How do you time a launch for the greatest impact?
Start by defining what you mean by impact: new user acquisition? Product adoption? Market awareness (pr coverage?).
With a clear target and success metric, tailor activities to deliver on those goals. My experience has found that PR pops when combined with a customer event or activity (user conference, live-streamed roadshow, or customer event). For customer adoption focusing on multi-channel coverage (in your product + blogs + Twitter + customer testimonials + help content).
As for setting the date -- that is often driven by either a committed event deadline or product readiness. When possible think about major external events (holidays) and big tech activities (apple launch day or FAAANG conferences)
Products are often launched on a specific day, but the work to achieve launch goals is usually an ongoing effort.
For your launch to be a success, ideally you have completed a customer pilot so you have success stories for press; you've built a robust demo org for your sales teams so they can show customers the product; and you've spent time conducting internal and external research to make sure your message resonates.
But we don't live in an ideal world :) Other factors that may impact the timing of your launch for a big impact:
- What's happening in the market that you can take advantage of? I.e. are there industry events, global trends, etc. that you can use as momentum for your launch?
- What events or opportunities are happening internally that make a specific launch timing ideal? Do you have an annual conference? A new campaign launching?
![AI and Product Marketing](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=640,quality=75,format=auto/https://storage.googleapis.com/sharebird-production/srya5q05szbnygc4x5x4zrt5abfl?GoogleAccessId=93507864171-compute%40developer.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=2353237701&Signature=MsGgo67t0oCdjBQcxb06U9V3eSTL0T8pZFDLbm68%2BPELEwsQuO6PTeFSGCQSDYmH5gqUOzagm4z0nDVZRv75SR8zHJ0FA2RaKuxdsbKx9aABPwHFhKs7xoQeoOmPwwTUhg7ppHUUKnp8PEB6mcZYN94QEmhm7hGmQ5x%2FWOXc4acZqUHJLrKii12qm1emjWrkoTLb9WMEmshWW8wqo5wTuSo8AEkNJW25vxBEHGZRS3L3Dyq%2BiiyBm%2FJECp50XqBX5O0XZmGnQlg%2BhDP4Ostm87g4RAhvsQIusWUqUkNIWkhwq5HRKky2d1AspF1xsnYHv2rZTBPj3kDlRjDrCwli4A%3D%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3D%22event.png%22%3B+filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27event.png&response-content-type=image%2Fpng)
Impact means something different for every launch and these KPIs/success criteria should be defined in your product launch brief. For example, does impact mean customer adoption, customer satisfaction, press coverage, etc.
At a high-level there are a few tactics you can deploy when planning for the greatest impact:
Bundling of features: Is there an opportunity to hold back a release of a product to bundle with several other new features that allows you create a bigger story and launch a more complete product?
Customer testimonials: Can you leverage customer case studies and quotes with quantifiable impact from your beta phase that you can use in your launch content?
Events: Can you time this release alongside other company events (user conferences) or major holidays.
Partnerships: Is there an opportunity to jointly announce something through a partner to double the exposure?
Product readiness: Ensure that your product is sufficiently developed and tested before the launch. Aim for a stable and polished version that meets the desired quality standards. Rushing a premature launch may lead to a negative user experience and hinder the potential impact.
Competitive landscape: Analyze your competitors' product release schedules to avoid launching too close to their major releases. Launching in a less cluttered environment, where your product can stand out, can increase its impact. However, consider the balance between competition avoidance and maintaining a sense of urgency to capture market attention.
Internal readiness: Ensure your organization is adequately prepared to support the launch. Coordinate with cross-functional teams, such as marketing, sales, customer support, and operations, to ensure seamless execution and a consistent customer experience.
Top Product Marketing Mentors
![Christy Roach](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/001/484/thumb/avatar.jpeg?1622658955)
![Jasmine Jaume](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/002/275/thumb/avatar.jpeg?1622827267)
![Alina Fu](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/007/729/thumb/avatar.jpeg?1634238904)
![Jeffrey Vocell](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/002/566/thumb/JeffreyVocellHeadshot.jpeg?1642123964)
![Mary Sheehan](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/000/875/thumb/avatar.jpeg?1602100735)
![Jenna Crane](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/006/723/thumb/Jenna_Crane_headshot_smaller.png?1666637448)
![Priya Gill](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/000/999/thumb/avatar.jpeg?1514116570)
![Amanda Groves](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/006/257/thumb/Groves-2022.jpg?1663008445)
![Amanda Groves](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/006/257/thumb/Groves-2022.jpg?1663008445)
![Jiong Liu](https://sharebird.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,quality=75,format=auto/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sharebird-production/user_profiles/avatars/000/001/237/thumb/avatar.jpeg?1606167066)