The Forgotten P’s: Product

Day 1 of nearly any good marketing course or class and they will tell you about the Four P’s. Product Promotion Place Price

So many of us get caught up in the fun, promotion side of marketing that we don’t give much attention to the rest. For that reason, this will be posting 1 in a 3 part series on the forgotten P’s.

Let’s start with the Product.

It is true that you do not have to have the best product to be the best in the industry, there are many many cases where the lesser product with the better promotion strategy rules the marketplace. However, that doesn’t discredit the need for a good product.

So what defines a good product? A good product is one that fulfills a need, desire, or want of the consumer. A good product solves a problem. A ‘product’ can be a service that you offer – but all services need to be packaged like a product to sell well.

Sometimes it is worth it to go back to basics and figure out whether there is a way to improve your product or add another feature that your customers want. All of this comes down to really knowing and understanding your target market and knowing their wants and desires.

One thing to be careful of is not to keep reinventing and changing your product to attempt to reach new markets if that is going to alienate you from your current customers. Consider releasing two separate products if a change or update is going to upset your current market.

What can you do to improve your product? Maybe you can repackage it, add new features, create a new product line, think outside the box, and don’t be afraid to ask your customers what they want.