New Product Launch Plan: 5 Steps to Execute the Perfect Launch

As a manufacturer, you understand the importance of introducing a new product to the market. You and your team have meticulously crafted a product launch plan that must be executed perfectly to achieve the desired results and ROI.

Here’s the problem: You’re having a hard time communicating your new product launch plan with the correct level of detail across your teams. As an added complexity, New Product Initiatives (NPI) for hardware and software product launches seem to be even harder to facilitate quickly and easily. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You still need to address real-time changes as they occur, and you must get all your stakeholders on the same page. 

Is there an easier way to align everyone about the new launch or NPI without key information slipping through the cracks? 

In this guide, we’ll lead you through a 5-step process on how to create and execute a new product launch plan that stays airtight across your product line. 

Plus, we’ll also show you how to harness advanced software solutions for both product launches and NPIs to seamlessly introduce your product into the market. Let’s start with the basics.

What is a Product Launch?

A product launch is the planned process of bringing a new or updated product to the market.

In the manufacturing industry, product launches can be extremely complex. A new product launch typically involves:

• Extensive market research
• Product development and testing
• Collaboration with internal stakeholders on a go-to-market (GTM) strategy
• Detailed marketing and PR materials for the product

A successful product launch generates awareness and initial sales for the product. It relies on cross-functional teams to coordinate planning and work together across departments.

Types of New Product Launches

There are 3 main types of product launches:

1. Soft launch: The product is released to a limited audience to gather feedback and refine features before it is finalized and released to the general public.
2. Hard launch: The full-scale public release of a new product, typically supported by significant marketing efforts to maximize awareness and generate early sales.
3. Feature launch: The release of a new update, refinement, or feature added to an existing product.

Depending on the stage of your product, you will have to decide which type of product launch you are going to execute. Then, you must align your entire team to follow your product launch plan.

Why are Product Launch Plans So Important?

Think of it like this: You wouldn’t go to a job interview without researching the company and preparing your resume to sell yourself as the best candidate for the job. The same goes for launching new products on the market. You need to know exactly what your customers will positively respond to before you send your product out to the world.

This is where a product launch plan comes into play.

Whether you’re releasing a physical product or a digital solution, a good product launch plan is essential for ensuring stakeholder alignment, awareness, early sales, and timely release for your new product or update.

What is Included in a Product Launch Plan?

A product launch plan is a comprehensive, strategic document that outlines the main components and necessary steps of your launch: who’s involved, your objectives, the launch schedule, resource allocation, and your general strategy.

Product launch plans typically include:

• Details about the product or update
• Goals and objectives
• Metrics for success (KPIs)
• Target audience and market research
• Product positioning and messaging
• Product launch timeline and significant milestones
• A visual timeline of key milestones, tasks, and dependencies
• Stakeholder responsibilities
• Resource allocation and launch budget
• Your GTM strategy, including identifying and planning distribution channels for product promotion

A well-executed product launch plan provides clarity to everyone involved and is designed to maximize impact while optimizing the allocation of resources. It helps keep the product launch on track, ensuring products and updates are released on time.

The Role of Product Management Software

Does your brain hurt just thinking about all of the moving parts of a product launch plan? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. It hurts our brains too!

Luckily, there are software solutions like Gocious Product Portfolio Management that help product managers and manufacturers create streamlined, highly efficient product launch plans.

Through the power of advanced technology, you can get all of your teams AND stakeholders on the same page. No one will miss a beat when you integrate your new product launch plans on management software like Gocious.

In fact, through software like Gocious, you will be able to view your entire product ecosystem and custom reports straight from your dashboard. This ensures alignment in development timelines and compatibility throughout every step of your launch. 

Now, let’s dive into the ins-and-outs of a well-crafted product launch plan.

5 Steps to Build a Strong Product Launch Plan

A product launch plan can be broken down into 5 stages: Preparation, details and documentation, go-to-market strategy, go-live strategy, and post-launch activities.

Let’s go through these steps one by one.

Step 1: Preparation

First, you need to prepare all the necessary inputs, targets, and research data that will inform your strategy. Initial market research is essential to understand the market landscape and identify your ideal customers. After all, you want to make sure your product launch plan is tailored to the right audience.

So, what do you need to do?

For starters, set goals and objectives for a successful launch, accompanied by corresponding KPIs for tracking success once the new product or feature is live. Next, identify who you’re targeting with the launch and conduct extensive market and competitor research. Identifying early adopters is crucial, as they can help generate buzz, build credibility, and drive initial sales for your product.

If you’re launching a physical product, you’ll also need to think about production, purchasing, and distribution.

• Do your teams have a comprehensive view of the product's lifecycle so they understand the impact of changes?
• Are you able to ensure alignment across your teams?
• Can you visualize modular feature implementations and dependencies across product lines?
• Do your teams have the data they need to maximize revenue and satisfy future customers?
• Are you able to lead the market with NPI?

For digital products, including cloud software, there are similar problems to solve. Consider any requirements for developing, testing, and integrating the product before it’s ready for release.

Step 2: Details and Documentation

Next, it’s time to organize all the critical information for your product launch. Here’s where you establish and communicate deadlines for specific tasks, assign responsibilities, and allocate your resources.

You need to clearly define and document:

• Your product launch timeline, including significant milestones and deadlines, and use a launch roadmap to visualize key milestones, tasks, and dependencies
• Product details, such as pricing, messaging, positioning, and packaging
• Communication channels and meeting frequencies
• Key stakeholders and assigned responsibilities

This is also a good time to consider the operational resources you’ll need to execute your plan. That includes any technology required to monitor performance, manage marketing campaigns, and support logistics.

