product Launch plan
A product launch event is an organized marketing and communication campaign to introduce a new product/solution to the market. The goal of a product launch event is to generate excitement around the new offering and create early adopters who will help promote it to others. Businesses need to plan their product launches strategically and well in advance of their planned launch date.
A product launch plan can be segmented into five phases:
1. Initial planning: It usually starts well in advance, depending on the product/solution and the success metric considered for the solution. The Launch planning involves having clarity on the below questions:
- Who is the customer (persona) you're targeting and how will the product benefit them? Features and Benefits, Customer Value Proposition?
- What’s the key objective of the product launch? Is it for entering into a new segment or introducing a new product ?
- What metrics will you use to measure the success of your launch? Media coverage, Lead generation, Initial feedback ?
- What is the Product's positioning statement that will serve as the basis for your external and internal communications?
2. Pre-launch activities: This included following activities:
- Develop a content calendar that highlights deliverables, themes, topics, timing, and marketing channels we will use to promote the launch.
- Finalize pricing and distribution strategy.
- Plan key product launch events and supporting marketing activities.
- Develop Sales training materials and sales collateral such as Brochure, Presentations, Features and Benefits, Competition Benchmarking
- Write product announcements, website pages and landing pages.
- Develop strategies for creating buzz around the launch, both internally and externally.
- Pre-launch flyers, Coming Soon communications
- User Social Media to create excitement in the marketplace.
3. Channel Partner launch readiness (if we sell through Channels):
- Launch to channel partners, provide sales tools and collateral, and communicate process and support.
- Train sales and channel partners.
- Communicate a plan for providing ongoing sales and channel support.
4. Launch day: This is the most important day for the Product, where all the planning and preparation comes together. From press releases and web pages going live, to the public unveiling of the product in a company event, or trade show.
5. Post-launch follow-up: Use metrics to monitor launch performance and compare with initial objectives. Gather feedback from customers, sales and channel partners. Establish an ongoing plan for lead generation and awareness.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
Features are what the product/solution does, describing which attributes set it apart from the competition. Benefits describe why those features matter and how they help the target audience. For marketing messages, it's better to go with a benefits-heavy approach, because benefits are what drive customers to purchase the product.
Feature is an attribute or functionality of the product/solution. It’s important to highlight features because they are a part of the product that can be supported by data collected through testing and measurement.
Benefit is how the product can improve or add value to a user/customer’s. Benefits answer the question: "What is in it for me?"
A feature of the product can provide multiple benefits. All the marketing messages should be emphasizing on the benefits. The features are provided more like technical detail of the product in Product Brochure or User guide.
Product launch Day
