What is Product Strategy?
Product strategy may sound like jargon for something you’re doing naturally as part of your business planning. It’s really just thinking about the products and services you are selling and how to evolve your offer to meet the demands of your customer or changing market to ensure continued success. For example we’ve seen video and film evolve from TV to VHS, DVDs and on to streaming. Businesses in the industry have had to adapt the services they offer to stay relevant - there’s a reason Blockbuster video is no longer seen in every high street!
Sometimes businesses can get stuck in a rut or (particularly if they’ve been around a while) become blinkered and inward looking, so it’s useful to take a step back to evaluate your product strategy to ensure you’re maximising the success of your business and developing to ensure growth and longevity. We suggest your ask yourself the following questions:
What is our vision/ philosophy?
It’s worth defining or quickly re-visiting your company vision or mission to check whether it’s still relevant. This tends to drive your product strategy as it provides some guide rails in which you operate. For example you may have a strong design ethos like Apple or be heavily focused on sustainability like Tesla or making every day life better for people like Ikea (see more here). This vision helps create a focus for your business and ensure you stay true to what you want to achieve.
Where have we had most success?
Analysis of the current state of your business is a useful exercise to show what is and isn’t working well. When thinking through your strategy, rather than getting too fixed on the products and services that you like the most or enjoy working on, data could help you maintain a rational approach and avoid unconscious bias. They way you define success may vary from business to business but it might include sales figures, repeat business, customer feedback or reviews, cost to service customers. Once you have all the information to hand you can think about what might be driving any trends you spot to help you with your product stratefgy.
What has changed?
Thinking about the context of your business and whether anything has changed can ensure you stay current and innovate when needed. For example in the last year or two Covid has had an impact on EVERYTHING from the way we work to how we shop, eat and spend our time. You might also experience political, cultural or technological changes that alter the landscape of your market. These changes may have a negative impact on existing service that means you need to update your offer or they may provide new opportunities for you and your customers.
What do our customers want?
Customers and clients are at the heart of every business. As part of your strategy, it’s essential to review their needs and any challenges or problems you’re hoping to address through your business. You might do this via any feedback you receive or even proactively doing some research (see this handy article we prepared earlier for some tips). This should drive your product strategy because in order to be successful and drive new or repeat business your products need to be seen as valuable to your customers.
What are our competitors doing?
Knowing what your competitors or those companies offering similar products and services with enable you to keep up with innovation. It will allow you to understand how what you offer compares and to think about what might make your products stand out.
Done all that? Now you’re set to write up your product strategy. It can take any form you like whether it’s a document you throw together or a lean canvas. Once it exists, you just need to make sure you are constantly revisiting it - maybe you could add a date in the diary once a quarter or review it at company meetings to take advantage of ideas from across your team. If you’re still feeling stuck then give us a shout - we can help with anything from a bit of advice to helping you define and execute your strategy.
