Change Management Guidelines For Product Launch Events

Most companies suck at launching products. They’re like Alice in Wonderland — chasing shiny objects and getting lost along the way. Here’s the 11-step process we perfected after 25 years of product launches (in a collaboration with Jason Oakley): 1. Competitive Research The key to great strategy is to look externally. Take notes on competitor's features and how they grow. Build a database so you can counter-position appropriately. 2. Segmentation A launch aimed at “everyone” will miss everyone. Instead, build a laser-focused Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Follow this chain of thought: What are they craving? → What frustrates them daily? → What job are they trying to accomplish? 3. Pricing & Packaging Even the smallest feature can have a ripple effect on your pricing and packaging. Don’t wait until launch week to figure this out. Before launching, assess things like: Will this be a paid feature or free? Who will get access? What’s the plan for feature gating? 4. Positioning Now it’s time to craft a message that resonates. Speak to their deeper desires, not just their immediate problems. Communicate the outcome your product delivers and why you’re different from the rest. 5. Assemble Your Launch Team You can’t do it alone, and you shouldn’t. A successful launch involves stakeholders across the company. Use the RACI framework to assign clear roles. 6. Clear Objectives Too many teams dive into a launch without defined goals. And that’s why they miss the mark. Set clear objectives and key results. 7. Distribution Channels Many teams fall into the trap of trying to be everywhere; LinkedIn, email, ads, you name it. Reality check: Most startups only have 1-2 effective distribution channels. Find yours and double down on it. 8. Launch Milestones Planning your entire launch around individual tasks will overwhelm you. Instead, focus on major milestones and build a work-back plan. Some key milestones to include: Early access launch → Customer launch → Kickoff meeting. 9. Bill of Materials Your Bill of Materials is the content engine of your launch. Focus on: → Writing the message they want to hear → Designing visuals that captivate and appeal to them → Creating email sequences tailored to every user flow 10. Sales & Customer Success Teams Too many launches fail because these teams are looped in at the last minute. Enable them early with a messaging deck, internal FAQs, and demo materials... And they’ll become powerful advocates for your product. 11. Launch Day Make sure everything is launched smoothly and on time. If you achieve early wins, be the first to celebrate them and rally the team. And don’t forget to keep pushing the momentum forward. There's much more in the deep dive: https://lnkd.in/eB7s6umA If you don't plan your launches, even the best products will fail.

A lot of product marketers are told to “own the launch.” But what that really ends up looking like is a glorified checklist. This is a problem. A good product launch is a strategic GTM motion that builds internal alignment, drives external clarity, and supports real business goals. And recently, Natalie Marcotullio from Navattic shared a great launch, when they rolled out Launchpad, so I want to use it to walk you through what this looks like in practice. Here’s the 5-part launch framework I coach clients on, and how it played out for this example: 1️⃣ Strategic readiness This is the part most teams skip. Everyone’s eager to “go live,” but you’d be shocked at how many can’t answer basic questions like: --> Who is this product for? --> Why are we launching it now? --> What’s the pain point we’re solving, and how do we know? This can happen a lot when PMs are under pressure to launch sooner before the product is ready (and are sucked into the build trap). What Navattic did: In Q4 and Q1, a small group of co-founders and sales reps quietly built and validated Launchpad. While marketing was not involved here, the product side ensured that this step was done. 2️⃣ Positioning & messaging Great messaging starts from the synthesis of real insights… and then ties a human story to it. What Navattic did: Natali pulled real call recordings, identified patterns, and built messaging around them. She also interviewed Navattic’s CEO about his time as an SE, grounding the narrative in the emotional reality of the demo treadmill Launchpad is designed to solve. 3️⃣ External promotion strategy Promotion should be treated as a marketing campaign, not a to-do list. Start with a clear theme or big idea. Then choose your channels and sequence intentionally based on how your audience actually buys. What Navattic did: In Q2, they quietly added Launchpad to the pricing page and iterated the copy 3–4 times. They ran lead gen through high-intent channels like SE conferences, LinkedIn, Google, and even AEO (ChatGPT and Perplexity). When launch day came, they focused on channels that mattered, like their trusted advisors and loyal customers who love them. 4️⃣ Internal enablement This is the final (and often most overlooked) step: making sure everyone inside the company understands the story and can retell it, through both documentation and training. What Navattic did: Natalie enabled everyone early: field teams, partners, even advisors. I got a detailed launch brief two weeks in advance, so I had the full context to speak confidently to my network. 5️⃣ Communications  Of course, a good launch also requires great communication and coordination throughout the entire process. Check out the post on this in the comments. ---- Ultimately, the key takeaway is that a great launch is STRATEGY-focused, not just tactical. ❓ What's the most important thing for you when launching major products? #productmarketing #launch #gtm #advising #coaching

