Product Decisions

Marketing starts with the product since it is what an organization has to offer its target market.  As we’ve stressed many times in this tutorial, organizations attempt to provide solutions to a target market’s problems.  These solutions include tangible or intangible (or both) product offerings marketed by an organization.

In addition to satisfying the target market’s needs, the product is important because it is how organizations generate revenue.  It is the “thing” that for-profit companies sell in order to realize profits and satisfy stakeholders and what non-profit organizations use to generate funds needed to sustain itself.  Without a well-developed product strategy that includes input from the target market, a marketing organization will not have long-term success.

In this part of the Principles of Marketing Tutorials we take a close look at the key concepts all marketers should consider when faced with product decisions.  In the Managing Products Tutorial we will extend the discussion to look at the key issues in managing product decisions.