Product Strategy Guide with Real-World Examples + Template

Product Strategy is defining what you want to achieve with your product and how you plan to get there. 

Strategy is crucial in Product Management. It is the bridge connecting product development with business goals, ensuring that resources are focused on delivering value to the target market. Strategy guides decision-making throughout the product lifecycle, helping to prioritize features, target the right audience, and achieve a competitive advantage.

In this article, we’ll define Product Strategy and differentiate it from other related but distinct concepts like Product Vision and Product Roadmap. We’ll break down the key components of a strategy and provide a Product Strategy Framework that addresses all major aspects of a winning strategy, along with a free template and example from the real world. 

Product Strategy Template

The higher you go up on the Product career ladder, the more strategic skills matter. This template helps you define the why and how of product development and launch, allowing you to make better decisions for your users, team, and company.

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What Is Product Strategy?

A product strategy outlines where your product is going, how it will get there, and why it will succeed. It is not a product roadmap, project plan, company vision, or mission. It's not a specific goal you want to reach, like a revenue goal. It’s something you should revisit frequently and adapt based on new knowledge, allowing for creativity, adaptability, and flexibility. 

“We don't want to create every product that will be a modest success. We are looking for products that are going to bring a high magnitude of success.”

— David Myszewski, VP of Product at Wealthfront, on The Product Podcast: From Launching the iPhone to 20x Growth

Imagine you decide to drive from Toronto, Ontario, to Los Angeles, California. 

📍LA is your destination, your Product Vision. 

🛣️ Your route is the Product Strategy. It’s how you will get from Toronto to LA—will it be a straight shot, or will you backtrack to see Niagara Falls and visit your Great Aunt in Phoenix? Will you sleep in roadside motels or in a pop-up camper? 

These types of decisions influence your route, just as the overall business objectives and company mission influence your Product Strategy.

🚸 The road signs along the way would be your OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)—they measure how far you’ve gone and how long you have to go (and whether you need to speed things up to make it to your next stop in time). 

🗺️ Your trusty roadmap would be the Product Roadmap (what else?). It’s a physical manifestation of the route, a document that you can reference to orient yourself along the way.

Product Strategy vs. Product Vision

Product Strategy outlines an actionable plan to achieve specific business goals, detailing how a product will meet market needs and outperform competitors and the approach for doing so. It's the "how" of product development. Product Vision, on the other hand, is the "why"—a long-term, aspirational view of what the product aims to achieve and its impact on users and the market. 

Strategy vs. OKRs

Product strategy is the high-level plan that outlines how a product will achieve its goals and meet market needs, focusing on direction and long-term objectives. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework used to measure progress toward those objectives. OKRs break the strategy down into specific, measurable goals (objectives) and the key results needed to track success. Strategy guides; OKRs quantify progress.

Product OKR Template

Use this Product OKR template to set and track your OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Align your team’s daily tasks with product and company strategy!

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Strategy vs. Prioritization

Strategy informs company-wide decisions on what products to build and how to position them, while prioritization is the process of determining the order in which features, tasks, or initiatives should be tackled based on factors like impact, resources, and urgency. While strategy sets the direction, prioritization ensures the most critical work is addressed first.

Feature Prioritization Template

Use this feature prioritization template to get clear direction on which features to include and which to leave out.

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Product Strategy vs. Product Roadmap

Product strategy is the overarching plan that defines how a product will achieve its goals and succeed in the market. A Product Roadmap, however, is a tactical tool that visualizes the "what" and "when," laying out the specific features, timelines, and milestones needed to execute the strategy. The roadmap turns strategy into actionable steps.

Product Roadmap Template

Download our easy-to-use template to help you create your Product Roadmap.

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5 Elements of a Product Strategy Framework + Template

A well-defined Product Strategy takes the following elements into consideration: 

Product Vision 

Before you can decide on your route, you need a destination. The Vision is the purpose behind your product and the future you imagine for your users. 

Insights

Strategies should be data-driven, based on accurately measured past results and reasonable projections for the future. They should include insights into competitors, market trends, pricing, and customers.

“When I think about our product strategy, I don't just think about this as a feature somebody would love. I think about whether this is a feature somebody would need and pay for.”

