Marketing strategies for every stage of the product life cycle

All products that are introduced into the market go through a four-stage product life cycle (PLC). At each stage, there are different marketing tactics a business can activate to maximise the product’s reach and sales. The length of each stage varies from product to product, so making the most of marketing efforts can extend each stage and therefore extend the overall lifespan and consumer interest of the product itself.

The four product life cycle stages are:

• Introduction: when the product is launched
• Growth: when demand grows
• Maturity: when sales volume peaks
• Decline: when the product loses market share

In this blog, we’ll explore the most effective product marketing strategies for each stage to help businesses to maximise their product’s potential, and will touch on what marketing can be done during the product development stage.

Marketing during the product development stage

Product development comes before the product life cycle officially begins, but there are still important marketing activities that should take place at this point.

When launching a new product, it’s important to have clear data that suggests your product is solving a need amongst your target market. If your product doesn’t have an audience, it won’t have any sales, and all the time, money, and effort you’ve put into developing and testing before launching will be wasted.

During product development, marketing can conduct comprehensive market research to identify consumer preferences, pain points, and emerging trends. When you have surveyed a large number of people and have gathered as much data as possible, you’re more able to ensure your new product has the functionality to match consumer needs, making you more likely to achieve success.

Introduction stage marketing strategies

The introduction phase is where the product launch takes place. During this stage, the pricing strategy must be set. Companies can either set initial prices high and make their products exclusive to a bunch of early adopters, or set product prices low and get a larger customer base from a variety of different demographics. 

At this early stage, businesses should establish a strong brand which leaves an impression on the audience. A strong brand has a look and feel which is consistent at every point – from logo and brand name, to product design, website, and social media channels. By tying all elements together in an eye-catching way, customers will begin to recognise you when they come across your presence.

This stage is when the new product is sold, so businesses must choose their distribution channels and retailers wisely to ensure the product will be in the places where their target audience will be shopping. Marketing efforts are then able to build product awareness in the locations where they’re available to buy, putting the brand in front of potential customers wherever possible.

Growth stage marketing strategies

The growth phase is where market share grows and product sales increase. Marketing teams should ensure they are actively gathering and collating customer feedback on product quality and improvements, and passing them onto the development teams for new product features to secure new customers as well as customer loyalty from the already engaged audience.

During the growth stage, products can enter new market segments, so marketing teams must expand their reach into new consumer territories. As competitors tend to enter the market at this stage, marketing messages should also switch from product awareness to product preference – differentiating the product from the competition to sway their customers over to you.

This stage could also be where marketing teams develop partnerships to put their brand in front of new people. For example, creating partnerships with influencers and asking them to promote your product on their platforms taps into their engaged audiences and gets a lot of eyes on your product. 

Maturity stage marketing strategies

This is the longest stage of the product life cycle and is where production costs and marketing costs start to decrease as demand is predictable and the brand is known within the market.

In the maturity phase, marketing teams should be developing educational content across their digital marketing platforms – such as blogs and social media channels – to promote the product as a leader and the brand as one of authority. Developing trust amidst market saturation will enable a business to position themselves at the forefront, and will create differentiation from competitors.

Decline stage marketing strategies

The decline stage of a product life cycle is when the sales and profits of your product start to decline. As such, marketing teams should pull back on their effort, as any time or money spent will be wasted.

In the decline phase, companies have a number of options on what they can do. They can harvest the product and discontinue it, find another use for the product and sell it into different markets, or wait out the competition.

When a product hits the decline stage of the product life cycle, companies can also re-develop their product with new features or a new look and re-launch it. This strategy works on many types of new and existing products, and is often used on smartphones which are often launched annually with new features and designs overlapping their previous template.

Develop your knowledge of product life cycle strategies

There are many marketing strategies which are applicable to the different stages of the life cycle. If you have ambitions to launch a successful career in product marketing, knowing the phases and what activities to active when will put you in good stead with employers.

Keele University’s 100% online MSc Management with Marketing will help you to progress your career into a marketing leadership role. You’ll learn how to lead teams to success, when launching new products or expanding the growth and maturity stage of existing products. Taught entirely online and part-time, you are able to fit your studies around your current role and commitments whilst still having access to first-class teaching.

Throughout your degree, you will connect with peers globally and grow your network of professionals whilst sharing and discussing ideas.