Everything You Need to Know About Product Strategy

Product strategy is essential to any successful business venture. Whether you’re selling products directly to consumers or creating software that will be licensed and sold by your clients, you need to have a clear plan in place to ensure that your product is properly received by your target audience and most effectively positions you in the marketplace as the leader in your industry. Here’s everything you need to know about developing an effective product strategy from the ground up.

What Is Product Strategy?

Product strategy is a broad term that can mean many things depending on who you ask. Some may say it’s what you say about your product, others may say it has more to do with how you move forward with your product line, but no matter how you slice it, product strategy is incredibly important for all companies. The growth of any business relies heavily on its products and services—without a focus on strategies, they can easily go off course and lose sight of their mission.

There are several key components that can help you develop a product strategy for your company, and it’s important to understand them so you can utilize them when developing future plans. Knowing how your customers feel about your products is an excellent place to start, as well as understanding market trends and competitor positions. With these three factors in mind, it’s much easier to keep your eye on what really matters: your customer experience.

What Makes a Good Strategy?

The first step in building a strong strategy is figuring out what you want it to do. This all comes down to your business’s what and why. What, in other words, is your company trying to accomplish? And why do you think customers should buy from you instead of someone else? The answers will inform all of your decision-making going forward. For example, if you want to create a new product that no one has ever seen before, then it makes sense to spend time doing extensive research on customer needs and wants. But if you’re just looking for ways to tweak an existing product so that it sells better, then less research might be necessary—and thus less time spent on strategy development.

How Do I Make A Good Strategy?

Your product strategy is how you plan out how you are going to address your market and what needs you want to meet for your customers. One of my favorite quotes about writing a good strategy is from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, who said: Strategy without execution is an hallucination. The statement rings true for both creating a product strategy and executing on it. To create an effective product strategy, start by making sure you understand exactly what your market wants and why they want it.