— Trisha Price, CPO at Pendo, on The Product Podcast, Trisha Price Reveals Pendo’s Game-Changing AI Product Features 

Customer data

What are you hearing from existing customers or users of competitor products? What are their pain points and aspirations? Your strategy should be based on what the user wants, needs, and (as Trisha Price said above) would pay for. 

Free User Persona Template

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Unique value proposition

Speaking of value, what does your product offer that no other product does? A strategy that takes on the pain points of your ideal customers has a good chance of success. Are there customers out there looking for a product you’re in a position to make? Or are you making something for the sake of making it, despite a poor product-market fit? 

If you’re unconvinced about the perils of making something nobody asked for, read up on New Coke. 

Free Value Proposition Canvas

Learn how to take user problems as the foundation of your solution and only build products that matter with our free Value Proposition Canvas!

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Competitor landscape

What are your competitors doing that’s working? What are they doing that you could do better? These are all important insights that inform a well-conceived Product Strategy. Compare your current or future product and features to what else is out there to make sure you don’t build a Zune.

Product Comparison Template

Winning products get to the core of a user need—and then solve it better than the competition. Use this template to identify your user need and evaluate other players in the market.

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Pricing

Effective pricing can be the difference between success and failure. Raising the prices of an existing product can make Wall Street smile or cause users to revolt.  It’s a delicate balance that takes into consideration what you know about users, competitors, and the market overall. 

It’s best to go feature by feature, compare pricing to competitors, and assign prices based on the value proposition.

Product Feature Analysis Template

Understand how your Product’s features stack up to the competition. Identify core features needed to compete against industry-standard products. Then go above and beyond!

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Challenges 

Any roadblocks you anticipate blocking the product development you’ve planned out. These can be technical, legal, or market-based.

Approach 

Will you disrupt the market with a cheaper alternative that cuts out the middleman? Or will your product differentiate itself from the rest with patented, never-before-seen technology? 

Maybe the answer is both! Your approach can be single or multi-pronged, but the important thing is that it is clear, achievable, and communicated to everyone. 

See examples of Product Strategy approaches below.

Accountability

What are your desired outcomes? How do you define success? 

Product OKR Template

Use this Product OKR template to set and track your OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Align your team’s daily tasks with product and company strategy!

get free template

We all know that we’ll need to measure our progress along the way to our ultimate goal, or Product Vision. The thing is, there are a ton of product-related metrics out there. You can’t give them all the same importance—that would be the same as not paying attention to any. 

Instead, the metrics you hone in on—your Key Results—should align with your approach and overall strategy. 

Product Strategy Template

In Product School’s Product Strategy Template, you’ll be guided through all of these aspects of Product Strategy step by step to ensure you cover all your bases. 

Product Strategy Template

The higher you go up on the Product career ladder, the more strategic skills matter. This template helps you define the why and how of product development and launch, allowing you to make better decisions for your users, team, and company.

Download Template

Product Strategy Framework Example - Zoom

Let’s see the strategy framework above as applied to the notoriously disruptive company Zoom.

Product Strategy Approaches + Examples

There are many different approaches used by companies to make sure products cut through noise. Here are some examples: 

Product-led Growth

Description: Product-led growth (PLG) is a strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, expansion, conversion, and retention. The product is designed to deliver immediate value, encouraging users to engage deeply and share it organically.

PLG works best in situations where the product can provide immediate value without the need for heavy sales or marketing efforts, typically in software as a service (SaaS) or digital products.

Example: As shown above, Zoom is an example of a PLG (Product-led Growth) company. Zoom leverages PLG by offering a free version of its video conferencing software, which users can easily adopt and start using without any friction. 

Product-led Sales

Product-led sales combines the elements of product-led growth with traditional sales techniques. It uses data-driven insights from the product usage to identify high-potential customers, guiding sales teams to target users who are already engaged.

Ideal for B2B companies where large deals are necessary and sales cycles are long, but product usage data can reveal the best opportunities for targeted sales efforts.

Example: Atlassian uses product-led sales by tracking how users engage with its tools like Jira and Confluence. This data helps identify which teams or companies are ready for an enterprise-level solution, allowing the sales team to focus their efforts on converting these high-potential customers.

