Author: indiafreenotes

I) Individual product decision:

a) Product attribute: it consists of the quality, feature, style and design of the product. Quality of the product assures the customer that the manufacturer is giving the customer a good quality product. Feature helps the consumer in differentiating the product from other products in the market. Style and design of the product helps in bringing the attention of the customers towards the product.

b) Product branding: The product must have its own unique brand name. Only then the customer will be able to differentiate the product from the other products. Brand name also helps the marketers in promoting the product and making consumer brand conscious.

c) Product packaging: Packaging means the outer cover which contains the product. Like a tooth paste has two covers first in shape of tube and another cardboard cover put the tube in it. It is generally said that Packaging act as a silent salesman because product packaging helps the customer to get the knowledge about the product quality, quantity, weight, price etc.

d) Product labeling: Labeling on the product is very essential as it gives the consumer information regarding the manufacturer’s name, place, date of manufacturing, expiry date, calories, carbohydrates, nutritional value etc.

e) Product support services: These are the services which are provided to the customer after selling the product to the customer like after sale services, installation etc.

II) Product line decision:

product line means group of product which are closely related to each other. In product line decision the marketer makes the decision regarding the product line length, means the number of products in the product line. The product line may be short which means the marketer can increase the profit by adding a new product or there may be long product line. There are two ways of adding the product.

a) Product line stretching: It means adding a new product by stretching the product line by upward, downward or both ways.

b) Product line filling: It means when the company add a new product within existing range of products.

III) Product mix decision:

it means total products produced and sold by the company. Like amul produces, milk, milk powder, ghee, butter, cheese spread etc. product mix includes:

a) Product mix width: It means how many products the company is offering. Like tea, butter, cheese etc.

b) Product mix length: It means no. of items in each product line. Like 5 kind of shampoo, 7 kind of washing powder etc.

c) Product depth: It refers to different items in each product line. Like a company is offering different kind of soap eg. X, y, z. etc.

d) Product consistency: Refers to how closely related the various products in end use.

IV) Product positioning decision:

it the way by which the marketer communicate the information of the product to the prospective buyer. It can be done on the bases of price or size or usage of the product.

Product Policy Objectives

Product policy of a company has certain objectives

1. Survival

The main objective of any company is to stay in the market profitably.

2. Growth

Based on the long term goals of the company the policies are defined to get a good growth in the market.

3. Flexibility

The product policy needs to be flexible to the changing needs of the customers, government regulations, global trends and economy.

4. Scalability

The companies should use its resources properly to make the most of its valuable resources. With time the company needs to develop economies of scale to improve profits.

Price is the stimulator that converts the procrastination of buyers into the desired choice, that suggests value that moves someone to take certain risks, that encourages them to spend the money to incur shopping and travel costs.

Pricing decisions have an impact on all phases of the Supply/Marketing channels. Suppliers, sales people, distributors, competitors and customers all are affected by the pricing system.

Price also gives a perception of quality. For example, a hotel chain, servicing the tourist package holiday market, will offer cheap prices to its customers. The customers will have a lower expectation of service quality than those offered at full premium price package. Since any offering is merely perceived as a bundle of diverse values, the opposite course, in product choice, is to agree to sacrifice service quality in favour of a lower price.

1. Price allocates recourses: In a free-market economy and to some extent in a controlled economy, the resources can be allocated and reallocated by the process of price reduction and price increase. Price is used as a weapon, to realise the goals of a planned economy, and to allocate resources towards sectors, which have priority from the planning point of view.
2. Price is essential to marketing: Price is a matter of great importance to both the buyer and the seller in the market place. In money economy without prices there can be no marketing. Price denotes the value of a product or service expressed in monetary terms. Only when a buyer and a seller agree on the price, does exchange and transfer of ownership take place.
3. Price determines the general standard of living: Price influences consumer purchase decisions. It reflects the purchasing power of money and thus reflects the general standard of living. The lower the prices in an economy, the greater will be the purchasing power in the hands of the consumer and the higher will be the standard of living.
4. Price regulates demand: Price is the strongest ‘P’ of the four “Ps” of the marketing mix. The marketing manager can regulate the demand of a product by increasing or decreasing its price. To increase demand, reduce the price and to decrease demand increase the price.

