contingency plan for new product launch

What Is Contingency Planning? [+ Examples]

Published: January 13, 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown, more than ever, the importance of being prepared with a contingency plan for the unexpected, especially when it comes to business continuity.

business professional creating a business contingency plan

While some unexpected interruptions can be due to situations outside of your control, some issues arise that may be caused by internal errors. Unexpected problems can also be positive, like a sudden influx of interest in a new product.

Regardless of the scenario, it's essential to prepare for everything, and contingency planning helps you do so. This post will explain what contingency planning is, outline the steps you can follow to create your own plan, and give examples that you can use for inspiration.

Contingency Planning
Business Contingency Plan
Making a Contingency Plan
Contingency Plan Timeline
Contingency Plan Example

Contingency Plan Definition

What is a contingency plan? Simply put, a contingency plan is an action plan designed to help organizations respond to a potential future incident. Think of it as a backup plan, or plan B to guide organizations through a worst-case scenario.

Contingency plans are helpful for all types of organizations, from businesses to non-profits, to government organizations. While these scenarios may never come to fruition, it’s important to have a plan in place so that your team isn’t panicking or scrambling to deal with an unfavorable event at the last minute.

What is contingency planning?

Contingency planning is a proactive process of creating a strategy to help you prepare for any scenario that can affect your business, regardless of the likelihood of its occurrence.

These plans shouldn't focus solely on situations that may harm your business. For example, you may experience a significant increase in revenue during a specific period due to changes in market behavior. This is a good scenario, but you will still need to adapt your operations to scale and appropriately meet the new demands of your growing audience.

Contingency Planning vs. Crisis Management

Contingency planning is also different from crisis management , as it is not a reaction to something that has already happened but more so a plan for if and when something may happen. However, a contingency plan can help you with crisis management when issues arise.

Contingency Planning vs. Risk Management

Risk management is the identification, mitigation, and assessment of potential risks that may affect your organization. This process helps an organization prevent losses before they occur and aids in assessing whether or not certain risks are worth taking. Contingency planning can be a component of risk management since that process helps organizations survive these potential risks.

To ensure your business is prepared for everything, it's crucial to understand how to create a contingency plan.

What is a business contingency plan?

A business contingency plan is a strategy that outlines the steps your business’ teams will take in the event of a crisis occurring. It is essentially the backup plan that goes into action when the worst-case scenario occurs. The goal of your contingency plan is to help your business stay up and running after an issue arises.

Business Continuity Plan vs. Contingency Plan

Although their names vary by few letters, business continuity and contingency plans are different concepts. Continuity is the ability of your business to continue functioning after an incident that has disrupted operations occurs. A contingency plan is an action plan that goes into place if an incident were to happen.

Contingency plans can significantly impact whether your business can achieve continuity. Being able to react and take action during a crisis can dictate whether or not your business can emerge from the other side and continue normal business operations.

You can think of it like this: your continuity plans contain five sections: program administration, governance, business impact analysis, strategies and requirements, and training and testing. If your business also uses contingency plans, it could be part of the strategies and requirements section, which dictates how your business will respond to a crisis if it occurs.

Contingency Planning: How to Make a Business Contingency Plan

Creating a contingency plan is responding to the question of "What if?"

What if your storefront floods? Or what if your supplier goes out of business? The responses to the what-ifs are contingency plans. These scenarios aren't necessarily going to happen, but if there is a possibility that they'll affect your business, you're prepared if they do.

Below we'll discuss the steps that go into contingency planning.

Contingency Planning in 7 Steps

1. identify critical business functions..

This first step is the most important aspect of your planning, as it sets the tone for why your plans need to exist in the first place.

During this phase, identify all critical areas essential to keeping your business up and running every day. As these operations are imperative to success, you need to have plans to ensure that these operations continue, regardless of whatever scenarios arise.

You can think of it like this: these critical areas keep your business up and running on a day-to-day basis. Other areas are important, but these are the main functions that keep you afloat. Given this, you want to be prepared for anything and everything that may happen that can affect the critical areas, whether positive or negative. Contingency planning is exactly that.

Identifying these areas helps you move on to the next step as you begin brainstorming possible scenarios that can impact them.

2. Conduct a scenario assessment.

Once you've identified the critical operations of your business, you'll want to conduct a scenario assessment to identify situations that will affect these functions and put stress on your day-to-day operations.

For example, if your business operates out of a storefront, keeping your storefront up and running is a critical area of your business's success. Maybe you launch a new product that attracts more interest than you thought, and you need to deal with higher in-store traffic and a lack of products to satisfy the market. While it is a positive situation that will draw in more revenue, it can still have negative repercussions for your business if you don't deal with it when it happens.

You can think of this stage as similar to a risk assessment, but the possibilities are positive and negative. It may be helpful to meet with people who work in these critical areas and understand what they think may cause interruptions to their job duties and barriers to their success. Ask them how they feel situations will impact them and how they would deal with each scenario.

If you come up with a long list of threats, you can prioritize them based on their likelihood of occurring and how significant their impact would be on your business.

3. Create contingency plans for each scenario.

During this phase, you'll create contingency plans. Begin with the highest priority "threats," or those most likely to occur and most likely to cause significant stress to your business.

Outline the scenarios, people to inform, and the roles and responsibilities involved parties will have when they respond. We'll go over an example below, but a helpful template to follow can be:

Outlining the scenario,
Determine the probability of it occurring,
Explain how you'll prepare ahead of time,
Detail what the response will be if and when it happens.

Once you've created your plans, distribute them to key stakeholders in each scenario, so everyone understands what they are responsible for and can prepare ahead of time.

4. Get your plan approved.

Once you’ve come up with a desired plan of action, it’s time to get approval from stakeholders and management. If you’re creating both department-level and company-wide plans, this is especially important. Your plan won’t be a success unless there is buy-in from key members of your team and management. Once all parties agree that the course of action described in the contingency plan works for everyone, you can move forward with confidence.

5. Share the plan with your team.

Once your plan is approved, it’s time to distribute it. Putting it in a shared folder accessible to everyone creates transparency and makes it readily available if the time comes.

Make sure the parties involved know what they’re responsible for in the plan, that way you can execute the plan seamlessly should the worst-case scenario occur.

6. Test your plans.

As with all plans, it's essential to continuously test (more on that in the next section) and update them over time. As businesses scale and change, your business needs will likely change, and specific scenarios will no longer have as significant of an impact. There may also be new scenarios to plan for that you hadn't anticipated or thought of when you were a smaller operation.

It can be helpful to create a timeline that you'll use to spend dedicated periods reviewing your plans, testing them, and communicating with the necessary stakeholders about any changes you've made to the plans.

7. Update your plan as needed.

Consider your contingency plan a work in progress. You’ll need to adapt it as new risks arise and to ensure it still makes sense for your business needs. Whenever a new manager or executive joins the team, be sure to share it with them as needed so they know what (if anything) is expected of them.

Contingency Planning Timeline

As planning is always an involved process, you may be wondering how much time you should devote to each step. Let's discuss a timeline below.

Week One: Identify Key Operations

Give yourself about a week to identify the operational areas essential for business function. You likely already know what these areas are, but you want to do enough research to identify them all.

Weeks Two & Three: Brainstorm Scenarios

Take two to three weeks to brainstorm the scenarios you're going to create plans for. Spend as much time as possible speaking to the necessary stakeholders to understand their ideas about the scenarios and how they'd like them dealt with. You'll want to conduct probability assessments and market research to understand if your competitors have ever dealt with something similar. You want to make sure you have all the necessary information before drafting your plan, so this step should be the longest.

Week Four: Draft Plan

Give yourself a week to draft your plans. The first two steps should give you all the information you need, so the third step is simply fine-tuning your research and creating the final plan. You can also share what you've created with your stakeholders and iterate on what you have based on their feedback.

The final step to creating your plan, maintaining and testing, is a continuous effort. As mentioned above, your business will likely be impacted by different things at different times, so it's always important to review plans and ensure they still relate to your needs. For example, maybe you plan to do quarterly reviews and training so new hires, and existing employees, are all on the same page.

Contingency Planning Example

It may be helpful to have an example of a contingency plan, so we'll go over one below. The examples are of a positive and negative situation, so you can get a sense of how a plan applies to both.

Contingency Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Even with the best intentions, your contingency plan may get off to a rocky start. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when creating one of your own.

Not securing executive buy-in first.

Before you can get your team or department onboard, you must get buy-in from the executive team. Otherwise, you risk creating a doomed plan from the start.

Get their feedback on potential risks and other factors that may impact guidelines in the plan. Having executive support from the start ensures the plan put forth is approved and also can motivate those at the department level to buy-in as well.

Failure to cover multiple scenarios.

When assessing potential risks and scenarios, it’s important not to cut corners or slack. Scenario planning is key to your contingency plan’s success. All potential risks should be taken into account. You can rank them by likelihood, but you should by no means leave less likely events out. Otherwise, you leave yourself vulnerable should the event happen.

Think about how many businesses were affected by supply chain issues during the pandemic. Most probably never predicted such a catastrophe, but the ones that had a plan in place for such an obstacle were better prepared.

Set it and forget it.

It’s really easy to get comfortable once your contingency plan is in place — after all, if you did your due diligence from the start, you’re ready to tackle any obstacle thrown your way.

Unfortunately, it’s not a one-and-done process. A contingency plan should be looked at as a living document and updated as needed. Your business needs will change over time and so will its obstacles and risks.

Create Business Contingency Plan

All in all, contingency plans help you prepare for a host of what-if scenarios, whether they happen or not. As you never want to be caught in a challenging situation, being prepared is the best thing you can do to ensure your business continues to succeed, regardless of whatever happens along the way.

As the saying goes, better safe than sorry .

