AMA: Spotify Director, Head of Creator Brand & Product Marketing, Sam Duboff on Product Launches

January 28 @ 10:00AM PT

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How do you tier your launches, and what KPI's do you assign to each tier?

Sam Duboff•

Spotify Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Spotify for Artists • 5y

Having a documented tiering system across your full PMM organization is really important for a few reasons — it helps create consistency across marketers who might be wor...

45725 Views

4 requests

Do you have a product launch template that shows what teams (and when) to incorporate into the preparation of a strategy/plan?

How should I think about that?

Sam Duboff•

Spotify Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Spotify for Artists • 5y

Yes, templates can be helpful, as long as they don't limit your creativity and thinking. Sometime you can get into a "rinse and repeat" rhythm with product launches and m...

19498 Views

2 requests

How do you create a GTM/launch strategy for a product with a long beta period? Follow-up question: What do you do if the product changes significantly between beta and full launch?

Sam Duboff•

Spotify Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Spotify for Artists • 5y

Navigating a long beta period can be tough for a marketer. At worst, it can lead to you losing the opportunity to shape perception of the product and taking the wind out ...

2309 Views

6 requests

What are the core ingredients of a successful launch? How do those ingredients shrink or expand based on priority (i.e. top tier vs bottom tier)?

Sam Duboff•

Spotify Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Spotify for Artists • 5y

Answered a question about how I think about tiering framworkers. I think the core ingredients of a successful launch really depend on your business — size, B2B vs. B2C, b...

3283 Views

3 requests

If your product team works in two-week sprints, how do you balance and prioritize each launch? In other words is a "release" always a "launch" and how do you differentiate and treat each?

Product team releases something worthwhile (to a degree) every two weeks. A new feature is released in an MVP stage (not always in beta) and frequently iterated on. How does a small team manage the constant updates to existing products to ensure clients are informed (so the updates get used/don't take anyone by surprise) but aren't constantly being bombarded by marketing messages.

Sam Duboff•

Spotify Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Spotify for Artists • 5y

That sounds really challenging, but exciting to work on a product that iterates so quickly. First, I'd work with your product team and try to show the impact of bundling...

2180 Views

4 requests

What are the key things to consider post-launch? What standard metrics are important to track to measure success and what teams (and at what cadence) are important to connect with post-launch?

Sam Duboff•

Spotify Global Head of Marketing & Policy, Spotify for Artists • 5y

Can really vary product to product — but I'd separately track product metrics you're able to drive and marketing channel performance. If you have the tech stack for it, i...

3022 Views

2 requests