Further training certified product manager

product managers You are responsible for a product or product line—from positioning and market launch to evaluating its financial success. You work at the intersection of the market, sales, development, and management. In this training program, you’ll learn about the responsibilities of this role in various companies and how to manage stakeholders and interfaces.

A five-step approach has proven effective:

• Define your market: Which customer groups, regions, and applications are part of your market?

• Determining Market Metrics: Market Potential, Market Volume, and Your Own Market Share

• Understanding Purchasing Behavior: Who makes the decisions, based on what criteria, and how does this differ between B2B and B2C?

• Analyzing Competition: Industry Forces Using the Five Forces Analysis; Direct Competitors Using Benchmarking

• Gathering Data: Combining Existing Sources, Such as Studies and Industry Association Data, with Our Own Market Research

Based on the results, you can identify the opportunities and risks for your product. During the training, you'll practice these steps using case studies, and an e-learning module will help you apply them to your own market afterward.

Positioning means determining who your product is for and why it’s a better fit for that target audience than the alternatives. Useful tools for this include an expanded SWOT matrix to link strengths with market opportunities, portfolio methods to see where the product fits within the overall product lineup, and a strategy map to align the positioning with the company’s goals. The Business Canvas shows whether the business model is a good fit.

During the training, you'll try out these tools on real-life cases. That way, you'll quickly realize which ones actually make decision-making easier in your day-to-day work.

The marketing mix encompasses your decisions regarding product, price, distribution, and communication. In everyday terms, this means, for example: Which variants do we offer, at what price and under what terms, through which channels do we sell, and with what messages and media do we reach our target audience? These decisions must be consistent with one another. A premium product offered at a discount in a discount store sends mixed signals.

During the training program, you'll cover all four areas, right up to media planning and agency briefings. At the end, you'll summarize everything in a product marketing plan for your own product.

These are the instruments you'll use most often in your daily life:

• Contribution margin analysis to see which products are profitable

• Break-even analysis to determine the quantity at which a product or initiative becomes profitable

• Cost Estimation and Cost Management to Control Prices and Costs

• Key metrics such as market share, revenue growth, and contribution margin per product

This will allow you to present a data-driven case to management and the sales team. During the training, you'll work through examples using these tools and see how AI can help with analyses and reports.

Good starting points are tasks that involve condensing a lot of information: market and competitive research, analyzing customer feedback, preparing for client meetings, creating initial drafts of concepts and copy, or assisting with media planning. You should always check the results yourself, because AI provides answers that sound plausible but may still be incorrect.

In this training course, you'll explore specific use cases from product management and determine where AI can save you time in your role and where it's better for you to make decisions on your own.

A product marketing plan typically follows this sequence: analysis of the market and competition, objectives, target audiences, and positioning; marketing mix strategies with a budget and timeline; and, finally, KPIs for measuring success. It is important that the plan be regularly updated with new market data and not be shelved after approval.

In this training course, you'll develop such a plan step by step. So you'll go home with a template that you can use right away for your product.

This e-learning course shows you how conflicts arise, how to recognize them early on, and how to address them before they escalate. This is especially important in product management because you’re constantly mediating between sales, development, and management, whose goals often conflict.

Both e-learning courses in the continuing education program—Conflict Management and Market and Competitive Analysis—are available to you free of charge for twelve months. So you can review the material when the next difficult coordination meeting comes up.

No. This continuing education program is specifically designed for career changers in sales, marketing, development, or project management. If you already work in product management, you’ll be able to reorganize your knowledge and fill in any gaps.

It's precisely this mix that makes the group so interesting. You'll work on case studies, individual assignments, and group projects, and learn how other industries solve the same problems.

The training program consists of five days divided into two modules (two and three days), two e-learning courses, and an online exam lasting approximately 60 minutes. It takes place in person or as a live online training session.

After passing the exam, you will receive the certificate “certified product manager ” from the German Association for Continuing Education ( Haufe Akademie ) and the University of Applied Sciences for Management (HdWM) in Mannheim, as well as an open badge for your profile. If you wish to continue your studies afterward, the “ certified Senior product manager” or “certified AI Expert in Product Management” programs are direct next steps.