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Enterprises are often defined by how they deal with events that are out of their control. For example, how you react to a disruptive technology or cope with a sudden change in the markets can be the difference between success and failure.

Contingency planning is the art of preparing for the unexpected. But where do you start and how do you separate the threats that could do real harm to your business from the ones that aren’t as critical?

Here are some important definitions, best practices and strong examples to help you build contingency plans for whatever your business faces.

What is a contingency plan?

Business contingency plans, also known as “business continuity plans” or “emergency response plans” are action plans to help organizations resume normal business operations after an unintended interruption. Organizations build contingency plans to help them face a variety of threats, including natural disasters, unplanned downtime, data loss, network breaches and sudden shifts in customer demand.

A good place to start is with a series of “what if” questions that propose various worst-case scenarios you’ll need to have a plan for. For example:

What if a critical asset breaks down, causing delays in production?
What if your top three engineers all quit at the same time?
What if the country where your microprocessors are built was suddenly invaded?

Good contingency plans prioritize the risks an organization faces, delegate responsibility to members of the response teams and increase the likelihood that the company will make a full recovery after a negative event.

Five steps to build a strong contingency plan

1. make a list of risks and prioritize them according to likelihood and severity..

In the first stage of the contingency planning process, stakeholders brainstorm a list of potential risks the company faces and conduct risk analysis on each one. Team members discuss possible risks, analyze the risk impact of each one and propose courses of action to increase their overall preparedness. You don’t need to create a risk management plan for every threat your company faces, just the ones your decision-makers assess as both highly likely and with a potential impact on normal business processes.

2. Create a business impact analysis (BIA) report

Business impact analysis (BIA) is a crucial step in understanding how the different business functions of an enterprise will respond to unexpected events. One way to do this is to look at how much company revenue is being generated by the business unit at risk. If the BIA indicates that it’s a high percentage, the company will most likely want to prioritize creating a contingency plan for this business risk.

3. Make a plan

For each potential threat your company faces that has both a high likelihood of occurring and a high potential impact on business operations, you can follow these three simple steps to create a plan:

Identify triggers that will set a plan into action: For example, if a hurricane is approaching, when does the storm trigger your course of action? When it’s 50 miles away? 100 miles? Your teams will need clear guidance so they will know when to start executing the actions they’ve been assigned.
Design an appropriate response: The threat your organization prepared for has arrived and teams are springing into action. Everyone involved will need clear, accessible instructions, protocols that are easy to follow and a way to communicate with other stakeholders.
Delegate responsibility clearly and fairly: Like any other initiative, contingency planning requires effective project management to succeed. One proven way to address this is to create a RACI chart . RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed, and it is widely used in crisis management to help teams and individuals delegate responsibility and react to crises in real time.

4. Get buy-in from the entire organization—and be realistic about cost

Sometimes it can be hard to justify the importance of putting resources into preparing for something that might never happen. But if the events of these past few years have taught us anything, it’s that having strong contingency plans is invaluable.

Think of the supply chain problems and critical shortages wreaked by the pandemic or the chaos to global supply chains brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. When it comes to convincing business leaders of the value of having a strong Plan B in place, it’s important to look at the big picture—not just the cost of the plan but the potential costs incurred if no plan is put in place.

5. Test and reassess your plans regularly

Markets and industries are constantly shifting, so the reality that a contingency plan faces when it is triggered might be very different than the one it was created for. Plans should be tested at least once annually, and new risk assessments performed.

Contingency plan examples

Here are some model scenarios that demonstrate how different kinds of businesses would prepare to face risks. The three-step process outlined here can be used to create contingency plans templates for whatever threats your organization faces.

A network provider facing a massive outage

What if your core business was so critical to your customers that downtime of even just a few hours could result in millions of dollars in lost revenue? Many internet and cellular networks face this challenge every year. Here’s an example of a contingency plan that would help them prepare to face this problem:

Assess the severity and likelihood of the risk: A recent study by Open Gear showed that only 9% of global organizations avoid network outages in an average quarter. Coupled with what is known about these attacks—that they can cause millions of dollars in damage and take an immeasurable toll on business reputation—this risk would have to be considered both highly likely and highly severe in terms of the potential damage it could do to the company.
Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: In this example, what signs should decision-makers have watched for to know when a likely outage was beginning? These might include security breaches, looming natural disasters or any other event that has preceded outages in the past.
Create the right response: The organization’s leaders will want to determine a reasonable recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) for each service and data category their company faces. RTO is usually measured with a simple time metric, such as days, hours or minutes. RPO is a bit more complicated as it involves determining the minimum/maximum age of files that can be recovered quickly from backup systems in order to restore the network to normal operations.

A food distribution company coping with an unexpected shortage

If your core business has complex supply chains that run through different regions and countries, monitoring geopolitical conditions in those places will be critical to maintaining the health of your business operations. In this example, we’ll look at a food distributor preparing to face a shortage of a much-needed ingredient due to volatility in a region that’s critical to its supply chain:

Assess the severity and likelihood of the risk: The company’s leaders have been following the news in the region where they source the ingredient and are concerned about the possibility of political unrest. Since they need this ingredient to make one of their best-selling products, both the likelihood and potential severity of this risk are rated as high.
Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: War breaks out in the region, shutting down all ports of entry/exit and severely restricting transport within the country via air, roads and railroads. Transportation of their ingredient will be challenging until stability returns to the region.
Create the right response: The company’s business leaders create a two-pronged contingency plan to help them face this problem. First, they proactively search for alternate suppliers of this ingredient in regions that aren’t so prone to volatility. These suppliers may cost more and take time to switch to, but when the overall cost of a general production disruption that would come about in the event of war is factored in, the cost is worth it. Second, they look for an alternative to this ingredient that they can use in their product.

A social network experiencing a customer data breach

The managers of a large social network know of a cybersecurity risk in their app that they are working to fix. In the event that they’re hacked before they fix it, they are likely to lose confidential customer data:

Assess the severity and likelihood of risk: They rate the likelihood of this event as high , since, as a social network, they are a frequent target of attacks. They also rate the potential severity of damage to the company as high since any loss of confidential customer data will expose them to lawsuits.
Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: Engineers make the social network’s leadership aware that an attack has been detected and that their customer’s confidential information has been compromised.
Create the right response: The network contracts with a special response team to come to their aid in the event of an attack and help them secure their information systems and restore app functionality. They also change their IT infrastructure to make customer data more secure. Lastly, they work with a reputable PR firm to prepare a plan for outreach and messaging to reassure customers in the event that their personal information is compromised.

The value of contingency planning

When business operations are disrupted by a negative event, good contingency planning gives an organization’s response structure and discipline. During a crisis, decision-makers and employees often feel overwhelmed by the pile-up of events beyond their control, and having a thorough backup plan helps reestablish confidence and return operations to normal.

Here are a few benefits organizations can expect from strong contingency plans:

Improved recovery times: Businesses with good plans in place recover faster from a disruptive event than companies that haven’t prepared.
Reduced costs—financial and reputational: Good contingency plans minimize both financial and reputational damage to a company. For example, while a data breach at a social network that compromises customer information could result in lawsuits, it could also cause long-term damage if customers decide to leave the network because they no longer trust the company to keep their personal information safe.
Greater confidence and morale: Many organizations use contingency plans to show employees, shareholders and customers that they’ve thought through every possible eventuality that might befall their company, giving them confidence that the company has their interests in mind.

Contingency plan solutions

IBM Maximo Application Suite is an integrated cloud-based solution that helps businesses respond quickly to changing conditions. By combining the power of artificial intelligence (AI) , Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced analytics, it enables organizations to maximize the performance of their most valuable assets, lengthen their lifespans and minimize costs and downtime.

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Crafting a successful product launch strategy: Key tips and steps

A product launch can be intimidating for product managers and rightfully so. Everything you built so far is about to enter the market. A well-executed product launch is crucial to set the foundations for long-term product success.

In order to have an impactful launch, you need detailed planning, analysis of the market, and appropriate time management. Today, you’ll learn a few key recommendations for a flawless product launch procedure. As a product manager, your input in this phase cannot be overstated.

What is a product launch strategy?

A product launch strategy serves as a blueprint to introduce a new product to the market. It includes guidance on all aspects related to a digital product from marketing, sales, customer education, to customer support.

The main goal of a launch strategy is to maximize initial impact. It builds anticipation, maximizes initial sales, and establishes a strong market presence early on.

Here are the key parts of a launch strategy:

Objective setting
Target audience identification
Value proposition clarification
Go-to-market plan
Metrics for success

A strategy lays a foundation for long-term objectives. It ensures that the product resonates with the target audience and achieves commercial objectives.

7 key steps for product launch

The product launch can be confusing as you’re introducing a new concept to the market. For the launch to go well, several factors need to be aligned and a strategy should be in place.

This framework acts as a starting point for product managers and can be customized depending on the product:

Concept development — The first step is to ideate for product ideas. Then you have to frame the problem your product solves. This phase is heavily dependent on market research and customer needs analysis
Market research — You need to analyze and understand the target market, competition, and customer expectations
Product design and development — This is the building phase. A solution is a progression of a prototype. Create prototypes, refine features, and finalize the product design. It should be an iterative phase where you make improvements based on feedback and testing
Branding — A strong brand identity and clear messaging is crucial for success. It translates your unique value to the target audience. It also helps your brand presence
Launch plan — The fifth step is to plan the logistics of the launch. You have to set timelines, deploy marketing strategies, and configure distribution channels
Pre-launch marketing — You need to build anticipation and engage potential customers. This can be done via teasers, promotions, and early access
Market entry and scaling — The entire process culminates in this step. The official launch of the product should go well if all the steps are followed. Afterwards, your focus can shift to scaling operations (based on the initial market response)

Each step within this framework is critical as it builds upon the last. A stepwise process gives you a structure to ensure cohesion. Without a structure, things can spiral out of control easily.

