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What are the stages of a product life cycle and what is the best marketing strategy to employ with each?

When talking about a product, it can be described similarly to a ‘human being’ due to their likeness with us in terms of its life cycle. Like an individual, a product is born, grows up, matures and then passes. These four stages are known as the ‘product life cycle’ (Keefe 2020).

Some products lives are extended whilst others are pass through and disappear. This occurs as new and improved products enter the market that meet and provide the consumer’s needs better.

The product life cycle holds the potential of being a central concept in marketing thought and practice in the belief that, ‘the most fundamental variable in determining an appropriate business strategy is the stage of the product life cycle’ (Hofer 1975, p. 978)

Similarly, Biggadike (1981) refers to the product life cycle as one of the five major contributions that marketing has made to strategic management.

Introduction:

The first stage in a product’s life cycle is known as the introduction; this is when a product passes all the initial phases that come with creating a product and enters the market. It is normal for a product to experience a slow growth when the product is first introduced. The product may also not be a breakaway success and could experience a rocky start; there may be high costs due to marketing and advertising, low sale volume and the seller must find a way to entice their customers. Whilst these issues can occur, there are a number of benefits behind all this. In this stage, if you can create a product with little to no other competitors in the market and the public accepts it, the manufacturer has a rare opportunity to create a monopoly (Keefe 2020). During this stage, the key focus must be prioritised on pricing, distribution and promotion (NIBusinessInfo 2020). Manufacturers should initially price their product at the highest price they believe they can sell the product for. Distribution should be selective to a specific type of consumer until the product is accepted and should consider different distribution models during different periods of the products life cycle, (NIBusinessInfo 2020), eg. During the AFL season, stores such as Rebel Sport will have an emphasis on selling anything football related. In terms of promotion, building brand awareness from an early stage is important.

Growth:

The growth phase of the product life cycle is when the product is starting to be taken notice in the public’s eyes and the market begins to respond. This is a result of word being spread advertising and the advertising of the product. The product’s advantages and benefits are being recognized by customers and distributors, allowing it to become profitable and present a better return on investment. (Keefe 2020). Manufacturers should invest more money into their marketing and begin to create products that align with their current ones. Competitors will begin to take notice so is important to stay ahead of the game, deflecting any major rivals to their own products. The best marketing strategies in this stage include:

- Maximising market share, widening their audience and building brand preference - Entering new market segments - Increasing distribution channels to cope with the growing demand - Begin to shift the marketing messages from product awareness to product preference

Ultimately, the growth stage is the part of the life cycle where sales should be rapid.

Maturity: Product sales peak during the maturity phase, which should be the longest part of its life cycle. The demand for the product is the strongest it will be. Often, the market will be saturated, and the manufacturer may need to adjust the way they are marketing their product to extend the life cycle of the product and calls for a new kind of emphasis on competing more effectively. The manufacturer or company must begin innovating to maintain or increase their market share and change or develop the product to meet their customers with the developing technology (Sraders 2019). If they don’t seek new opportunities in both new markets and products, the next stage will come and leave them with products and services that no longer sell (Fast Trac 2020). Promotion during this time must also have a focus on creating brand differentiation. Nike and Adidas are two brands that have been in this stage for quite a long period of time and will likely never reach the decline stage.

Decline:

During this stage, the product has essentially reached its saturation point (Keefe 2020) and sees a decline in sales and profits. This is often caused by a change in the customers preference or a new and improved product in the market that is more appealing. During this time, the manufacturer must decide whether they should make some serious changes to their product, keeping it alive or completely creating a whole new product. To avoid reaching the final decline stage, many manufacturers find the best strategy is to modify the product in the maturity stage (Keefe 2020). The best strategy to implement during this stage depend on what the manufacturer wants to do with their product. They can continue to produce the product in the hope that rivals will drop off, potentially resulting in an in increase in demand for their product again or start to sell the product for a low price to entice their buyers to purchase the product. Another option is to sell the brand to another business and then move on to a new project.

