Marketing is important to product development.
Marketing is said to be the most important element of new product development. There is good reason for this. Marketing means the life or death of a product. Everything from the concept of a new product to meeting customers' needs is a part of marketing in new product development. With the right research, a product will be successful from the beginning.
Finding an Audience
With competition becoming fierce, companies are no longer developing products without an audience in mind. Usually, before a product can even become a concept, companies must first determine to whom they can market the product. Extensive market research in areas such as demographics help developers know which product ideas will be successful.
Discovering a Need
Once a target audience has been found, marketers must discover which needs products can meet. This "need-based" product development provides for a much more effective return on investment. The most attractive brochure printing designs and most intriguing TV commercials will not sell a product if no one at least perceives a need for it. While technology still has a role in new product development, a marketing team has to provide input for whom to market to and what they need.
Determining Right Timing
Some products that may have been very marketable just a few years back may no longer be practical in today's marketplace. Factors such as recession, seasons and war can make or break the success of a new product. While some timing factors simply cannot be foreseen, others are predictable. For instance, if a marketing team knows that a target audience mostly buys motorcycles in the spring, they will push the development team to launch new breathable motorcycle armor before spring. Once a launch date has been determined, the marketing team can begin designing and planning for a marketing campaign, which involves everything from events to poster and brochure printing designs to online advertising.
Differentiating a Product
A marketing team must research similar products that competitors are selling and determine if the product their company develops can be marketed uniquely. If a golf club being developed can only be marketed as just another golf club, there is no direction for a marketing campaign. On the other hand, if the golf club can be differentiated, for instance as a club light enough for anyone to easily use, then both the marketing and development team have a specific goal to reach.
Developing Pricing
Knowing the needs of consumers also brings marketers to ask the question, "How much would this target audience pay to fulfill this need?" When developing a new product, appropriate retail pricing must be kept in mind so that costs of development do not outweigh a marketable price. The marketing team must also remember costs of advertising, such as commercials or brochure printing, and must ask if a product will be worth the marketing costs. Without a price in mind, developers could create a product that provides little or no return on investment.
Assisting with Alterations
Few products have been developed that haven't required adjustments. Development teams create models to test both in the lab and then to discover the product's usability with a target market. When adjustments must be made, the marketing team must work alongside the development team to re-determine marketing opportunities and direction for the new product. This means that even factors such as patents and local or global sourcing problems must be considered by all parties involved in the development of the product.
Tags: marketing team, product development, brochure printing, development team, golf club