What are some key ways to preserve "launch momentum" after the actual launch to get more customers to use said launched product or feature?

Great question. I have worked in the consumer electronics/Hardware industry for most of my career so my answer is going to be from a consumer product launch pov. I have seen many launch teams make the mistake of defining "launch" as the initial period usually lasting a day (or perhaps a few days) for e.g. launching a new website/product page, a PR announcement., an ad campaign, a launch event at CES, etc. From my experience, this is just the start of your launch and one should look at launch from a slightly broader perspective. For a recent product my team launched, we had a 6-month strategic and tactical launch plan. This 6-month launch plan listed the cadence of all launch activities (channels, messaging, campaings, plan Bs if something fails, DRIs amongst many other things). At my current company, the product marketing team passes on the baton to the lifecycle marketing team when we think the "launch period" is over. And we don't pass on that baton till we think the product has crossed the chasm. Hope this helps.

I’m glad you asked this question because I’m a big proponent of “rolling thunder instead of flash in the pan” :). It’s easy to overestimate how closely customers and prospects are paying attention to every message coming out of your company, and think that if you make a lot of noise on launch day, that will be enough to put the news of the launch on everyone’s radar. 

It’s important to keep up a drumbeat of messages to the market. Part of that drumbeat should be the repeated emphasis on the latest product offerings and how customers can get value from those latest products. “Repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer.”

But let’s be real: product marketers are often so busy that, as soon as they get a launch out the door, the next upcoming launch is vying for their attention. So how do you preserve launch momentum? By building ways to “get more mileage” out of the launch into your original launch plan. 

As you write your launch plan, ask yourself: which deliverables and channel activations must go live on the launch day itself? Which ones could be spaced out across the days and weeks following the launch? Draw a distinction between the “breaking news” and the “elaborative content”. The elaborative content is less time-sensitive, and can be more focused on inspiring customers with what they can achieve with the new product, and showing them how.

Example elaborative content:

1) A how-to webinar held the week after launch, giving step-by-step instruction for using the new product.

2) A topic in a talk at a conference occurring 2 weeks after the launch, in which a company leader gives their take on why the product is exciting, in addition to touching on other topics.

3) A blog post published 4 weeks after the launch, telling the story of how an individual customer found success using the new product, and shares their advice for other customers.

Additionally, ask yourself whether there are channels where it would be straightforward to reactivate your message several times in the days and weeks following launch. Here are two examples:

1) Does your company have a weekly newsletter email that goes out to your customer base? If so, you could do the launch day announcement in that newsletter (among other channels), and then, in the following newsletters over the next few weeks, feature the new product again, with varied messaging to keep things fresh.

2) Does your company use in-application messaging (e.g. via Appcues or Pendo)? If so, you could pre-arrange a sequence of messages about the new product that are shown to the user at their first login after launch day, at their second login, and so on, with varied messaging to keep things fresh.

Great question. 

I actually answered a similar quesiton above, here it is: 

First of all, don't try to prevent the short term spike! that's why you launch, to drive attention and focus for one thing in the short term.

But how to get long term results: have a plan to continue building momentum. Like for a new product, you want to continue building momentum with content, marketing campaigns, sales team selling it, etc. And don't forget feature launches, if it's a new product, plan the announcement of the product, but then plan follow up launches for new features as you build them.

Other tactics for keeping momentum up:

- Develop a training product for the new product (can be as simple as webinars)

- Use social proof from the launch to run an ad campaign, write case studies, or an email campaign

- Develop sales spiffs to keep your sales team focused on selling the product/feature

I love this question because you're right - your job is not done the day after launch :) It's critical to maintain momentum to continue driving pipeline, bookings, AND adoption (usage of your product/feature) post-launch. Here are a few ideas to maintain that momentum:

• Post-Launch marketing: Continue marketing efforts after the launch, leveraging the channels that resonate most with your target audience. This helps keep your product or feature top-of-mind for potential customers (another tip: make sure you focus on use case/value vs. feature-marketing)

• Focus on customer education: Develop and launch resources like tutorials, how-to guides, webinars, and FAQs to help customers understand and use the new product or feature.

• Engage with Customers: Regularly engage with customers through various channels. Ask for feedback, answer questions, and show how you're incorporating their suggestions into your product.

• Get involved with user communities: this is such an underrated strategy/tactic - it's so important to help users learn from each other and feel more connected to your product. This investment will pay for itself when your users turn into advocates!

• Case Studies and Testimonials: Share case studies and testimonials from early users. Success stories can encourage others to try the new product or feature.