Reference: Biggadike, R 1981, ‘The Contributions of Marketing to Strategic Management’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 6, pp. 621-632

Fast Trac, 2020, 4 Stages of the Product Life Cycle & How it Affects your Marketing Strategy, viewed 10 May 2020, https://www.fasttrac.org/blog/4-stages-of-the-product-life- cycle-how-it-affects-your-marketing-strategy/

Hoffer, C 1975, ‘Towards a Contingency Theory of Business Strategy’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 18, pp. 784-810

Keefe, R, What are the 4 Stages of the Product Life Cycle, viewed 10 May 2020, https://toggl.com/blog/what-are-the-4-stages-of-the-product-life-cycle

NIBusinessInfo, Product Life Cycle, viewed 10 May 2020, https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/introduction-stage-product-life-cycle

Srarders, A 2019, What is the Product Life Cycle? Stages and Examples, viewed 10 May 2020, https://www.thestreet.com/markets/commodities/product-life-cycle-14882534

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How might different social media platforms be employed at the same time for maximum marketing impact?

With how technology has advanced and is going to continue to evolve over the course of our life time, social media has become an extremely powerful marketing tool for businesses of all different sizes to reach both existing and new customers. If you are able to utilise social media as a marketing tool, it can bring great success to your business, increasing sales and advocates. New web technology has made it simple for anyone to create and issue their own content. Advertisers don’t have to reimburse publishers or distributors huge sums of money to embed their messages and they can make their own interesting content that viewers will flock to (Saravanakumar & SuganthaLakshmi 2012).

Social media marketing involves the creating and sharing of content on social media networks to achieve marketing and branding goals (WordStream). It includes the uploading of video or image updates, or anything that engages the targeted audience. Generally, the ‘big three’ of the social media platforms today are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Businesses and companies, specifically in the sporting industry should definitely try to employ these three platforms at the same time to ensure they are achieving maximum marketing impact.

It is important that the messages and information that is provided to the social media channels are posted to the ‘big three’ as not everyone has accounts on those three platforms so whilst a message may be posted to Facebook, if an individual doesn’t have a Facebook account, they won’t get that information. Posting to the different social media platforms also ensures that the message or information they are providing is definitely seen by their customers and consumers. Very often individuals will skim their socials and can potentially scroll past the post but if that same information is relayed on a number of platforms, it increases the likelihood of them seeing the post at least once, potentially resulting in a purchase if the post is advertising something.

Reference:

Saravanakumar, M & SuganthaLakshmi, T 2012, ‘Social media marketing’, Life Science Journal, vol. 9, no. 4, pp.4444-4451

WordStream, Social Media Marketing for Businesses, viewed 28 May 2020, https://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing 

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Why might a sports marketer pursue customer delight?

Customer delight can be defined from two different viewpoints; firstly, customer delight is defined as an extreme form of satisfaction (Barnes & Krallman 2019). The second and more dominant viewpoint considers delight as its own distinct construct, meaning it is defined as a profoundly positive emotional state generally resulting from having one’s expectations exceeded to a surprising degree (Oliver et al 1997). To put it in simple terms, customer delight occurs when you are able to surprise a customer by exceeding the expectations that they had prior to purchasing or using your product. When basic expectations are met, customer satisfaction has been achieved but when expectations are exceeded, customer delight has been achieved.

Sports marketers should not just have an emphasis on customer delight because it makes their customers happy, but it is also about being able to make a greater return on investment for the business. It also can make customers more loyal and help gain customers that are more profitable, as those who delighted by their purchased products will often be willing to spend more money given their experiences and the lack of hassle. Perhaps the biggest positive outcome that comes from customer delight is the emotional reaction that occurs in the process, leading to the customers spreading their positive experiences with your product through word of mouth. Customers, especially delighted ones are an extremely valuable source of advertisement for a business or company as many individuals rely on word of mouth as a reliable source of information when it comes to purchasing products.

