Empathy for, and understanding of the target audience is developed through thorough analysis of the market chosen. This informs several factors: the standards that end users demand; how and where to distribute and sell the product; how much they are willing to pay for a certain product and its quality; and how to communicate the launch of a product. Correct analysis of these factors could determine the success or failure of a product, despite its quality.

• Marketing mix—the 4Ps: product, place, price, promotion

• Product: standardization of products

• Place: implications of internet selling for a company in relation to its supply chain and distribution network

• Strategies of setting price: cost-plus, demand pricing, competitor-based pricing, product line pricing, psychological pricing

• Promotion: advertising, publicity, personal selling

• Consider government standards for a particular market segment, component standardization and industry-wide standards

• Examples of trigger products and incremental products

• Analysis of product pricing that matches each of the price-setting strategies

• Examples of promotion campaigns for different products

Marketing is often a new area for designers to consider. Exploring unfamiliar aspects of innovation improves their understanding of the market needs of the products they are designing.