business

Product Strategy and its relevance in today's world

Times keep changing and customer needs evolve with the changing scenarios. Hence, for businesses to stay ahead in the market, it is imperative to launch new products and services from time to time.


Introducing a new product into the market requires an elaborate product strategy. When a company launches a new product, it doesn’t know for sure how popular or widely used the product would be. While the product lifecycle and market position depends on numerous factors, product strategy helps in identifying them and creating a forecast of the product’s performance.


In simpler words, the product strategy is the roadmap envisaged by the brand for the product. Right from the product development stage, the company prepares a detailed path for the product integrating factors and measurement metrics that will determine whether the product becomes successful or not.


A good product strategy involves elements such as product design, marketing strategy, distribution, customer service and production scaling etc.



Why do brands need a product strategy?

As stated above, a product strategy is the roadmap charting the course of a product’s journey in the market. Without a strategy, the product is likely to be lost among the competition and resulting in huge losses to the company in terms of cost and brand value. There are some characteristics of a great product strategy that must be kept in mind while devising it:


Detailed Steps: Right from production to packaging, marketing, shipping and performance analysis, a good product strategy outlines the precise steps that are essential to the product’s success in the market.


Competition/Market mapping: No modern business would ignore its competitors or the market dynamics post launch. Hence, a good product strategy not only focuses on the product being launched but also anticipates the response by competitors or the eventuality of a change in market scenarios.


Go To Market Planning:Prior to introducing the product into the market, companies conduct deep market research and identify the target audience that is likely to buy the product. Accordingly, a marketing and distribution strategy is created to ensure that the product reaches the target audience and meets the launch objectives.


Product growth: The product management plans account for the potential growth of product mix and allowing the product to evolve as a successful brand and paving path for the launch of subsequent variants of the product.


Product profiling:One of the important elements of a good product strategy is to create a product profile based on the following questions.


  1. 1. What is the product? – You must create a unique product offering that sets your product apart from the various other such products available in the market. This should include product USPs and elaborate how it can benefit the buyer.

  2. 2. Who are your customers? – You might have a great product, but, if you don’t know the target audience then your product marketing will not be effective. Hence, you need to research and set a clear definition for your target audience/market and the market dynamics on play.

  3. 3. What is the product price point? – There is a need to evaluate the value addition offered by the product and to analyze the price of similar products offered by competitors.

  4. 4. What is the product distribution strategy? – Quite often we see an advertisement for a highly appealing product, but, that is not available in the local market. A good product distribution strategy would avoid such a scenario by creating an effective supply chain for the product.

Importance of research for product strategy

It is not uncommon for experienced product managers, marketing strategists and business owners to undertake the product development process internally. At times, the need to keep the idea under wraps to remain under the radar of competitors might compel the product management team to keep the development process internal. They discuss with the teams and look at the data available.


There is no doubt that experienced and skilful product managers have a great understanding of their target markets and can be instrumental in creating successful products.


However, these factors can’t be substitutes for actual market research and customer insights. A successful product strategy has to revolve around the end-users and how to connect with them.



Conclusion

Product strategy is akin to the navigation plan that takes a product from the production line to the consumers. Thorough research and understanding of the market play critical role in the eventual success of any product or service.


Carefully considering the various factors impacting a product’s journey and asking the right questions should be integral to any product manager’s playbook.


By adhering to the time tested strategy points and listening to what the consumers have to say, can add incredible value to a product’s journey in the market.