Blueprint of Modern Product Launch Marketing
Blueprint of Modern Product Launch Marketing
Blueprint of Modern Product Launch Marketing
MODERN PRODUCT
LAUNCH MARKETING
THE BLUEPRINT OF
MODERN PRODUCT
LAUNCH MARKETING
1 THE PROBLEM WITH PRODUCT LAUNCHES .......................................................................... 03
Product Launch Marketing Is Suffering............................................................................................................................. 03
Why Content Is Key.................................................................................................................................................................................... 05
The Appetizer..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
The Entree.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 12
The Dessert........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Feed Every Channel.....................................................................................................................................................................................13
Take Advantage of Marketing Technologies................................................................................................................. 16
than 95 percent of new products launched by established companies each year fail,
according to an AcuPoll study.
03
PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING IS
1 THE PROBLEM WITH PRODUCT LAUNCHES
SUFFERING CONT
A number of factors contribute to these
product-launch flops, including:
But these factors are simply symptoms of a larger, more glaring problem: the
failure to create a coordinated launch marketing strategy that delivers a compelling
product story organized around the buyer, not the business.
04
WHY CONTENT IS KEY
1 THE PROBLEM WITH PRODUCT LAUNCHES
Put simply, content is not simply an “inbound” effort. It should be utilized at every
stage of the buying cycle, from first touch and throughout the entire customer
lifecycle. With any new product launch, you’ll need content for each of these
touchpoints.
This eBook is designed to help you create winning product launch strategies in an
increasingly content-dominated landscape. It contains best practices for a holistic
product launch organized around the buyer, so you can facilitate each step of that
journey with engaging, consistent content.
If you need proof that your content should address the issues your shiny new
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
product is made to solve, just look at Google searches throughout the industry.
Recent research from Google found that B2B buyers conduct an average of 12
searches before ever jumping on a specific brand’s site.
The days of relying on feature lists and value props are gone. Product launches today
need to include content that moves the buyer through every stage of their journey—
from searching the Internet to closing the deal. So you need to start by framing the
problem that buyers are trying to solve
06
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
When you have your persona, list their major pain points. Then, using these pain
points, you can derive the theme you’ll address in your product launch messaging.
In addition to identifying your persona, list your objectives for the product
launch. Some examples of product launch objectives are:
The objectives you set can vary widely based on the priorities of your sales team,
07 marketing team, and your business as a whole. Choose goals that make sense for
you, then start considering the types of metrics you can use to track them.
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
A lot of work goes into a product launch. It’s an exciting time; the
company has worked hard to build a new product and is finally ready
to unveil it to the world. But to ensure product launch success, the company must
understand its buying audience and where that audience goes for information.
Companies struggle to develop content that resonates, and content for product
launches is no exception. We want to deliver information that engages buyers and
moves them to act. When it misses the mark, we’re left wondering what went wrong
(and who or what is to blame). Was it well written? Was it well executed? Or, was
our approach wrong?
We need to establish a framework for content development and content marketing
efforts that focuses on driving results, not simply on creating more content. We
need to start with the big picture: why are we creating content, for whom are we
creating it, what are their preferences, and what do we want them to do after they
consume it?
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
08
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
are consistencies in the way personas like to consume information. You want to
ensure that you are delivering content in the ways your audience wants to consume
it.
If you are determining what content to create for a launch based on “this is the
way we’ve always done it,” it’s time to validate if this is still the right approach by
getting out into the market.
1
2 3 4 5 6
10
USE CONTENT PILLARS
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
The content pillar approach usually contains three closely aligned assets for each
stage of the buying cycle. These assets organize around your buyer’s pain point and
propel engagers toward your product solution.
60% OF
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
PEOPLE ARE
INSPIRED TO SEEK
OUT A PRODUCT
AFTER READING
CONTENT ABOUT IT.
THE APPETIZER
The Appetizer is a fun, engaging content asset like a SlideShare or an infographic. It
serves the top of the funnel, pitching your product’s solution in a broad and engaging
way. The goal here is to engage a lot of prospects, and drive them toward a related,
gated content asset. This type of content is often optimized by channels like your blog
and website, social channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and video channels.
The Appetizer drives to a more in-depth “Entree” asset, which provides a deeper dive
into solutions.
THE ENTREE
The Entree is your major content pillar asset. The entree piece could be an eBook, a
whitepaper, or a workbook. It gives readers who download it actionable guidance for
tackling the challenges related to your product solution, without actually pitching
your product. The key here is to make this content asset valuable to readers by
helping them solve a pain point or problem. Marketers should distribute this content
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
The Entree asset should then drive to your product-centric “Dessert” asset, which
reveals how your new product helps customers solve the pain point in question.
