Your product is the core of your marketing mix.  Yes, it’s been said before and I’m saying it again.  Building your brand, chalking out a plan and strategizing your market moves are all activities built around your product.

If you study the market, you will find that there are some products that just never go out of style…they are timeless and every discerning customer wants such products.  The Little Black Dress (LBD, as it’s commonly referred to), a cocktail dress, the origins of which fashion historians trace to the 1920’s designs by Coco Chanel is a wonderful example of a timeless product.

Here’s what the LBD can teach business owners about product development…

Timeless

What is a timeless product?  Solitaire earrings and rings, a white shirt, blue denims, classic time watches and time pieces and the LBD are all examples of products that have stood the test of time.  Everyone wants a slice of these products simply because they’re always “in”.

Creating a classic product that never goes out of style is a must if you want to stay on in the market in the long run; more so if you are creating a customized product. 

 Versatile

You can wear the LBD from work to a night out without returning home to pull out an evening dress from your wardrobe.  That’s the versatility of it.  All you need to do may be is carry some accessories and wear another pair of shoes to change your look from staid to dressy. 

Crafting products that customers can use in different ways is a sure shot way of garnering attention.  Take the Bagswitcher  I recently featured in the business reviews section of my blog.  A versatile product simply because it helps you transfer the contents of one handbag to another so you can carry all your stuff to work and then to an evening out on the town without forgetting anything.

Affordable

Pricing is always the catch, depending on which designer fashions your LBD but then again a dress that can take you from casual to formal with some accessories thrown in is always worth the price, isn’t it?

The thing about price is that people view it more in terms of whether you are giving them “value” for their money.  So it’s not really about the sum of money that they are paying but about what they are getting in return. 

So if you are giving them a timeless and versatile product like the LBD, the price somehow pales in comparison.

 Accessible

Reaching out to the widest market possible somehow becomes very easy with a timeless product.  The LBD is (read has been and will always be) a wardrobe essential and every fashionable woman wants one.  There you have it…your target market is literally every woman in the world.

Accommodating styles, trends, needs and sizes, the LBD has something for everyone!

Go Neutral

Black and white are two colors that everyone has in their wardrobes.  The LBD is black and the style is simple (if you want to keep in timeless and ubiquitous).  It is a neutral color that allows people to stand out in a crowd and yet remain discreet when they want to.

Designing a product that is middle-of-the-road lets you appeal to a wider audience.  You automatically find lots of takers!

Image courtesy: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1499

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