How do you create your product launch strategy?

I create my product launch strategy through a six-step process, which is outlined in my attached template. Over the years, I've found that this process ensures a comprehensive approach to product launches, while still maintaining flexibility to accommodate the specific needs of a launch: Plan: This initial stage focuses on setting the strategy and aligning with key stakeholders. I define the: Target audience Primary and secondary goals Success metrics Value proposition Marquee products or featur ...Read More

Your product launch strategy should be created out of answering two fundamental questions: "What problems are we solving for whom and why are we uniquely set up to win here?" "How exactly will we capture the additional value we're creating and what does that mean to our business?" Once you have crisp, clear answers to both, you can start building a launch strategy. Some launches are about introducing a new project for a new audience, which is a completely different motion and level of effort tha ...Read More

First, you have to ask yourself a few questions:  How often are we launching significant new or improved products?  Who are the key stakeholders during launches?  What are the key problems with the way launches are handled now?  What channels are at our disposal for launches? From there, you can start to design a strategy that works for your organization.  In general, I recommend tiered launches. You'd ideally have some sort of matrix that aligns the organization around the answer to the questio ...Read More

There are a ton of launch-specific templates you'll stumble upon, but here's some of the more tactical guidance on launch strategy - Collaboration with Product Management Sizing - it's highly likely you'll have to compromise with PM on what constitutes as a Small vs Med vs Large vs XL Launch. I recommend putting together a "t-shirt" sizing based approach in identifying what a launch bill of materials actually looks like for each, get buy-in from PM, and stick to that for every future launch. thi ...Read More

There are plenty of templates out there to get started with building a product launch strategy, but keep in mind that these are guidelines. You'll need to modify each template based on your organization, your audience, your product, and more.Whenever I build a new launch strategy, I first connect with each department head to figure out what activities are needed for each launch level. I scheduled a 1:1 and asked, if we were to launch a new product today, what would you need to sell or support th ...Read More