I’ve led significant products and successfully brought them to the finish line. Every time I take on a massive product, the first thing I do is plan for the pre-launch and post-launch activities. I brainstorm with product, UX, engineering, and QA teams to list all the different areas, milestones, risks, and dependencies. When building a new product or introducing significant enhancements, there are hundreds of things to track and align to ensure a timely launch and avoid getting stuck in an endless development cycle. Remember, coding-related activities contribute only 30% to a product's success. The remaining 70% comes from ideation, planning, communication, and adoption. Here are some of the crucial activities I focus on when I start working on a product launch: 1. Visualize the Go-Live Understand this: at this stage, most teams don’t even have a running product or final mockups yet. But we do have a high-level understanding of what it will look like. So, we start by imagining the change already in the hands of our users. Imagine the go-live day and map out every activity that comes to mind. This includes: - Product is live for consumers - Stakeholders are communicated with - A go-live support center is established - Customers and support teams are well-educated and informed Think about users, - What are they feeling? - What are they missing? - What questions do they have? - What challenges are they facing? - What do we wish we had done differently? We ensure that our entire team—engineering, product, support, marketing—knows how to support and communicate with both internal and external users about the new changes. 2. Visualize the Pre-Go-Live Map out every activity leading up to go-live. What needs to happen right before go-live? This includes: - Coding is completed - Extensive testing is conducted - Preparation for deployment - Production infrastructure is configured - Education, training, and pre-go-live communication 3. Create a Master List These brainstorming sessions result in a master list of activities—from initial development to launch. This list ensures we cover every critical step, such as: - UX design - Development - In-sprint testing - DevOps activities - Regression testing Additionally, it includes activities related to: - Risk management - Dependencies - Communication - Education & training Remember to balance the big picture with the details. We use JIRA to plan and track our day-to-day work. It’s invaluable for tracking details, but it can also be overwhelming. That’s why we need a high-level view with milestones, dependencies, and potential risks. This top-down planning approach—working backward from the launch to where we are today—has transformed how I manage and deliver big initiatives, and it can do the same for you. What approach do you follow when planning a significant initiative? Let’s discuss.

Yesterday I highlighted Hexagon's Maestro product launch but having launched countless products that have redefined industries, I’ve learned one core truth: a product launch lives or dies by timing and alignment.   As Mary Sheehan says in "The Pocket Guide to Product Launches":   “The biggest challenge is actually getting the timing right… In order to get [product and marketing] humming together in perfect alignment, it's quite an undertaking.”   Especially in larger organizations where the product management team might be more used to a mature features/functions centric approach OR maybe not comfortable sharing with marketing until very very late in the process OR where there are too many product launches happening at similar timings.   To cut through the noise and dominate, you need to get these 5 things right:   1️⃣ Alignment & Timing -- and I cannot emphasize this more.   Misaligned timelines between product, marketing, and sales are the #1 killer of launch momentum. Marketing must be at the table early - before the roadmap becomes reality. In complex engineering products it is even more challenging since there could be an idea that "what does marketing know about products" - which needs to be shifted to "marketing can help us to be more customer-centric"   2️⃣ Positioning & Messaging   Start with the “why.” Why now? Why this product? Why does it matter to this segment? Strong positioning isn’t just for PR - it fuels every touchpoint that follows.   3️⃣ PR & Media Strategy   Plan to earn attention. That means embargoes, executive interviews, media partnerships, and a newsworthy angle that hijacks the news. Don’t just announce - take over the conversation.   4️⃣ GTM & Demand Generation   Launches are pipeline events. From campaigns to content to customer stories, your GTM motion should be orchestrated to activate both brand and demand - before, during, and after day one.   5️⃣ Sales Enablement   If your sales team isn’t ready, your market isn’t either. Train and equip them with demos, ppts, email material in SFSDC and tools that help them sell the story - not just the spec sheet.   So here’s the question:   Who owns what?   The NPI (New Product Introduction) process primarily lives in product management - but who owns building a story so good it could compete with a #Netflix series?   #ProductLaunch #GoToMarket #MarketingLeadership #ProductMarketing