Product Life Cycle Key Terms

Grasp the marketing mix's first rung by knowing product life cycle key terms

The product life cycle model follows a course of birth, growth and maturity and death. Direct the course of your company’s products by anticipating their position on the curve by taking a comprehensive approach to marshalling internal resources from research and engineering to sales and marketing, as well as monitoring market forces such as globalization with multi-country outsourcing and Internet connectivity.

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur with the next "big thing" or an executive tasked with managing a portfolio, understand some product life cycle key terms by:

1. Distinguishing the nuances with the meaning of product itself;

2. Accurately measuring time to market and;

3. Understanding your products' place within the Market Mix and the product life cycle.

Delineate the types of product to accurately plot the product life cycle

The concept of product life cycle hinges on how you define "product." You can refer to the class of product, like automobiles; the form of product, like minivan or sedan, or the brand like Ford or Chevrolet. In general, the life cycle is most stable at the class level, and least predictable and more difficult to manage at the brand life cycle level.
Alex Brown of the University of Delaware provides a useful outline introducing product and brand life cycles.

Tighten the curve by understanding time to market in the product life cycle

"Time to market" means how much time you require in managing the product life cycle from initial concept to final product. This simple concept grows in complexity due to the nature of the product in question (your product Class) as well as internal factors (like how large your organization is or how efficiently departments communicate with one another), and external dynamics like consumer demand and competitor drive to market. Shorten the time to market to save on start-up costs and recoup revenue in the market before your competition.

Understand the effects of the other three Marketing Mix P's on the product life cycle model

The product life cycle model does not stand alone. The Marketing Mix, defined as Product, Price, Placement, Promotion interact with one another constantly, affecting the outcome of the product life cycle growth throughout the various stages. Product cycle management entails directing your products' price, where placement and promotion to meet consumer and competitor response.

• Make product cycle management a verb, a dynamic process rather than a static policy. Encourage collaboration throughout the organization, cross-pollinating ideas from all departments as products are created, produced and marketed to keep your pipeline full and revenue stream steady.

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