Focus/Niche Strategy

This strategy involves targeting a specific segment of the market, offering specialized products or services tailored to the needs of that niche. It’s most effective when there’s a clearly defined market segment with unique needs that are underserved by competitors.

Example: GoPro focuses on the niche market of extreme sports enthusiasts and adventure travelers, providing specialized cameras that cater specifically to their needs. Not everyone will need or want a GoPro, but those who do are fanatical about them.

Quality/Luxury Strategy

This strategy emphasizes the superior quality, exclusivity, and high price points of products, appealing to customers who are willing to pay more for premium offerings. It works best in markets where consumers are willing to pay a premium for high quality, status, or unique craftsmanship, typically in fashion, automobiles, or high-end consumer goods.  

Example: Rolex utilizes this strategy by maintaining its reputation as a luxury watchmaker, where its products are synonymous with prestige and high quality.

Cost Leadership

Companies pursuing this strategy aim to produce goods or services at a lower cost than their competitors while maintaining acceptable quality. It works best in industries where price competition is intense, and consumers are highly price-sensitive. It is particularly effective when a company can achieve significant economies of scale, leverage cost-efficient production methods, or access cheaper raw materials. 

Example: AmazonBasics Batteries are a great example of a product that utilizes a cost-based strategy. Amazon offers these batteries at a lower price point than well-known brands like Duracell or Energizer. By leveraging their efficient supply chain, large-scale distribution, and minimal marketing costs, AmazonBasics can produce and sell batteries at a lower cost to attract cost-conscious consumers who prioritize affordability over brand loyalty.

​​Differentiation

Differentiation involves making a product stand out from the competition through unique features, design, branding, or customer experience. This is the best strategy for highly competitive markets where customers have many choices, and a unique selling proposition is crucial to stand out.

Example: Apple employs differentiation through its sleek design, never-before-seen features, user-friendly interfaces, and seamless ecosystem, setting its products apart from other technology brands.

Product Marketing Strategy

Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) bridge the gap between strategy and marketing through targeted marketing efforts. The product vision guides the overall direction and messaging, while the chosen strategy model—such as product-led growth or differentiation— shapes the marketing approach, dictating whether to focus on user acquisition through the product experience or highlight unique features.

PMMs ensure that campaigns resonate with the target audience and communicate the product's value proposition effectively. They translate the strategic framework into actionable marketing tactics, like the 4 Ps, which remind marketers to focus on:

• Product

• Price

• Place

• Promotion

At companies where there isn’t a specific PMM role, Product Managers align with marketing teams to monitor market feedback and performance metrics, so that product managers can refine the strategy, making adjustments to the marketing efforts to maximize the product’s impact and success in the market.

Why Is Product Strategy Important?

Successful products don’t happen by accident; a product strategy is your greatest tool to effectively solve real user needs while meeting business goals. 

Here are some of key reasons why having a product strategy is important:  

• Focus: When you make a product for everyone, you’re making a product for no one. Product strategy helps companies focus their efforts on developing and marketing products that meet the needs of the target market.

• Resource allocation: Developing a product strategy enables companies to identify key priorities, define timelines, and budget resources effectively.

• Competitive advantage: Do your product strategy research to identify unique value propositions and stand out in the market.

• Alignment: Product strategy helps ensure that everyone within the company is aligned on the product's objectives, target audience, and key features. This alignment is essential for effective collaboration and communication across different teams, such as product development, marketing, and sales. 

• Customer satisfaction: A customer-centric product strategy ensures that products are developed with the customer in mind, leading to greater customer satisfaction and retention. 

Product Strategy in Product Management: The Key to a Smooth Ride

In conclusion, a well-defined product strategy is like a carefully planned route on a road trip—it guides the product's journey from its starting point to its ultimate destination. Just as a clear route helps you navigate from Ontario to California, a strong product strategy connects the product vision with actionable plans, ensuring all efforts are aligned with business goals and market needs. 

There will still be bumps along the way—that’s unavoidable. However, a coherent and well-communicated strategy allows companies to allocate resources effectively and build great things that improve people’s lives. The ultimate destination.

Enroll in Product School's Product Strategy Micro-Certification (PSC)™️

The difference between a good and a great product lies in your Product Strategy, answering vital questions like: Who's the product for? What benefits does it offer? How does it further company objectives?

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