However, as an instrument to control demand, price should be used by those who are familiar with the dangers involved in using price as a mechanism to control demand, as the damage done by improper pricing can ruin the effectiveness of a well-conceived marketing programme.

5. Price is a competitive weapon: Price is an important weapon to deal with competition. Any company whether it is selling high-, medium- or low-priced products, has to decide as to whether its prices will be above, below or equal to the prices set by the competitors. This is a basic policy issue and affects the entire planning process.
6. Price is a determinant of profitability: Price influences the sales revenue of a product, which in turn determines the profitability of the firm. Price thus is the basis of generating profits for the firm. A change in the price mix of the marketing mix can be made more easily than a change in any other element of the marketing mix.

Thus, price changes are used more frequently for defensive and offensive strategies of a firm. The impact of price rise and fall is reflected instantly in the rise and fall of the profitability of a product, all other variables remaining the same.

Thus, price is a powerful marketing instrument. Every marketing plan involves a pricing decision. As such all-marketing planners should make accurate and planned pricing decisions.

Scope

Price is the stimulator that converts the procrastination of buyers into the desired choice, that suggests value that moves someone to take certain risks, that encourages them to spend the money to incur shopping and travel costs.

Pricing decisions have an impact on all phases of the supply/marketing channels. Suppliers, sales people, distributors, competitors and customers all are affected by the pricing system.

Price also gives a perception of quality. For example, a hotel chain, servicing the tourist package holiday market, will offer cheap prices to its customers. The customers will have a lower expectation of service quality than those offered at full premium price package. Since any offering is merely perceived as a bundle of diverse values, the opposite course, in product choice, is to agree to sacrifice service quality in favour of a lower price.

Price, of course, is not the only marketing tool available to the formulation of a marketing strategy. The price of money is only one of many interdependent references used to make a purchase that may favour or inhibit purchase. In fact, price often is not the decisive factor. The inherent belief that price is the main determinant of buyer choice, will lead a business to react to any sales-led crisis by discounting to distributors or final customers or both.

Unless sales responds strongly, this strategy will compound disaster, in that continued low sales at the lower price known as price war, will make an even smaller contribution to fixed overheads. But even if a sale goes up, gross margins will remain squeezed and a higher total income cannot be generated.

Worse, the extra sales may be the result of pipeline-filling by the distributors or by final customers stocking up ahead. Such increases may only be temporary, to be later compensated by a downward re-adjustment. Worse still any significant increase in sales that will come at the expense of other suppliers, and is likely to encourage retaliation by the most badly hit competitor. This, in turn, usually leads to a general price war, which quickly drives the weakest suppliers from the market and leaves even the strongest on permanently reduced margins.

In the early 1980s, People Express gained a significant market share in the air travel market through much curtailed prices. Other airlines, as a reaction, cut also their prices in order to maintain passenger loads. The final result was not an increased share of the market for People Express, but was adversely affected, falling into near bankruptcy. The condition deteriorated in 1986, it was taken over by one of its competitors.

A workable marketing strategy must take full account of the following factors, in addition to price:

(i) Perceived quality

(ii) Conforming quality

(iii) Time and place availability costs

(iv) Time expenditure costs

(v) Risk costs

(vi) Learning costs

(vii) Search effort costs

(viii) Design compromise costs.

The market strategy must be planned in terms of the way customers perceived value and react to differing stimuli affecting them.

Product Management is the business process of planning, developing, launching, and managing a product or service. It includes the entire lifecycle of a product, from ideation to development to go to market. Product managers are responsible for ensuring that a product meets the needs of its target market and contributes to the business strategy, while managing a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Software product management adapts the fundamentals of product management for digital products.

Role of Product Managers

Product managers are responsible for managing a company’s product line on a day-to-day basis. As a result, product managers are critical in both driving a company’s growth, margins, and revenue. They are responsible for the business case, conceptualizing, planning, product development, product marketing, and delivering products to their target market. Depending on the company size, industry, and history, product management has a variety of functions and roles. Frequently there is Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility as a key metric for evaluating product manager performance.

