Professionals focused on Product Management ( Product Managers ) are in short supply in the market, and for those interested, the opportunity is now! The strategic position works directly with the definition of market, target audience, value proposition and other crucial points for a company to stand out within its area of interest.
To take the first step, it is necessary to look for its main foundations.
Product Management: what it is and what is the competitive advantage
The image shows Marcell Almeida and Natalia Arsand, professionals in the Product Management area, looking at a board with post-its.
The professional in this area is responsible for ensuring the success of a product , but also for connecting the company's objectives (vision) with the user's problems and needs . Let's take Facebook , for example. When it first started, the social network positioned itself as a free platform, but if we think about it, someone has to pay the bills at the end of the day. It was from there that a second client emerged: advertisers, who to this day are the main source of income for Mark Zuckerberg's company.
Since good solutions don't just appear out of nowhere, product management is a combination of skills that complement each other . The Engineering department designs what can be done with technology; the UX team focuses on the user experience , for example, how the public accepts the available features; and the Product team assesses the viability of what will be delivered.
Product Marketing vs. Product Management
According to Joaquim Torres, Global VP of Product at Gympass and instructor of the PM3 course, some people believe that Product Marketing and Product Management are similar. But in fact, they work as pairs, and the scope of work for each professional ( Product Manager and Product Marketing Manager ) differs according to the marketing mix, that is, the four Ps.
Marketing is responsible for pricing, placement and promotion, and works with potential new customers. PM focuses its efforts on the product, i.e., it measures aspects such as customer satisfaction – would they recommend the product to an acquaintance or friend? Nowadays, recommendations are one of the most effective ways to secure new leads .
Learn more: understand what Product Management is and the differences to Product Marketing in this complete and free class on the subject, taken from the PM3 Product Management Course!
Another important factor is to differentiate a software product from a platform . Brands like Netflix and Spotify are clear examples: both act as software that brings together a user base in pursuit of a single goal.
The platform, for example, delivers value according to the nu why you should take our service mber of people who use it, and is somewhat more complex. There are three types of platforms: exchange, technical and content.
All of them are covered and exemplified in the course so that you understand the definition of each one and how to define your product.
Decision making for product management
The image shows Raphael Farinazzo, Product Manager at Xerpa, writing on a board with post-its.
And where does the Product Manager come into play? There is a big difference between product management and a platform. In the first case, the user has the same profile and there is no need for the company to worry about the value being delivered. It is the same for everyone.
The platform is a gathering of different users who are not necessarily looking for the same functions; it is the stage for a meeting of various types of profiles who need to receive the values they are looking for.
The manager needs to be aware of the relationship these users have with each other , after all, they will be talking about your platform within it. The goal is for everyone to have good experiences to share, regardless of their point of view.
How to do product management?
There are some basic premises linked to the role of Product Manager and the duties of professionals who work with the development of digital products. Let's look at some of them below:
Understand the user profile
Product management aims, primarily, to deliver a solution to the problem of a specific user profile. In other words, the product that the company develops needs to make sense to the person who will use it, solving a problem that other tools have not yet been able to solve. Of course, this needs to be strategically interesting for the business, but if it doesn't make sense to the person who will use it, it's useless.
Therefore, it is important for PMs to deeply understand the problem they want to solve and the user profile that suffers from it. Therefore, the process of developing and improving a product involves a lot of usability testing , user research and qualitative data analysis .
Analyze data
When it comes to digital products, a variety of data can directly contribute to decision-making . This is because individual perceptions can affect results as they may not always reflect what users want and need. Therefore, it is important to monitor product metrics such as conversion rate, DAU , MAU , retention rate , among others.
Test and adapt
Those who work in product management need to enjoy developing hypotheses and testing, because this is part of the routine of the area. Even though Product Managers identify the user profile, a truly innovative solution must go beyond what already exists, seeking new opportunities. This requires thinking outside the box and being open to new possibilities.
Therefore, by monitoring data and identifying behavior patterns, professionals in the field can generate insights for improvements. This is the first step towards improving the user experience and also towards adapting to the business and market context, since these factors can greatly impact the revenue generated by the product.
How can we innovate?
But to follow this entire strategic path, it is necessary to look deeply into the product and its consumer. There is no way to consolidate a project without identifying what phase the product is in, which is why its life cycle is so important.
In the last topic of the module, Torres analyzes the phases of innovation, growth, maturity and end of life, highlighting tips on how to act in each stage. With this, according to these stages, you will make certain investments in concerns, tools and tactics.
It is important to know how to overcome the challenges of each moment and how to create a strategy for innovation.
The BCG (Boston Consulting Group) matrix , for example, is a traditional concept for defining a product's phase. The format proposes that on one side there is the market share and on the other the growth rate of the market. Through analysis, it is possible to determine whether the product is in its “bet”, “star”, “cash cow” or “successful” phase. These categories are discussed in more detail and illustrated in the module.
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