Defining Digital: Product Management – key to Digital revenue
Having recently been asked by a client to provide some background as to why they’ve found it hard to recruit Digital Product Managers, we felt it worth sharing our thoughts on this increasingly popular job title within the Digital space. We also look at why it’s becoming increasingly important for companies looking to exploit Digital to get to grips with this area to ensure that they maximise the effectiveness of hiring these very talented and dynamic professionals.
Emergence of Product development roles
Product development positions have emerged as a central discipline within a Digital team as businesses look to gain more measurable return from their Digital channels. A clear definition of a product manager though is particularly difficult in a market that is still in relative infancy. There is considerable variety on what constitutes a product and the skills of a product manager. This has a direct impact on availability of candidates and salaries.
A product can be:
- a content stream or content channel – such as fashion, lifestyle, music, sport
- a platform based service – gaming, dating, ecommerce, subscriptions, downloads, affiliate advertising, comparison sites
- a web application – Google Maps, Spotify, Skype, Twitter, Facebook Chat etc
- or website functionality or tool – such as a search box, currency converter or mortgage calculator
A product manager will be skilled or have exposure to most, if not all, of the following areas:
- Project management
- Web analytics
- Software development
- Design
- Web content/editorial
- Usability and customer experience
- CRM
- Commercial business development
- Digital advertising
- Marketing
- Web technology
A Product Manager may also have come from a variety of backgrounds, or in some cases, may actually be fulfilling the responsibilities of a ‘Product Manager’, yet have a different title. These different backgrounds or titles would include;
- Producer
- Project Manager
- Content Manager/Web Editor
- Digital Marketing Manager
- Web master
- Commercial Manager
- Business Development Manager
The emphasis on the role will change depending on whether the core objective is ecommerce revenue, branding, user registration, customer loyalty or advertising revenue.
This variety inevitably makes it difficult to differentiate between candidates when looking for Product Managers and makes for some interesting hiring challengers for our clients.
The Hiring Challenges for a company
A Product Manager in most cases is accountable for revenue, traffic and conversion. They will need a combination of all the skills listed above and be responsible for a range of deliverables. This level of experience means the suitable candidates will need to be quite senior and as such the salary levels will need to reflect this. The key deliverables for a Product Manager means that they need someone to take responsibly for a product area and be able to deliver to targets and meet various user derived expectations. Experience in one area, just marketing or content for instance, will not be sufficient.
Market Competition and Salary
Unsurprisingly this sort of profile is highly competitive as it crosses a range of sectors – ecommerce, media and advertising. Many brands are seeking these individuals to play a crucial role in their Digital teams – especially now when ROI is being scrutinised. Bearing Partnership has also found that this sector, along with Web Analytics and SEO professionals, have not been adversely affected by recession, as the good individuals with these skills are developing revenue streams for their employees.
Product managers vary widely in their remuneration depending on the scope, revenue and size of channels they have been responsible for – but the level of seniority or talent required to be effective immediately – increases the budget scale.
Some recent placements for clients who have looked to hire the top level of Product Managers in their respective areas have paid their new hires at the following levels;
- Senior Product Manager (60K) – Portal
- Commercial Product Manager (55k) – Newspaper Publisher
- Commercial Product Manager (50k) – TV Broadcaster
Interestingly another Product Manager role that Bearing Partnership were asked to help recruit for was with a publishing group that, whilst titled ‘Product Manager’, was in fact really a content manager. This role was paying £35,000 – further illustrating the confusion surrounding this particular job role. It also emphasises the point that accomplished Product Managers are often more senior.
Currently Bearing Partnership has 203 Digital Product Managers from a range of backgrounds on our books. 140 are already earning between £45-50,000, the reminder being contractors earning approx 250-300/pay.
Attracting the best
Once a company has identified the need for a Product Manager, both the market value of good Product Managers as well as the age old problem in Digital staffing matters – ‘retention’, would suggest this is not an area that a company should scrimp on the salary budget for. Paying a salary congruent with the goals of the business will yield a higher grade of professionals which, in turn, will be responsible for Digital revenue generation. Given the fragmented nature of the market, the need for highly skilled candidates and the competition for the top talent, the hiring of a Product Manager should be a well planned out. As a candidate Bearing Partnership are in a excellent position to advise and guide you on your next move, ensuring you secure the right role for your skills and experience. For employers we offer a deep understanding of the sector and the ability to search out this rare breed.
If you have any comments or wish to contact me about the area of Product Management – please call Tim Smith on 0207 397 7190 or email ts@bearingpartnership.com
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