Every great product begins as a spark of an idea. It's a vision that undergoes rigorous research about the industry and market dynamics, a clear understanding of the customer pain points, and also a deep dive into what sets it apart. Through a series of successes and setbacks, and after iterating multiple prototypes, what was once a mere concept becomes reality. This critical milestone—the transition from development to making a mark on the world—is known as a Product Launch.

“A product launch is an event where a company releases its new product in the market, especially for its target audience, hoping to expand its offerings to a wider audience by articulating its value proposition. Typically, these launches are significant milestones marking the official release of the product, highly publicized when the product becomes available to the public. This creates a buzz, excitement, and curiosity around the product. Examples include a special event, a major announcement, or a media event designed to capture maximum attention and make a strong impact at the moment of release.

This full-scale marketing of the product involves aligning with other teams, such as marketing, sales, and products, to introduce the product and boost sales.”

Best Time to Launch a Product

Be it any industry or product type, launches come with surprises. Several factors can affect the time of the launch. These could be-

Market opportunity is where assessing the demand within the existing client base is vital. The product should be something clients recognize as valuable and willing to pay for. A lack of interest or preference for in-house solutions might suggest postponing an official launch. Some products will have higher demand during certain times of the year, like holidays, when they could be used for giting. Knowing this will help businesses prioritize the launch.
The next step is to watch how competitors approach similar opportunities, which can provide valuable insights. If a competitor launches a similar product first, it might initially seem like a missed opportunity, but it can also validate the market demand and help refine the strategy.
Effectively managing resources is essential. Even with a good market opportunity, mismanagement of resources during product rollout can lead to mediocre results. A staggered onboarding schedule can help manage new demand without overwhelming the team.
Ensuring the new product aligns with the company's core brand values and strengths is crucial. Expanding beyond the current expertise just to cater to a specific client's interest could risk diluting the brand's integrity.
Also, one key factor is keeping up with consumer trends and preferences, which is crucial when launching a new product. Businesses must ensure that their product is relevant and appealing to their target audience.

“For example, Apple typically launches products in September because it’s closer to the holiday season, so people might buy it for themselves or gift it to someone. It is also ‘Back to ‘school’ time. Apple targets the school-going demographic and capitalizes on the shopping season. Also, Apple typically follows an annual product cycle for its major product lines, such as the iPhone, iPad, etc. By announcing new products in the September/Fall season, Apple maintains a consistent schedule and keeps customers engaged and interested in their latest offerings. ”

Different Types of Product Launches

Before brainstorming about the product launch strategy, the main thing would be to decide which kind of launch fits the best needs of the product. There are three types of launches -

Full launch - This is the most ideal and dream launch for any business. As the name says, it s complete launch of the product, leveraging social media platforms to advertise, creating marketing collaterals like webinar, landing pages, product brochures to build awareness and potenitally increasing sales.
Minimal Launch: This is a lean, streamlined launch executed with limited resources. For example, let`s say you have a core product but are adding new features to keep up with changing market needs. A minimal launch can strike a balance between communicating those improvements to customers while minimizing the time and budget spent on the launch itself.
Soft Launch: This launch is typically for a restricted audience before the full launch. Not much marketing or promotion is done to know about the launch. It is iterative for continuous improvement. For example, you might schedule a soft launch to get feedback from a small group of users, then tweak your messaging accordingly before a big announcement.
Virtual Launches: Especially relevant for software and digital products, involving online events and digital marketing campaigns.

Software vs Physical Product Launch

Launching SaaS vs physical products involves distinct strategies due to their inherent differences. SaaS products, being digital, allow for continuous development and frequent updates, capitalizing on direct, global distribution channels and digital marketing techniques like free trials. The cost structure is primarily front-loaded with high initial development costs but lower incremental costs per customer. In contrast, physical products require a comprehensive approach to manage manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution, with a significant focus on tactile marketing strategies and managing a per-unit cost structure. Adjustments and iterations for physical products are more costly and logistically demanding compared to the more adaptable and scalable nature of SaaS products.

