How to Project Growth in Product Management

Growth Marketing is a broad concept in the consumer product space in general. Due to its many tentacles in different areas, it is invaluable in both the business and marketing world. It is simply the use of step-by-step strategic processes with a long-term game plan to acquire a loyal customer base who would in turn influence others to use a product.

Growth Marketing versus Growth Hacking

While both growth marketing and growth Hacking are similar in scope, they should not be used interchangeably as the two have noticeable differences. Growth hacking, majorly deals with rapid growth by any conceivable means, while growth marketing uses a system with the aim to produce a long-term gain in customer base. Its primary objective is to grow brands. Hacks (as they are called), are part of the systems used in growth marketing as well but are only one of the many other methods employed in its use.

Product Growth Management

Growth marketing takes on a slightly different form in product management and the reason is quite visible. This is because while growth marketing focuses on the customer, product management is more concerned with the product. Growth Product management is therefore concerned with different marketing centralized strategies that drive the impact of the product far. A Growth Product Manager (GPM) is a person who takes on this role and such a person is quite skilled and can work on multiple products at once.

A full product manager unlike a GPM only works on one product at a time. Sinduja Ramanujam, a senior Product Manager at Microsoft covers the scope of the role perfectly, explaining it as a unique role at the point where both product development and marketing intersect. Product growth management achieves its aim by leveraging data, experimentation, and optimization to discover and evaluate new pathways for growth. A main conduit of the effectiveness of the work of a product growth marketer is product-led growth.

The Concept of Product-Led Growth

Product-led growth is a term coined by a man named Blake Bartlett at OpenView, which is a leading Venture Capitalist company, in 2016. This strategy puts the product at the center of a brand's growth model. This came about as companies attempted to improve growth and at the same time make a profit. This led to the development of various experiential tests as well as plans. One of these was a system whereby potential customers were provided with free trials of a product, usually for a limited time without necessarily having to interact with a salesperson, with the goal of sparking continued interest in the product, as well as feedback from the users.

Customers would usually prefer to test out prospective purchases based on information perceived by their senses rather than the knowledge of a salesperson. This method creates such an opportunity for this purpose and is a more user-oriented action plan. This method or strategy is also known as the self-service trial or freemium option and is particularly helpful in evaluation, and research, as well as for pushing new products into the market. It is also advantageous to the reduction of Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and eases the pressure off sales and marketing teams. It also serves to improve other efficiency parameters.

The Impact of Product Growth Marketing on Business Organizations

The ability of product managers to drive growth has made it easier to achieve set goals and objectives and for certain products. A recent Google Analysis for business trends in the last five years has shown an over four hundred percent increase in interest for people with the "Growth Product Manager" title. This shows that companies recognize the need to move up the growth product needle in their brands and are seeing the importance of this class of professionals in making that happen.

The ever-pressing need to drive value has made it possible for this job description to soar in relevance and has seen many more want to take up a career in this field. Growth Product Managers work with a number of other skilled people including UX designers, engineers, and analysts, that help to actualize the growth vision such a person has. A clear impact of this group is increasing retention rate which is important because the more the customers kept, the higher the sales are. The mode of operation of Growth Product Managers varies from organization to organization, however, they have the general responsibilities to chart a clear course for companies' growth, lead the execution of such plans and ultimately boost revenue as a result.

General Skills needed by Growth Product Manager.

The skill sets required by anyone involved in marketing are similar across the board, but when driving value is involved, the following are needed:

Creativity: This must be at the core of any professional involved in growth and marketing. Charting new courses means that a growth product manager needs to easily see new ways to promote products and lead campaigns to that effect. A keen mind and great observation skills are the heart of this.

Teamwork: Leading execution already implies that anyone in this field would need to constantly work in teams, clear leadership and team spirit would enable easier working relationships and faster achievement of goals and targets.

Ability to Analyze and Marketing prowess: To drive growth, there needs to be a knowledge of how to analyze trends and see where the market is going to position brands for increase. In doing this there is also the need for effectiveness in selling both ideas and products, hence the necessity for analysis and marketing skills.

All of these skills are never not even brought to bear without qualifications and certifications that make one a growth product manager, so in getting these, the skills needed are unearthed.

Summing it Up

As Product management evolves, growth marketing in this field becomes a need. Selling products and increasing revenue through customer retention strategies has come to stay, as evidenced by the rise of Growth Product Managers possessing the skills needed for innovative growth.