Whether you’re running a new business or planning on launching the next big product in your current business, it’s crucial to set your product up for success before you start selling it. After all, it doesn’t matter how much money you spend advertising your product if no one wants to buy it or use it. Keep your product on track with these product strategy tips to ensure you have an effective business plan and attract customers to your product or service as soon as it goes live.
Know why you are building your product
The most successful product strategy teams can easily answer one question: Why are we building our product? And they can do it quickly, in one sentence. From there, they can discuss why a user would want their product, how much it will cost, who will build it, etc. Everything flows from that first why. Find your team’s why and everything else will fall into place.
Define your target audience
Before you can design a killer product, you have to know exactly who it’s for. If you don’t make sure your strategy encompasses their wants and needs, there’s a good chance they won’t want your product or service. You need to be able to articulate what problem you’re solving and why your company is in a position of authority when it comes to solving that problem. This means breaking down your strategy into as many concrete actions as possible.
Create a plan of action
Because product strategy is a fundamental part of keeping your business running efficiently, it’s important that everyone in your company has access to an official product strategy document. This will help ensure that all employees are familiar with where their work fits into your overall goals and how their projects impact each other. These documents should be accessible and available at all times so they can easily be referenced when key decisions need to be made.
Understand your competitors
At first glance, you may think competition is a bad thing. But it’s actually a necessary part of business that can drive success—especially if you have your strategy in place and know how to beat out your competitors. Conducting competitor analysis will help define who your competitors are and where they currently stand in relation to you. More importantly, it will also help you understand their strengths and weaknesses so that you can identify gaps in their products or services that present opportunities for growth.
Decide how you want to measure success
How are you going to know whether your product is successful? What’s your definition of success? The answers to these questions will change over time, as you (and your company) grow and develop. Think about what success looks like for your business, and how it will be measured—and then make sure that everyone involved in creating, designing, marketing and developing your product is clear about those measurements.