THE DESSERT
The Dessert is a product-centric asset—like a PDF, video, or demo—that reveals
how your new product solves your buyers’ needs. This content can be distributed
through your marketing automation as part of your nurturing efforts, hosted on
video channels, or supported by webinar platforms (ReadyTalk, ON24, etc.),
and distributed to the sales team to accelerate the deal cycle.
12
FEED EVERY CHANNEL
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
With your pillar assets identified, creating content to fill your marketing channels
is a lot easier than starting from scratch. Your derivative assets can be repurposed
from your Appetizer, Entree, and Dessert content pieces.
A substantial Entree eBook, for example, can easily break down into 20–30 social
posts, four to six blog posts, two to three emails, a webinar, a SlideShare, an
infographic, and several product-centric assets.
It’s important to remember that 77% of buyers want different content at each
stage of the product research process. A product launch content pillar can fuel all of
your marketing channels throughout this journey, from awareness to purchase.
Let’s break down your pillar distribution across channels and buying stages,
starting with the Appetizer, Entree, and Dessert assets.
Appetizer assets are usually delivered through top-of-funnel channels like social
media and blogs. The call to action drives to the Entree, encouraging interested
readers to take action.
Entree assets are delivered both at the top of the funnel (on the blog and through
social media) and at the middle of the funnel, (through emails targeted to
13 relevant segments within your database). The call to action in the Entree
asset drives readers to the Dessert piece.
FEED EVERY CHANNEL CONT
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
Dessert assets are distributed to people at the bottom of the funnel, usually by a
sales rep. Through their online activity and interactions with your company, these
potential buyers have shown they’re hungry for a more product-centric asset
related to solving the problem addressed by your content pillar.
Use the grid below to help identify where your other derivative
assets fall in the user flow, from awareness to sales enablement.
LEAD eBook
Whitepaper
Website
SlideShare
14
FEED EVERY CHANNEL CONT
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
Once you’ve decided on the content pieces you’d like to create, and where to
distribute them, build out a launch calendar with important dates to keep your team
on track. Include items like: first draft due dates, final draft due dates, and final
content launch dates.
15
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
MARKETING TECHNOLOGIES
When it comes to planning a product launch,
there are plenty of marketing technologies that
can help you track your efforts, stay organized,
and set yourself up for long-term success.
All of the following offer several advantages that marketers of the past
would have killed for in the midst of the product launches of old:
1 Email marketing
tools: Segment your
2 Marketing automation:
Target your email
database and target your communications, create
email communications integrated launch
based on criteria like job campaigns, and track
title, location, industry, success with 3 Google Anal
ytics
and more reporting tools and Adword
s:
See which of
your
channels, pro
duct
promotions,
and
ads are drivin
g the
most traffic to
your
4 Revenue-tracking website
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
platforms: Track
campaign success and
5 CRMs: Track
s
sales
th rough see which pieces of
opportunitie content are influencing
e, se e
the pipelin revenue
le s
a log of all sa
and
touchpoints,
ng to
set up reporti
launch
see how your
pacting
campaign is im
revenue
Marketing content management platforms:
6 Centralize the process for creating multi-asset,
multi-channel product launches. Collaborate across
content types using automated workflows, version
control tools, buyer persona and sales stage mapping
tools, and internal libraries so teams can easily
access content and consolidate all data points into a
single dashboard so you can definitively see ROI
16
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MARKETING
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
TECHNOLOGIES CONT
Use this checklist to identify if you have the technologies necessary to develop
and release an integrated product launch:
17
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
PRODUCT
MARKETING IN A
BRAVE NEW
WORLD
Rob Bois,
Director of Product
Marketing, Plex Systems
Part of the challenge is that the profile of the emblematic marketing team has
changed quite a bit over the past decade, and product marketers have a unique
opportunity to capitalize on a far broader array of content.
18
2 PLANNING YOUR PRODUCT LAUNCH
As the launch gets closer, you may start building assets in partnership with the
content team. An eBook, webinar, or video might be in line. And you may also
want to start creating assets to support the demand-generation efforts that will
accompany the launch. Product marketing may not be the actual author of any of
these assets, but the product experts are the ideal traffic controllers to coordinate
the efforts.
The key to all this, however, is to think about the launch not as a series of outbound
efforts, but as a rolling set of content assets that will help customers find you and
want to learn more. If your buyer doesn’t identify with you, or sees that there is no
real history of content that appeals to them, you immediately lose credibility even if
your product is the absolute greatest solution to ever hit the market.
TO SUPPORT LAUNCH
ACTIVITIES.
19
3 EXECUTE YOUR
LAUNCH PLAN
A lot of the work for a product launch happens
up front, but when the date for the official launch
rolls around, there are still items that need to be
addressed in order for the launch to really have
an impact.
