I have worked in two pure product management roles. These roles were with market share leading, blue chip companies, which makes my experience both enjoyable and valuable. Product management is one of the core disciplines that any marketer can experience. Sure, business development, market analysis, strategies and marcomms are all very important, but once the product or service has been created product management becomes the holistic effort that that is used to keep sales up or grow the product. You can’t have a cash cow or rising star without effective product management.
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One of the things found lacking in many companies who don’t regularly create new products is thorough market analysis and market research to help define what the ideal product should be. Many companies tend to rush head long into making products thinking that their gut feel and long time in a market somehow magically has them know exactly what all potential customers want. Relying on instinct rather than research is the best way to miss the mark or create something generic with a low margin.
The obvious reasons for this reticence for primary research and analysis is usually both cost and a senior management belief structure that it is ‘too risky’ to uncover what the market may really want. Particularly if the company currently doesn’t have the skills to produce an ideal product or an innovative market driven product is too far away from the company’s current philosophy. You may be amazed how many times Market Research is used by companies only to ‘back up’ a campaign that is already in force, rather than ascertain if it is the right approach.
The other part often neglected in product management is life cycle analysis. This has improved over the last decade with the publics’ increased awareness of recycling and sustainability, however life cycle analysis was originally aimed at satisfying the customers, rather than the environment. It would take into account of how a customer could thoughtfully dispose of a unit at the end of its productive life with minimum effort and potentially upgrade to another of the company’s units. The reason that Australian companies did not follow through on such a promise is that creating an effective lifecycle program often costs a lot to manage. Now electronic devices such as PC’s and mobile phones are at the forefront of companies that jostle for the greenest credentials to claim the trendy prize of smallest carbon footprint. People win, the environment wins, all is good.
I hope you find the associated product management articles linked to this page informative.
Product Management definition
“ The organizational structure within a business that manages the development, marketing and sale of a product or set of products throughout the product life cycle. It encompasses the broad set of activities required to get the product to market and to support it thereafter.” (www.businessdictionary.com)