Marketing tips for launching new products

The product space is highly competitive. You need to adopt a marketing strategy that serves as a middle ground between proven and emerging practices.

When a product is marketed effectively, it aids in boosting initial adoption. Initial adoption matters a lot in the product lifecycle. There are seven tips to consider to market products the right way:

Define your target audience — Know who your customers are on a deeper level
Leverage social media — Use social media platforms to create buzz
Create compelling content — Develop informative and engaging content
Utilize partnerships — Partner with relevant influencers/brands who can authentically promote your product
Offer promotions and incentives — Attract early users with special promotions
Focus on benefits, not features — Emphasize how your product can solve problems
Gather and showcase testimonials — Use positive feedback from early users to build trust

When you employ these marketing tips, it can significantly enhance the appeal of your product. After all, the goal of robust marketing is to lay down the basics for sustained success and presence in the targeted space.

Real-world examples of product launch strategies

Zoom became a household name almost overnight. It capitalized by providing a user-friendly interface and reliable service during the right time. The demand for virtual meeting solutions was sky high but many products lacked the focused approach that Zoom adopted. It provided value to every user through its:

Freemium model — Attract users with free access, then offer paid upgrades
Robust performance — Ensure reliable service even at peak usage
Expansive compatibility — Support across multiple devices and platforms

The second example is Slack . It revolutionized workplace communication by strategically entering the market. Initially, its target was limited to purely tech-savvy companies and startups. One key strategy in their marketing strategy was how it utilized early adopters (as evangelists) to spread the word. If you analyze Slack, three elements stand out:

User-centric design — Focus on simplicity and usability
Feedback-driven iterations — Regularly update based on user input
Viral marketing — Leverage word-of-mouth through existing users

Product launch strategy template

This template provides a structured approach for planning your product launch. It includes all the key elements of an ideal product launch strategy. It will help you maximize the impact of your new product in the market.

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Use this checklist to guide your launch strategy:

Product definition

Define the product features and benefits.
Identify the unique selling proposition (USP)

Market research

Analyze the target market demographics and psychographics.
Identify key competitors and their strategies.
Conduct SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)

Target audience

Define primary and secondary target customer segments
Develop buyer personas

Objectives and goals

Set clear, measurable objectives (e.g., sales targets, market penetration)
Define key performance indicators (KPIs) for launch assessment

Pricing strategy

Determine pricing based on market research, perceived value, and competitor analysis
Consider pricing models (e.g., subscription, one-time purchase)

Marketing and promotion plan

Develop the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion)
Plan promotional activities (e.g., social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, email marketing)
Prepare launch event details if applicable

Sales and distribution strategy

Common challenges in product launches

Launching a new product is an intricate process. If the strategy driving the launch has gaps, the process becomes plagued with numerous challenges. For product managers, this can prove costly as it burns company resources that could have been used otherwise.

The complications can range from poor market reception to logistical issues. Product-led businesses need to be prepared to handle obstacles. The coping strategy is equally important and can affect the success of a product launch.

Challenges in product launches are inevitable. But the good news is that they can be managed and overcome early in the process. The product launch strategy should be formulated after careful planning and thorough research.

As a product manager, you need to push the team to proactively resolve these issues. It saves effort, time, and sets the standard for the long run.

Key takeaways

Launching a new product successfully is a complex and multi-faceted endeavor. It requires careful planning and strategic execution. As a product manager, you’re expected to understand and implement the best practices in every phase of product launch.

The following key tips will prove useful for your journey:

Strategic planning is crucial — Define and follow a clear launch strategy
Understand your target market — Conduct in-depth market research to tailor your approach
Focus on the customer — Center your efforts around the customer experience
Leverage marketing — Utilize powerful marketing tools to generate interest and demand
Prepare for challenges — Anticipate and plan for potential obstacles

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What is a contingency plan? A guide to contingency planning

A business contingency plan is a backup strategy for your team or organization. It lays out how you’ll respond if unforeseen events knock your plans off track—like how you’ll pivot if you lose a key client, or what you’ll do if your software service goes down for more than three hours. Get step-by-step instructions to create an effective contingency plan, so if the unexpected happens, your team can spring into action and get things back on track.

No one wants Plan A to fail—but having a strong plan B in place is the best way to be prepared for any situation. With a solid backup plan, you can effectively respond to unforeseen events effectively and get back on track as quickly as possible.

A contingency plan is a proactive strategy to help you address negative developments and ensure business continuity. In this article, learn how to create a contingency plan for unexpected events and build recovery strategies to ensure your business remains healthy.

What is contingency planning?

What is a contingency plan .

A contingency plan is a strategy for how your organization will respond to important or business-critical events that knock your original plans off track. Executed correctly, a business contingency plan can mitigate risk and help you get back to business as usual—as quickly as possible.

You might be familiar with contingency plans to respond to natural disasters—businesses and governments typically create contingency plans for disaster recovery after floods, earthquakes, or tornadoes.

But contingency plans are just as important for business risks. For example, you might create a contingency plan outlining what you will do if your primary competitors merge or how you’ll pivot if you lose a key client. You could even create a contingency plan for smaller occurrences that would have a big impact—like your software service going down for more than three hours.

Contingency planning vs risk management

Project risk management is the process of identifying, monitoring, and addressing project-level risks. Apply project risk management at the beginning of the project planning process to prepare for any risks that might come up. To do so, create a risk register to identify and monitor potential project risks. If a risk does happen, you can use your risk register to proactively target that risk and resolve it as quickly as possible.

A contingency plan is similar to a project risk management plan or a crisis management plan because it also helps you identify and resolve risks. However, a business contingency plan should cover risks that span multiple projects or even risks that could affect multiple departments. To create a contingency plan, identify and prepare for large, business-level risks.

Contingency planning vs crisis management

Contingency planning is a proactive approach that prepares organizations for potential emergencies by implementing pre-planned risk mitigation strategies. It involves identifying threats and crafting strategies in advance.

Crisis management , on the other hand, is reactive, focusing on immediate response and damage control when a crisis occurs. While contingency planning sets the stage for effective handling of emergencies, crisis management involves real-time decision-making and project management during an actual crisis. Both are important for organizations and businesses to maintain their stability and resilience.

Contingency plan examples

There are a variety of reasons you’d want to set up a contingency plan. Rather than building one contingency plan, you should build one plan for each type of large-scale risk or disaster that might strike.

Business contingency plan

A business contingency plan is a specialized strategy that organizations develop to respond to particular, unforeseen events that threaten to disrupt regular operations. It's kind of like a business continuity plan, but there's one key difference.

While business continuity plans aim to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the entire business during a crisis, a business contingency plan zeroes in on procedures and solutions for specific critical incidents, such as data breaches, supply chain interruptions, or key staff unavailability.

A business contingency plan could include:

Strategies to ensure minimal operational disruption during crises, such as unexpected market shifts, regulatory compliance changes, or severe staff shortages.

Partnerships with external agencies that can provide support in scenarios like environmental hazards or public health emergencies.

A comprehensive communication strategy with internal and external stakeholders to provide clear, timely information flow during crises like brand reputation threats or legal challenges.

Environmental contingency plan

While severe earthquakes aren’t particularly common, being unprepared when “the big one” strikes could prove to be catastrophic. This is why governments and businesses in regions prone to earthquakes create preparedness initiatives and contingency plans.

A government contingency plan for an earthquake could include things like:

The names and information of the people designated to handle certain tasks in advance to ensure the emergency response is quick and concise

Ways to educate the public on how to respond when an earthquake hits

A timeline for emergency responders.

Technology contingency plan

If your business is particularly data-heavy, for example, ensuring the safety and cybersecurity of your information systems is critical. Whether a power surge damages your servers or a hacker attempts to infiltrate your network, you’ll want to have an emergency response in place.

A business’s contingency plan for a data breach could involve:

Steps to take and key team members to notify in order to get data adequately secured once more

The names and information of stakeholders to contact to discuss the impact of the data breach and the plan to protect their investment

A timeline to document what is being done to address the breach and what will need to be done to prevent data breaches in the future

Supply chain contingency plan

Businesses that are integral parts of the supply chain, such as manufacturing entities, retail companies, and logistics providers, need an effective supply chain contingency plan to continue functioning smoothly under unforeseen circumstances.

These plans hedge against supply chain disruptions caused by events like natural disasters or technological outages and help organizations reduce downtime and ensure real-time operational capabilities.

A supply chain contingency plan could include:

Secure critical data and systems while promptly notifying key team members, such as IT staff and management, for immediate action.

A predetermined list of essential stakeholders, including suppliers, customers, investors, and authorities, should be contacted to inform them about the disruption and steps being taken.

A detailed timeline is essential for documenting the immediate response and outlining long-term strategies to prevent future disruptions in the supply chain.

Pandemic contingency plan

In the face of a global health crisis, a pandemic contingency plan is vital for organizations in healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. This plan focuses on mitigation strategies to minimize operational disruptions and ensure the safety of employees while maintaining business continuity.

A pandemic response plan could include:

A comprehensive health and safety protocol for employees, which integrates regular health screenings, detailed risk analysis, and emergency medical support as key components.

Flexible work arrangements and protocols for remote operations and digital communication.

A list of key personnel and communication channels for immediate response and coordination.

Regularly reviewing and adapting the pandemic contingency plan as part of an ongoing disaster recovery plan to address evolving challenges and lessons learned.

How to create a contingency plan

You can create a contingency plan at various levels of your organization. For example, if you're a team lead, you could create a contingency plan for your team or department. Alternatively, company executives should create business contingency plans for situations that could impact the entire organization.

As you create your contingency plan, make sure you evaluate the likelihood and severity of each risk. Then, once you’ve created your plan—or plans—get it approved by your manager or department head. That way, if a negative event does occur, your team can leap to action and quickly resolve the risk without having to wait for approvals.

