May 10, 2021 (Updated April 3rd, 2024)
Mind map of a product: 9 tips for a winning product plan
So, you have a great product that you can’t wait to get out on the market. However, your excitement is curbed by the looming mass of research and planning that will play a pivotal role to its success.
Certainly, a solid product plan will take time and effort; however, do not be fooled by the myth that a product plan has to be at least 100 pages long in a leather bound book. A simple mind map of a product can have a huge impact on how you present your product. Learn more about mind mapping.
Creating a mind map of a product
If you want a product plan that will leave no stone unturned and won’t take up all the hours under the sun, then give our tried and tested mind mapping technique a go. Ayoa is a dynamic and organic business tool that will change your product design. It’s a task manager and memory jogger that can enable you to store and organise, as well as prioritise information.
Clear and visual planning will not only determine whether your product will be successful, it will also save you valuable time and costly mistakes. The simple and straightforward mind mapping technique will seamlessly guide you through each stage of your product plan.
All businesses are unique and have their own specific requirements that must be met. However, if you stick with these guidelines, you will have a foolproof product plan that will lead you to success.
Brainstorm your product
Insert your product as the central image and use the topics below as the main branches of your map. Mind maps allow your brain to immediately assimilate a whole range of complex information and interrelated items, bringing issues into clear focus.
The main branches represent the core areas that you need to address in order to create an effective and faultless product plan. They will also form the structure of your plan and give your brain a framework for association, ensuring that all the relevant elements are taken into consideration. These keywords will spark associations in your brain and will give rise to new realisations that help boost ideas.
Put your product plan first
Explore what your product is and what it does. The generative nature of mind mapping allows you to flesh out your ideas and see how you can develop them. Break your product down into key areas, such as application, features, functionality, benefits, limitations. What are you offering that makes your customers’ lives easier, happier, or more productive? By knowing your product inside out you can sell your plan with confidence, energy, and enthusiasm to ensure it is approved.
Consider the impact on business plans
A new product will impact on existing product offerings and potentially cannibalise sales of some of your other products. To analyse and prepare for the potential effects your project will have on other areas of your business, create a map and add a branch for every aspect of your business you think will be affected. You may have to talk to people from different departments to find out more information and to avoid your product back-firing on other areas of your business.
Useful hint: No-one is a know it all. Never be afraid to ask questions. Gaining different perspectives and opinions means you are always learning something from someone.
Market your product through mind mapping
To ensure that your product takes off, assess how you are going to tap into the market. Market entry is a key factor that can make or break your product. Spread the word: use social media, customer surveys and viral videos for maximum exposure.
Useful hint: Ayoa will enable you to drill into every avenue of your product plan, so keep building your branches to encourage your brain to generate more ideas.
Analyse your customers
Analyse the customers you are targeting. Through thorough research you can define their demographic profile, interests and how their wants and needs relate to your product. The more you know about your customers, the more you can perfect your product.
Useful hint: Keep your customer details secure and stick to a strict ethical guideline. Create a mind map of a product that highlights what you want to know, how you will find it out and what you are going to do with the information.
Focus in on production
Map out every angle of production that will be involved, this way you will be prepared for the unexpected. Create a mind map for production methods to support both high and low product demand to ensure that supply is met and resources are not wasted.
Useful hint:To make production as smooth, economical and ecological as possible you will need to shop around. Look at out-sourcing production and pull on your supply-chain experts.
Mind map your product competitors
Researching your competitors will help build a successful product. What are the unique selling propositions of your product in comparison to your competitors? Alternatively, suss out the strengths and weaknesses of your competition and what they are doing to generate success.
Useful hint: Use your competitors to make you stronger. Define your point of difference and run with it, exaggerate it and infuse it into all you do.
Understand the commercial aspect of product planning
This is the part where the nitty gritty details really matter. Many product plans contain 3 or more financial plans that consist of a budget financial plan, a realistic financial plan and a more flexible financial plan. Incorporated into your finance plan should be the predicted total cost of production. This will help you set sales targets and milestones.
Useful hint: Even the best plans can change depending on the reality of your product. You need to have a backup plan for every possible outcome and adapt to change when needed.
Map how you plan on promoting your product
To secure new customers, try luring them in with special launch offers, or money back guarantees. Map out how you will reach new customers through promotional campaigns and marketing strategies.
Useful hint: Diversify your promotion methods. You will quickly be able to find out what avenues are working better than others.
As your planning gets under way, factors in your product plan will undoubtedly change. With Ayoa you can add branches where and when you need to, spot any holes in your plan and have a bird’s eye view to monitor the growth and development of your product.
You can also use digital whiteboards to inform your understanding, and present a clear case to your team. Learn more through our product positioning template!
Transform how you work
Ayoa is an all-in-one platform that allows teams to collaborate and create seamlessly while working anywhere in the world. Integrations with Dropbox and Google Drive allow you to stay productive and avoid switching between apps.
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