Marketing Intangible Products: Strategies and Core Principles

Introduction: The Nature of Intangible Marketing

The marketing of intangible products differs slightly from the marketing of tangible goods in that there is no physical product the customer can feel. Because it is still a product, however, the customer can sometimes try it before buying — as is the case with software. It is important to recognize that the marketing of intangibles, even as an element embedded within physical goods, is a critical component of all marketing. An athletic shoe manufacturer, for example, might market fitness and the feeling of being healthy as part of their sales pitch — an intangible that is tangentially related to the physical product. As Levitt (1981) outlines, the marketing of intangible goods and the intangible aspects of goods and services intersect considerably, and there is significant overlap between the two.

Universal Marketing Frameworks for Intangibles

With intangibles, a company is marketing an idea or concept, and the consumer can seldom test it before purchase. This is quite similar to most services. At this point of intersection, the marketer faces a distinct challenge: convincing the potential buyer of attributes they cannot see or feel. The sales pitch is different in this respect because the product cannot simply sell itself — it must be actively sold. Worth remembering, however, is that there are universal elements common to all marketing that underpin both physical and intangible goods (Rushton & Carson, 1985).

Unique Challenges of Marketing Intangible Products

Even intangibles marketing is rooted in basic marketing theory. The 5 Cs framework applies readily — marketers must still understand the nature of the company, the context in which the marketing is conducted, the customers, the competitors, and the collaborators. Intangible products share these elements with tangible ones. The four Ps of marketing are equally vital for both tangibles and intangibles: setting the price, defining the product, devising a promotion strategy, and considering packaging. The latter is less counterintuitive than it might seem — how something is presented to the world matters regardless of whether it is physical.

This is not to say that marketing tangibles and intangibles is identical, only that they are rooted in the same foundational concepts. There are ways to give consumers a taste of an intangible product, but only just. An example used by Levitt is photographs of a luxury hotel — the audience can essentially fill in the blanks regarding the experience. Either they have had similar experiences in the past and the image confirms those will be replicated, or it serves as a promise of something desirable not yet experienced. Marketing the sensory experience is one facet unique to intangible goods. When sensory experiences are marketed for physical goods — such as a sports car marketing the rush of driving it — that constitutes the marketing of an intangible attribute of a physical product (Meyers, 2010). Structurally, in terms of how the message is composed and communicated to the potential buyer, there is not much difference between the two approaches.

Conclusion: The Intangible Core of All Marketing

It is important to understand the intangible aspects of marketing because they comprise a large part of what marketers do. The physical attributes of a product are ultimately a selling point only insofar as they contribute to the emotional response to the product — and it is that emotional response that marketers sell more than anything else. Recognizing this helps explain why the frameworks and principles of intangibles marketing are not niche concerns but are, in fact, central to the discipline as a whole.