In Marketing Management, one of the most important tasks of the company related to Marketing is to set product brand which is “selling” to the customers. Brand is a name, or a signature, or a design symbol or the combination of three which identify products or services of a company (Sumarwan, 2017).
Product Marketing MIX
A product is an item that satisfies a need or a desire. This can be a physical item, a service or a virtual offering. It is produced at a cost and is subsequently made available to the right audience at a price. Whatever the nature of the product, it will follow a lifecycle and through reasonable predictions of this lifecycle, a company can increase its competitive edge. A brand can be revamped or re-launched to remain relevant in a changing market or at the end of its lifecycle.A successful product has to fulfill a specific need in the market. Functionally, it must be able to perform its function as promised. There also needs to be clear communication to users and potential customers regarding its benefits and features. Branding is another important feature for a product. Developing a product into a brand helps foster customer loyalty and recall and differentiate itself in the market.
Features and Value creation
Every product should have certain characteristics that separate it from its competitors. These characteristics should be foremost inputs to the product’s marketing mix. When a product is envisioned, it is an answer to an identified market need. This need is translated into a product with particular characteristics. These characteristics help determine all subsequent actions such as pricing, communication strategy and additional features or add-ons. For this reason, it is vital to try to create a unique set of characteristics for any product.
Unique Selling Proposition
A factor that is shown to be the basis of why one product is better than its competitors is called a unique selling proposition or a USP. This characteristic or set of characteristics helps solidify a company’s market position and allows them to stand apart from competition. There are very few products that have no clear competition in the market. Most often, there are identical products with almost the same features. In this situation, differentiation becomes of the utmost importance for the success of any product. The company needs not only to identify an USP, but also to clearly communicate this to the potential audience so that it is understood why the product is superior to other similar ones.
PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION
All products can be broadly classified into 3 main categories. These are:
Tangible products: These are items with an actual physical presence such as a car, an electronic device, and an item of clothing or a consumer good.
Intangible products: These are items that has no physical presence but can be felt indirectly. An insurance policy is an example of this. Online items such as software, applications or even music and video files are also intangible products.
Services: Services are also intangible products but they are the result of an economic activity that does not result in ownership. It is a process that creates benefits for customers. Services depend highly on who is performing them and remain difficult to reproduce exactly.
Both tangible and intangible goods and services can be further defined and divided into the following groups:
- Consumer Goods– Items that are used directly by the end user such as food, clothing, cars, etc,
- Consumer Services – Services that are for the benefit of end users directly such as education, courier services, grooming services, etc.
- Producer Goods – Items that act as part of another company’s operations such as machinery or parts.
- Producer Services – Services that support another company’s operations such as accounting, human resource, etc.
Bambang Samudra Harimurti (E60)
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