Brand Naming, Product Life Cycle, & Pricing Strategies

Branding Naming Strategies

• Descriptive → explains what the brand is (General Motors, Pizza Hut).

• Evocative → suggests an image or idea (Amazon, Patagonia).

• Invented → completely new word (KAVAK).

• Founder’s name → (Ford, Disney).

• Acronyms → (IKEA, IBM)

Criteria for effective naming

• Memorable → easy to pronounce, spell, and recall.

• Meaningful → conveys something relevant to the product/brand.

• Distinctive → stands out from competitors, avoids genericness.Adaptable → works across products, categories, and cultures.

• Protectable → easy to trademark and own legally.

• Scalable → can grow with the brand globally

Product Life Cycle

Shows the stages a product or service goes through from launch to decline. Each stage has different challenges and strategies.

Stages of the Product Life Cycle

1. Introduction Stage: Product/service is launched. Awareness is low, costs are high, sales grow slowly. Focus: Heavy investment in marketing, educating customers, building distribution.

2. Growth Stage: Sales increase rapidly, customers adopt the product, competition enters. Focus: Scale operations, improve features, differentiate from competitors, build brand loyalty.

3. Maturity Stage: Sales peak and stabilize. Market becomes saturated, competition is intense. Focus: Maximize profits, defend market share, innovate with new versions or services.

4. Decline Stage: Sales drop due to new technologies, changes in consumer preferences, or better alternatives. Focus: Decide whether to discontinue, rebrand, or find niche markets.

Penetration Pricing:

You start with low prices to attract Young consumers and gain global market share.

Skimming Pricing

You launch innovative products and high prices, then you lower it with newer, improved versions

Premium Pricing

You always offer high prices to evoque superior quality, design and a higher value.

Competition Based Pricing

You adjust the prices to the category

Psychological Pricing

Uses prices like .99, .95 to give the perception to be more affordable

Freemium

They give you basic free versions and you can pay for a complete versión or one without advertising.

Dynamic Pricing

The prices vary depending on demand, seasonality, time, etc.

Bundle Pricing

You offer a group of products or services with a cheaper offer than buying them each one per separate.

Loss Leader Pricing

You sell a product cheap but the customer has to buy you more products

to use it.