Product Strategy of your Startup

A successful product must connect with the personal values of targeted customers. A product experience includes the expression of the product and the interaction with the product. The three main ingredient of any product are,

• Usefulness of the product that enhance or ease some activity or process

• The product is easy to use and remains consistent in use throughout its expected life

• Desirability of the product.

The more complex the product and larger the business, the harder it gets to deliver on all of the above. Developing a useful, easy-to-use, and desirable product that creates a meaningful connection between the brand identity of a Startup and the needs of a customer is hard enough. Creating that relationship and making a profit is the major challenge. Finding the optimum position between mass production with low margin and smaller-run niche markets at higher profit margin is a challenge startups must contend with. Like how low Harley-Davidson can go with the cost of their motorbikes before they negatively affect their brand of exclusivity?

The product, the customer, and the product experience must be the core throughout your entire Startup. You and your entire team must,

• Focus on a shared understanding of the targeted customers

• Respect one another and recognise how each area of the Startup contributes to the product experience for each and every stakeholder

• Recognise that their approach, attitude and end product all form the basis for the product and Startup brand image

• Recognise that the value-base and affiliated qualities the customer seeks must drive the product development process

In many cases, a product becomes the basis of a Startup, while in other situations; new products are developed within an existing Startup. There is a variety of alternative strategies that startups can consider when developing a brand identity for a new product, like,

• How a Startup can develop a new and broader identity ?

• How a new product can become the basis for a new Startup ?

• How a new product in an existing Startup can bring about a whole new line of products ?

• How a Startup can use a flexible identity connecting a core across all products while still maintaining the USP of each of the products ?

Remember that an effective product development process will bring together your Startup mission and brand image to the product and targeted customers. Your Startup team must understand the needs of the user, desired user experience and how that understanding translates to product criteria.

Focus on creating value opportunities though your products. All the very best for your product development process!