1. Make a list of risks

Before you can resolve risks, you first need to identify them. Start by making a list of any and all risks that might impact your company. Remember: there are different levels of contingency planning—you could be planning at the business, department, or program level. Make sure your contingency plans are aligned with the scope and magnitude of the risks you’re responsible for addressing.

A contingency plan is a large-scale effort, so hold a brainstorming session with relevant stakeholders to identify and discuss potential risks. If you aren’t sure who should be included in your brainstorming session, create a stakeholder analysis map to identify who should be involved.

2. Weigh risks based on severity and likelihood

You don’t need to create a contingency plan for every risk you lay out. Once you outline risks and potential threats, work with your stakeholders to identify the potential impact of each risk.

Evaluate each risk based on two metrics: the severity of the impact if the risk were to happen and the likelihood of the risk occurring. During the risk assessment phase, assign each risk a severity and likelihood—we recommend using high, medium, and low.

3. Identify important risks

Once you’ve assigned severity and likelihood to each risk, it’s up to you and your stakeholders to decide which risks are most important to address. For example, you should definitely create a contingency plan for a risk that’s high likelihood and high severity, whereas you probably don’t need to create a contingency plan for a risk that’s low likelihood and low severity.

You and your stakeholders should decide where to draw the line.

4. Conduct a business impact analysis

A business impact analysis (BIA) is a deep dive into your operations to identify exactly which systems keep your operations ticking. A BIA will help you predict what impact a specific risk could have on your business and, in turn, the response you and your team should take if that risk were to occur.

Understanding the severity and likelihood of each risk will help you determine exactly how you will need to proceed to minimize the impact of the threat to your business.

For example, what are you going to do about risks that have low severity but high likelihood? What about risks that are high in severity, but relatively low in likelihood?

Determining exactly what makes your business tick will help you create a contingency plan for every risk, no matter the likelihood or severity.

[inline illustration] Business impact analysis for a contingency plan (example)

5. Create contingency plans for the biggest risks

Create a contingency plan for each risk you’ve identified as important. As part of that contingency plan, describe the risk and brainstorm what your team will do if the risk comes to pass. Each plan should include all of the steps you need to take to return to business as usual.

Your contingency plan should include information about:

The triggers that will set this plan into motion

The immediate response

Who should be involved and informed?

Key responsibilities, including a RACI chart if necessary

The timeline of your response (i.e. immediate things to do vs. longer-term things to do)

[inline illustration] 5 steps to include in your contingency plan (infographic)

For example, let’s say you’ve identified a potential staff shortage as a likely and severe risk. This would significantly impact normal operations, so you want to create a contingency plan to prepare for it. Each person on your team has a very particular skill set, and it would be difficult to manage team responsibilities if more than one person left at the same time. Your contingency plan might include who can cover certain projects or processes while you hire a backfill, or how to improve team documentation to prevent siloed skillsets.

6. Get approval for contingency plans

Make sure relevant company leaders know about the plan and agree with your course of action. This is especially relevant if you’re creating team- or department-level plans. By creating a contingency plan, you’re empowering your team to respond quickly to a risk, but you want to make sure that course of action is the right one. Plus, pre-approval will allow you to set the plan in motion with confidence—knowing you’re on the right track—and without having to ask for approvals beforehand.

7. Share your contingency plans

Once you’ve created your contingency plans, share them with the right people. Make sure everyone knows what you’ll do, so if and when the time comes, you can act as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Keep your contingency plans in a central source of truth so everyone can easily access them if necessary.

Creating a project in a work management platform is a great way of distributing the plan and ensuring everyone has a step-by-step guide for how to enact it.

8. Monitor contingency plans

Review your contingency plan frequently to make sure it’s still accurate. Take into account new risks or new opportunities, like new hires or a changing business landscape. If a new executive leader joins the team, make sure to surface the contingency plan for their review as well.

9. Create new contingency plans (if necessary)

It’s great if you’ve created contingency plans for all the risks you found, but make sure you’re constantly monitoring for new risks. If you discover a new risk, and it has a high enough severity or likelihood, create a new contingency plan for that risk. Likewise, you may look back on your plans and realize that some of the scenarios you once worried about aren’t likely to happen or, if they do, they won’t impact your team as much.

Common contingency planning pitfalls—and how to avoid them

A contingency plan is a powerful tool to help you get back to normal business functions quickly. To ensure your contingency planning process is as smooth as possible, watch out for common pitfalls, like:

Lack of buy-in

It takes a lot of work to create a contingency plan, so before you get started, ensure you have support from executive stakeholders. As you create your plan, continuously check in with your sponsors to ensure you’ve addressed key risks and that your action plan is solid. By doing so, you can ensure your stakeholders see your contingency plan as something they can get behind.

Bias against “Plan B” thinking

Some company cultures don’t like to think of Plan B—they like to throw everything they have at Plan A and hope it works. But thinking this way can actually expose your team to more risks than if you proactively create a Plan B.

Think of it like checking the weather before going sailing so you don’t accidentally get caught in a storm. Nine times out of ten, a clear sunny day won’t suddenly turn stormy, but it’s always better to be prepared. Creating a contingency plan can help you ensure that, if a negative event does occur, your company will be ready to face it and bounce back as quickly as possible.

One-and-done contingency plans

It takes a lot of work to put a contingency plan together. Sometimes when you’ve finished, it can be tempting to consider it a job well done and forget about it. But make sure you schedule regular reminders (maybe once or twice a year) to review and update your contingency plan if necessary. If new risks pop up, or if your business operations change, updating your contingency plan can ensure you have the best response to negative events.

[inline illustration] The easiest ways to prevent contingency plan pitfalls (infographic)

You’ve created a contingency plan—now what?

A contingency plan can be a lot of work to create, but if you ever need to use it, you’ll be glad you made one. In addition to creating a strong contingency plan, make sure you keep your plan up-to-date.

Being proactive can help you mitigate risks before they happen—so make sure to communicate your contingency plan to the team members who will be responsible for carrying them out if a risk does happen. Don’t leave your contingency plan in a document to collect dust—after creating it, you should use it if need be!

Once you’ve created the plan, make sure you store it in a central location that everyone can access, like a work management platform . If it does come time to use one of your contingency plans, storing them in a centrally accessible location can help your team quickly turn plans into action.

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The Product Marketers Guide to Launching a New Product

Launching a new product is a multi-dimensional endeavor that requires meticulous planning and strategic execution. Product marketing, at its core, involves bridging the gap between product development, marketing, and sales. A successful product launch isn’t just about unveiling a new item; it’s about crafting a compelling narrative that resonates with the target audience and creates a lasting impact.

Preparing for the Launch: Laying the Foundations

The preparation phase lays the foundation for a triumphant launch. It begins with comprehensive market research and customer profiling, ensuring a deep understanding of industry trends, customer pain points, and preferences. This essential analysis sets the stage for aligning your product with the target audience. By identifying your ideal customers and crafting strategies to reach them, you create a solid groundwork for a successful product launch.

Competitor analysis is a cornerstone of effective product launches. It provides valuable insights into industry benchmarks, successful tactics, and market positioning. This understanding enables you to position your product uniquely, whether you’re entering a saturated market or pioneering a new space. By knowing where you stand among competitors, you can create a strategic approach that stands out and resonates with your audience.

Clear objectives serve as the guiding stars throughout the launch journey. Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals ensures that every effort is purposeful and aligned with the broader business objectives. A product launch is not a singular event but a part of your overall business strategy. These objectives help in creating a cohesive strategy that guides every decision, ensuring that your efforts are streamlined and purpose-driven.

A well-structured launch timeline and budget are the blueprints that keep your launch on track and resources optimized. It’s a roadmap that ensures every task and activity is assigned a timeline, from concept to execution. Additionally, a carefully allocated budget safeguards against resource limitations, enabling you to allocate resources effectively for marketing, advertising, and other critical aspects of the launch. Whether you’re launching a B2B product or targeting a broader consumer base, a well-defined timeline and budget provide the structure needed for a successful and impactful launch.

Crafting the Value Proposition: Connecting with Customers

Crafting the value proposition is an art that distills your product’s essence into a compelling message. The process begins with identifying the unique selling points (USPs) that differentiate your product from others in the market. These USPs encapsulate the features, benefits, or qualities that make your product stand out. Aligning these USPs with customer benefits and pain points ensures that your proposition resonates with the target audience on a profound level. By demonstrating how your product addresses their needs and solves their challenges, you create a relatable and impactful value proposition.

Weaving these elements into a compelling brand story adds emotional depth to your value proposition. A brand story is more than just a marketing tool; it’s the narrative that embodies your product’s journey and resonates with the values and aspirations of your audience. It’s about forging a connection that goes beyond transactional interactions. A well-crafted brand story positions your product in a larger context, creating an emotional resonance that builds trust and loyalty.

Building Launch Assets: Enhancing Visual Appeal and Content

Building launch assets involves a blend of visual appeal and engaging content. Designing captivating product packaging and branding materials aligns with your brand’s identity and values. It’s the first impression your product makes, and it should capture the essence of your brand while conveying the product’s value. Compelling multimedia content, including videos, images, and infographics, further enhances your product’s allure. In today’s digital age, visual content is a powerful tool that can effectively communicate complex information, evoke emotions, and create lasting impressions.

In addition to visual assets, designing optimized landing pages and product pages is crucial for a seamless user experience. These pages are virtual storefronts where potential customers interact with your product. User-friendly design, clear navigation, and persuasive content are essential to guide visitors from curiosity to conversion. Well-optimized landing pages that align with your messaging and branding create a cohesive and immersive online experience. Furthermore, interactive elements and captivating visuals on product pages can help potential buyers explore the product’s features and benefits in depth.

