Product Management Learning- Key Areas

Are you a graduate working in a company and wondering what specialisation to take? There are various fields to choose from nowadays, with online learning becoming very easily accessible to everyone. But some of the professions have better growth and career prospects than others. Organisations must come out with products that excite the customers and help the companies earn better revenues. It is here that product management gains importance. To become a leader in this field, you must complete product management learning at a good institution. 

Before we get into what you learn in this course, it is essential to understand what product management is and what role the PM plays in a company. 

What Is Product Management?

Simply said, product management deals with creating, launching and managing a product for its full lifetime. The work starts with determining customer needs and how the company can satisfy them. From this stage, it is the job of the product managers to research and finds out how they can create a unique item to attract customers. These professionals decide what features they must include and how the merchandise must be positioned in the market. They also decide the customer segment that the company must target. All these form part of product management learning. 

The product manager’s job is not isolated to identifying the need and creating the item. They must also decide the design, packing and price of the product. These factors greatly affect how customers receive the product. They must also collect information about competitors and their marketing techniques. Product management doesn’t end with creating and launching them. Organisations must manage them throughout their lifetime to ensure that the company earns the desired revenue. Product management learning courses teach all the functions of product managers. 

For complete knowledge of product management and its role in a company, join the Advanced Executive Certificate Course In Product Management offered by us. Visit our website to understand more about this program. 

Main Areas In Product Management Learning

Customer Behaviour

Understanding what makes customers buy a particular product is very important for product management. If you don’t know why someone buys your competitor’s product, you will never be able to create something to excite the customers. Various factors trigger a person to make a purchase decision. Their personal need or preference is not always what makes them buy something. Social pressure is also an important factor. Their friends and relatives mostly influence the choice of a brand. It is for this reason that the study of customer behaviour is an important part of product management learning. 

Among the important factors that influence customers is marketing. Effective advertisement can force customers to try a new product. This means that product managers must coordinate with the marketing team and create powerful communication that can make people buy the product. Purchasing power is another powerful factor that makes individuals decide on the brand they buy. This is why pricing is an important factor. It is necessary to price the product in such a way that those in the target customer segment can afford it. You will also learn about pricing in the product management learning courses. 

Conceptual Design Process

Product design is one of the most important factors for the success of a particular brand. Though there were already many digital music players, including those made by world-famous companies, the iPod scored over all of them to become a leader in the segment. The reason is that Steve Jobs didn’t take any shortcuts and insisted on going through the conceptual design process. The company spent considerable effort in finding out what people wanted in a digital music player and included them in the design. 

In the conceptual design process, a lot of product designs are developed. These are then compared to the required specifications. It is also studied which designs can completely solve the problem the product is trying to solve. Each of the designs will achieve different levels of performance for product requirements. The final selection is made after analysing which product requirement is most important to attract customers. At this stage that the success of most products is determined. This is why this is taught as an important component of product management learning. 

Also Read: Product Management: A Beginner’s Guide

MVP, MMP & MDP

A product is born from an idea. The journey is filled with challenges. Two of the most important challenges are finance and user acceptance. This is why many companies choose to make an MVP before going for a full-fledged product. MVP is short for Minimum Viable Product, and this will contain all essential features to satisfy the customer’s needs. But it will not have all the features the company proposes to include. It helps companies understand whether they have made the right product for their target audience. The product management learning course teaches about MVP in detail. 

The other important product stage is the MMP. It stands for Minimum Marketable Product. It is one step above the MVPs and has all the features in it. The product will satisfy all the needs of your customer and is ready for mass marketing. The MMP will also deliver quantifiable value to the business. But this may not be enough to excite the customers into trying the product. There needs to be a WOW factor in making new users try the item. This is included in the MDP or Minimum Delightful Product. 

Product Development

Product development includes all the steps from generating an idea to its commercialisation. A product starts from understanding the needs of a customer. A product manager is the most important person in this process. These professionals must analyse customer needs as well as the company’s capabilities of producing the item. The next step is to define the product concerning the problem it will solve. At this stage, the team finalises the marketing and business strategies of the product. In product management learning courses, aspiring product managers can learn about product development. 

