How do you define a Product?
A product is no longer just a tangible object, but a set of opportunities that provide value to users.
If you took a marketing-related subject in college, you will surely remember the definition used by some professors to define a product:
A product is a set of tangible (shape, size, color...) and intangible (brand, company image, service...) characteristics and attributes that the buyer accepts as something that will satisfy his needs.
But what are these needs?
We owe much of business management and the development of organizational behavior to the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, who published his work "The Theory of Human Motivation" in 1943.
Maslow hierarchized human needs in a pyramid of 5 levels, from the basic to the most complex. He affirmed that a person's true motivation arises from unsatisfied needs and, as these needs are satisfied, the point of self-fulfillment is reached.
Although many years have passed since this analysis, people still have the same needs. So this model is still widely used to this day.
This is how many companies position themselves today:
What is a Product in terms of Product Management?
When you talk to people about a product, they imagine a car, a pencil or their favorite cooking oil. Usually, they mention everything that is tangible. However, thanks to the digital wave that came with the advent of the Internet, the concept of the product itself has undergone a transformation.
A product can be a tangible good, but also a service. It can be a brand, an experience, a place, an individual, information, an idea, etc.
Today, the concept of product is not limited to an object. But to the whole experience, marketing, sales, support, etc. behind it. We will call this whole Product Experience.
To give an example, when we go to a bank to get a credit card, the product is not only the plastic that the bank gives you. the concept covers everything from how we learn about the card, the benefits it offers compared to others, the customer service experience we live from the moment we enter the bank, the application that was designed and developed so you can check the purchases you have made and the amount of credit through your cell phone, and so on.
A Product is the result of planning and executing a series of activities or processes that seek to satisfy people's needs, through the search for opportunities that provide value to users.
A good Product Manager identifies that, through a whole process of research and brainstorming, the initial problem to be solved is "making it easier for people to buy on credit" and not simply "selling plastic".
The Product Manager's job is to be the spokesperson for the users, his or her focus should be on listening to these needs, creating different opportunities that make up a good product and, in turn, provide innovation and business growth.
Doesn't sound like an easy task, does it? Let's look at one last example, Spotify.
Spotify is a great streaming music service platform, but it is not simply limited to playing songs, as it offers different opportunities for its users. On the one hand, it allows us to access a large music library for a small fee with the possibility of storing the songs offline on the cell phone or even accessing them from the browser. It also offers personalized playlists based on your musical preferences, for those who are constantly looking for something new to listen to.
In this way, its product offers a whole ecosystem of different functionalities that provide value to its users and their needs.