Tasks

Product managers analyze information including customer research, competitive intelligence, industry analysis, trends, economic signals, and competitive activity, as well as documenting requirements, setting product strategy, and creating the roadmap. Product managers align across departments within their company including product design and development, marketing, sales, customer support, and legal.

Product management was born during the Great Depression when a 27-year-old marketer proposed the idea of a “Brand man” an employee to manage a specific product rather than a traditional business role. Since the 1930s, the continued success of this function has led to the growth of product organizations across industries and geographies.

1931: Neil H. McElroy, a marketing manager at Proctor & Gamble, writes a 300-page memo on the need for “brand men,” who manage specific products.

Late 1930s: McElroy is an advisor at Stanford University, where he influences two young visionaries: Bill Hewlett and David Packard.

1943-1993: Hewlett-Packard sustains 50 years of 20% Y/Y growth by implementing the “brand man” philosophy in their new company.

Late 1940s: Toyota develops JIT manufacturing principles, later adopted by Hewlett-Packard.

1953: Toyota develops the kanban method.

1970s: Tech companies in the U.S. start developing lightweight processes, in opposition to cumbersome processes that emerged from manufacturing industries.

1980s: Developing agile processes, combined with greater acceptance of “Brand management” roles, takes hold in many technology and software companies.

2001: The Agile Manifesto is written, which, in large part, broke down department silos and outdated processes, to make room for a unified product management role.

The Extreme Presentation method takes a marketing approach to presentation design: focusing on how to “Sell” your ideas to your audience. The method consists of the five essential elements of an effective presentation and ten practical steps to put each of those elements into practice.

The circle in the center of the Extreme Presentation method diagram, with the word “impact” in it, indicates that the entire purpose of the method is to ensure that you have impact on your audience. Around that inner circle, the next ring contains the five essential elements of an effective presentation:

• Logic: we need to make sure that there is solid logic in our presentation and that our recommendations are robust.
• Rhetoric: we must tell an interesting story, in a compelling way. Logic is important, but of no use to you if everyone has tuned out because they are bored.
• Graphics: to make sure that you are using the most effective visual elements and overall layout.
• Politics: to apply effective influence in order to get your audience to take action.
• Metrics: to be clear on what the specific objective is for the presentation, and how success will be measured.

There are two steps in each of the five elements, for a total of ten steps. These steps are:

• Audience: Identify the communication preferences of the different personality types.
• Objectives: Set specific objectives for what you want your audience to think and do differently after your presentation.
• Problem/Solution: Identify a problem your audience has that your presentation will contribute to solving.
• Evidence: List all the information that you think you may need to include in your presentation.
• Anecdotes: Identify brief anecdotes that highlight your most important points.
• Sequencing: Sequence your information so that it tells a compelling story.
• Graphics: Identify the most effective graphical elements to use in your presentation.
• Layout: Create slides that communicate your information concisely and effectively.
• Stakeholders: Identify any potential roadblocks to achieving your objectives, and make a plan to deal with each other.
• Measurement: Decide how you will measure the success of your presentation.

Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill in getting your message across. Today, presentation skills are required in almost every field, and most of us are required to give presentations on occasions. While some people take this in their stride, others find it much more challenging.

Interaction with others is a routine job of businesses in today’s world. The importance of good presentation skills is established on the basis of following points:

• They help an individual in enhancing his own growth opportunities. In addition, it also grooms the personality of the presenter and elevates his levels of confidence.
• In case of striking deals and gaining clients, it is essential for the business professionals to understand the audience. Good presentation skills enable an individual to mold his message according to the traits of the audience. This increases the probability of successful transmission of messages.
• Lastly, business professionals have to arrange seminars and give presentations almost every day. Having good presentation skills not only increases an individual’s chances of success, but also enable him to add greatly to the organization.

