Product managers have a challenging job in staying ahead of the competition, determining what products and features customers want and guiding development teams to build them. However, if you base decisions solely on current customer requests, you will quickly fall behind. Customers often can’t articulate what they will need in the future until they experience the next innovation. That’s why it’s crucial as a Product Manager to constantly monitor technology trends, market shifts, competitor offerings, and more – not just customer feedback.
For example, Nintendo struggled with their Wii U console partially because they didn’t see how quickly the market was shifting to mobile and app gaming. On the flip side, Spotify successfully disrupted the music industry by leveraging streaming and subscription models at just the right time. They stayed ahead by keeping a keen eye on digital media trends.
As a product manager, making sure you deeply understand industry trends is essential for guiding decisions and staying competitive. Read on to learn why it’s important and how to stay ahead of the competition.
Staying Ahead of the Competition
Why It’s Important to Stay Informed
Knowing market and industry trends fuels all aspects of product strategy and development. Being conversant on the latest technology shifts, consumer demands, competitor moves and more has so many benefits:
Meet Changing Customer Needs
Customer needs evolve rapidly – especially in tech. If you simply listen to their current problems, you will lag behind in understanding what they’ll really want in 6-12 months. But if you pick up on key trends in advance based on research, you can predict and meet emerging needs ahead of time, delighting customers.
For example, Airbnb may have noticed travelers enjoying capturing photos on trips and anticipated the huge selfie trend. They developed their new “Airbnb Experiences” product line catering perfectly to that desire.
Identify New Opportunities
Not only can tracking trends help you enhance existing products, but it can reveal whole new market opportunities you may be missing. The IoT (Internet of Things) explosion has opened up many new product possibilities as more everyday devices get connected and collect data. Being aware early allowed some companies to capitalize on innovative IoT offerings.
Had Kodak understood the digital photography wave sooner, they may have pivoted their aging film business toward cameras and printers instead of going bankrupt.
Understand the Competitive Landscape
You need to know exactly how competitive your market is and who the players are to win. If amazing new mobile apps are flooding your sector, you should take note and step up your product’s design and user engagement.
When Tile (lost item trackers) realized Apple was entering their turf with AirTags, they quickly made API deals with third parties to boost functionality before AirTags launched. Those competitive insights preserved their lead.
Methods for Staying Informed
With the fast pace of technology innovation and fickle consumer tastes, a LOT is changing. How and where should product managers focus attention to stay current? There are numerous effective methods:
Reading Industry Publications
Whether in the form of blogs, news sites, magazines, or eBooks, industry publications condense the latest need-to-know intel. Set up RSS feed subscriptions and news alerts from reputable sites. For example, a fintech Product Manager would follow TechCrunch and CoinDesk.
Social Media
Beyond cute pet pics, social media allows Product Managers to follow key thought leaders, influencers, and industry analysts. All share breaking insights. Setting alerts for hashtags like #FinTechKeepsMeUp helps too.
Conferences/Events
Events concentrate insights. Rubbing shoulders with key companies presenting or attendees discussing trends provides unique value. The Consumer Electronics Show or SaaS industry events deliver targeted info.
Analyst/Research Reports
Reputable analyst firms like Gartner, Forrester, and IDC cover the competitive landscape, evaluate innovations, and provide forecasts – all extremely useful to Product Managers. Reports distill need-to-knows.
Getting Closer to Customers
User research interviews, customer advisory boards, support ticket monitoring and social listening all provide ‘on-the-ground’ intel. They complement broader trend insights with real user wants and pain points.
Those sources help Product Managers stay reliably informed by tapping into major information flows. But absorbing everything is still impossible. PMs must utilize filters…
Tips for Processing and Applying Information
The firehose of available information presents some challenges. Product managers can improve how insights get selected, absorbed, and applied with a few key tips:
Be Selective
Take in only the most relevant and reliable industry news that relates to core products and markets. Reading everything dilutes focus. PMs should set Google News alerts, bookmark key sites, follow select thought leaders, etc. to build a targeted “listening funnel.”
Analyze Impacts
Don’t just read reports and headlines. Take time to deeply analyze each piece of intel to understand how significantly it might impact target users or markets. Could it influence behavior or open opportunities? Critical thinking is required.
Log Key Insights
Simply reading but not capturing key insights makes recalling specifics later hard. PMs should log market research learnings, emerging technologies, user wants, etc. in master product docs to refer back to and inform planning.
Share Across Teams
To determine rational responses to trend shifts, Product Managers should socialize intel across functions. Engineers, designers, and sales/marketing staff might have different takes on relevance or ways to react. Two heads are better than one!
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Challenges of Staying Informed
While keeping tabs on market and industry movements is clearly important, it’s not easy. Some obstacles product managers face include:
Information Overload
The sheer volume of potential things to read and absorb can be overwhelming. Analysis paralysis sets in. Product Managers must become masters at skimming and setting up alerts/filters to get only the most relevant updates.
Time Constraints
Product managers have infinitely long to-do lists already. Carving out large blocks for reading may prove difficult. However, setting aside even small pockets of time consistently to scan news over morning coffee builds the habit.
Distinguishing Hype from Reality
When emerging technologies first appear, they generate lots of buzz – but not all live up to their promise. For example, Google Glass flopped despite seeming revolutionary early on. Product Managers must become adept at determining what trends have real staying power vs. are flash-in-the-pans.
Lack Critical Thinking
Given PMs packed schedules, taking time to really digest and analyze pieces of news can fall by the wayside. But information only becomes insights when properly processed and put into context. PMs who don’t build critical thinking skills around trend analysis will struggle.
Filter Bubbles
When we only consume information aligned with our viewpoints, it’s easy to miss alternate perspectives. Product Managers sometimes simply gather data supporting current product assumptions rather than challenging them. Make sure your channels provide contrarian views too.
Conclusion: Staying Ahead of the Competition
More than ever product managers absolutely need to stay on top of market trends, disruptive technologies, and shifts in customer expectations to build solutions users want. Skipping environmental scans exposes products to risks of irrelevance or failure.
By leveraging some key industry resources and dedicating time consistently to absorb information – combined with critical thinking – PMs can turn trends into insights to drive strategic product decisions. Just don’t fall into analysis paralysis or filter bubbles. Focus on quality insights over quantity of data points.
The market will only transform faster, so establishing habits and channels to stay informed gives product managers and the products they guide the best chance to succeed both today and tomorrow.
