This product launch template makes planning for new launches easier with stress-free project management and an easy-to-replicate checklist with all the potential components of your launch.

Here’s how:

• Easily start planning for new launches by creating a workflow with all the right components in just a few clicks
• Add launch tasks to multiple lists so everyone has the details they need
• Keep your team on track and visually preview launch timelines with Gantt charts

What are product launches?

A product launch is the coordinated, often cross-functional efforts that go into promoting a new product, service, or feature. A successful product launch builds awareness of the new feature, generates momentum within the target customer audience, and helps land new customers.

There are multiple stages to a successful product launch: kickoff, pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch tasks. Not every stage will apply to every launch, so it’s worth having a kickoff call or brainstorming session at the start of each launch to decide which types of marketing make sense for this specific launch, and which can be skipped. Here’s an overview of the categories and tasks in a typical product launch (each of these is automatically created for you in a new workflow within the template, and you can mark tasks as ‘Won’t do’ and further customize as-needed):

1. Strategizing the launch:

To keep everyone aligned on the goal of the launch, as well as share key messaging and positioning information, it’s beneficial to create a product brief, launch plan, and messaging framework document as part of your pre-launch strategy. It’s also a good idea to start defining the metrics you’ll use to evaluate your launch. Define those goals and create tasks for them so nothing slips through the cracks after the launch — including gathering customer feedback and iterating new strategies for upcoming launches.

2. Website updates:

This category accounts for anything you’ll do to the website to announce or facilitate the launch, including writing or updating help center articles, publishing an announcement blog post, and creating a new landing page for the feature or product.

3. In-product updates:

If you’re launching a feature within an existing product of software, how will you communicate about the new feature to current users? In-product updates include things like in-app tips and onboarding tasks.

4. Social posts:

Posting on social media offers a huge opportunity to amplify your launch, so consider creating content for Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and even your founder’s social media accounts if applicable.

5. Paid ads:

If you’re planning to run any paid ads on social media platforms or other websites, you’ll need to figure out which platforms make sense to promote this product to your audience. Google or Facebook ads, paid newsletter features, sponsored blog posts on websites in similar niches…the possibilities are endless. Start thinking through audience demographics specific to the launch, as well as how you’ll develop creative that supports a stellar launch campaign.

6. Communities and partner marketing:

Many companies utilize communities like Product Hunt, Reddit, Hacker News, and more to amplify launch messaging and spread the word about a new launch, so consider which platforms (if any) are applicable for your specific launch. Spend time researching to see if there are specific online communities that would make sense to reach as part of your launch campaign for a particular feature.

Additionally, opportunities to co-market with partner companies through content or social posts can expand your audience reach — look for companies in related niches (or who serve similar audiences) and think of potential collaborations.

7. Email:

Will you send out a specific email announcing your launch, or add a featured slot to your next monthly newsletter? You can also update onboarding emails to reflect the new launch or even use it as a touchpoint to check in with prospects or churned users.

8. GTM:

Your GTM tasks as part of a product launch should center on how you’ll successfully bring the product to market, including sales trainings and updates to sales collateral.

9. Launch Day:

Once planning and drafting all of the launch content is complete, be sure to account for tasks on launch day, like publishing your blog posts or landing page, posting on social accounts, and sharing in communities.

10. Post-Launch:

Now is the time to circle back to the goals and trackable metrics you outlined. Pull those numbers and consider briefing other important players on the performance of the launch. You should also look for key takeaways you can use as you start planning for your next product launch.

Who is this product launch template for?

This product launch template is meant for marketing and product management teams of any size. But it’s especially helpful for those looking to run a product launch for the first time, since it provides you with all the action items needed to kickstart a successful launch.

How do I plan and run a successful product launch?

Planning more successful product launches begins with deciding which components you’ll do as part of your product launch process. From there, it’s important to ensure everyone has the key details they need to complete different components of the launch before the deadline comes around.

Here are four steps to plan a successful product launch with this template:

1. Create your new launch workflow in just one click.

To get started planning your product launch, you need to set up the actual workflow and tasks so that you can start assigning things out. Instead of creating all of your tasks manually, the template lets you do it in just a click or two with Height’s Task Forms: just answer a few questions, like what you’re launching, a estimated project start date, and the launch date you have in mind. From there, a new task workflow auto-populates with all the standard components of your launch as individual subtasks, ready to be delegated to the right team members.

2. Walk through the launch workflow to decide what you will and won’t do.

Once the new workflow is ready to go, you should walk through it alone or with your teammates to decide what tasks you’ll do and skip for the launch. If there are additions you want to make, add them in — and if there are tasks you won’t do for a particular launch, use the status attribute to mark them as won't do so there’s a record for context later.

3. Assign launch items to the right teams and individuals.

In Height, you’re able to assign multiple team members to any given task. But for smoother cross-functional work, you can add tasks to multiple lists (something you can’t do in other project management tools). This is especially helpful because if multiple teams are working on a particular launch component, like designers working on assets for social and blog posts being created by the marketing team, everyone can collaborate and see the information they need quickly.

4. Start checking off tasks and see progress at-a-glance.

   Every task in your new launch workflow has custom attributes, including status, assignees, and tags — these make it easy to provide visual progress updates so you can keep everyone on track and ensure the launch goes smoothly. You can also centralize project conversations and tag specific team members for feedback with in-task chat. And since a huge part of the project launch process is creating marketing content, you can even integrate your favorite tools, like Notion and Slab for writers and Figma for designers, so that previewing your work and collecting feedback is easier than ever.

How do I get started with the product launch template?

Getting started is easy — all you have to do is click “Try in Height”. If you don’t have a Height account yet, you’ll be prompted to create your free account (it’ll only take a minute or two).