What Is Pragmatic Marketing? Benefits of Pragmatic Marketing

Pragmatic marketing is a marketing strategy companies use to deliver new products that most accurately match customer needs. Pragmatic marketing strategies involve researching the needs of market segments, creating products, and analyzing customer responses throughout a product life cycle. As evaluators examine campaign performance and how efforts can improve, marketing approaches and product development evolve.

Pragmatic marketing and product management go hand in hand. A pragmatic approach to product development and product marketing follows these steps:

1. 1. Identify market problems. Through research and surveys, brands should identify what products customers need and which specific features would solve market problems. Creating a business plan with buyer personas in mind is critical. Brands should organize their product portfolio to identify potential customers.
2. 2. Create a prototype. Product teams will create a rough draft of a product that fills a market gap. Beyond the product development team, stakeholders may want to see a test of the product to see how customers may receive it before it enters the market’s competitive landscape.
3. 3. Test with a small group. Before a formal distribution strategy, marketers will beta test their product with a small target audience. Testing might occur at industry trade shows or through special events. Through these marketing channels, brands may give freebies to potential customers and ask for feedback.
4. 4. Analyze the results. After the product’s soft launch, startups or established companies will analyze the performance and conduct a win/loss analysis. Teams can collect the data via social media, online reviews, surveys, customer representative calls, and more.
5. 5. Refine the product. The project management team will improve the product by responding to customer feedback.
6. 6. Test anew. The testing cycle begins again, perhaps with a broader audience as the product approaches its final stages. Marketers will pay attention to whether the pricing feels appropriate for the target audience or if the customers are enjoying the product and offering referrals.
7. 7. Launch the product. The product roadmap does not end with a final product. Even after the product launch, marketers will pay attention to responses and criticisms through their marketing channels (email, social media, et cetera) to see how the product may evolve, even when it’s already available for purchase.

The pragmatic marketing framework engenders successful products because they will have been tested in the market and refined before product teams create official launch plans. Consider the following advantages:

1. 1. Eagerness: A pragmatic marketing product aims to sell products with untapped potential, ones that answer the customer’s call. Creating ads and buzz around these products means you will release them to a more enthusiastic audience.
2. 2. Efficiency: Collaboration and teamwork are staples of pragmatic marketing. Product teams and marketers must build on previous efforts to position a product effectively. Since research and testing eliminate useless product features and models that regress the end goal, work is more efficient.
   
3. 3. Refinement: Testing and audience input mean your product is more full-proof than others and that you have a product you feel confident users will positively respond to by launch time.

There are some downsides to using pragmatic marketing, including:

1. 1. High expenses: Product development and advertising are expensive efforts that may not always yield a sufficient return on investment.
2. 2. Time: Conducting multiple tests and new marketing efforts through various advertising mediums is time-consuming.
3. 3. Unpredictability: Research can reveal holes in the market. However, until companies test and release a product, there’s no way to know if a product matches a current need.

Consider these tips for implementing your pragmatic marketing strategy:

1. 1. Identify your distinctive competencies. Through research and customer responses, learn what makes your product stand out from competitors and lean into that as a strength. Lead with this messaging in your communications and find the audience who will most benefit from these distinct features.
2. 2. Find the right audience. Go beyond just your assumptions about who a product is for; put some ad spend behind digital marketing toward unexpected audiences to see how the product performs. You never know who you might reach and what you might learn.
3. 3. Send special invitations. In earlier testing phases, create buzz around your products by emailing customers in your target demographic to notify them of a new product. This approach will hopefully stimulate the audience and get them to engage with the tested product and respond to it candidly.
4. 4. Tease a launch. Time a launch when audience curiosity peaks. Effectively timed launches will maximize engagement with the product so brands can best measure responses alongside the buying process and sales.
5. 5. Employ strategic positioning and messaging. Creating a problem-oriented product is a cause for celebration, so taking up space in the marketplace (on billboards, through digital advertising, et cetera) and flaunting a new product that speaks to customer need and demand can help generate interest.
6. 6. Be humble with feedback. A significant part of pragmatic marketing is discovering a market need and tailoring a product to match. Criticism and phone calls will come in; be open and receptive as this is the free data that will propel your next design and strategy.

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