How do you identify and prioritize the channels for a launch campaign?

I start by developing a Go-To-Market strategy that identifies the business objective of the launch campaign and articulates the in-focus audience. Once I know what I need to accomplish and who I'm talking to, then I can think about the best channels to land that message. The channels should be tailored to the behavior of your users, so that you can meet them in the right place, at the right moment, with the right message. If you are unsure of which channels are most appropriate, Journey Mapping ...Read More

Identifying and prioritizing channels to reach your target audience is key to any product launch. Typically, my channel goal is to surround the audience with a repeated, salient, and consistent message. Depending on the business objective (note to product marketers: clarify the business objective of your product launch first), the goal of a launch can be different from product to product. At times, the business needs to build awareness of your product in order to drive consideration and usage -- ...Read More

In my answer to the “not all launches are created equal” question, I laid out some options for communications channels to pursue based on the tier that you assign a given launch. (This best applies to B2B SaaS organizations, since that’s the sector in which I’ve spent my entire career.)As far as demand generation or running paid campaigns goes, I don’t have personal expertise in those areas, so I can’t provide insight into how to choose advertising channels. But, the best thing you can do as a P ...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

Try applying elements of the “t-shirt sizing” product methodology within your tiering process. For background, t-shirt sizing helps you map effort to impact. Typically, a team assigns points or t-shirt sizes ( i.e., XS to XXL) to represent a task’s relative effort/market impact. This helps illuminate team capacity, scope, impact, and ownership around projects.To parallelize this practice for product marketing, start by consulting your product manager with these standard questions (or tweak to yo ...Read More

Audience. Know your audience. It's cliche. I'm still going to say it again - KNOW your audience. What/who influences them? Where do they get their information? What does the buying journey look like?  Prioritization comes down to your goals and any testing you've already done. This is more of an integrated marketing / campaign question, but an awareness play is very different from a mid to bottom funnel play.  Ah-ha moment: Sometimes, the reality is, the budget dictates the channels. That's okay ...Read More

Successfully launching a product these days is an undertaking that requires careful consideration and planning. A lot of factors go into deciding which channels to use for your launch campaign, but there are some key questions you need to ask yourself first: What are the goals of my campaign? Who do I want to reach with this campaign? Where can I find them? How much time and money do I have available for my marketing efforts? These are just a few of the many considerations you'll need to make be ...Read More