AMA: Bluevine Sr. Director of Customer Research, Content, and Product Marketing , Anna Wiggins on Product Launches

Kick-off Meeting: Start with a comprehensive kick-off meeting involving all cross-functional stakeholders essential for executing the launch. This meeting should cover what is launching, include a product demo, share the Go-To-Market (GTM) plan, and outline schedules and timelines. Weekly Status Meetings: Hold regular status meetings with the cross-functional team, ideally on a weekly basis. These meetings are a platform to review progress, timelines, address obstacles, and ensure everyone is on the same page. In some organizations, daily stand-up meetings may be required for more frequent updates. Trainings for Internal Customer-Facing Teams: Conduct training sessions for internal customer-facing teams such as sales, partners, and customer support to ensure they are well-prepared to handle customer inquiries and effectively promote the product. Communication Channel: Establish a dedicated communication channel for the launch team to interact outside of the scheduled meetings. This could be a dedicated Slack channel, a mailing list, or any platform that facilitates real-time discussions and updates. Status Updates to Exec Staff: Keep the executive staff informed with regular status updates to ensure they are aware of the launch progress. This transparency can be invaluable in gaining their support and addressing any high-level concerns. By following this structured approach, you can enhance internal alignment, streamline communication, and set the stage for a successful product launch.

1. Lack of internal alignment 2. Lack of central GTM POC 

I hate to use a cliche, but Product Marketing is the glue that holds everything together. We're the central point of contact, part project manager, part strategist. We create the Go-To-Market (GTM) plan based on research and product-market fit, and then we kick it into gear. It's about rallying all the teams—marketing, customer service, sales, partners, product—to make it happen. It's like conducting a symphony of efforts to turn our strategy into a real, successful product launch. I've talked about the process and key components for success in the first question.

One of the most important steps is to get organizational alignment and buy-in that you need a launch discipline. Some early-stage organizations may prioritize agility and move quickly without formal processes. It's crucial to ensure everyone recognizes the value of having a structured approach. Once alignment is in place, keep the launch discipline simple and adaptable to your organization's culture. Begin with a straightforward framework and build upon it gradually to add complexity as needed. Two fundamental elements for this process are having a central Go-To-Market (GTM) point of contact who can coordinate and rally teams and a reliable, easily accessible product roadmap with spec docs so that the launch task force can have clarity and insight on what is launching and when. 

Creating a GTM strategy for a product with an extended beta period involves adapting to change. Begin by understanding the beta's goals and the phases involved. Instead of finalizing a fixed GTM strategy upfront, focus on defining critical milestones between the beta and full launch. Develop a tentative strategy for each phase, but remain flexible to make adjustments as you gather feedback and iterate on the product. Regularly review your progress, incorporating user insights into your evolving GTM strategy at each milestone. Maintain transparency with beta users, and be ready to allocate resources based on the product's development stage. If significant changes are needed between beta and full launch, consider the possibility of delaying the launch to ensure a successful market entry. This adaptive approach ensures your GTM strategy remains closely connected to the evolving product and customer needs.

See my answer to the previous question on process organization. Going into the launch, you need to have a clear understanding of the target audience, their pain points, and how the product/feature solves those pain points and messaging to explain what you’ve built. These ingredients are constant regardless of launch size. The variable pieces are your communication plan and the number of stakeholders involved. The GTM plan needs to have messaging, comms plans across sales, CS and marketing channels. And depending on the size of the launch, you will do more or less in these channels and have to align with more or fewer internal stakeholders. Budget allocation is another variable to consider. Larger launches typically entail more significant financial commitments for premium marketing channels, events, and resources. In contrast, smaller launches may necessitate more cost-effective approaches due to budget constraints. Nonetheless, regardless of launch size, establishing product-market fit and fostering internal alignment is essential. These foundational elements remain constant, ensuring that your product resonates with your audience and ultimately drives success.

While a product may technically be ready for launch, it doesn't necessarily mean it's market-ready. The key to addressing this lies in the quarterly planning process, which involves reviewing the roadmap and tiering the launches. Larger, more impactful launches are given dedicated moments to shine, allowing them to receive the attention and resources they deserve. On the other hand, smaller feature launches may be grouped together to create maximum impact with the target customer while the minimizing noise. As each launch becomes available, the strategy established at the beginning of the quarter is executed. This approach ensures that product launches are not only aligned with the overall strategy but also effectively managed within the constraints of two-week sprints.

This is a great question that often goes overlooked. In high-velocity roadmap organizations, the focus tends to be on getting a product to market and then moving on to the next launch, without pausing to assess how the product actually performed. To evaluate the success of your launch, there are several fundamental metrics to consider: Awareness: Determine whether your target audience is aware of your product. This can be evaluated by analyzing the effectiveness of your awareness generation campaign. Metrics such as email open rates, completed sales calls, and ad impressions can provide insights. It's advisable to track this within the first month post-launch. Usage: Assess whether your audience is actively using the product via your own data, utilizing metrics like Daily Active Users (DAU) or Monthly Active Users (MAU). Look for any spikes in usage pre and post-launch. This is a metric to track for at least three months post-launch. Satisfaction: Understand whether your customers actually like the product. Get feedback from the sales team, customer support interactions, or conduct customer interviews. Track for about three to six months post-launch, depending on the product's complexity. Consistently report your findings on a monthly basis and advocate for decisions to optimize if any of the metrics are underperforming. This approach ensures that your product launch isn't just about getting to market but also about making it successful and continually improving it.