Sports marketers can achieve customer delight in numerous ways; they can delight them through the relevant social media outlets, giving their users shout outs when they do something great. They can try and form personal connections with their customers, by doing this such as emails personalised to be sent out on their birthdays wishing them a happy birthday with something like a discount as a gift.

References: 

Barnes, D.C & Krallman, A 2019, ‘Customer Delight: A Review and Agenda for Research’, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, vol. 27, no. 2, pp.174-195

Oliver, R.L, Rust, R.T & Varki, S 1997, ‘Customer delight: foundations, findings, and managerial insight’, Journal of retailing, vol. 73, no. 3, p.311

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Who are the different types of sports consumers and why might you differentiate them?

The sports consumer can be defined in a number of ways, which tend to revolve around identifying the different kinds of sporting products or services. They can be differentiated into four separate categories.

1.     Sporting goods consumers- this group of consumers buy sporting products such as equipment, merchandise, apparel and books. They are anyone who purchases a physical product that has a sport related aspect or purpose. This can range from products such as a soccer ball to a video game such as FIFA (Smith & Stewart 2015).

2.     Sports services consumers- this group of consumers participate in a sport related service or experience excluding viewing or participating in sport directly. These services include the likes of education, medical services and gambling (Smith & Stewart 2015).

3.     Sport participants and volunteers- this group of consumers are the ones that engage in sports as participants in school, recreational and/or organised club sport. It also includes those engaging in unpaid organisational and support roles (Smith & Stewart 2015).

4.     Sport supporters, spectators and fans- this final group of consumers have an active interest in the elite or professional performance of athletes. The activities that they participate in include attending live sport or viewing it on the television or internet (Smith & Stewart 2015).

It is important to differentiate them into groups because it helps determine the best approach sports marketers can take when it comes to tailoring their products to their audience. Sports marketers need to understand the reasons consumers are motivated to purchase sport-related products and services. One element is to take the economic viewpoint, which suggests that individuals behave rationally and choose to use sporting products and services that will meet their quality and needs. The other two viewpoints are from a psychological and social point of view. A psychological point of view is the idea that the attitude and motivations of people will predict what they buy. The social point of view suggests that people may be influenced by their social circumstances.

Reference:

Smith, A.C & Stewart, B 2014, Introduction to sport marketing, pp. 34-35, Routledge

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What are the tangible and intangible benefits of sports products and why are they a challenge for marketers?

A product is usually believed to be a physical good; something that can be held and touched such as a basketball or sporting shoe. Whilst this is true, the term product can also refer to services and ideas. In sports marketing, ‘product’ can be used for a good (physical item), a service, an idea or a combination of these (Smith & Stewart 2014).

In the sport industry, physical products include hockey sticks, footballs and a cricket bat. They are tangible as they can be experienced physically by the senses of sight, touch, smell and hearing. The tangible sport product provides many benefits for the consumer. Tangibility means the product can be taken home and used not just once but can be repeatedly used. These items also don’t have to exclusively used for sport, they can also be used along with sport or as part of the sport experience such as iPhones, gym bags and sporting apparel.

On the other hand, sporting services are intangible. They are not physical and cannot be taken home to keep for a later use. The benefit of intangible sport products is ultimately the intangible experience that consumers get provided with (Smith & Stewart 2014). It is the entertainment factor that consumers gain when viewing a live or televised sporting event or match.

Both tangible and intangible products can present challenges to the marketer. Think of the difficulties associated with marketing a cricket bat; there is very little a marketer can do to make one cricket bat stand out from others. A common tactic employed in this scenario is to form a point of difference to make their product more appealing. Often, it easy for competitors to copy this tactic so adding an intangible value to the tangible product to combat this (Smith & Stewart 2014). Having a famous cricket player endorse your brand of bat is a great way to emphasise its unique quality.

