Marketing Report: Product Life Cycle and Communication

This marketing report provides a comprehensive overview of key marketing concepts. It begins by defining the product life cycle, detailing its four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline, along with associated marketing strategies for each stage. The report then outlines the five crucial steps in developing effective communication, including identifying the target audience, determining communication objectives, designing the message, selecting the appropriate channel, and choosing the message source. Furthermore, the report discusses the five levels of product within the customer value hierarchy, from core benefit to potential product, and explores different modes of entry into foreign markets, such as exporting, franchising, and licensing. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of these concepts in marketing management.

Marketing Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Product life cycle ........................................................................................................................3
Steps in developing effective communication ............................................................................3
Product levels in customer value hierarchy ................................................................................4
Modes of entry into foreign market.............................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Product life cycle is a sequence or process which starts from the time when it is launched
into the market till the product is discontinued. The product life cycle consist of introduction,
growth, maturity and decline. In the further report light will be put upon stages of product life
cycle, the steps in developing effective communication. Also discussion will be done on product
levels in customer value hierarchy and also different modes of entry to foreign market will be
determined.
MAIN BODY
Product life cycle
There are basically four stages in product life cycle which are as follows:
Introduction stage – It is the first stage as in this stage the product is launched into the market.
The cost incurred in this stage is generally high and less profits are made in this stage. The
competition is low at this stage. The demand of the product is not so much at this stage. The
marketing strategies developed at this stage are product awareness and reaching new potential
customers.
Growth stage – It is the second stage when the customers accept the product and it begins to
sell. In this stage the profit tends to grow and the cost is reduced due to economies of scale.
Public become aware about the product and competition begins to rise and this lead to decrease
in prices (He, Luo. and Huang, 2019). The marketing strategies developed at this stage is
keeping the pricing high and increasing the profit. The marketing message is product preference.
Maturity stage – it is the third stage and sales tend to hike up. The demand is strong and many
competitors enter the market therefore to stay competitive the organization tend to reduce the
prices. The marketing strategy developed at this stage is product differentiation.
Decline stage – The last stage is decline in which the product reaches its saturation point and the
competitors take away certain proportion of the market and sales decreases as a result. The
marketing strategy that should be developed is adopting new advertising strategies and reducing
the prices of product, exploring new markets.
Steps in developing effective communication
There are five stages in developing effective communication such as :

Identification of target audience – The first thing in developing effective communication is to
identify the target audience. The audience may be an individual, group, specific public or general
public and it can be identified by proper segmentation and targeting.
Determination of communication objectives – The second step is to determine the objective of
communication. The objective should be specific and measurable.
Designing the message – the third step is designing the message which helps in grabbing the
attention of the audience (Turaga, 2016).
Channel or media selection – the next step is to choose a mix of media that fits the organization
target audience. The channels may be mails, newspaper, radio, TV or any online platform,
Selection of the source of message – the message source selection is the last step of effective
communication and it helps the company tide over crisis situation. There are generally two types
of sources which are direct and indirect.
Product levels in customer value hierarchy
There are basically five levels of product:
Core benefit – It is the fundamental level for the the customer is actually buying the product. It
includes the service of benefit or the main functionality of the product.
Basic product – It is mainly the first look or the physical appearance of the product. In this level
the marketer turns the core benefit into the basic product.
Expected product – At this level marketer modifies the basic product and keeps set of attributes
that customers expects from the product in mind.
Augmented product – The marketers at this level prepares a product that exceeds customer
satisfaction (Park. and et.al., 2017).
Potential product – It defines all the transformation the product undergoes in the future. The
marketers uses this to distinguish their offering from others.
Modes of entry into foreign market
There are various ways to enter into the foreign market some of them are:
Exporting – it is directly selling the domestic products into another country. The mode is less
costly and also has lower risk.

Franchising – It is a system in which one business owner gives royalty and fees to the parent
company in return they sell the product of Franchisor (Selimi. and Zekiri, 2017). It gives benefit
of expertise of franchiser to franchisee.
licensing – It is the right that one company gives to another in their target country to use their
property. It requires little investment but also provides high return.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the product life cycle starts from introduction stage and ends on
decline stage. five steps are developed for effective communication and also five levels of
products are determined in customer value hierarchy. Also different modes to enter the foreign
market are determined such as exporting, franchising and licensing.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
He, B., Luo, T. and Huang, S., 2019. Product sustainability assessment for product life
cycle. Journal of cleaner production. 206. pp.238-250.
Park, D.H. and et.al., 2017. Method and system for generating augmented product specifications.
U.S. Patent 9,817,904.
Selimi, N. and Zekiri, J., 2017. Internationalization of businesses and selection of entry modes in
other markets. ILIRIA International Review. 7(1).
Turaga, R., 2016. Organizational models of effective communication. IUP Journal of Soft
Skills. 10(2). p.56.