First, the sales team needs to know what is launching and when so they can make appropriate plans to incorporate it in their sales conversations. To facilitate these conversations, the choice of tools and practices should be tailored to the product's complexity, the sales cycle, and the team structure. * Clear Early Communication: Ensure the sales team knows what is launching and when, enabling them to plan their sales conversations accordingly. * Training: Provide in-depth training on the product, including its features, caveats, and functionality. * Sales Deck: Equip the sales team with a sales deck that outlines key talking points and messaging to effectively communicate the product's value. * Competitive Analysis: Offer insights on how your product differs from the competition in the market. Highlight the incumbent, feature gaps, advantages, and parity. * Battle cards: Summarize competitive analysis and key points in easy-to-reference battle cards, aiding the sales team in their conversations. * Sales Script and Role-Playing: Provide sales scripts and conduct role-playing scenarios to help sales representatives practice and improve their sales pitches. * Lead Generation Forms: Offer lead generation forms, if appropriate, to capture potential customer information during sales interactions.

When considering the key elements of a successful product launch, common themes emerge: early alignment, clarity on next steps, audience definition, and strategic go-to-market planning. Internal organization plays a pivotal role in achieving success. The fact that you don’t have a dedicated POC or a defined process is the biggest risk to this launch - assuming there are no issues with the product itself. My response will primarily address this challenge. 1. Define Roles and Responsibilities: Assign a lead point of contact to organize the team, set schedules, and ensure everyone delivers on time. Lack of this key role poses the biggest risk and I recommend you escalate to Sr. Leadership this issue. 2. GTM Document: Create a Go-To-Market (GTM) document detailing what's launching, who it's for, any important details, and your customer communication plan. This will be your one source of truth for the launch. Anything changes, update the document. 3. Internal Support and Sales Training: Collaborate with relevant teams to develop training materials for internal support and sales teams. 4. Marketing Channel Plan: Engage teams to plan how you'll communicate the launch—via website, email, paid media, etc. 5. Marketing and Sales Enablement Assets: Ensure appropriate assets are in place to support marketing and sales efforts and will be delivered in time for launch date. 6. Stay Connected with Product Team: Maintain close contact with the product team to stay informed about progress, potential issues, delays, and any caveats. 7. Weekly meetings: gather the working team at least once a week to go through status updates, flag any roadblocks and to make sure everyone is in the loop. Use a dedicated slack channel to share information between weekly calls. Good luck! 

Whether you need a big industry event for a successful launch really depends on what you're selling and your industry. Most of us aren't launching the next iPhone, so we can get our products out there without a big event. The main thing is understanding your audience – who they are, what they want, and how they like to learn about products. It could be as simple as an Instagram ad or a well-pitched phone call. The key is connecting with your audience in a way that matters to them.

When it comes to launching a product internally, the process can vary depending on the launch's size and whether there's a sales component involved. But let's focus on the critical documents and collateral you'll need. Foremost, you must have a well-structured Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy document, which is distinct from a Product Requirements Document (PRD) that the product team creates to specify the product's features and functionality. Your GTM document serves as the single source of truth for your launch and should be easily accessible, maintain version control, and be updated quickly when there are significant changes. A comprehensive GTM document should encompass key components, all of which should be reviewed and approved by senior leadership before distribution. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of securing alignment with senior leadership on these components prior to circulation. I prefer to organize my GTM documents using the 'what, why, how, who, where' framework: * Why: This section should include pertinent research and reasoning behind why the product is being launched. This might involve customer feedback, market insights, and clear KPIs and goals to measure success. * What: Here, you should provide a link to the PRD document and include a product demonstration, showcasing how it works. If a live demo isn't possible, consider using labeled screenshots for clarity. * Who: Identify your target audience in this section, detailing who will benefit most from the product. * Where: Discuss your communication plan and channel strategy, outlining how and where you'll reach your audience. * How: Explain the messaging strategy, internal training plan, and delivery schedule to ensure that everyone involved is on the same page regarding the launch details. * How: Messaging, internal trainings, delivery schedule. Now, to get stakeholders excited about the launch and ensure they are connected to customer needs, share customer interviews or quotes to show how much they need this product. If there is budget, you can also add an internal marketing strategy, such as teaser emails, promotional posters, contests, giveaways, or even launch an internal event to create buzz and anticipation. By combining these customer-centric insights with a well-structured GTM document and an engaging internal marketing campaign, you can drive both understanding and excitement among your internal teams for a successful product launch.

Absolutely, tiering product launches is crucial for optimizing their impact and resource allocation. This practice combines elements of both art and science, and several factors should be considered: * Strategic Impact: Evaluate whether the launch significantly advances your company's position in the market. Even a small feature can be strategically important if it differentiates your solution. In such cases, it may warrant a substantial budget and significant marketing and sales resources. * Customer Impact: Assess whether the launch directly addresses a customer need and whether it will enhance customer satisfaction (measured by NPS) or aid in customer acquisition. Additionally, consider whether the launch might alienate certain customer segments. While some organizations also consider product complexity in their tiering, it doesn't always directly correlate with strategic or customer impact, although it is often linked. By weighing these factors, you can categorize launches into small, medium, and large tiers, each with a corresponding set of GTM activities. Typically, small and large tiered launches are straightforward, and most discussions and decision-making occur in the mid-tier category, which often requires a more nuanced approach, considering specific situations and needs.