AMA: Loom Head of Product Marketing, Julia Szatar on Product Launches

It depends on your resources and the skills of your team.  A larger company might be able to tap into more channels successfully or might already have more users and so the launch will inherently be more amplified.  You can still do a successful launch as a small company with some creativity and good storytelling! Try to think about the channels that will have the most impact given your constraints and work with a good designer to make compelling assets, and use Loom to create fun demos...(shame ...Read More

There are three things to focus on: process, qualitative, and quantitative. A launch is very cross-functional – so you can ask yourself, how did the process go? Are there improvements to be made for next time? Especially when you are at a startup and the team and processes are still evolving and maturing.  On the qualitative side, it's harder to measure but – you can ask, did the message resonate? We launched our loomSDK back in June 2021, and we called it the "Record Button for the Internet" (t ...Read More

Usually, your existing customers are the most impacted by pricing and packaging changes – so you may need to focus on communicating any updates clearly to your users. If all the changes are positive (e.g. they get more for the same) your job is much easier. If there are negative impacts, you need to diligently segment all your cohorts and identify how each group will be impacted, and then create a comms strategy from there. A blog explaining the changes and customized emails to each group is how ...Read More

This starts with aligning with the product on what this means for your product and company.  This probably involves meeting live to discuss the product direction etc. More tactically, we have a GTM handover template that the PM completes. And then, your job as a Product Marketer is to be a filter between the product team and GTM team, and simplify the new features to focus on the value prop vs. going deep on how it works.  What we've done before is package/synthesize all the updates in one succi ...Read More

One question to start with is – is the goal to target existing customers or attract new ones (or both)? Then figure out where that audience is and how you can most effectively reach them.  Another is resourcing and scope - what can you pull off in the timeframe you have, and prioritize from there.  Another would be, do you want to experiment with new channels (and do you have the resources/risk appetite/budget)? For example, we have an upcoming launch and we're looking into new social channels: ...Read More

Product announcements are a growth lever, and everything the product team ships is a marketing opportunity. But, not all opportunities should be treated equally, especially if your product team is shipping at a high velocity (like we do at Loom).   We use a tiering system from 1-4, 1 being the most important type of launch. To determine what tier a product or feature launch is in, we ask ourselves two questions. Will this retain customers or attract customers? Is this a new invention or is it a ...Read More

We don't call it a pre-mortem, but we have two documents that help us facilitate constructive discussion. A GTM handover document that the PM fills out, and a product launch template that we fill out in detail that includes messaging, goals, risks, channels. Once we craft the messaging and general strategy and we run it past the product team and head of product to make sure we are aligned before executing. We usually record a Loom explaining the approach and share it in Slack.  Another major par ...Read More

See answer about Launch Frameworks! Product announcements are a growth lever, and everything the product team ships is a marketing opportunity. But, not all opportunities should be treated equally, especially if your product team is shipping at a high velocity (like we do at Loom). We use a tiering system from 1-4, 1 being the most important type of launch. To determine what tier a product or feature launch is in, we ask ourselves two questions. Will this retain customers or attract customers? I ...Read More

The general timing is mostly driven by the product team and then the specifics around it are driven by the PMM team to try to optimize. We want to launch as close to the product being shipped to get value to our users as soon as we can. However we also want to ensure there is a story that resonates, and this might mean bundling features. We definitely try to avoid holidays and major events if we know they are happening.  Having a buffer between shipping and launching also helps to create effecti ...Read More

This one is tough to answer without more details :)  Some questions to ask yourself: Do we already have users and can we leverage them to drive new sign-ups? Through testimonials, customer stories, and by incentivizing them to spread the word? Do we want to focus on existing or new users? Free or paid users? Where might we find new users? What are some low-cost ways/channels we can get the word out? E.g. Press or Product Hunt? Can we leverage our investors? Do they have channels we can use? E.g. ...Read More