Planning the Go-to-Market Strategy: Navigating Sales Channels and Collaborations

Navigating the go-to-market (GTM) strategy requires a careful selection of sales channels, pricing strategies, and collaborations. Online platforms, retail outlets, distributors, and various sales channels present unique opportunities and challenges. Choosing the right approach depends on factors such as your target audience’s preferences, your product’s nature, and your overall business goals. For B2B product launches or consumer-focused releases, selecting the right sales channels sets the stage for success.

Determining pricing and promotion strategies is a delicate balance that influences how your product is perceived by the market. Pricing sets the perceived value of your product, and it should be aligned with customer expectations while considering your production costs and profit margins. Strategic promotion tactics can increase visibility and drive demand. Balancing discounts, bundles, and limited-time offers can create a sense of urgency and attract potential customers.

Collaborations with channel partners and influencers amplify your reach and credibility. Partnering with distributors, retailers, or other complementary businesses can extend your product’s distribution network. Influencers, with their established audiences and credibility, can help showcase your product to a wider audience. Collaborations can enhance your product’s visibility, generate buzz, and leverage existing networks to create a successful launch.

Internal Alignment and Training: Synchronizing Efforts

Internal alignment is the cornerstone of a cohesive launch effort. All departments, from marketing and sales to product and support, need to work in harmony to ensure a successful launch. Effective communication and coordination are essential to prevent disjointed efforts and conflicting messaging. This alignment ensures that every team member understands the product’s value proposition, target audience, and launch strategy.

Training sales and support teams is critical for a seamless customer experience. Sales teams must be equipped with in-depth product knowledge, enabling them to confidently convey the product’s features, benefits, and value proposition to potential buyers. Support teams need to be prepared to assist customers and address inquiries effectively. Cross-functional coordination among departments ensures that marketing, sales, product, and support teams are aligned in their efforts and messaging.

Pre-Launch Marketing Activities: Creating Anticipation and Buzz

Creating anticipation and building excitement before the launch is essential to capture the audience’s attention. Teaser campaigns, sneak peeks, and pre-orders generate buzz and curiosity. Teasers can include intriguing visuals, cryptic messages, or countdowns that pique interest and create a sense of anticipation. Offering pre-orders or early access programs allows eager customers to be among the first to experience your product. These strategies can create a sense of exclusivity and incentivize early adoption.

Engaging with influencers and media outlets amplifies your product’s reach and credibility. Influencers, with their established audiences and authentic voices, can provide genuine endorsements and recommendations. Media engagements, such as interviews or guest articles, position your product as an industry leader and generate media coverage. These activities expand your product’s visibility and build excitement among potential customers.

The Launch Day: Coordinating Activities and Responding

The launch day is the culmination of extensive planning and preparation. Coordinating activities ensures that everything unfolds seamlessly, from online events to physical launches. It’s a moment of excitement, and proper execution is essential to make a memorable impression. Monitoring real-time customer feedback is crucial for refining strategies on the fly. Engaging with customers on social media, addressing inquiries, and showing appreciation for their support can further enhance the launch day experience.

Additionally, addressing technical glitches or challenges swiftly is paramount. In the fast-paced digital landscape, unforeseen technical issues can arise. Ensuring a swift response and resolution demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction and minimizes any negative impact on the launch experience. A successful launch day goes beyond the product; it’s about the overall experience you provide to your customers.

Post-Launch Activities: Sustaining Momentum and Enhancing Retention

After the launch, sustaining momentum is essential for continued success. Analyzing launch performance against established key performance indicators (KPIs) provides insights into the effectiveness of your strategies. It helps identify what worked well and where improvements are needed. Continuous marketing and sales efforts maintain the momentum created during the launch phase. Consistent communication with your audience, sharing success stories, and delivering valuable content keep your product in the spotlight.

Customer retention efforts focus on enhancing loyalty and building long-term relationships. Offering post-launch promotions, exclusive offers, and loyalty programs can incentivize repeat purchases and foster brand loyalty. Engaging with customers through personalized communications, surveys, and feedback loops allows you to continuously improve your product based on their preferences and needs.

Handling Challenges and Learning: Building for Future Success

Challenges are inevitable, but they also offer opportunities for growth and learning. Identifying common launch pitfalls and developing contingency plans prepares you to navigate unforeseen challenges. Post-launch reviews play a vital role in assessing the launch’s overall success and identifying areas for improvement. Reviewing the entire launch process, from planning to execution, sheds light on what went well and what could be refined for future launches.

In the dynamic landscape of product launching, this guide equips product marketers with the insights and strategies needed for a successful product launch. From the initial stages of preparation to the culmination of the launch and beyond, mastering these elements sets the stage for a triumphant market entry.

Ready to launch your product with confidence and impact? Let Aventi Group be your strategic ally in navigating the complex landscape of product marketing and launch. Contact us today to discover how we can elevate your product launch to new heights.

Zoe Quinton

After working in fiction publishing for 15 years, Zoe Quinton started as a product marketing consultant with Aventi Group in 2018. When she’s not reading for either work or pleasure, you can find her drinking good coffee, gardening, or spending time with her family at their home in Santa Cruz, California.

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How To Create a Product Launch Marketing Plan in 6 Steps

Learn how to create a strong product launch marketing plan for your new product. We cover the 6 key steps to take when developing a go-to-market product strategy.

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rom Cheeto-flavored lip balm to New Coke to Google+, new products flop all the time.

Recent statistics suggest that of all new products launched by companies today, only 40% survive in the market , and of those, just 60% generate any revenue.

New products can fail for a variety of reasons. Having a strong go-to-market strategy, or a product-specific marketing plan, can help ensure your product launch goes well ‚Äì and sets you up to measure success and learn from missteps.

Creating a marketing plan for a new product launch involves outlining the strategies, objectives, target market, budget, and tactics to achieve your company's goals. It typically includes a timeline, budget, key performance indicators, and other measurements to determine the success of the plan.

A successful product launch comprises six essential steps. As a small business owner, clearly understanding each of these product marketing elements will empower you to confidently launch a new product.

Step #1 - Target Market Analysis

Target market analysis focuses on understanding a company's most likely customer base. This can be brand-wide, but when it comes to a go-to-market strategy, the focus must be on one product's target market.

Target market analysis involves researching and analyzing the characteristics of the company's existing and potential customers, such as their age, gender, income level, geographical location, and purchasing habits.

With this information, businesses can create a marketing plan that tailors messaging around a new product to the needs of their target market.

Six steps to identifying and defining your target market

Research : Conduct research to understand the potential customer base for the new product. This may involve analyzing existing customer data and sales trends, researching competitors and their customer bases, and understanding the needs of the market.
Segmentation : Segment the potential customer base into smaller, more defined groups based on demographics, interests, and needs.
Profiling : Create customer profiles based on the segmentation data. Include demographic, psychographic, and behavioral information.
Prioritize : Prioritize the customer segments based on their potential to benefit from the new product.
Define : Identify the most relevant customer segments and outline the ideal customer's characteristics.
Test : Test the target market definition by conducting market research or focus groups with potential customers. Make adjustments to the target market definition, if necessary.

Target market analysis in action

Target market analysis is an ongoing process. For example, the Harman brothers originally marketed Mountain Dew to Appalachia's tough mountaineers. However, its target audience has evolved drastically over time.

Starting in the 90s, it became the official beverage of extreme sports. Then, its demographic shifted again to gamers due to its high caffeine content. Currently, Mountain Dew is dedicating 40% of its budget to targeting gamers in need of an energy boost.

Step #2 - Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is a process of gathering and analyzing data about competitors and their strategies. It helps businesses identify their competitors' strengths and weaknesses, identify opportunities and threats in the market, and develop strategies to outperform the competition.

Tips for identifying and researching your competitors

Use online search tools : Start by researching your competitors online. Use search engines to find out what content they're creating, what keywords they're targeting, what channels they're using, and so on.
Follow their social media accounts : Follow your competitors' social media accounts to stay up to date on their products, services, and promotions.
Subscribe to their email lists : Sign up for your competitors' email lists to get an inside look at their offers and strategies.
Monitor online reviews : Stay on top of online reviews for your competitors' products and services. This can help you identify customer pain points and areas of improvement.

Note inspiration from strengths and opportunities in weaknesses

As you gather data on your competitors, make note of where they're succeeding and where they're failing. A competitor's strengths can inspire you because they can motivate you to strive to reach similar heights of success. Their successes can also give you insight into what strategies and tactics are working for them, which can help guide your own efforts.

At the same time, their weaknesses provide an opportunity for you to capitalize on and potentially overtake them in the marketplace.

Competitive analysis in action

Brand names aren't exactly open with their competitive analysis data. But here's an example of how a bit of competitive analysis gave way to an entirely new industry.

Airbnb was founded in 2008 by roommates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia when a large design conference was coming to San Francisco. The two former Rhode Island School of Design students had an idea to rent out airbeds in their living room to attendees in need of a place to stay since local hotels couldn't keep up with demand.

They created a website to advertise their loft, and within a week, they had three bookings. They realized that people were willing to pay for unique, authentic accommodation experiences not offered by hotels and that there was a potential for a business.

Step #3 - Product Analysis

Product analysis is a process used to evaluate a product's features, performance, and marketability. It may involve a review of the product's design, functionality, pricing, and target market.

Product analysis can help you determine whether your product meets customer needs and expectations and provides a competitive advantage. Ultimately, product analysis can help guide product development and marketing decisions, including the details of a go-to-market strategy.

How to define the features and benefits of your new product

When developing a marketing plan for new product launches, a solid list of features and benefits starts the sales process. Here are some steps to extracting each talking point.

