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About Product Life Cycles
Last updated, June 2023

What is the Product Life Cycle?

The shift to digital may have turned the business world upside down over the past 20 years, but some fundamentals still remain the same. One of these fundamentals is the Product Life Cycle, where all new products and services follow a path from introduction to maturity.

About Product Life Cycles-PNG

Understanding where you and your competition falls in the cycle is important in shaping all marketing decisions, including your approach on TikTok.

What are the stages?

There are 4 stages that form the curve of the product life cycle. The shape of the curve can change depending on industry and product class but the ideal shape is to speed through the introduction stage, increase the slope of the growth stage, extend the length of maturity, and slow the pace of the decline stage.


Introduction Stage

This stage generally focuses on products that are new to the market. You know you are in this stage when your product hasn't been launched or you've recently launched a product and are focused on increasing awareness and consideration for potential buyers.


The key marketing strategy in this stage is to create product awareness. This means marketing and distribution costs are normally higher as early adopters learn about the product and make initial purchases.


Since you want to move through the introduction stage as quickly as possible to get to the growth stage, your goal is to roll out campaigns to build enough awareness so that consumers know of your solution or know about your company when shopping for a solution.


Potential TikTok products to consider in this stage include: 


Growth Stage

You know you are in the growth stage once you shift focus from getting consumers to try your product to getting the market to prefer your brand over competitors.


At this stage, you want to expand your audience, build up a brand presence, and maximize market share. As the product gains mass awareness, sales increase. Marketing return on investment (ROI) is generally higher as economies of scale are realized.


Promotions are targeted to larger audiences and competition increases as similar products hit the market, so how you position your product relative to the competition is important during this stage.


The growth stage is the period with the sharpest increase in sales, attributed to a boost in market presence and releasing new product features.


Potential TikTok products to consider in this stage include:


*These products are not available in all regions.

Maturity Stage

Once sales start to level out and product adoption has peaked, you may be entering the maturity stage. In this stage, most of your target consumers already have your products or have purchased similar ones from your competitors.


At this stage, the focus of your marketing strategy is to win customers from competitors and optimize your marketing funnel.


Because it becomes harder to differentiate products in the marketplace over time, developing a strong brand is important to extend the duration of this stage by increasing loyalty and preventing consumers from switching to competitors. Prolonging this stage also requires an increase in marketing efficiency to reduce your cost per acquisition.


Other ways to extend the maturity stage include:

  • ​Reaching new demographics

  • ​Identifying new uses for your products

  • ​A new style or trend surfaces by chance


Potential TikTok products to consider in this stage include:


*These products are not available in all regions.

Decline

This stage is often out of the marketer's control. The decline phase begins as product sales and profits shrink. Other common signs include shrinking margins, industry consolidation, and being viewed as a commodity.


During this stage, you want to squeeze as much as you can out of your brand. Marketing efforts can make a decline more gradual, earning additional sales from laggards and giving a company more time to pivot to its next effort. In many cases, products can be rejuvenated by adding new features and uses.


Potential TikTok products to consider in this stage include:


*These products are not available in all regions.


Why is it important?

Understanding the product life cycle can help companies in the following ways to:

  • ​Gain a strategic picture of how their products sit within the product lifecycle, including product class and brand.

  • ​Define the types of communications, best practices, and optimization techniques to use in marketing during each stage.

  • ​Spot early signs of a transition to the next stage and proactively optimize marketing efforts accordingly.


By being proactive in your approach to product lifecycles, you can better forecast what comes next, make more data-driven decisions, and better prepare your marketing campaigns.


Some questions to consider throughout the different stages:

  • ​How will your go-to-market strategy and value proposition separate you from your competitors?

  • ​Are you differentiating yourself on more than just features and building a brand?

  • ​Which market changes can you anticipate that would reduce profit margins or efficiencies in your demand generation that would extend profitability?

  • ​How does your campaign optimization goal evolve to move lower-funnel to drive higher ROI?


Take some time to think about these questions. Then ask yourself which stage of the product life cycle are your products in. After that, consider how you can leverage TikTok for Business to connect with your customers at each stage of your product's lifecycle.


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