Strategic Product Management - Understanding Product Management

1. A publication of
Dr. Rajesh K Satpathy
Strategic
Product
Management
Product Management
/PGDM/KIAMS/2021

2. Product Management: Meaning
Product Management
Process starts with
the type of company
one works for…
There may be
companies that are:
1. Technology-driven
2. Company-driven
3. Sales-driven
4. Market-driven

3. Product Manager’s primary role is to
serve as the “voice of the customer”.
Thus product management includes indirect
management and cooperation.
The day to day work revolves around
executing four main tasks:
1. Developing the market requirements
document
2. Managing the product feature list
3. Coordinating activities of different
functional groups
4. Participating in and/or running the launch
and post-launch marketing activities for a
product.

4. The goal of Product Management is to:
1. Ensure a market-driven “whole” product
offering
2. Establish competitive and profitable
pricing models
3. Ensure the existence and support of
product distribution
4. Create effective marketing promotions
that generate revenue.

5. Aspects of Product Management
Depending on the company size and history, product management has
a variety of functions and roles. The Profit and Loss (P&L)
responsibility is a key metric for evaluating a Product Manager’s
Performance.

6. Product
Manager’s
Performance.

7. Product Planning:
Product Planning is the ongoing process of
identifying and articulating market requirements
that define a product’s feature set.
Defining New Products:
It is important to define the products
and services you want to promote.
Ideas for new products can be obtained
from basic research using a SWOT
analysis and/or brainstorming of new
product, service, or store concepts.

8. Gathering Market
Requirements:
This is helped by analyzing
market and consumer trends,
Notes competitors, focus
groups discussions,
corporate spies, trade shows,
or ethnographic discovery
methods.
Ethnographic methods are a research
approach where you look at people in
their cultural setting, with the goal of
producing a narrative account of that
particular culture, against a theoretical
backdrop.

9. Building Product Roadmaps,
Particularly Technology Roadmaps:
A great roadmap walks the fine line
between being too narrow and too wide
(“all over the map”).
Demonstrate focus by building your plan
and presentation to spend the most time
on your initial products.
Size the markets conservatively, and pick
realistic penetration rates. Roadmaps
are always subject to change.
Micro Plans-Key Priority

10. Product Life Cycle
Considerations:
The idea of a product life cycle
acknowledges the fact that
designing and selling a product is
only part of the story.
In fact, every product goes through
a series of steps between the time it
is first conceived and the time the
manufactured product is retired or
discarded.

11. Product Differentiation:
Product differentiation is the process of
distinguishing the differences of a
product or offering from others, to make
it more attractive to a particular target
market.
This involves differentiating it from
competitors’ products as well as one’s
own product offerings.

12. Product Marketing
1. Product planning, as opposed to product management, deals with
more outbound marketing tasks.
2. Product Marketing is based on identifying, anticipating and
satisfying customer needs effectively and profitably.
3. It encompasses market research, pricing, promotion,
distribution, customer care, and managing the brand image.

13. Product Positioning and
Outbound Messaging:
Positioning is a process that
focuses on conveying product
value to buyers with outbound
communications.
The best positioning clearly states
how the product will solve specific
customer problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3kWzRB6Yy8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_wwC8P12I

14. Promoting the Product Externally with
Press, Customers and Partners:
Launching a new product on the market, to
gain sales and exposure for it can be a
challenge.
There are many other ways to promote and
sell a new product, but the most important
of them all include packaging, trade shows,
exhibitions, promotional videos, internet
marketing, etc.
Each of the marketing method includes liaison
with press, customers and partners.
https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=S4TB5YTFhtA

15. Monitoring the Competition:
The old adage, “keep your
friends close, and your enemies
closer”, is applicable not only to
personal relationships but business
relationships as well.
While it does not mean that you
befriend your competitors, it is
important that you are cognizant of
your competitors’ business
ventures and methods.
There are several ways to conduct
successful stealth competitive
intelligence operations…
In fact, most of them are tools or
services available to all businesses.

16. Types of Marketing
Organization:
Marketing organizations may be of
various types…
The most important of them all
include:
1. Function Oriented
2. Market Oriented
3. Product Oriented
4. Customer Oriented
5. Combined Type

17. 1. Function Oriented:
This is the most simple and
common type of organization.
Under this type, the activities are
grouped on the basis of function,
such as production planning,
marketing research, advertising
and sales.
There are separate managers
for specific functions and each of
these functions is further
subdivided into various sub
functions like product planning,
marketing research, advertising,
sales promotion, physical
distribution, customer service,
etc.

18. 2. Market Oriented:
This type of structure is used by
big companies who serve a large
number of customers spread over
very large territory.
The structure is divided into
regional basis and specific areas
are assigned to different persons.
Each region may be under a
supervisor whose numbers depend
on the characteristics and
requirements of a particular region.
Each supervisor is given a n
number of salesmen under
his control. Thus the market is
fragmented into sale territories
which may be a district, division or
region.

19. 3. Product Oriented:
The smaller companies have
another popular form or structure
which assigns to product managers
and brand managers with the
responsibility for marketing
decisions of particular products or
groups of products.
Advertising, sales promotion,
marketing research, etc. can be
centralized activities.
The product manager takes
decisions and executes decisions
regarding advertising and sales
promotions after taking necessary
suggestions from the advertising
manager and sales promotion
manager respectively.

20. 4. Customer Oriented:
Under this type of structure,
concentration is on the type of
customers.
Separate groups are designated
responsible for marketing classes
of their different classes of
customers such as:
(a) Distributors
(b) Retailers
(c) Customers
Under this type of organization, full
attention can be paid to each class
of customers and their problems
can be well understood by the
organization.
As an organization comes in
contact with the customers
regularly, it is easier to estimate
their demand and satisfy them.

21. 5. Combined Type:
Any structure in its pure form is rarely found
in an organization…
In practice, one normally comes across a
combination such as:
(a) Functional with territorial structure, or
(b) Functional with product oriented
structure, or
(c) Market oriented with product structure.

22. Thank You !!