Step 3: Go-to-Market Strategy

Now we’ve arrived at the nuts and bolts of product launch planning.

This is where you create and execute your product launch strategy. Product Marketing plays a huge role in coordinating efforts with teams and stakeholders for a successful launch. You’ll need to decide which social media platforms, distribution channels, and marketing channels you’ll use for promotion, develop marketing and sales strategies, and make a content creation plan.

When planning your content and promotional activities, focus on ways to create excitement and generate buzz around your launch to attract your target audience.

This is also a good time to establish a feedback loop. How are you going to encourage and capture feedback from your customers about the new release?

You can formalize early adopter testing and live feedback collection, create customer surveys, incentivize online reviews, monitor social media channels—or all of the above. Choose a feedback system that’s right for you. The easier you make it for customers to share how they feel, the faster you can take action.

Step 4: Go-Live Strategy

Launch day has arrived! Don’t panic. Remember, you planned for this. 

It’s vital to plan for the day of the launch to ensure everything goes smoothly. Organizing a launch event can help engage your audience and ensure a smooth rollout. You need to identify any potential risks and create contingency plans for those that are beyond your control, such as platform outages, a sudden economic downturn, or major supply chain disruptions.

Outline who is responsible for activating and monitoring your social media and marketing campaigns. Make sure that your customer support and sales teams have all the information they need to help customers, and that your sales strategy is strategically aligned with all marketing activities. Coordinate closely with the sales team to drive immediate sales and follow up on leads after the launch.

For physical product launches, it’s helpful to have a coordinated logistics plan. Order fulfillment and inventory management processes should be optimized to meet a sudden surge in demand for your new product. This could mean taking on temporary warehousing staff and collaborating with a reliable carrier to get more orders out the door on launch day.

Step 5: Post-Launch Activities

Last but not least, schedule time for a thorough post-launch evaluation. Take the time to review the effectiveness of your product launch plan. Analyze relevant metrics and other relevant metrics, such as customer feedback, sales data, and web traffic, to comprehensively assess the launch's effectiveness.

Compare customer feedback and product launch performance metrics with your original business objectives. Did you achieve the goals you set out to achieve?

Use your insights to find out what went wrong and what went according to plan, then leverage those findings to determine the next steps and optimize future product launches.

Build Your Product Launch Plan Checklists

Just to make sure you are completely prepared for your product launch, we created these pre-launch, launch, and post-launch checklists for you! They will serve as your basic guides to help you effectively plan and execute your launch. 

Your Pre-Launch Checklist

Here’s what your product launch plan should include:

• Product information: Critical details about your new product such as pricing, how it works, and key features.
• Objectives and KPIs: The overarching business goals you hope to achieve with the launch.
• Launch date and timeline: When the new product will be released and significant milestones along the way.
• Market research: Who your target customers are, their demographics and expectations, and the competitive landscape.
• Assignment of responsibilities: The stakeholders who are responsible for executing each step in your product launch plan.
• Messaging: How you will talk about your product and where it fits into the current market.
• Marketing and PR strategy: Your plan for promoting the product launch to generate maximum awareness and initial sales.
• Launch budget: Allocation of resources to specific launch activities, including marketing spend and production budget.
• GTM strategy: Your tactics, inputs, and timeline for executing a successful launch.
• Infrastructure and technology: The equipment and resources you’ll need to launch your new product.
• Feedback: Your strategy for collecting customer insights once the release is live.
  
  

Your Product Launch Plan Checklist

When the go-live date arrives, the work isn’t over. This is the most crucial stage of any product launch, as all the planning you’ve done means little without a precise execution.

Here’s what you need to consider on the day of your launch:

• Campaign activation: The stakeholders and responsibilities associated with pushing marketing campaigns and social posts live on launch day.
• Logistics: Processes and resources required to fulfill customer orders for your new product.
• Sales: Any important materials and information sales staff need to know when communicating the new release to your customers.
• Customer support: Troubleshooting steps, returns processes, and customer support resources required to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Early performance metrics: The KPIs you’re tracking for success and the systems required to measure them.
• Media coverage: Monitor media coverage to gauge public interest and brand visibility by tracking press and media mentions.
• Communication and reporting: How internal stakeholders will share and evaluate key insights about the launch.

Your Post-Launch Checklist

Your new product or update is live, the sales are climbing, and everybody’s getting a pat on the back. Now it’s time to wrap up the launch and gather insights to determine your next steps

Key steps for a successful post-launch phase:

• Review KPIs and objectives: Compare the performance of your product launch against initial goals to measure the success of your release.
• Analyze customer feedback: Gather and review insights from customers about how the new product or update lived up to the promises of your promotional efforts.
• Conduct a market analysis: Analyze the market to determine the impact of your new release, and where it sits in the competitive landscape.
• Plan new initiatives: Leverage findings from your performance analysis, market impact, and customer feedback to inform your next steps.
• Document your learnings: Record everything you’ve learned from the product launch so that you capitalize on future opportunities and don’t make the same mistakes.

Last but not least, celebrate! Product launches are hard work. Show your appreciation for everyone involved in the launch and don’t forget to celebrate your wins.

Launch Products and NPIs Easier with Gocious

From start to finish, product launch plans will help you align goals across all teams, channels, and stakeholders. It’s important that you have the right software on your side to effortlessly execute your plans.

Gocious provides a streamlined, centralized platform for mid-sized and large-scale manufacturers to better manage product portfolios and product roadmaps. Ensure your next product launch goes off without a hitch and establish agile workflows to easily bring new products to market.

Book a custom demo today to see how Gocious can help you coordinate new product initiatives and revolutionize your go-to-market strategies.