Tools to Leverage

In this digital age, it's a must to leverage tools to record and launch the product accordingly. As simple as Excel sheets could be used to manage the schedule for the launch and collaborate with teams to organize tasks and timelines. Other project management tools like Smartsheets, Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com, Atlasssian, etc could be used to effectively launch the product. For designing and prototyping, tools like Canva, Figma, Adobe, PowerPoint and Miro board for planning the Product Roadmap.

Another important tool for any product-related activity is a tool to track metrics. Google Analytics and Mixpanel are very powerful tools for tracking metrics like sales volume, engagement rates, customer satisfaction scores, etc.

Product Launch Phases

Pre-Launch: Involves activities such as market research, product finalizations, and creation of marketing materials.
Launch: The public release phase, featuring major marketing and sales efforts to generate buzz and first purchases.
Post-Launch: Focuses on sustaining the product in the market through customer support, collecting feedback, and ongoing marketing initiatives.

Product Launch Strategies

Strategize, Launch, Dominate: Perfecting Your Product's Market Entry

When it’s time to launch, here are some of the steps I believe would be helpful for a successful product launch.

Pre-Launch

Step 1: Finalize Product Messaging and Content Creation

This is a very crucial step that sets a foundation for the other two steps.

Ensuring your product’s value proposition is clear, focusing on how it solves a problem or fulfills a need for your target audience.

For example, a good start would be looking at the company website to check if it highlights the product's benefits, target audience, and use cases explained clearly.

Creating captivating & engaging content that is relatable to your target audience.

What kind of posts, demo videos, and infographics would your target audience be interested in? For example, let`s say you're launching a software product that automates hiring and hiring managers are your target audience. Would hiring managers be interested in seeing posts or demo videos of your software or data? If you already have these, how can you leverage them? For example, how much time is saved in this effort, or how many applicants the platform can interview in a given time compared to manually doing it? This will also help position the product and company well with its competitors.
These posts, short videos, etc could be used on the Product hunt page as well to let everyone know more about the product, which can lead to an increase in Upvotes.

Launch

Step 2: Utilizing Digital Marketing Channels

One of the right ways to inform about the launch would be to use platforms where your target audience is most active. Using the example from our previous step, hiring managers spend most of their time looking for the right candidates via LinkedIn. Tailoring content for them on LinkedIn would be a great start. The content can be simple and straightforward, like the ones mentioned above. Eventually, once there is enough content available, you could explore organic search or paid ads to increase reach.
Posting on platforms like Product Hunt, Starter Story, and Betafy is a great way to introduce the product to a tech-savvy audience and gain early adopters. These sites can help generate buzz and receive valuable feedback from a community that's interested in new and innovative products.
Another way would be to launch an email campaign by reaching out to existing contacts if there are any. We could also use LinkedIn to find midsize companies looking for scalable/automated hiring solutions. We could create personalized emails to increase engagement and announce the upcoming product launch.

Post-Launch

Step 3: Engage with Prospects and Collect Feedback

Success! Your product is now launched in the market! Whats next ? Well, it doesn’t stop here. Companies often engage in ongoing marketing activities known as follow-up campaigns. These efforts are designed to maintain the product's visibility in the market, address initial customer feedback, and keep the momentum going. This can include additional advertising, promotions, updates or enhancements to the product, and new use cases to attract different segments of the market; webinars or live product demos to showcase how the product works could help you engage potential customers with questions and feedback. We could also use websites like Wynter to test some of the messaging to win with faster target customer feedback loops.

Together, these strategies help maximize the product’s market penetration and long-term success by not only making a big initial splash but also sustaining interest and engagement over time.

I’m Sri — a Product Marketer passionate about leveraging AI and GTM strategy to simplify customer experiences, scale growth, and stay ahead of market trends. 🔁 Follow me for real-world insights🚀

Product Launches