Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Develop the Go-to-Market Plan

Part 2: Know Your Target Market (Your Customer)

Part 3: Align the Team and Internal Communication

Part 4: Prime the Positioning and Messaging

Part 5: Define the Metrics That Matter

Part 6: Nail the Launch Timing

Conclusion

Resources and Appendix

Acknowledgments

Copyright © 2023 Mary Sheehan

All rights reserved.

The Pocket Guide to Product Launches

Get Confident, Go to Market, and Win

ISBN  978-1-5445-2760-4  Paperback

ISBN  978-1-5445-2761-1  Ebook

To access additional

The Pocket Guide to Product Marketing resources,

please visit Productlaunch.pro.

Introduction

The launch is a definitive moment in the life of a product and can often make or break its success. But don’t worry, it’s not rocket science. What a successful launch really comes down to is strict organization, effective communication, and a dash of creativity. This book will prepare you for a successful launch.

Product marketing is one of the most rewarding, and challenging, roles in tech. I’ve also found it’s one of the hardest roles to become proficient in. I have seen countless new product marketers struggle in the early months of the role. Compounding this, there aren’t any college courses on product marketing, and often, the role is of the learn on the job type. This book is for new product marketers (or those newly running product launches) to quickly get up to speed on product launches, one of the core functions of the role. It’s something I desperately wish existed back when I was starting out.

This book pulls together templates, lists, and tips that I’ve gleaned over 10 years launching products. I’ve led over 250 product and feature launches and have seen what makes the difference between a successful launch and one that flops. Throughout this book, I outline the top steps you’ll need to take to have a successful launch, from creating a solid plan, to gathering the right team, to communicating and measuring the results. I’ve included real examples from my own career to highlight what has worked and what doesn’t from companies like Google, Adobe, and the startup world. The skillset you will develop by running launches adds tools to your growing toolkit, which will eventually make you an expert in the product marketing field. To help you pinpoint the biggest insights, you’ll find Launch Learnings throughout the book to help you remember the key points.

Each section of this book is formatted to help you become knowledgeable quickly, and the supporting documents on the website Productlaunch.pro will help you execute the launch plans with ease. My hope is that you will continue to use the book and resources as a reference guide even after your first launch.

How to Use This Book

This book is organized by chapters on the most important aspects of running a product launch. Read it all at once, or choose the chapters that you need more help with and start there. Here’s a quick overview.

Part 1: Develop the Go-to-Market Plan

In this critical section of the book, you’ll get the skills to develop your first soup to nuts go-to-market (GTM) plan, including an introduction to your new best friend, the GTM template.

Part 2: Know Your Target Market (Your Customer)

It may sound obvious, but understanding your target market is a crucial part of the launch process. Many products and campaigns are launched without first considering who the ideal target is. This section will walk you through the importance of understanding who your product is for and how to uncover insights about them to make your launch more effective.

Part 3: Align the Team and Internal Communication

Every launch is only as good as the team behind it. Whether you’re a team of 1 or 100, this section explores how to identify each person’s ownership and make sure communication is as effective as possible.

Part 4: Prime the Positioning and Messaging

This chapter explores the difference between positioning and messaging and how to get started with communicating the value of your launch.

Part 5: Define the Metrics That Matter

If you don’t have the right goals for your launch, who cares? Get your stakeholders to collaborate on the right goals and metrics that level up to your existing business goals.

Part 6: Nail the Launch Timing

Hands down, the most difficult thing to master with a GTM plan is the timing of the launch, or the go live date. In the digital world, so much is up in the air, and timing can be really fluid. This chapter helps you get the launch timing as tight as possible and gives hints to help you when something goes wrong. I also share how to keep up the post-launch momentum.

Resources and Appendix

Here, I share some continued resources to get you up to speed quickly and in touch with other product marketing communities.

*  *  *

I hope this book helps you get organized and feel more confident so you can run a great launch that you’re proud of and can repeat over and over again. Make sure you visit Productlaunch.pro to get the free GTM plan; it’s a great way to follow along.

Since this is for YOU, please let me know how it can be better. I’d love to hear from you and look forward to any feedback, questions, or comments, especially regarding your experience using this book and the templates. I’d also love to hear more examples for future versions of the book. This has been a great passion project for me, and I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to reach me directly for comments, questions, and reprint permissions at MaryShirleySheehan@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for your support in buying this book. I really appreciate it!

—Mary Sheehan

Part 1:  

Develop the Go-to-Market Plan

You have to ruthlessly prioritize.

—Katrina Lake, CEO, StitchFix

According to the late Clayton Christensen, the legendary Harvard Business School professor and author, over 30,000 new products are brought to market each year, and 95 percent fail. Why? The reasons are limitless. You could have the wrong product for the market, not enough financing, or the inability to promote the product to the right people. However, I would argue that much of a product’s success comes down to how that product is launched, and as product marketers, this is something we have a lot of control over. It all starts with the go-to-market, or GTM, plan.

Over 30,000 new products brought to market each year, and 95 percent fail.

—Clayton Christensen

A GTM plan is a blueprint that details the strategy of how a company will target its existing customers and prospective customers with its value prop and differentiation from the competition with a product. It’s essentially the launch playbook complete with milestones, a checklist, and goal tracking that is shared with all stakeholders and updated at least weekly. It’s more than just a glorified checklist; it’s your strategy of how you’ll win against the competition with this launch, how you’ll track goals and milestones, and how you’ll effectively communicate your product launch. In addition, it’s your single source of truth for the next several months until launch. A product marketing manager should own creating and updating this document, but when there is not one at a company, anyone from the product manager to the founder can