Building a competitive product involves a lot of steps. Among these myriad tasks , it is very easy to lose focus and go off track.  To make sure that the product is being built in line with the vision , a detailed product strategy acts as a constant guiding source.

Product strategy entails a high level plan focussing on what a business plans to accomplish, the kind of market the business operates in and explains what steps should be taken to accomplish that business goal.

It is very important to be mindful of

• WHO the product will serve (Personas)
• HOW will the product benefit them
• WHAT will be the goals to attain that Before diving headfirst into building a roadmap and developing features, it is important to define a larger goal with the intent to provide real value to the customers.
  

Why is strategy important?

1. Clarity
   Having a product strategy lays down the answer to every question about the product (Whom is the product being built for, who are the competitors, what will be the product features, etc) and helps the stakeholders have a clear idea about the product they are building.
   

   A designer who does not understand the audience the product is being built for and what problems it intends to solve won’t be as efficient and clear about the product being built. For marketing and sales people , a product strategy makes them understand the what and who of the product which helps them convert a potential user to a retained user. Customer success teams would understand the features and use cases better and thus be able to provide better support in solving and understanding customer problems.

2. Prioritisation of roadmap
   Instead of directly jumping the bandwagon and defining features and epics on the roadmap, it is important to understand the goals of the product. There might be cases where wrong feature items may be prioritised because of unclarity of what the goals for the product are. It is therefore extremely important to consult the product strategy before making any decisions that impact the product. A strategy lays down what is to be accomplished through the product, giving one a clearer picture and thus helping to build more reliable, efficient and accurate roadmaps.

3. Make tactical decisions
   The initial product roadmap is not followed all the time as situations may arise where the priorities may need to be changed. In order to make decisions about adjusting or changing your plans, a product strategy acts as a reference point to make decisions regarding the product.

   
   

Components of Product Strategy

Product strategy is all about defining the direction you want your product or service to take in the future. It therefore becomes important to define whom the product is for, what are their pain points and needs ( this gives the problem to which the product provides a solution), why would they want to buy and use this product, what gives an edge to the product over their competitors and what are the business goals of the company. Business goals help to define how the product will be beneficial to the company, what kind of and how much revenue the product will generate, etc.

A product strategy should primarily answer :

• Business goals

• The market the product will be launched into

• What are the needs and problems of the users that the product aims to solve

• What differentiates the product from similar products (Unique Selling Point)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE?

• Product Vision (The WHY behind the product)
  The vision should be concise and should include what the product aims to achieve. The vision of the product should not change.
  It is important to conduct a thorough market research, understand the customers and the problems you are trying to solve for them and know the strengths and weaknesses of your company to define a clear vision.
  For example the vision statement of IKEA is To create a better everyday life for the many people. This vision statement is short, concise and to the point and clearly states that the company wants to offer products which can improve the lives of people, in their case in terms of affordability as well as quality furnishings.

FOR WHOM IS THE PRODUCT BEING BUILT?

• Product Positioning
  Defining where the product fits in the market and what differentiates the product from other similar products (Unique Selling Point/ Proposition) is very important for the product to succeed. This drives the market go-to plan and plays a crucial role in driving the marketing strategy as well.
  A thorough understanding of the target audience and a detailed analysis of the market where you wish to launch your product is extremely integral in making the product successful.

HOW DO YOU WANT TO BUILD THE PRODUCT

• Product Goals
  Once the vision is defined - the next step to follow is defining high level goals which play an important role in prioritization of the product roadmap.
  Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound (SMART)
  They represent the to do checkpoints needed to turn vision into reality. Product goals should ideally have a fixed time frame. For example-

1. Increase downloads by 100% in the next one year
2. Double the revenue in the next one year

• Product Initiatives
  Initiatives are objectives which can be broken down into actionable tasks. An Initiative comprises of different epics, features, requirements. Product initiates are efforts that need to be made to accomplish each goal. Initiatives can be established at company, product line or product levels. These tend to cross multiple sprints and releases and include many features and user stories.
  For example- Enhancing user onboarding experience - This initiative could have various features or requirements like including progress bars to indicate the level of completion of user registration process, giving a virtual product tour, etc.
  

Once the product strategy is made it is translated to a product roadmap. Product Strategy is not constant and grows with the product. It should continue to evolve as the product moves through different stages in its lifetime. Strategy to launch the product in the market can be very different from strategy to maintain the product performance and sustain growth till it declines. Once the growth of the product stagnates, the product life cycle can be extended by taking the product to a new market or can be left to decline and die.