Enable these teams with materials like one-pagers, talking points, demo scripts,
value props, lists of content assets, internal trainings, and more. It’s a multi-step
process, so you need to put together a solid timeline of deadlines and milestones.
On the day of the launch, make sure your PR team has everything they need to go
big with public-facing communications. Regardless of where you’re launching—at
an event, trade show, etc.—publish a blog post announcing your new product, a
press release to generate buzz in the industry, social posts, promotional videos,
email blasts, and more. You’ve worked hard to get to launch day; now it’s time to
make sure everything rolls out as planned.
Use the table below to help identify what assets you’ll need to create for each team.
TEAM ASSETS
SALES Product demos, one-pagers, talking points, competitive
differentiator docs, pricing details, testimonials, case studies
21
4 POST-LAUNCH
TASKS
Your product has launched. You’re monitoring
your online advertising efforts, continuing to
promote your product’s solutions on your blog,
in your database, via your social media channels,
etc., and you’re monitoring sales numbers.
But the work doesn’t stop there.
Over the next few months, you’ll want to track KPIs to ensure your product launch
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
is delivering the kind of results you projected. Depending on your findings, you
may need to optimize your marketing and promotional programs or introduce new
programs to bring extra life to your product.
Let’s look at each of the post-launch activities you should be pursuing in order to
guarantee success.
MEASUREMENT
Think back to the goals you set during the planning stage. You’ll want to return to
those goals immediately after launch to start charting your progress.
Keep a spreadsheet or set up a dashboard to keep track of all of the relevant metrics,
paying specific attention to new customer acquisition and revenue driven from your
product launch. Then, communicate the key insights from these metrics to
22 your team.
MEASUREMENT CONT
4 POST-LAUNCH TASKS
Web traffic
Internal content utilization
New prospects in database
Marketing qualified leads
Sales accepted leads
New customer acquisition
New revenue
Leads and revenue by product launch and/or asset
GATHER FEEDBACK
Just like with any business initiative, gathering feedback is critical—not just on
your launch program (i.e., internal feedback), but also on the product itself (i.e.,
external feedback).
Were you provided with the appropriate enablement tools? Did you feel prepared
for this product launch?
Do you think we pursued all of the appropriate outlets for this launch?
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
Do you think the timing of the launch plan was appropriate? Was there ample
time to complete all necessary pre-launch activities?
What can we do better next time?
If possible, collect feedback from your new clients a few months after launch.
This feedback will be especially valuable if these new clients were introduced to
you through your product launch efforts.
What messaging really resonated with you when you were evaluating our
product?
Did you feel like you were overexposed to marketing messages from us?
What do you think of the new product? Does it meet expectations?
Did the ramp-up process meet expectations?
Did you encounter any problems with our new product?
Are you happy with our new product? If not, what could we do to improve
23 your experience?
GATHER FEEDBACK CONT
4 POST-LAUNCH TASKS
Often, in-app messaging, a simple phone call or email, or a quick email survey
can provide you with enough data to inform any future product launches that
might be on the horizon.
Develop a plan for the six to twelve months immediately after launch. Create
content to drive continued awareness and fuel additional lead gen. Additionally,
evaluate any upcoming industry events to see if there might be opportunities to
gain extra exposure for your product through a sponsorship, keynote, or speaking
engagement.
The first six months to a year is a great time to start collecting and showcasing
case studies about your product. Contact the customers that have had positive
experiences and see if they would be willing to participate in a case study, talk
more about their success story, or provide a short quote. Post these stories to your
website, or build them into a blog series to continue promoting your product in
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
a positive light. Remember, testimonials are often more powerful than anything
your sales reps could say during the selling process, so they’re definitely worth the
investment.
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS
AND CASE STUDIES ARE
CONSIDERED THE MOST EFFECTIVE
CONTENT MARKETING TACTICS,
IDENTIFIED BY 89% AND 88%,
RESPECTIVELY, OF B2B MARKETERS.
(B2B CONTENT MARKETING
TRENDS 2013 REPORT)
24
5 THE BEST PRODUCT
MARKETING RESOURCES
Content-focused product marketing launches aren’t
easy. But with the right resources and best practices
at your disposal, you can reap big benefits. Here’s a
list of our favorite product marketing resources.
What: Pragmatic Marketing
Site: pragmaticmarketing.com
Why we like it: Interesting frameworks for product marketing strategy
THE BLUEPRINT OF MODERN PRODUCT LAUNCH MARKETING
and foundations.
What: KISSmetrics, “Launch Like Steve Jobs: 7 Ways to Build Buzz for
Your Next Product Launch”
Site: blog.kissmetrics.com/product-launch-strategies
Why we like it: Great step-by-step post on how to master your product
launch.