

Choosing the best product marketing strategy depends on the best way to get your products in your target customers' hands. A target customer is the type of person most likely to need or want your product. The better you understand and develop techniques that compel your target audience to buy your products, the more effective your product marketing strategy will be.

For example, if your product is an item targeted to tennis players, you may choose to promote it through sporting good stores. You may even want to incorporate a partnership approach by teaming your advertising with two or more companies with tennis-related products that have the same target market. By associating your brand with leading brands, this product marketing strategy can help you create more advertising impact. Having a sweepstakes or other promotion can help further target market interest; another benefit is that the cost is shared by all of the companies involved in an advertising partnership.

The channels through which your products are sold should form a large part of your marketing strategy. For instance, if your product is targeted at seniors, market research can help you find the most successful channels. If the information shows that shopping in-store is not the most preferred method for elderly shoppers, then your best product marketing strategy may be to offer the product through television commercials on online through the Internet. Yet, if further research reveals a low computer shopping rate for your target consumer and/or television advertising is too costly for your budget, you'll either have to reinvent your product for another audience or figure out how to best reach your senior customers.

Choosing the best strategies for marketing products to their target audience also depends on the likely results. A television ad may be the right strategy if it's likely to bring in the most orders for the cost of the advertising. In other words, the best product marketing strategies are those that are the most cost effective.

One of the most important marketing concepts to keep in mind when planning any type of product advertising strategy is to be consistent with branding. Branding is how your product is seen in the marketplace as well as how it's presented to consumers. Looking at your product from the customer's point of view is essential in helping you form your branding strategy. You have to understand what would encourage your target market to buy your product over competing brands, whether this is convenience, value, or premium quality.