If you’re bringing a new product, software or service to market, then you need to have a go-to-market strategy: what are your plans to launch your product and get customers and interest?
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Below is a simple week-by-week checklist leading up to a new software product introduction that you can use to keep all those marketing & promotion details straight. If you need some help putting your go-to-market plan together, or just have a few questions, then sign up for a Software Marketing Consult session here.
Next month we will be introducing our updated Go-to-Market planning package which will include a more detailed checklist and timeline, GTM strategy template, PR templates, eGuides and more! Sign up for our newsletter here to be notified when it is available.
8-12 weeks before launch:
- Product name finalized
- Acquire domain name, social handles for product name
- Create ideal customer persona: Description, Pain points / needs, Benefits
- USP (Unique Selling Proposition) – what is the key value of your product to your target customer? why are you/your business the right choice (build credibility)?
- Create a high-level launch plan:
- Goals
- Strategies (Who is the audience? What channels? When? What messages? How will the customer find it? Why should they act?)
- Tactics – specific activities to accomplish the strategies
- Metrics – how to measure success
4 weeks before launch:
- Website ready (or new web page / sub-domain for product)
- All social pages ready
- Promotion plan done:
- Plan for pre-launch, launch & post-launch press releases
- Media/influencer targets identified, with contact info
- Compile editorial calendars
- Advertising plan (eg, PPC, banner ads, FB ads, offline ads, etc)
- Keywords for SEO or PPC identified
- Content marketing plan in place – blog posts, guest blogging, social media
3 weeks before launch:
- Create media kit (PR, company & product description, bio/story, headshots, screenshots, Q&A, video or demo, trial codes, etc)
- Sign up for HARO, Pitchrate to receive email about media pitch requests
- Email signup on website (start before launch)
- Write email sequence to send to mailing list, both at launch, plus pre- and post-launch
- Create SEO content for website/blog to bring in search visitors
2 weeks before launch:
- Pre-launch press release sent to select media & influencers
- Promote mailing list (prerelease signup)
- Email update to mailing list
- Customer support plan
- Customer documentation complete
- Channel plan in place – who do you need to sign up? what do they need to sell or list your software?
1 week before launch:
- Email update to mailing list)
- Promote mailing list (prerelease signup)
- List of events (tradeshows, meetups, user groups) and websites where you can “announce” your new product/service)
- Finalize all announcement copy: press release, description, elevator pitch, social content)
At launch:
- Update website / product page
- Launch press release published & sent to all media & influencers
- Email update to mailing list
- Add listing / description to websites, directories, stores, etc
- Announce on social media, blog, forums/groups (as appropriate), etc
Post launch:
- Post-launch press release with user/customer update/announcement
- Email update to mailing list
- Content marketing: social posts, blogs, guest posts, forum/group engagement, etc
- Gather feedback from users, influencers, etc
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