It is difficult to market intangible products as the marketer has no control over the course of a game; it is unpredictable, and anything can happen. One thing they can do is emphasise the physical qualities of the venue. The marketer can also ensure that the tangible add-ons such merchandise, food and beverages are up to standards and are also emphasised.

Reference:

Smith, A.C & Stewart, B 2014, Introduction to sport marketing, pp. 111-114, Routledge,

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What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative research methods? Why might it be advisable to use a qualitative approach to collecting market research information?

There are two major methods that can be used to conduct market research within a company or organisation; quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative research generates numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics (DeFranzo 2011). Often, this data is captured through surveys and questionnaires to gain reliable facts and statistics to guide future key decisions. These can include online surveys, telephone interviews and mobile surveys.

Qualitative research is used to form a deeper understanding of insights into customer motivation and emotion (Steber 2017). This method is of research is about the ‘why’, and not the data or statistics. This method is interested meaning how people make sense of their lives, experiences, and their structures of the world (Ochieng 2009). It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. It is also used to help discover trends in thought and opinions, diving deeper into the problem. Common methods include focus groups and participation/observation. The sample size is typically small.

It would be advisable to use the qualitative approach when conducting market research as this method specifically uncovers the target audience’s behaviour and its connection to a particular topic or issue. Whilst the research is not predictive, it is very descriptive. It aims to get a better understanding through first hand experiences and truthful reporting. Through observation research, it is useful for generating in-depth descriptions of organisations or events, for obtaining information that is otherwise inaccessible and for conducting research when other methods are inadequate. Whilst quantitative research can give you the numbers, the key information of the ‘why’ is important for businesses as it provides depth and detail.

References

DeFranzo, S 2011, What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?, viewed 15 May 2020, https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/qualitative-vs-quantitative-research/ 

Ochieng, P.A 2009, 'An analysis of the strengths and limitation of qualitative and quantitative research paradigms', Problems of Education in the 21st Century, vol. 13, p. 13

Steber, S 2017, Quantitative vs Qualitative Market Research: Which Method Is Best for You?, viewed 15 May 2020, https://www.cfrinc.net/cfrblog/quantitative-vs-qualitative-market-research 

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What are the elements in a SWOT analysis?

It is important that every individual, organisation or business take time to reflect on their current position and a SWOT analysis is a very simple but extremely useful and powerful tool that is critical for their current and future success.

As a framework, a SWOT analysis is highly commended for its simplicity and value in focusing attention on key issues which affect business development and growth (Pickton & Wright 1998).

A SWOT analysis includes four key elements and stands for, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It assesses internal and external factors as well as current and future potential (Mind Tools 2020).

It is one of the most commonly used business analysis and decision-making tools and can help you build on strengths, minimise weaknesses, seize opportunities and counteract threats.

A SWOT analysis is presented as a square with each of the four areas making up one quadrant. This visual presentation is able to provide a quick overview of the current position of whoever is conducting the analysis (Mind Tools 2020).

Strengths:

The strengths are the internal and positive attributes of what you’re assessing and can be controlled. They are what gives you a competitive advantage over those who are rivals in the market and should include things such as brand reputation or prime location.

Weaknesses:

The weaknesses are any issues or negative factors that reduce your competitiveness and require improvement. These can include a lack of expertise, skills, funds, or equipment.

Opportunities:

The opportunities are the potential new ideas and reasons why whatever you are analysing could grow and achieve greater success. It is important to plan and implement these opportunities such as new technology to keep sustainability within whatever it may be.

Threats:

The threats are external factors that you have no control over, but you can identify potential strategies to help combat them and minimise their impact. If not identified and taken care of, these can inhibit the growth and competitiveness of whatever you’re analysing.

Example of a SWOT Analysis

References:

Mind Tools 2020, SWOT Analysis, viewed 4 June 2020, https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

Pickton, D.W & Wright, S 1998, 'What's swot in strategic analysis?', Strategic change, vol. 7, no. 2, pp.101-109