Product Management Unveiled: Strategies for Success Beyond Development

Going by the principles of ‘Power of habit’, it’s important to feel “rewarded” after using a product as this builds a craving to use it again. This is not only limited to marketing but also finds its application in product development. Be it a need-based product or an experience-based one, both follow the same foundation to drive user retention. In this journey of building user-centric products, there is a lot that goes beyond “development” to achieve this overarching goal which is often not talked about. In this article, I bring out the relevant elements of the product lifecycle beyond the development stage.

Product-led Growth or Product Marketing?

Once developed, the next thing is to take it to the target users and onboard customers to the platform. A Product Manager, 'PM' has to strike the chord between Product-led Growth and Product Marketing. To a large extent, both go hand in hand, but what should be of primary importance for a PM depends on the stage of the product. In the former, you leverage the Product to drive growth (could be user growth or revenue growth). A prime example is Tesla which spends $0 on marketing. It believes in driving growth via building the best possible product and adapting as required. Driving this organic growth is advisable when the product is more stable and has already achieved a few milestones. However, if you are in the early stage of a product or a first mover in a category, Go-To-Market strategies become important to build awareness of the target issue that you are solving, educate the target audience on your solution, and gauge traction.

Marketing Channels

Once we know our approach to driving growth, the next thing is to decide on the right channels/ platforms to market. What will drive higher traction- social campaign/ in-person conference/ meet-ups? A PM has to take into consideration user personas, and accessibility of different channels to the target group to market effectively. (This is why you see many influencers advocating a product because their trust will make you buy it!) For instance, Trade shows and conferences are great for products that interest businesses but Pinterest and Facebook might be more relevant for direct consumer-centric products.

Product Monitoring & Enhancement

Product development is an iterative process where there is always a scope for improvement. To effectively utilize feedback, one needs to focus on the goal at that point in time- Is it bringing new users to the platform or enhancing customer delight for existing ones? A clear understanding of your goal helps you navigate the feedback and design future enhancements without being inundated.

Pricing

Undoubtedly, it is one of the most interesting and complex decisions to make- What is the right time to price? Should it be value-based/ competitor-based/ margins-based, or dynamic? Should it be freemium/ premium? The complexity arises from the user dynamics. A user unsubscribes a product as soon cost surpasses the perceived value or might not even subscribe if they don’t believe in the value. As a PM, one has to think of all these factors before they start to sell.

Search Engine Optimization

To bring traffic to a platform, a PM needs to be vigilant of how search engines work to enhance the ranking and footfall on their platforms. In a nutshell, search engines use “Web crawlers” to browse the internet and create a searchable database of web content in order to rank and bring us the most relevant articles to read. Think, how frequently do you need to go to “Page 2” for a Google search? Hence, significant efforts are required by the SEO team to get a higher search rank and increase user footfall.

Monitor Product Metrics

As we know, data is primary for a PM but it has to be employed in a strategic way (Data is time-specific). Precise and measurable long-term and short-term KPIs are required to assess if we are headed on the right track, and how close we are to our goals. For instance, to drive user acquisition, a marketing campaign was launched. But, in order to certify whether your launch was successful, we need a clear short-term KPI to determine if we are headed in the right direction.

Clearly, so much is there that goes beyond that development in the "Product Development Lifecycle". Hope, you appreciate the dynamism of Product Management and take away a few insights. Please feel free to add/ improve with your thoughts, and experiences so that we learn together.