Validating Market Opportunities

There are times where technocrats, bitten by the entrepreneurial bug have a particular idea and they would like to develop it. But once they develop the product, they have difficulty in getting the product across to the masses. Only a few early customers trickle in. This is because they have not really validated their idea. Only when the market feels the need for a particular product, will the masses end up buying it. Else, the product will be languishing without any takers. 

For a company practising Product Management with well defined roles of product planning and product marketing, these problems will not occur. This is because the product management function envisions the product strategy, new product strategy and new product development and also for the emerging markets for the company. They would always validate the idea before development and will also have a detailed product positioning strategy. As a part of product marketing, the marketing strategy will take care of the positioning and relevant directions to the marcom teams.

A product manager needs to be a friend of the end user and buyer. We need to keep in mind that the buyer is different from the user. The product marketer communicates to the buyer about the values he will be getting and the product is designed keeping the user in mind. If the product manager does not heed the market and designs a product keeping a closed view, there are high chances that the product will not be accepted by the masses.

As to the best ways to validate the market opportunity, it would be going to prominent customers (Existing and new) and talk to them regarding the pain points that they face. A lot of secondary research will also go into finding new opportunities. The question that the product managers should always have in mind is that if they build it, will the market buy? Answering that in each phase of the product will work wonders for the product. There should also be internal evangelising amongst the company to accept the product.

If the product is not taking off, then the strategy will have to be revisited and if this means going back to the market, then it has to be done. There are no two ways about it. The product manager will always build products for the market, more specifically, the end user.

Confianzys is a pioneer in Product Management space and has helped in evangelising it to Indian companies. Its mission is to help companies conceive market-driven breakthrough products and achieve global scale.

Benefits of practicing Product Management

“What is product management?” Product Management consists of 2: Product Planning, which is customer advocacy and product marketing, which is articulating business value. Product planning covers market requirements and product marketing covers product positioning strategies. Practising product management may not guarantee absolute success but not practising it will guarantee absolute product failure.

It should be noted that the product management as a function should report to the CEO and not to the marketing team or the technical team. Reporting to the marketing team will make the product management team a very tactical and not a strategy oriented division. Reporting to the technical team will limit the vision of the product management function in envisioning products for the market.

A product manager does not solve the problems in the market but rather transfers it to his product architect. The architect is the one who envisions the product and features. The product manager must always stand for the customer and get to create products for them. Otherwise it will not be accepted by the market. The product manager needs to interact with all the teams in the company, i.e Development team, Sales and Marketing, but he is not in charge of those activities.

For a great product strategy and new product strategy, a Product Manager is vital person. The product management practitioners are responsible for the product planning and product marketing. Product positioning is another important responsibility for the Product Manager and there are certain companies which advocate profit and loss for the Product management function.

Confianzys is a pioneer in Product Management space and has helped in evangelising it to Indian companies. Confianzys Consulting has helped companies with institutionalising Product Management function in their companies.

It has also associated with Blackblot for Product management certification. Confianzys has helped companies equip their teams with Product Management training and has partnered with Blackblot for Product management certification Product Management certification. This helps the companies to have better qualified employees and hence better productivity. The product manager training course helps the employees with industry proven best practices and templates.

Need Of Product Management And Marketing For Constant Growth

Main objective of any business is to achieve its pre-defined goals, to provide services and to earn profit. To achieve goals, business needs strong resources that can allow them to maximize its potential, generate more revenue and reach as many consumers as possible. Apart from strong resources marketing strategy is also essential component for the success of any business.

Most important thing for a Company or organization is to understand the need of customer and develop those products that fulfill the need of customers. If a company is developing a product that has no market demand and value, then development of these types of products is just a waste of time and money because if the product has no market demand and value, then nobody will be there to purchase your product in the market. Next important thing is customer satisfaction; if customers are satisfied by using your products then, they will use your products again and also suggest your product to their friends and relatives. Satisfied customers help to increase sales of your business.

Products describe the standard of company. For any business or organization developing a product is an easy task, but the crucial part is product management and product marketing. Once the product has been developed it becomes more necessary to manage and market it. Sales can only be increased through appropriate product marketing and management.

Product marketing is a process of introducing new product to new prospect consumers. It includes planning, organizing and coordinating products, determining product price, deciding methods of promotion such television, news paper, internet and more, packaging to make product attractive and safe along with product positioning. At the time of Product marketing, you can give all information about the product such as utility of the product, its price and quality. The main goal of product marketing is to make aware people about the product, and to present product in such a way that it attracts the people and forces him/her to purchase your product when it has been launched in the market.

Product management can be referred as a process and activities involved in managing a product after it has been developed. Reputation of any company may rise up or fall down on the basis of product quality that company offers and to maintain the quality of products effective product management is required. Effective management of products will help to build a brand image and raise standards of company while bad management of those products may lead to fall a company in all those means.

Product management and product marketing are fairly different process and also the responsibilities of product manager and product marketer are different from each other. Based on the results of product marketing the task of product management is accomplished.