Ask questions : Take time to ask questions about your new product. Consider the needs of your target market and the problems you're trying to solve with your product. List any unique benefits or features the product may have.
Research competitors : Look at what other similar products are already on the market and what they offer. Identify areas where your product is superior.
Talk to users : Ask potential buyers questions about what they like or dislike about similar products and what features or benefits they would find most attractive from yours.
Prioritize : Once you have a list of benefits and features, prioritize them. Use the most important as the pillars for your go-to-market strategy.

Choose a pricing strategy

Consider your pricing strategy options when analyzing your product. Some of the most popular include:

Cost-Plus Pricing : This is the most common pricing strategy for small businesses. It involves adding a markup to the cost of your product to determine the final price.
Value-Based Pricing : This pricing strategy is based on the customer's perceived value of your product. It takes into account the customer's needs and wants, as well as the competition in the market.
Penetration Pricing : Penetration pricing involves setting a low price for an introductory period in order to capture market share quickly.
Bundle Pricing : Bundle pricing involves offering a group of products at a discounted rate. This strategy often encourages customers to purchase more than one item.
Tiered Pricing : Tiered pricing is a strategy that involves offering different levels of pricing depending on the customer's purchase volume. This encourages customers to purchase more in order to get the best deal.

Developing the packaging and branding for the product

Your product's presentation is just as important as its price and features.

Before beginning the design process of packaging, start with an analysis of your brand to identify the mission, values, and desired message to customers. Consider the type of customer who will interact with the product packaging and how the design should reflect their values. For example, if your buyer persona appreciates green initiatives, use eco-friendly packaging.

After brainstorming ideas, create a mood board with images, colors, and textures to create a clear vision. Finally, test the design with focus groups or customers to receive feedback.

Product analysis in action

Botanical Bakery's shortbread cookies were truly scrumptious - however, they were lost among the competition before the company gave itself a packaging rebrand.

This rebranding effort proved to be incredibly successful, leading to a 300% increase in sales for the company. The project included a packaging redesign featuring bright colors, larger fonts, more vivid imagery, and an updated brand story to create a more personal connection with customers.

Once you have a good sense of your competitors' product offerings, your target consumer's needs, and your product's value, you can start to build out your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP will describe why your product or service beats the competition and how it's uniquely positioned to help your target customer. This value proposition should be included in all of your marketing materials.

Step #4 - Marketing Mix (4 Ps)

The marketing mix, also known as the 4 Ps, refers to the four key elements of any successful marketing strategy: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. No go-to-market strategy is complete without a customized marketing mix.

By completing a thorough analysis of your product, you should have this element of the marketing mix handled. Here are some tips for turning all of that data into a landing page with high conversion potential.

Create a landing page : Start by creating a dedicated landing page specifically designed to promote your product launch. This page should be designed to capture leads, so provide an easy way for visitors to sign up for more information or to purchase your product.
Incorporate visuals : Images, videos, and GIFs of your product in action can be a great way to capture attention and make your product launch page more engaging.
Use a call-to-action : Make sure your product launch page includes a clear call-to-action that encourages visitors to take the next step.
Share customer stories : Use customer stories to show potential customers how your product has helped others. For example, if you release your product early to a select group of users before launching it to the general public, get feedback and reviews from early users to share across your marketing channels.
Promote your page : Promote your product launch page on social media, in email campaigns, and across other marketing channels.

You should already have chosen a pricing strategy for your product. Now it's time to communicate it.

Take the time to clearly define your pricing. Include the cost of your product or service, and any discounts, additional fees, and taxes. Make sure to be as transparent as possible.
Using visuals, like charts, infographics, and illustrations can help to make pricing easier to understand.
Offer multiple payment options, like credit cards, PayPal, and other digital payment systems. This will make it easier for customers to pay for your product or service.

This part of the marketing mix process covers where and how customers can buy your product. It involves understanding customers' shopping habits, researching where your competition sells its products, and assessing the best buying experience and after-sales support that can be offered.

It is important to consider if sales reps are needed or if self-service is the best option. Additionally, weighing the cost of giving up revenue through particular distribution channels is important. Your options may include:

Online Marketplace : Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and other online marketplaces are popular places to sell products as a small business owner.
Social Media : Platforms like Instagram and Facebook offer a great way to reach a wide audience and increase sales.
Retail Stores : You can sell your products in retail stores, either through a third party or by opening your own store.
Wholesalers : Wholesalers are companies that buy products from manufacturers and then resell them to retailers.
Trade Shows : Trade shows are great places to showcase and sell your products to a large number of potential buyers.
OEM Distribution : OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) distribution is when a manufacturer sells products directly to end users, such as through a website or through a network of distributors.

Determining where your product or service is sold will help you choose the right marketing channels to maximize discoverability and conversion.

The promotion portion of a marketing plan for new product launches is where it all starts to come together. When advertising a new product, prioritize quality over quantity when deciding which channels to use. Make sure to customize your approach for each channel and audience segment, generate excitement before the launch, and continue marketing after the initial launch.

Choose your marketing channels

Research the channels most populated by your target audience. This may include social media channels, websites, television, radio, or print.
Consider the type of product you're advertising. Different channels may be more effective for certain types of products. For example, retail products may be best suited for Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Campaigns for B2B products may perform better on LinkedIn.
Consider the budget available for advertising. Different marketing channels may have different costs, so it is important to consider what channels will provide the most value for your budget.
Prioritize channels that track and measure results. This will help determine which channels are most effective and should receive more of the budget.

Pre-launch buzz vs. post-launch promotion

Pre-launch buzz is a marketing strategy used to create excitement and anticipation for a product before it has been officially launched. It typically involves activities such as releasing teaser videos, creating websites, and conducting interviews to generate hype and attract potential customers.

Post-launch advertising is a type of marketing that focuses on promoting a product or service after it has already been launched. It typically involves activities such as developing campaigns, running ads, and creating content to attract new customers and increase sales. It can also be used to create brand awareness and loyalty and build relationships with customers.

Your go-to-market strategy should include plans for both pre-launch buzz and post-launch promotion.

Step #5 - Implementation

The goal of the implementation stage is to ensure that the marketing strategy is executed effectively and efficiently. The following tips can help you put your go-to-market strategy to work with minimal hurdles.

Get smart with your goals

SMART goals are a method for setting and achieving goals. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound:

Specific goals are clear and unambiguous.
Measurable goals have easily identifiable metrics for success.
Attainable goals are realistic and achievable.
Relevant goals are important and contribute to your overall objectives.
Time-bound goals have a specific timeline for completion.

SMART goals are great for product launches because they help provide a clear and measurable plan for success. They are also easy to understand, which makes it easier for everyone involved in the project to stay on the same page.

Establish a budget

Go-to-market strategies don't typically come with endless budgets. Before allocating funds, calculate the cost of each marketing activity, such as advertising, promotional materials, and event costs. Then, a realistic budget for product marketing can be set, with a buffer for unexpected costs.

Monitor the results of each activity and make adjustments to the budget if necessary. If something is working well, consider increasing the budget for that particular activity.

Allocating resources

There are more than just financial resources to allocate in a go-to-market strategy. You should also outline processes, limits, and guidelines for:

Human resources
Material resources
Time resources
Technology resources
Logistics resource
Legal resources
Marketing resources

Develop your timeline

Successful implementation of a marketing plan for new product launches relies on timelines that serve as references to track progress. We recommend creating an implementation schedule by working backward from your target launch date.

Identify the tasks that need to be completed in order to reach the deadline.
Estimate the amount of time each task should take.
Work backward from the deadline, assigning each task a start and end date.
Make sure to account for any potential delays.
Reassess the schedule regularly to make sure you are staying on track.

Establish a system for monitoring progress

Monitoring progress after a new product launch is important because it helps identify areas of success and areas that need improvement.

Companies can use A/B testing to measure the success of different marketing strategies and identify areas for improvement.

Track key metrics like customer acquisition, customer retention, sales, revenue, website traffic, and user engagement to measure the ongoing success of your product launch.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best

Even with proper planning, a new product launch can fail. In a worst-case scenario, having a contingency plan for a failed product launch in place can help minimize the damage.

A contingency plan should include measures to help minimize potential losses and reposition the product for success. Additionally, offering incentives to customers who have already purchased the product, such as discounts or refunds, should be considered to help maintain customer loyalty and trust.

Reallocating resources to focus on other products or services to help offset any losses incurred from the failed launch may also be beneficial.

With the above tips in mind, you'll be able to ensure a smooth rollout of your marketing campaigns.

Step #6 - Post-Launch: Evaluation and Retention

Post-launch evaluation and retention in a go-to-market strategy is the process of assessing the success of a product launch and developing strategies to retain customers after the launch.

Measure success with a post-mortem review

A project post-mortem is a review process that takes place after a marketing project is completed. It's a time to evaluate what went well, what didn't, and what can be improved for future projects.

During a post-mortem, you should review the project goals, resources, timeline, budget, and KPIs to identify what worked and what didn't. Make notes of process improvements you plan to make for future projects.

It is important to adjust your product marketing playbook based on data insights and post-mortem evaluations, but not necessary to start from scratch. Make changes to reflect the data and findings while keeping the overall structure and goals in mind.

Develop a retention plan

Developing a retention plan after launch is critical for any business to maintain customer loyalty, encourage additional purchases, and better understand its customer base.

Suggested strategies include:

Offer loyalty programs and rewards
Create a customer-only community
Implement automated follow-up emails
Offer incentives for referrals

Final Takeaways

Crafting an effective and comprehensive go-to-market strategy requires a lot of thought and effort. Use this cheat sheet as a reference for each essential component.

