PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Product is the first and most important element of the marketing mix.
Without it, marketers have nothing to price, promote and distribute. Thus,
product management particularly the development of new products entails a lot
of effort and time. In determining what product to offer, marketers must put into
utmost consideration the needs and wants of the their target market, as well as
their preferences when it comes to product attributes and features. Innovation
should also be a vital consideration in developing new products. Hence,
marketing research is essential.

A product can be nondurable goods, durable goods, or services and can be

classified as consumer product which is intended for consumer market or for
personal consumption and the industrial or business product which is for the
business market intended for resale, use in production and conduct of business
operations or in providing services.

A product goes through the Product Life Cycle: introduction or the

pioneering stage, growth or the market-acceptance stage, maturity and decline
– wherein each stage, marketers should also adopt different marketing
strategies.

DEISY R. LLANTO
MBA 203-MM2
Learning Activity 3
 PRODUCT MANAGEMENT – Brand & Branding Strategy

Branding a is important as it helps consumers in distinguishing or

differentiate the product from others. A brand is name and/or mark intended to
identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiate it
from competing products. Good branding could lead to repeat purchases from
the consumers and helps marketers in promoting the products as it creates a
specific image of the product in the minds of the consumers, or the so-called
product positioning.

Brands can be differentiated based on attributes, features, form,

performance, conformance, durability, reliability, style and design, and others.
A brand could be consists of a brand name and/or brand mark or logo.

DEISY R. LLANTO
MBA 203-MM2
Learning Activity 3
 DESIGNING & MANAGING SERVICES

A service is any act or performance that one party can offer to another that
is essentially intangible and does not result in ownership of anything. Designing
and managing a service is quite challenging compared to tangible goods.
However, when it comes to the considerations in developing a service, we always
go back to the target market and identify their needs and wants, and preferences.

Services are characterized by intangibility, inseparability, variability, and

perishability. Each of these characteristics poses challenges and requires certain
strategies. Marketers must find ways to give tangibility to intangibles, to increase
the productivity of service providers, to increase and standardize the quality of
the service provided, and to match the supply of services with market demand.

DEISY R. LLANTO
MBA 203-MM2
Learning Activity 3
 DEVELOPING PRICING STRATEGIES & PROGRAMS

Price is the amount of money a consumer is willing to pay in exchange for

a product or service. It is the twin component of product quality, which when
combined, make up the product value or value proposition. The price is often
considered by consumers as a determinant of product quality and sets their
expectations for a product. Say a product is priced higher than its competing
brands, consumers will perceive that the product is of higher quality than others.

The price function by making the product affordable to its target market
as well as by reflecting the value of a product. Hence, the price should be no
more than the sum of the values of the benefits it provides to consumers.

Several pricing strategies can be adopted by marketers, but the most

commonly used and most effective is the Market-Penetration Pricing wherein the
initial price of a product is set low in relation to the target market’s range of
expected prices to serve as instrument in entering the mass market early; and
the other one is Market-Skimming Pricing which initially sets a relatively high
price for a new product along with intensive promotion in order to generate profit
as early as possible.