AMA: Dropbox Senior Director Product Marketing, Ben Rawnsley-Johnson on Product Launches

The best companies understand that delivering value isn’t a one-time event; it’s a continuous process. Marketing ongoing innovation means evolving how you position the product as new capabilities emerge. It’s about weaving your innovation story into the fabric of your customer experience. At Dropbox, we focus on three key strategies to market ongoing innovation: 1. Build a narrative of progress: Customers don’t just want updates—they want to see that the product is evolving to meet their changing needs. We package ongoing innovations into stories that reflect how they make customers’ lives easier or more efficient. 2. Operationalize communication: Instead of sporadic announcements, create a cadence. Quarterly "what’s new" webinars, consistent email updates, or even dedicated innovation pages on your site keep the audience engaged without feeling overwhelmed. 3. Show, don’t tell: Demonstrating innovation through customer stories and use cases makes the message more credible and relatable. Nothing beats seeing someone similar to you solving a problem with the new feature. Companies like Slack and Notion do this particularly well. Their innovation doesn’t feel disruptive or forced—it’s naturally integrated into their customers' workflows. They maintain excitement while showing that the product is continuously evolving.

There’s a natural tension between generalized and segmented messaging, and striking the right balance is crucial. In general, I think of it like this: * Generalized messaging is useful when you’re addressing a broad, multi-segment audience, like in a keynote or a flagship launch. It focuses on the overarching value and broad benefits that resonate across different personas. * Segmented messaging dives deeper into specific user needs and pain points. It’s best when you’re targeting a niche or running campaigns that require precise relevance. For example, at Dropbox, when launching enhancements to collaboration features, our top-line message might focus on improved teamwork and productivity. But we’ll segment follow-up messaging to address the needs of IT admins (security and control) versus end users (ease of use and speed). Great messaging is layered, not binary. Your headline might be broad, but supporting content should reflect the nuance of each segment. A common mistake is trying to do both in the same piece of content—keep them distinct and deliberate.

Getting buzz before launch is about building curiosity without over-promising. The most effective strategy I’ve seen is a phased approach: 1. Tease the Problem, Not the Solution: Early hints about the problem you’re solving can spark curiosity. Drop vague hints that hint at the pain point without giving away the entire solution. 2. Leverage Trusted Voices: Get your champions and advocates talking before you go public. User advisory boards and beta testers sharing positive feedback builds credibility. 3. Prepare the Ecosystem: Give your partners, sales, and support teams enough lead time to get behind the launch. A well-orchestrated launch requires the whole company rowing in the same direction. Post-launch, it’s about maintaining relevance. Treat the launch as day one—keep the drumbeat going with customer stories, testimonials, and product spotlights. Keep connecting the new feature with the outcomes it drives.

Three big mistakes come to mind: 1. Overhyping the Wrong Thing: It’s tempting to go big on the new shiny feature without grounding it in real customer value. Instead, anchor every feature to a concrete problem it solves or outcome it drives. 2. Neglecting Enablement: Your internal teams need to be as prepared as your customers. If your sales or support teams can’t articulate the value proposition or handle objections, it doesn’t matter how flashy the launch is. 3. Failing to Close the Loop: Don’t just launch and move on. Collect feedback, gauge adoption, and be ready to iterate. Stay close to how the market is responding, and don’t be afraid to adjust your message or roadmap based on that learning.

Success isn’t just about adoption metrics. You need a balanced scorecard that tracks: 1. Product Engagement: Are users actually adopting the new feature and using it as intended? Usage data helps validate whether the messaging resonated. 2. Customer Sentiment: Feedback from surveys, NPS changes, and social listening can tell you whether the feature is landing well with your target audience. 3. Internal Alignment: Did you successfully enable your go-to-market teams? Track sales confidence and enablement content utilization. 4. Market Impact: Did the launch move the needle on competitive differentiation or brand perception? Often overlooked, but crucial when you’re positioning against incumbents.

In multi-product companies, launches are inherently more complex because they impact existing customer perceptions and can introduce portfolio conflicts. Three key things to manage: 1. Portfolio Positioning: Be explicit about how this product complements or differentiates from others in your lineup. You don’t want internal competition or customer confusion. 2. Orchestrated Messaging: Unified messaging that connects the dots between products can amplify the value proposition. Think of your launch as one chapter in a larger narrative. 3. Cross-Team Coordination: It’s not just a PMM exercise. Get product, sales, customer success, and marketing in sync from the start. Otherwise, you’ll end up with fragmented positioning and a diluted message.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but I look at three primary factors: 1. Strategic Impact: Is this a net-new product that opens a new market? Or an incremental feature that deepens existing adoption? The strategic importance informs the size of the launch. 2. Customer Impact: If the feature materially changes the user experience or solves a major pain point, it demands a larger, more comprehensive rollout. 3. Competitive Context: Are you trying to catch up, leapfrog, or establish new ground? The competitive landscape will shape how much noise you need to make. Right-sizing a launch is about aligning ambition with reality. Go big when it fundamentally changes how users experience your product, and stay nimble when it’s just a quality-of-life improvement.