Product marketing is one of the four elements of the marketing mix which also includes place, product and promotion. It defers with product management in the sense that management is primarily concerned with the development of a product inside an organization. Marketing a product is more focused on selling the product or a service to a prospect or the consumers. It is one very important activity that marketing organizations engage in since its proper implementation is crucial to the success of any marketing campaign. There are various ways in which different marketing organizations handle the process but it should answer several strategic questions that are important to a marketing firm.

The first would be the determination of what particular product will be offered. Here the product line is created based on how wide or how deep it will be. Next is determining who the intended consumers or clients for the chosen product are. There should be clear cut definition of what particular market segment will be best to offer the product to. The next concern will be the determination of the distribution channel. How best to enable the product to reach its intended consumers and how much should the product cost. Here pricing, which is another element of the marketing mix, play a large role since proper pricing need some considerations like the benefits that the product can offer as compared to its price or the cost of production or the ease or difficulty in which it will be carried to its intended market. After these factors have been determined, introducing the product to its intended market will be the next concern. This is where advertising comes in and to be able to do each step accurately, an organization might be best served to consult a marketing Sherpa, so called because he serves as a guide to the marketing process or  a marketing guru which is someone with great authority, knowledge and wisdom and who uses them to guide others. The two titles might be interchanged by some people since they serve an almost similar role in the marketing community. But a marketing guru is something that is more similar to a teacher since the Sanskrit origin of that word ascribes it as a principle to develop the consciousness in leading the creation from the unreal to the real or from ignorance to knowledge while a marketing Sherpa tends to be taken as a guide alone. Both of these services require great knowledge on the subject of marketing and very few individuals attain such recognition. Several years of education, training and experience are required to have a certain degree of mastery but even then staying current with the ever changing marketing trends requires constant updating of one’s knowledge.

But no matter which one you take in, the most important thing to consider is whether he has enough knowledge or inclination to enable you to have either a product market or a consumer market. A product market is referred to the part where you are in the process of getting a new product into the general public while consumer market are the consumers that you are impressing with your product appeal.

Product marketing like others in the business arena has since evolved to adapt to the more modern ways of conducting business like the development of marketing collateral which is term for the collection of different media that are used to support the sales of a specific product or service. These are generally used to make the sales and distribution of a product or service easier and more efficiently. A company brand for example is presented as collateral to enhance its products. This is an area of marketing communication and its production is important in the communication plan.

Marketing materials that are commonly produced for marketing collateral are the sales brochures and other printed materials. These are used to enhance the popularity of a product or service. It also includes the creation of posters and signs that announces important facts and details about a brand. There are also , visual aids used in making sales presentation to a target audience, web contents for the company or product web site, and sales scripts that are used for enticing costumers to buy the product. Furthermore, there are also demonstration scripts for product and company demonstrations, product data sheets that are important in recording all pertinent product transactions and product white papers.

It differs from advertising in the sense that advertisements are ran on different media even before a product is introduced and even without previous company contact to an intended market. While marketing collateral generally is introduced later in the sales cycle, which is the time when the prospective buyer of the product has already been identified and while contact is being made to them by the sales staff of the company. The production of these collaterals is in line with other company publications to enhance its corporate identity such as business cards or calling cards, complimentary slips and letterheads on company stationeries.

All of these marketing elements and skilled professionals are needed to produce a successful marketing campaign for a product or brand. A large part of a company’s budget is devoted to the development and marketing of a product but the payback is always something that an individual or company takes pride in and takes in revenues often in millions of dollars for years. Such reward has served to encourage many corporations to seek more efficient solutions to every problem they encounter with the result elevating the level of marketing into a form that is a combination of both science and art, a level of expertise that so many young men want to apprentice in so they too could be masters of marketing someday.

Product Marketing
Product Marketing

Marketing Sherpa
Marketing Sherpa

Marketing Guru
Marketing Guru

Marketing Collateral
Marketing Collateral

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