Product Differentiation

There are several inputs I think about when considering product differentiation: 1. Specific target customer - There are many types of customers in a market. Who are you serving? Try to narrow your f

Product differentiation is not about a feature laundry list; it is about ensuring you are addressing a key business problem. So instead of starting at we need to build features A, B, and C that our co

A common mistake exec teams make is focusing on output and forgetting about outcomes. Product teams present roadmaps to execs and once they’ve shipped a thing, they tell them it’s complete and move on

If your exec team has not articulated a credible product strategy it could be that they don't know how or they feel that they cannot invest at this time due to much bigger near term issues or constrai

I love this question. The answer is: it depends on the exec team and how they are motivated, whether they are answering to private investors or public shareholders, etc.  But - to put it simply - fin

Focus on alignment. Aligning differentiation into the product development process, cross-functional team members, go-to-market planning and goal setting. This will ensure that there are collective voi

Don’t forget about marketing, positioning and acquisition of customers as a key part in your differentiation strategy.  It’s easy for Product Managers to solely focus on the bits and bytes of how the

Sustainable Competitive Advantage. 1. Product attributes are insufficient and can be replicated by competitors with enough investment and determination 2. Pricing models and all their nuances can be u

I'll keep this one rather brief. I find that some product managers do not always listen to their customers and their problems as the guiding light for improving and differentiating their products. In

One important ingredient is tying how product differentiation helps drive business value like brand recognition, product usage or increased sales. This connection between differentiation and business

The most common mistake is to not think about it at all. It can be so challenging to get a product built and shipped at your company that Product Managers naturally become very internally focused. Th

Product differentiation != new features. New features can enhance differentiation, but these are not the same thing. For example, product differentiation can be predominantly delivered in the go-to-m

Differentiation is not just a product team responsibility. However, as a product manager, you can help connect the dots from product differentiation to customer adoption and business value. Product f

While it may be tempting to get sucked into feature by feature wars and spar through marketing communications it will not yield much for whoever (you or the competito) lacks sources of Sustainable Com

This is a tale as old as time. There are many ways to approach this. I have seen vendors heavily bid on the AdWords of their competitor names and promote alternative solutions (trials or marketing co

In this case, be competitor-aware, but customer-focused.  You don't have much control over what your competitor’s teams are doing. However, what you can drive is focusing on delivering business resul

It’s important to know your competition, but it’s equally important not to obsess over what they’re doing at a feature level. You should never aim for a feature vs. feature battle with competitors. Th

While it is important to care about your competitors to understand your own market position, DO NOT MAKE THEM THE FOCUS. What should be your focus? Your customers. Their problems. Their needs, their

Looking at a long list of competitors’ features as a catchup list can definitely be daunting. This is a futile race because while you are playing catchup, the competitor will continue to keep moving a

There are 2 exercises I use to evaluate bringing differentiation into the products I'm building. What sucks? User value mapping Where they originated I came up with these frameworks in collaboration

While I don't use an existing framework specifically for product differentiation, I do use a variety of inputs to determine what lever to pull or what decision to make. These inputs can be found in th

Here is a general framework that you can leverage to customize to fit the specific needs of your product; whether it is hardware, software or service offering; entering a new geo or disrupting an exis

Start by analyzing why this might be happening. It’s a key signal that shouldn’t be ignored, and needs further digging to understand what’s behind it. Is there a misperception of your brand? Is there

This can be a very frustrating situation to be as a product manager. This situation tells me you work in a market that hasn't matured to the point of clear nuance. The culprit could be either a produc

It's a company problem and will likely need a cross-functional team effort to troubleshoot and solve the issue. In the diagnosis phase, I can't stress this enough - it's important to spend sufficient

I used to be a product marketer. My ideal working relationship is to view product marketing as my key partner in product development, launch, and iteration. We are both stewards of the product success

I love this question. Through my work at both Salesforce and Shopify this is something that comes up regularly because of our platform and healthy partner ecosystem.  Do the majority of my users need