Marketing Strategies During Different Stages of the Product Life Cycle

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Introductory stage of PLC...............................................................................................................2
Marketing strategies during introductory state................................................................................2
Promotion through free samples..................................................................................................2
Social media marketing................................................................................................................3
Digital marketing.........................................................................................................................4
Celebrity endorsements................................................................................................................5
Billboards and hoardings.............................................................................................................5
Event sponsorships.......................................................................................................................6
Maturity stage of PLC.....................................................................................................................7
Marketing strategies during maturity state......................................................................................7
Revamping brand image..............................................................................................................7
Product differentiation.................................................................................................................8
Relationship marketing................................................................................................................8
Television advertisements............................................................................................................9
Large scale event sponsorships..................................................................................................10
Geo targeting..............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Marketing management plays a crucial role in the success of any business. Once a product has
been developed, marketing allows the organization to introduce the product to the target market.
Every product that is developed by a business goes through a number of stages. These stages
include product development, product introduction, product growth, product maturity and finally
product decline. There is no fixed time span within which a product shifts from one stage to
another. However, the organization needs to develop different marketing strategy for the product
during its various life cycle stages. This report highlights upon the marketing strategies adopted
by businesses during the introductory stage as well as maturity stage of the product. Relevant
examples have also been provided wherever required.
Introductory stage of PLC
Introduction stage of a product is marked by introducing the product to its target market. During
this stage, the costs incurred by the company are very high (Stark, 2015). The product is faced by
little or no competition during this stage and the demand for the product needs to be created in
the market. At this stage, the business makes little money as customers need to be prompted to
buy the product. Marketing strategies at this stage are aimed at creating a demand for the product
and reaching out to a maximum number of targeted customers.
Marketing strategies during introductory state
During the introduction stage, people are not entirely aware about the existence of the brand.
Therefore marketing strategies at this stage must be aimed at generating awareness about the
brand. During this stage brands must adopt social media marketing, extensive promotions
through sample distributions, celebrity endorsements and digital marketing strategies must be
adopted. This will lead to enhanced awareness, improved trust and better acceptance towards the
new product.
Promotion through free samples
Various organizations prefer to distribute free samples during this stage in order to make the
consumers aware about the product. For example when L’Oreal introduces a new shampoo in the

market, they try to distribute a sample sachet of the shampoo at large retail stores. They also give
away small bottles of shampoo free along with their existing product. This strategy allows the
customers to use the product and also helps in building trust upon the brand.
Source 1 Pinterest
Social media marketing
Social media marketing refers to any kind of marketing done via social media platforms
including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest or twitter (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). Social
media marketing is an effective tool to target a large group of people through a single channel.
Housing.com is a leading real estate firm which is a perfect example of brands using innovative
social media campaigns to promote the product. Social media marketing also allows the business
to gain a feedback about the product (Heymann-Reder, 2012). Social media marketing often
establishes a two way communication between the organization and its customers. Therefore it is
imperative that businesses resort to social media marketing during introduction stage of the
product.