Marketing: An Introduction
Armstrong, Kotler
Chapter Seven
Product, services, and branding strategy
Looking Ahead
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Define product and the major classifications of
products and services.
Describe the roles of product and service branding,
packaging, labeling and product support services.
Explain the decisions companies make when
developing product lines and mixes.
Identify the four characteristics that affect the
marketing of a service.
Discuss the additional marketing considerations
that services require.
Product Definition
Product:
any market offering that is intended to
satisfy a want or need.
Service:
a type of product that is intangible and
does not result in the ownership of anything.
Experience:
a type of product that combines a
service or physical product with a memorable
experience.
Product Definition
What is a Product ?
Anything that can be offered to a market
for attention, acquisition, use or consumption and
that might satisfy a want or need.
Includes: physical objects, services, events,
persons, places, organizations, ideas or some
combination thereof.
Service Definition
What is a Service ?
A form of product that consists of activities,
benefits or satisfactions offered for sale that are
essentially intangible and do not result in the
ownership of anything.
Examples: banking, hotel, airline, retail, tax
preparation, home repairs.
Levels of product and services
Figure 1
1- Core benefit; What is the buyer is really
buying? Example: People buy camcorders to
capture important moment.
2- Actual product; Features, brand name,
quality, and packaging help the product to
be delivered, like Features of the camcorder.
3- Augmented product; additional consumer
services after sale. Warranty, delivery,
credit, installation, service
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Levels of Product
Figure 1
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Products and Services Classifications;
1- consumer products; products and services bought by
end users. Convenience, shopping, specialty, and
unsought products ( Figure 2).
2- Industrial products; purchase for further processing or
for use in conducting a business. Material, parts, capital
items, and supplies and services.
3- Organizations, persons, places, and ideas;
- Corporate image advertising
- People; lawyers, doctors,,, market them-selves.
- places; attract people to cities, region…
- Ideas; crest “ create smiles everyday”. Social ideas to
create social marketing to influence people
Consumer products
Convenience Products
Shopping Products
 Buy frequently & immediately  Buy less frequently
 Low priced
 Mass advertising
 Many purchase locations
i.e Candy, newspapers
 Higher price
 Fewer purchase locations
 Comparison shop
i.e Clothing, cars, appliances
Specialty Products
Unsought Products
 Special purchase efforts
 New innovations
 High price
 Unique characteristics
 Brand identification
 Few purchase locations
i.e Lamborghini, Rolex
 Products consumers don’t
want to think about
 Require much advertising &
personal selling
i.e Life insurance, blood donation
Individual Product Decisions
Product and Service decisions
1- Product attributes;
 Quality.
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Features.
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Performance and satisfaction includes level and
consistency.
Differentiates a product from the competition.
Assessed based on value and cost.
Style and design.
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Style equals appearance: Design is the heart of the
product.
2- Branding
Is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or combination of
these that identifies the maker or seller of a product or
service.
 Brand Equity
 Advantages to Branding
 Higher brand loyalty
 Buyers:
 Identification
 Name awareness
 Quality and value
 Perceived quality
 Sellers
 Strong brand
 Tells a story
associations
 Provides legal
 Patents, trademarks,
protection
channel relationships
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Helps segments
markets
3- Packaging:
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Developing a good wrapper for a product.
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Packaging concept.
Package elements.
Product safety.
Environmental concerns.
4- Labeling:
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Identify the product
Weights/measures
Description/instructions
Ingredients
Nutritional information
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5- Product support services; Customer service
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Assess the value of current services and obtain
ideas for new services.
Assess the cost of providing the services.
Put together a package of services that delights the
customers and yields profits for the company.
Product Line Decisions
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Product line: Group of closely related
products due to function, similar target
markets, outlets sold in, or similar pricing
- Length: number of items in the product line.
- Line stretching: adding items to either. Highend of the line can be stretched downwards.
Marriott, Mercedes.
- Line filling: adding items within the product line
range. Increase sizes,
Branding Strategy : Building strong Brands
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Brand equity:
 Positive differential effect that knowing the
brand name has on customer response to
the product or service.
 Brands are more than just names and
symbols. Brands represent consumer’s
perceptions and feelings about a product
and its performance.
 Brands exits in the mind of consumers.
Major Brand Strategy Decisions: Figure 3
Major Brand strategy decision
Figure 3
Figure 10.3
Major Brand Strategy Decisions11- Brand positioning;
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Can position brands at any of three levels.
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Product attributes.
Product benefits.
Consumer beliefs and values.
2 - Brand name selection:
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Suggest something about the product’s benefits
Easy to pronounce, recognize, and remember
Distinctive and Extendable
Ability to be translated into other languages
Capable of being registered and legally protected
Major Brand Strategy Decisions
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3- Brand sponsorship:
Manufacturer’s brand
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Brand sponsored and promoted by the producer
of the good, such as Pepsi, IBM.
Private brand
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Brand created and owned by a reseller
of a product or service such as President’s
Choice.
Licensing
4- Brand development , Figure 4
Brand Development Strategies
Figure 4
Service Marketing
Service Characteristics
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Intangibility.
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Inseparability.
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Consumed when it is provided and cannot be
separated from the provider.
Variability.
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Cannot be seen, tasted, felt or smelled before
purchasing.
Quality depends on who provides.
Perishability.
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Cannot be stored or resold. Figure 5
Nature and characteristics of service
Figure 5
Marketing in Service Industries
Service profit chain:
1- Internal service quality: selecting, hiring, training, talent
employees leads to :
2- Satisfied employees: loyal productive, happy employees lead to:
3- Greater service value: High quality service delivery leads to:
4- Satisfied and loyal customers; loyal, repeat purchase leads to;
5- Business growth and profit: superior service performance.
Internal
Service
quality
Satisfied
employees
Service
Value
Satisfied
customers
Profit
&
growth
Managing Service Differentiation
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Differentiate offer by:
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Innovative features
Service delivery
Images or symbols
Service quality
Service recovery: retain angry customers
Service productivity
- lowering the overhead costs
- Increase service productivity
Additional Product Considerations
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Product decisions and social responsibility
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Government regulation
Food and product safety
Pricing and advertising
Labeling, weights, and measures
Hazardous products
Product liability
International product and service
marketing
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Standardization versus local adaptation
Electrical standards, packaging
Cultural differences in meaning
Barriers to trade