Target Market Analysis : Identifying and researching the target audience's characteristics, needs, and wants to create a tailored marketing strategy.
Competitive Analysis : Analyze the current competition's strengths and weaknesses to identify areas of opportunity and solidify your value proposition.
Product Analysis : Evaluate the product to ensure it meets customer needs and wants. Determine which features and messaging to emphasize in the marketing strategy.
Marketing Mix : Develop a unique creative marketing strategy by considering the product, price, place, and promotion of the product.
Implementation : Execute the go-to-market strategy and ensure all elements are in place for a smooth rollout.
Post-Launch Evaluation and Retention : Measure the success of the launch, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies to keep customers engaged and loyal.

A well-thought-out marketing plan clears the runway to launch

Without a calculated marketing plan , a product launch could fail due to a lack of awareness and engagement with the target audience. This could be a costly mistake for small businesses that may not have the resources to recover from a failed launch.

By implementing the six shared steps above, you can easily develop a marketing plan for new product launches, ensuring each launch is successful.

Novo Platform Inc. strives to provide accurate information but cannot guarantee that this content is correct, complete, or up-to-date. This page is for informational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice nor an endorsement of any third-party products or services. All products and services are presented without warranty. Novo Platform Inc. does not provide any financial or legal advice, and you should consult your own financial, legal, or tax advisors.

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How to launch a new product with 5 strategies to help you succeed

Launching a new product can be as daunting as it is exciting. With the number of MarTech tools alone increasing by nearly 25% year-on-year , it’s easy for your product to get lost in the noise if you don’t get your launch right.

Due to the unique challenges facing new product launches in today’s market, in-depth planning is crucial for your product to be successful.

In this article, we’ll describe what a product launch is, then we’ll give you a new product launch checklist that covers the essential steps for a successful launch.

After that, we’ll provide some high-level strategies you can use to build anticipation for your product and drive sales at launch

What is a product launch?

A product launch is a coordinated attempt to bring a new product to market. More than just a single event, a product launch involves everything from developing marketing and sales strategies to optimizing your product.

Each product launch will differ depending on the industry, type of product and target market. Depending on these factors, a company may decide on different degrees of launch.

For example, a soft launch is when a product enters the market with very little publicity. Often, companies take this approach to seek early feedback or when the product is highly targeted.

By comparison, a full-scale launch is when you try to draw as much attention as possible to the product when it enters the market.

A product launch is split into three broad steps: pre-launch, launch and post-launch. In the following section, we’ll discuss each of the key actions that should make up these steps to increase your chances of a successful product launch.

9 steps to improve your chance of success at launch

For a product launch to be successful, you need to plan it strategically and well in advance. A launch involves the marketing team, product managers, sales, customer support, finance and, especially in large-scale launches, several other departments.

Due to the number of moving parts and people involved, seamless coordination and communication are key. With that in mind, here’s a new product launch checklist to keep your teams on track.

Step 1. Know the problem you’re solving

The first step is to define your product and begin working on your product positioning. You have to get to know your product as well as possible and determine how it can solve your customer’s problem.

Write a brief description of two to three paragraphs that describes what your product is, its main features and how it fills a market need. This is your brand positioning statement , and it may take some work to perfect it.

Next, consider your value proposition . This should describe your customer’s problem and why they would choose your product to solve it over a competitor’s.

Slack’s value proposition is a great example of this, and as the fastest-growing SaaS startup ever , you know that it’s effective. Their proposition is that they save users time by simplifying how teams communicate:

To gain insight for your positioning statement and value proposition, ask yourself the following questions:

What are the major customer pain points that my product addresses?

How does my product solve these problems?

How is my product unique?

How does my product create value for my customers?

What are the core attributes of my product or brand that I want customers to focus on?

Step 2. Deeply understand the audience you’re selling to

To be able to define your product and sell it successfully, you need to get to know your target audience. You have to understand who they are, how they think, why they need your product and how you can communicate this need to them.

The customer data you collect will be vital at this stage because it determines the messaging and channels you use to reach them effectively.

First, define your target markets and create an ideal buyer persona . This is a hypothetical person with the characteristics you’re looking for in a customer and helps ensure that your products align with your audience’s preferences and needs.

Social listening (tracking mentions of your brand or your competitors’ solutions) is a great tool to find out more about your target market. Bain & Company found that launch leaders are 2.4 times more likely to utilize social listening data to guide their new product launch strategy.

Use tools like Sprout Social to discover the most relevant problems your product addresses or to learn about the flaws in a competitor’s product, then apply the insights to refine your launch strategy, messaging and offerings to become the best fit for prospects.

Step 3. Conduct in-depth market research

Once you’ve determined the market segments to target, it’s time to research your competitors. A competitor is any company whose product solves the same problem(s) as yours.

In-depth competitor analysis helps you to:

Learn from their mistakes and successes and apply this knowledge to your strategies

See what competitor products look like and how yours can be unique

Develop a clear picture of the competitor landscape

Determine where your product fits among your competitors

Determine how likely your product is to be profitable

The first step is to do some preliminary research and create a list of companies that compete in your target market. Next, analyze their product, brand and strategies and develop a competitor landscape to visualize any gaps where you can succeed.

Your competitor analysis targets might look something like this ( click here to download an editable PDF version):

This is the final step in determining your product positioning, which helps you differentiate your product from your competitors. Here, you should work out your pricing (e.g. whether it’s more affordable or a high-quality, luxury alternative) and how your product can outcompete your competitors.

Step 4. Test your idea

Before moving forward with the launch, you need to get some early responses to gauge how people react to your product.

For example, software will often go through several rounds of testing before launch. This includes alpha testing (done in-house) and beta testing, which involves a small group of preliminary users.

The same goes for physical products. Testing helps to improve your product in a few ways. Firstly, it will discover any defective or improvable qualities. Secondly, you’ll be able to use the tester’s reactions to inform your marketing campaign and sales approach.

If your testers respond well, you’ve likely chosen to target the right market with the right positioning. If you uncover issues, you’ll want to involve the key stakeholders and update your product (e.g. UX designers for usability issues or copywriters if testers don’t feel connected to the messaging).

You should begin testing your product before launch, but it doesn’t end there. Most products will go through several changes before and after launch as the competitive landscape shifts.

Step 5. Create a go-to-market strategy

A go-to-market strategy is a comprehensive new product launch marketing plan that details each step for a successful launch. It combines all of the information you learned in the previous steps into a detailed roadmap.

A go-to-market strategy helps to generate demand for your product and mitigate risks involved with the launch. Check out our guide on how to create a go-to-market strategy for your new product.

Along with a product launch plan, it’s a good idea to think about:

A marketing strategy. Any new product will need a marketing strategy, even for established brands. Have your marketing plan outlined before launch to focus on key issues and goals that go beyond launch day.

SWOT analysis. Evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relating to your new product or brand can help you to perfect your positioning. Pay attention to evolving customer preferences and technological changes that could disrupt your position in the market.

Predict your ROI. You can get a better idea of your potential ROI by considering the size and value of your target market. Find out how many people make up your target market and how much on average they spend on products like yours every year. From this, you can gauge their tendency to buy and get an idea of when your product may become profitable.

Decide how you will measure success. Develop a list of milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that tell you if your launch was successful. For instance, key marketing metrics (e.g., leads generated, traffic and news coverage) will tell you which strategies are working and which you need to tweak.

Your go-to-market strategy should include an overall timeline for your launch, including your launch date. Once you have this, it’s time to get started with promotional content marketing .

Step 6. Generate buzz with promotional content

For your product to be a success, you need to create a buzz ahead of its launch. With great marketing, you can build anticipation for your product and get customers on board early.

Pre-marketing efforts are only successful if they’re planned well in advance. Since your marketing team will be coordinating their efforts across several channels, it’s vital that you perfect your content before you begin.

Here are several things you can do to drive anticipation for your product:

Create a landing page for your new product . The landing page is where customers can find out key information about your product, drawing attention to its attributes and driving interest. You should also include a consumer-focused CTA (e.g. requesting their email address so you can email them about its launch).

Develop a great email campaign. If your company already has related products and a great email list full of engaged customers, you’ll find this part easy. If not, you’ll have to do some groundwork to build up your email list . Include a CTA that encourages users to sign-up and receive more information, along with a link to the product page.

Check out Apple’s simple yet elegant iPad Pro launch email. It dives into the price and new features of the iPad, with two CTAs to either purchase or read more about the iPad. It’s well-designed and provides customers with all the information they need to make a purchase decision.

Use social media . Tease your product on your own social media platforms and consider reaching out to key influencers to create content and build awareness. Don’t forget bloggers, journalists and others in your industry who have an audience waiting to hear about your new product.

Inform the press. Create an embargoed press release and share it with as many media outlets as possible so that on the key date, they’ll all be talking about it. An engaging press release is one of the most effective promotional tools and can help generate wider awareness of your product.

Consider an ad campaign. Well-targeted ads can be incredibly effective at building awareness and generating leads. If your budget allows, you should advertise on as many of the key channels you identified while creating your go-to-market strategy.

Boost sales with a pre-order strategy. Pre-order strategies can build momentum for your product, driving early sales, which can help fund continuing marketing campaigns. They also help you to gauge the market demand for your product early on.

Step 7. Keep the team in sync

Everyone involved in a product launch needs to be in the same boat, from marketing to sales to customer service. This means that to be effective, every team member needs to know exactly what to do at each stage of the launch.

For example:

The marketing team needs to understand key promotional activities and when to release them

The sales team needs to know pricing details and have access to sales enablement content

The customer service teams should know how the product works and what features it has

Keeping the entire company on the same page throughout the launch process ensures that your customers will have a consistent, enjoyable experience as they interact with you.

Step 8. Launch your product

When the launch day comes, it’s time to let loose your promotional content, email campaigns and social media. Make sure you try to gather the public’s attention on the channels you decided on above. The more attention your product gets, the better.

During and immediately after launch, you will need to work with your sales and service teams to ensure they have all the resources they need. You should be present to answer any questions and coordinate your teams as the day goes by.