Presentation Skills improve

• Research the Audience before Presenting: This will enable you to better understand the traits of the audience. You can then develop messages that can be better understood by your target audience. For instance, in case of an analytical audience, you can add more facts and figures in your presentation.
• Structure your Presentation Effectively: The best way to do this is to start with telling the audience, in the introduction, what you are going to present. Follow this by presenting the idea, and finish off the presentation by repeating the main points.
• Do a lot of Practice: Rehearse but do not go for memorizing the presentation. Rehearsals reduce your anxiety and enable you to look confident on the presentation day. Make sure you practice out loud, as it enables you to identify and eliminate errors more efficiently. Do not memorize anything as it will make your presentation look mechanical. This can reduce the degree of audience engagement.
• Take a Workshop: Most medium and large businesses allow their employees to take employee development courses and workshops, as well-trained employees are essential to the success of any company. You can use that opportunity to take a workshop on professional presentation skills such as those offered by Langevin Learning Services, which are useful for all business professionals, from employees to business trainers and managers.

Types of Presentation Skills

Analytical

The best presenters are constantly improving their skills. To get better, you must be able to look honestly at your performance, assess the feedback you get, and figure out what you need to do to improve. That takes analytical thinking.

More importantly, you need to have a firm grasp of the information you are about to communicate to others. You need to analyze your audience and be prepared to think quickly if asked questions that force you to demonstrate that you are fully aware of the material and its implications.

• Problem sensitivity
• Reporting
• Surveying
• Optimization
• Predictive Modelling
• Problem-solving
• Restructuring
• Strategic planning
• Integration
• Process management
• Ongoing improvement
• Diagnostics
• Dissecting
• Evaluating
• Judgment

Organization

You do not want to be the person who spends half of their presentation time trying to find a cable to connect their laptop to the projector. Many things can go wrong just before a presentation, and they probably will, unless you are organized.

Presentation preparation also means keeping track of notes, information, and start/stop times.

Nonverbal Communication

When speaking to an audience, the way you present yourself can be just as important as how you present your information. You want to appear confident and engaging. You can do this through good posture, the use of hand gestures, and making eye contact with the audience. Practice your nonverbal communication by filming yourself doing a practice presentation and observing your body language carefully.

• Active listening
• Bearing
• Poise
• Confidence
• Emotional intelligence
• Respect
• Facilitating group discussion
• Awareness of ethnic, political, and religious diversity

Good visuals in a business presentation can range from complex videos to a simple poster. For those presenters who are not skilled in the video arts, there are several ways to present information with visuals that will help your audience remember key points long after your presentation has ended. Three effective methods include PowerPoint presentations, flip charts and posters.

PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint offers hundreds of font, audio and image options for its users. The first thing presenters should understand is that just because there are 350 font options does not mean you should use them. Always use either light font over a dark background or dark font over a light background. Avoid red font and green backgrounds or fonts and backgrounds that are close on the color wheel as they will be difficult to read. Follow the rule of 8. The rule of 8 states that you should be able to read your presentation while standing 8 feet away from the standard computer screen. If the font is too small to read from this distance, it will be too small to read in your presentation. Include a maximum of five points per page.

Effective Flip Charts

Flip Charts are not only inexpensive but they can also be used for ideas and brainstorming within the context of the meeting. Use dark markers to write on a flip chart and make sure you have plenty of paper on the flip chart pad. Some flip charts now have adhesive on the back of each page so the presenter when finished, can stick the page to a corresponding wall that the audience can see. This feature prevents having to flip back and forth from page to page wasting valuable time and allows for writing a free flow of ideas with ease.

Effective Posters

Posters are prepared much in advance of a presentation. The simplest posters can be made from poster board with graphics and text added with glue or tape. More advanced posters can be made using PowerPoint and then printed and laminated for a more professional look. Change the size of your PowerPoint slide to a good poster size, such as 2-by-3 feet , and decrease the view percentage on your computer screen to around 25 percent, or the smallest view that still allows you to see each element clearly. PowerPoint hints also apply to poster design. Avoid designing posters that are too busy or have too much text. A poster should have an eye-catching visual that tells the story without viewers having to read paragraphs of accompanying text.

Simplicity is key in conveying information visually. The more complex the visual, the more likely you are to lose the message you are trying to convey. Visuals can help your audience retain information up to six times longer. Beware, however, of staying on one visual for too long. According to The Eggleston Group, studies show that audience members become bored with a visual after 7 to 10 seconds. Always rehearse with your visuals. Don’t forget to inspect the room where you will be presenting to make sure the elements required for your presentation, such as projectors, screens and outlets, are available.