Welcome back to the Global Business Launchpad podcast! I’m your host, Becky Park. And today we’re going to talk about how to ensure that your global product strategy is driving your company forward.

As a product marketing leader, my team always stays close to their product management counterparts. We often know when product strategy is on track and when there are difficulties. Today, I’d like to share some wisdom earned through trial by fire with my product management colleagues. I’m going to talk about 1) having a strong product vision, 2) creating differentiated offerings, and 3) truly understanding your competition. Let’s kick off with product vision.

One of the challenges we've seen is when there isn't a strong vision for where the product needs to go. It’s like sailing a boat when you haven’t decided your destination. We see this manifest in a couple of different ways:

1st is overreliance on Voice of the Customer research to expect your customers to know exactly where your boat needs to go. This is a risky scenario because customers may not have a wider view their own current needs. They don't necessarily look to the future of what the entire market needs or what needs could be solved if a product was developed that was a bit more intuitively or innovatively.

A 2^nd place we see the signs of lack of vision is often in global product roadmaps. One of my product marketing proteges recently became a people manager for a small global product marketing team. When I asked where her team was spending their time, she said that she was managing two dozen go to market launches per quarter.

I asked her about this. Either this part of her company was incredibly innovative or else it’s a lack of direction. It turns out that many of the launches were very small - customer specific, actually.  The product boat was pivoting resources in various directions to appease small requests from individual customers. What the product leaders needed to do instead was to guide towards a larger vision,. Chasing revenue instead of plotting a smarter long-term journey just gives your competitors the upper hand.  My product marketing manager protégé and I talked about whether that actually drove revenue or if it was about retaining large clients. In the end, she decided that a better way to handle the high GTM volume was to consolidate many of these product enhancements into a single release or simple communication to a single customer. This product marketing manager could also partner with her product leaders to help craft a strategic product vision based on market analysis and communicate its value to internal stakeholders for resourcing.

Let’s talk about what a global product vision can look like. A powerful product vision should be inspiring, yet simple. In the credit data industry, Financial Inclusion is a powerful product vision driving many initiatives, opening up more financial opportunities across the world to whole groups of people for the first time. Pick a point in time at least 5 years away and imagine the greatest potential that products like yours could reach to make to improve the world.

Lack of Differentiated Value

Another global challenge I’ve seen often is that of lack of imagination to build something different than the competition. It’s that “Me Too” product that’s just trying to keep up with the industry’s leader. It often stems from a place of fear – fear that the company will lose revenue to this competitive product. The truth is that chasing a leader does just that – follows, but never really overtakes the leader (at least not without superior investment). Instead of following this other boat to THEIR destination, forge your own new path that solves customer problems based on YOUR competitive advantages, not theirs.

Let’s take an example… If your industry’s leader has the Rolls Royce of your product group, then ask if there’s a simpler, more streamlined version of the same product – say a Hyundai – that can still get the customer from Point A to Point B. Is it as luxurious of a ride? Of course not. But for part of your market, or indeed some of your international markets, they may want a smaller price tag and a more basic offering.

Another way to differentiate is to look beyond the individual product. Is there a chance to bundle a product together with other products to solve a completely different problem? Taking an example from my last podcast where I talked about a scheduling SaaS platform that uncovered an opportunity to position as valuable to embassy security around the world… what if that scheduling platform added additional security components like a link to run local criminal checks on people scheduling appointments at those embassies? Could the platform be bundled with other security products or services? I can guarantee you that none of this company’s competitors had even thought of this differentiation!

No Competitors

And finally, let’s talk about competition. For a time, I used to consult with start-up entrepreneurs. These B2B technology creators applied their brilliant minds to solving the world’s challenges. But invariably, when I’d ask about their competition, they’d tell me that their product was SO differentiated and unique that there was no competition.

I can tell you – that’s never true. There’s always competition. It just might not be from another company. Even in companies in industries where the competition is fierce, the number one competitor? It’s almost always the “Do Nothing” option. That’s right – the biggest competitor in the world far and away is the next best alternative. Since buying a product or service normally requires changing behavior in some way, NOT changing and simply choosing to opt out of the buying process is the biggest competitive risk.

For Product Managers, this is another place where your partnership with Product Marketers is important. Product Marketers work with you to craft compelling value propositions, positioning and messaging. And as you bring products to new overseas markets, product marketers once again play an important part in helping get that messaging is right.

In summary, product managers and their product marketing partners need to make sure that the product vision is compelling and clear. Products need to always be differentiated, even if it means repackaging to solve the needs of a particular market segment, a different geographic market or to capitalize on your company’s unique competitive advantages. And finally when digging into competitive analysis for unique opportunities in product design, remember that the most important competitor is often the “do nothing” option.

That concludes today’s podcast. Until next time, this is Becky Park wishing you success in all of your business endeavors!