AMA: Atlassian Director of Integrated Product Marketing, Ashley Faus on Product Launches

I recommend a tiering system for product vs. feature launches. The tiers include criteria about the impact of the feature that's launching (or series of capabilities, in the case of a full product launch), and the activities associated with each tier. For example:Tier 1:Impact: All customers, market-level, significant company revenueActivities: Press, social media (product and brand handles, personal handles), newsletters, blog (executive byline), Community series, website update, event keynote, ...Read More

I'm approaching this question with a Software-as-a-Service lens, so this depends a lot on the type of product, launch stage (ie: alpha, beta, or Generally Available), and the level of the launch (ie: full product launch vs. feature launch or momentum "launch). In general, we want to see an uptick in entrances to the product tour and evaluations and/or free sign-ups and an indication of time-to-value within the first few weeks (ie: creating a project, attaching a repository, inviting teammates). ...Read More

The biggest key is where does your audience spend time, consume content, and engage? We use a mix of in-product notifications, emails, social media, blogs, events, and press to notify our audience about new features and products. But, we adapt the format, message, and frequency, based on the audience needs and potential impact of the launch.For example, we have a large existing customer base, so we tend to see strong performance when we email them with information about new features. We're cauti ...Read More

Honestly... you compensate them. It could be a spiff to incentivize short-term priority for this product, but long-term, you have to build it into the bonus structure and overall comp targets. If they're already succeeding selling your existing product, it's going to be a challenge to ask them to take time away from something that's working to get them to their quarterly quota and/or accelerators to figure out how to sell this new thing. They have to learn the product, the value props, the objec ...Read More

We use Confluence, Jira Work Management, and Jira Software to track our launches. Free templates: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/templates/go-to-market https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/templates/product-launch We create the high-level plan of activities in Confluence, aligned to the relevant launch tier (launch tiers are our guideposts from which activities we'll do for each level of launch. High impact = all the marketing activities, lower impact = fewer marketing activiti ...Read More

Sales/partner/channel enablement is the biggest differentiator for enterprise-focused vs. startups or SMBs during the launch. I'm coming from a software-as-a-service (SaaS) lens, which means that I have the option to include a variety of self-serve tactics that make it more scalable for smaller companies to get what they need during a launch. Examples include: Product Guides: basic onboarding, core use cases, and templates so that small teams can see fast time-to-value Evergreen articles about p ...Read More

This depends on where you are in the launch cycle. I'm coming from a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) context, which generally includes the following phases for launches: alpha, beta, progressive roll-out, and Generally Available (GA). During the alpha phase, we look at metrics like requests to participate in the alpha, feedback during the alpha phase, and acceptance of feedback sessions (written requests, meetings to talk about the product, etc.). During the beta phase, we look at metrics like wait ...Read More

The biggest mistakes are two sides of the same coin: over-saturating or under-saturating the market with the message at launch. Under-saturating is pretty obvious: you don't spread the message far enough and often enough. Some teams think that a tweet or two and a single newsletter promotion will be enough to get the word out. Or, they toss a new feature on the product tour, or a new product in the "products" section of the global navigation and call it done. But most of your market WON'T see yo ...Read More

For larger product marketing teams, there's a whole function around "release marketing", which aims to showcase the added value consistently. Activities might include a "weekly wrap-up" or "what's new in [product]" monthly update via social media channels, newsletters, community forums, and/or a dedicated space on the company website. For example, Confluence has a dedicated webpage for these types of updates: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/features/whats-new, and you can see scree ...Read More

Two fundamental issues with this blame game:1) A product or feature launch and a revenue target are two different things, with different time horizons! 2) Marketing should have a seat at the table when the revenue forecasts are created. They shouldn't be "receiving" "prescribed" revenue targets and forecasts from sales. Let's dive into each issue: A launch is generally for a new product or feature, which means that there's less precedent for adoption and revenue. Yes, we can look at historical b ...Read More

I'm coming from a software-as-a-service (SaaS) lens, but the sign-up flow + onboarding experience can make or break a launch. You can have the best messaging, the best features, and the best price... but if it's hard to sign up for and use the product? FAIL. Sign-up flows that force you to invite team members or connect all of your product are often confusing for users. Onboarding that requires you to read tons of pages or feels like a one-way door is daunting. If I push this button, does that m ...Read More