Rajiv Patel

The first step is aligning with your company leadership on a product launch strategy. To me, this includes: * partnering with product to understand the release management schedule (so that you can determine how often to run launches) * prioritizing your launches using a launch tier framework * clearly defining your KPIs * establishing a framework for leadership reviews and approvals during the launch process (I've seen the RAPID framework works really well here). Once aligned, you can focus on individualized product launches. What's helped me at the start of any launch is partnering with product from the beginning and understanding their product vision and strategy. For example, I’ll typically ask my product manager questions like, * “Why are we launching this product?” * “How's it different?” * “What’s the roadmap?” Once aligned, I’ll dive into the ins and outs of the product (setting up learning sessions with my PM, seeing a demo, getting hands on with the technology) and conduct research to validate our positioning. For the GTM launch plan, this involves aligning with your leadership around a shared launch vision and strategy (a framework I've used that's been effective is Salesforce's V2MOM). I'll align with everyone around: * a launch vision * the values that support that vision * the methods that will help us achieve that vision * potential obstacles * how we'll measure success Once aligned, I'll have a kickoff with their teams (the launch group) to walk them through the plan, including the bill of materials, roles and responsibilities, and the timeline. To maintain communication and alignment throughout the launch process (and to ensure we hit our launch milestones), I'll set up a weekly sync with the team to check in on status across the different workstreams, a slack channel where folks can ask questions, and I'll have individual syncs with folks as needed. Leading up to the launch day, I'll send out a weekly status update email to leadership (including the launch group) to build excitement and keep everyone informed on progress.

Yes! As you run multiple launches throughout the year, some releases might be major updates that warrant more significant marketing efforts (e.g. if you’re introducing a new product to the market), while others may be minor and require less promotion (e.g. like a product update). Here's an example of a launch tier framework I've used in the past: * Tier 1 launches (reserved for the most important product announcements of the year and are typically tied to revenue) * Messaging: Core pitch deck updates, product-specific pitch deck, website & landing page updates * GTM: Enablement deck, pricing & packaging, sales training, demo, 1-pager(s) & FAQ * Customers: Customer stories & references PR/AR: Analyst and press briefings, press release, news outlet coverage * Demand Gen: Pre–launch/launch/post–launch campaign, post–launch webinar, content syndication * Content: Product launch announcement blog, thought leadership series, product deep dive content * Tier 2 launches (reserved for significant features or small products) * Messaging: Core pitch deck updates, website updates * GTM: Sales training, demo, 1-pager(s) & FAQ * Customers: Customer references * PR/AR: Press release, news outlet coverage * Content: Product launch announcement blog, product deep dive content * Demand Gen: Post–launch webinar, email campaign * Tier 3 launches (reserved for incremental features and updates) * Messaging: Core pitch deck updates * GTM: FAQ updates * Demand Gen: Email campaign Keep in mind, while this framework provides structure, I wouldn't say it's a strict framework to follow. The key is to establish a strong foundation for how your company tiers product launches and then you can modify as needed.