In the prototyping stage of product development, the design is finalised, and the minimum viable product is created. A feasibility analysis is also done at this step, and the correct timelines for different tasks are finalised. The product management team also analyses the risks that could delay the item’s production. An initial design is then made based on the MVP. The vendors are finalised, and the feedback from the stakeholders is collected. PMs will put the product to various tests before it is ready for commercial release in the market. 

You can learn product development in detail in the Advanced Executive Certificate Course in Product Management conducted online by us. A visit to our portal will throw more light on the course details and syllabus.

Product Strategy

The product management learning course will teach you that product strategy is very important for the success of a product. It is a plan of what an organisation hopes to achieve from the product and how it will be done. Product strategies also outline customer personas and how they will benefit from them. The complete plan for the lifetime of the product is also defined in the strategy. It helps the product creators understand how it will help the company achieve its overall business objective. It also provides clarity to the marketing team. 

Once the product idea has been approved, it is time for the team to go into action. Product strategy will help to chalk out the roadmap in a better way. It will help understand what tasks must be taken up on priority. Without it, many companies have found themselves misusing time and other valuable resources. Most of the time, a product launch doesn’t go as per plan. There may be many changes that the product managers must be able to change their priorities accordingly. Product management learning courses teach that having a product strategy helps make smart decisions about adjusting plans. 

Also Read: Product Management Frameworks Every PM Must Know

Pricing

The main aim of any establishment is to make profits, which will come from the product’s price. It has to consider the various expenses like salaries, marketing expenses, raw material costs, etc., when fixing the product price. Companies must also decide whether their policy is to maximise profits or increase sales. Fixing a higher price may reduce sales but reflect higher product quality. Having an economical price can get a higher market share for the item. Pricing is an important subject taught in all product management learning courses. 

The market demand for such a product also decides what price the firm can fix. If the product is in good demand, it is possible to fix a higher price. But if there are many similar products in the market, then the organisation will have to fix a price that helps to penetrate the market. Competition is another factor to consider when fixing the price. The product management learning courses teach that many firms fix the price based on the competition in the market. 

Branding

Branding is the process of creating identifiable features in a product that will help consumers associate themselves with your company. It helps customers recognise your product and gives you an edge over competitors. It makes the buyer choose your products without much hesitation. Branding includes the brand name, logo, tagline, design and message. All these must be unique and the same for all products under the brand. It also refers to the experience a customer feels when interacting with your products or company. One will learn about this in detail in the product management learning courses. 

Having a strong brand makes customers choose your product over others with a less powerful brand image. People are always looking at products they can easily identify. Branding helps to familiarise your products with people. The brand message will communicate the company’s vision and mission. The product’s visual identity will help customers easily relate to what the firm stands for. Today’s consumer wants to be able to identify themselves with the brand. Strong branding helps in this and assures continued loyalty. 

Analytics

The product management learning course teaches you that data is one of the most important tools in businesses today. A data-driven company is more likely to make correct decisions. In such a firm, there is no room for guesswork or intuition. Successful product managers today use data to arrive at smart decisions. When such PMs come up with an idea for a product feature, it is not common for them to go ahead and pitch this to the leadership. They dig into the available data to prove that their thoughts are in the right direction. 

User data is the most important information that product managers must collect and analyse first. Unless you know the consumer well, it is impossible to come up with the right product. Product data is the next important aspect. It is important to know what features of an item trigger a customer to buy the product. Information about the market is equally important. Not all markets behave similarly. It depends on numerous factors, including the competition existing there. One will learn analytics in detail in the online product management learning courses. 

For an aspiring product manager, knowledge of all the above topics is critical. Apart from this, you must also know your role in the creation and growth of a product. The course Advanced Executive Certificate in Product Management will teach you everything you need to know regarding your responsibilities and challenges as a PM. Visit our website and find out what you will learn in the course. 

Summing Up

More and more establishments realise the importance of having a product manager for each product as the competition gets tough. Organisations must come up with unique products if they want to attract customers. This is possible only by a PM who has undergone a good product management learning course. Undertaking such a course is the best way to gain an edge over others and make yourself more attractive to employers. 

More Information:

What Are The Reasons of Variations in Product? Causes & Reasons

What Is The Product Process Matrix?

What Is Product Planning And How Is It Done?

A Guide To Formulate An Excellent Product Strategy

7 Dynamic Stages of the New-Age Product Development Process