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“It’s just a balloon. A balloon is a balloon.” I HEARD THIS A LOT when I took over the percutaneous transcatheter angioplasty balloon (PTA) product franchise. For those unfamiliar, PTA is used to clear blockages in the arteries. They’ve been around for decades, making them a commodity. Therefore, it didn’t receive as much attention as the ‘sexy’ products.
As a Product Manager, I was faced with a challenge - an underachieving franchise that needed a boost. I crafted a strategy that not only helped us hit our annual operating plan (AOP) but exceeded it.
Before I spill the beans on my product management insights, let's get back to basics. When it comes to product marketing, a few fundamental principles hold true no matter what approach you take or the industry you’re in.
Today’s edition is about demystifying product management, whether you are in life sciences, tech, or another industry. These principles apply.
Understanding product marketing
The critical elements of a marketing plan
Enabling sales readiness
Monitoring the competitive landscape.
The exact steps of how I took my product franchise from 85% of plan to 106% of plan.
Product Marketing vs. Product Management - understanding the difference.
Product marketing is all about making your product shine like a diamond in a crowded market. You need to develop catchy messaging, create engaging content, and execute clever marketing strategies to make customers flock to your product. To do this, you need to know your audience like the back of your hand, highlight the unique value of your product, generate leads, and close sales like a boss.
In the MedTech and Life Sciences industry, the product marketer is often called the product manager. In other industries, these are two different roles. For the sake of simplicity, let's call the product manager the Product Marketer from now on. If you're in the Life Science field, this applies to you.