Launches are the bread and butter of product marketing, and probably the reason why so many of us fall in love with the profession (who doesn’t love bread AND butter). But launching a product can be taxing, no matter how many times you have done it. Successful launches require rigorous planning, and many different actions and steps taken by many different stakeholders over weeks or months. It is hard to keep track of every little thing to do. Us, product marketers, live in this constant work equivalent of the have I turned the oven off fear; is there an action critical to this launch that I am forgetting?
Over the years, I have been going back to this product launch checklist for the smallest of features and the biggest of products. Today, I am sharing it with you, so you don’t need to worry if your house is on fire:
How to use this checklist
This is a master template designed for big product launches. It is a blueprint that you should:
Adjust to the product, service or capability you are launching: This is a master template that contains every action you may ever have to take as a product marketer during launches. It is an overkill for the vast majority of launches. The best way to use it is to copy it over, and only pick the actions that are relevant for your particular launch.
Adjust to your own company processes: The template is built based on the processes in the companies I have worked for. Your company may assign the responsibilities for launches differently, or may have different artifacts or steps. For example, in one of my previous jobs, we had a “proposal” team that was in charge of writing all the documentation templates needed in RFPs. Don’t be afraid to play around with the template to adapt it to your situation.
Interpret broadly how to apply it: Over the years, I have found this checklist useful for projects beyond traditional product launches. Many of the actions within the template proved relevant when introducing new customer-facing programs, or internal pricing changes (among many other projects).
Good luck with your launch!
Did I forget to turn the oven off?
If there’s an action you think I should add to this template, send me a message!
Jana, this is so good! I sent this one and the SaaSy Campaigns article to my team with so much pride of what an amazing Marketing leader you have become. Keep it coming! We need more B2B and B2E SaaS PMM/PM content out there since so much of the existing content applies to only B2SMB and B2C.