The key is to be prepared for the worst to happen. As part of your go-to-market strategy , develop a contingency plan for each risk so that you can act quickly to mitigate problems as they come up.

Step 9. Integrate feedback to improve your product

The product journey doesn’t end with the launch. In the months after launch, customer and market feedback will provide you with several opportunities to refine and improve your product, sales and marketing strategy.

You may also find that you can position your product to target other markets or that you’ll have greater success in a completely different market.

As you move forward, you’ll gain your customers’ loyalty as a brand that wants to provide the best possible experience for its customers. Plan future versions of your product before you launch. This way, you have a direction in mind, with milestones and ways to measure your success already in place.

5 product launch strategies to drive anticipation and stay on track

Launching a new product is incredibly complex, and there’s no guarantee your product will be successful. However, there are several things you can do to improve your chances.

Here are five high-level strategies you can use to increase your likelihood of success at launch.

1. Focus on the story

Your messaging should focus on the people you’re trying to sell to rather than the product itself. While it’s great to list your product’s key features, what really grabs a customer’s attention is how the product will change their lives for the better.

For this reason, it’s often better to create a story around your product. How does it solve your customer’s problems? How will it make them feel? The goal is to create a story that your target customers relate to and engage with.

To create the story, consider the journey you (and your product) have gone through to get to this point. Think about why you created the product in the first place and how that ties in with the customer’s journey.

It may take a few rewrites to perfect your story. The goal is to be relatable and lead your customer to the “aha” moment where they realize that you had the same problems and that your product is the solution.

2. Keep all stakeholders in the loop

Launching a product is complicated, and there are many moving pieces. Each team’s role will change as the product moves from development to launch and beyond. Further, you need to keep stakeholders up-to-date to ensure their continued support for the project.

This is why optimized internal communications are vital to a successful launch.

Each team will have unique contributions to your product launch, and great communication will ensure that there are no gaps in your launch strategy.

Efficient communication is also essential in the case of delays. A launch might be pushed back for several reasons (Gartner found that only 55% of launches take place on schedule ). This may be due to hitches in product development, supply problems or planning delays, but in the case of a delay, everyone must remain clear on their roles going forward.

3. Listen to the market

If you assume that everything will go well with your launch, you’re setting yourself up for failure. This is why it’s important to analyze and listen to the market before, during and after your launch.

Making course corrections quickly can be the difference between a launch failure and a launch success.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you prepare to launch:

Is it the right time to launch? Think about market factors and whether your product will be more successful if you wait. For instance, if a well-known competitor is launching a product at a similar time, you probably want to either beat them to it or wait until their buzz has died down.

Are you launching into the right market? You may find after receiving feedback that your target market isn’t responding how you thought it would. Instead of going ahead with the launch anyway, consider other potential customers and markets that may be more suitable.

Do you need to adjust your strategy? Before and after launch, you should monitor all of your marketing channels for engagement metrics. If you find certain platforms aren’t performing, adjust your content and strategy. It’s also a good idea to check out new product launch examples that can help guide you through this process.

The Google Glass launch is a great example of a company not listening to market cues when releasing a new product. With privacy on the front of everyone’s mind, concerns were raised about the Glass being able to capture photos at any time. To make matters worse, the Glass was launched at a price of around $1,500, far more than consumers were willing to pay.

Despite these and other concerns, Google launched Google Glass to an unreceptive market – and the product flopped. Had Google listened to the market more and targeted the Glass toward specific user needs, the story might have turned out differently.

4. Draw out the suspense

Suspense amplifies anticipation and can help grow a core following for your product before anyone knows much (or anything) about it.

Apple’s marketing is a great example of this. They keep key details about their newest products a secret, creating an air of mystery around them. In the past, this has resulted in endless speculation about their products before they’re even announced.

To draw out the suspense, hint about your product early. As time goes by, drip-feed exciting information about your product to key people. Build a narrative around these leaks that gets people emotionally invested in your product.

Consider how Amazon marketed the Echo in 2016. Coming up to the Super Bowl, they released short commercial teasers that generated significant excitement. While Super Bowl commercials are out-of-budget for most product launches, the idea is the same. Release snippets about your upcoming product to get people interested and talking about it ahead of launch.

The key to creating suspense is to live up to expectations. If you create too much hype around your product and fail to match it, customers will negatively perceive your brand as “all talk”.

5. Make your launch an event

Launch events are a great way to build hype around your product and generate early sales.

Strive for an in-person event to show off your new product and build excitement. Invite customers, influencers and the press to “test drive” your product in a face-to-face environment. If an in-person event isn’t in your budget, you can affordably host an online launch event.

You can also have a series of teaser events leading up to the launch that gradually tease features and key dates for your product. This can help pull early customers in and generate a buzz about your product way before it’s available for purchase.

The goal of a product launch is to make a big deal about your product and reach as many potential customers as possible, and an event showcasing your product is the perfect way to do so.

Final thoughts

For many, it’s as exciting as it is daunting to launch a new product. Give yourself the best chance of success with excellent communication and a detailed strategy. Use these tips and strategies to cut through the noise and make a splash with your next launch.

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Product Launch Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide for Success

What is a Product Launch Strategy?

Getting a product to market successfully takes significant planning and research, resources, and time. With so much invested in transforming an innovative idea into a tangible offering, it’s not enough to build the product—you need consumers to buy it.

A product launch strategy is a comprehensive plan designed to jumpstart, accelerate, and scale product adoption once something hits the market. It involves a series of coordinated actions and decisions to create awareness, generate interest, and appeal to specific target audiences. From market research, positioning, and messaging to pricing, distribution, and promotional activities, the goal is to make an impactful, positive first impression, and maximize the product’s chances of success against competitors.

Why is a Product Launch Strategy Important?

As the blueprint for introducing products to market in a purposeful and organized way, the product launch strategy provides a framework for aligning various aspects of the launch. It ensures that efforts are coordinated and resources are optimized, and that all aspects of the product roadmap are reflected as the product becomes a reality.

Without a well-defined strategy, a product launch will lack direction, risking miscommunication, inconsistent messaging, and wasted resources. A carefully crafted strategy helps build anticipation, showcase the unique value of the product, capture the attention of the target audience, and establish a solid foundation for sustained success. It’s essential for upping the chances of a new product’s initial acceptance—and its total lifetime.

Benefits of having a Product Launch Strategy

A product launch strategy isn’t a checklist; it’s a pathway to profit that deeply influences the overall success of introducing something new to market. Key benefits include:

Clarity and direction that helps cross-functional teams understand roles and responsibilities, goals, timelines, and expectations.
Consistent and cohesive messaging across all communication channels, reinforcing the product’s value proposition and brand identity, and making it easier for prospects to understand and remember.
Proactive risk mitigation that helps PMs anticipate potential challenges, and that includes contingency plans to minimize any roadblocks to launch.
Deeper market understanding through thorough market research, ensuring that what’s delivered is relevant and truly resonates with potential customers.
Efficient resource allocation that’s clearly connected to outcomes, preventing unnecessary work and improving ROI across the product’s lifecycle .
Competitive positioning that highlights unique selling points and directly addresses consumer needs, allowing the product to stand out in a crowded space.
Post-launch steps for sustained success that supports ongoing marketing efforts, customer feedback, and product improvements.

What’s the Difference Between a Product Launch Strategy and a Product Launch Plan?

In short, a product launch strategy sets down the guiding principles and objectives of a release, while a product launch plan translates those principles into actionable steps for the product team to follow.

The product launch strategy outlines the overall approach and goals for introducing a new product. It establishes the target audience, positioning, messaging, and the overall market landscape. It’s a handbook for how the product will be presented to the market and how it will expand and function over time, with a focus on the broader context and vision for the launch.

On the other hand, a product launch plan is a more detailed, tactical document that’s built from the overarching strategy. It breaks down the strategy into specific actions, tasks, and timelines, and includes granular details such as specific marketing tactics, communication channels, budget allocations, and responsibilities assigned to different team members or departments. The launch plan is essentially the step-by-step guide that operationalizes the strategy.

Components of an Effective Product Launch Strategy

While a product launch strategy can vary quite a bit depending on the nature of the product and the industry being served, core pieces include:

Conducting thorough research to understand the target market, customer needs, preferences, and existing competitors.
Clearly defining the target audience for the product by understanding the demographics, behaviors, and preferences of the intended consumers.
Articulating the unique value proposition of the product, like what sets it apart from competitors, and how it addresses specific needs or problems for the target audience.
Determining the positioning of the product in the market, from how it fits into the existing portfolio and landscape, and what key messages should be emphasized to communicate those outcomes.
Developing a comprehensive messaging strategy that communicates the key benefits of the product, from compelling taglines to product descriptions and other promo assets.
Creating a complete timeline that outlines the sequence of activities leading up to the launch and after. This includes pre-launch teasers, the launch itself, and post-launch efforts.
Determining the distribution and pricing strategy based on market research, production costs, and perceived value.
Planning promotional activities and assets to generate awareness and interest, such as digital marketing, traditional advertising, PR, content marketing, and social media.
Developing training and enablement programs for sales and CS teams and equipping them to accurately communicate the product’s features and benefits.
Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success of the launch, like sales goals, usage thresholds, and website traffic.
Anticipating potential challenges and identifying potential risks, as well as outlining strategies to address them promptly.

Tactics to Creating a Successful Product Launch Strategy

Understanding the market and target audience, crafting a compelling value proposition, strategically positioning the product, and developing clear and cohesive messaging: four steps to success, when built on the foundation of a thoughtful and well-rounded plan.

1. Pre-Launch Activities

Before the official introduction of the product, the goal is to build anticipation, generate awareness, and lay the groundwork for a seamless and impactful product launch. Success starts with market research, audience identification, setting a strategic launch timeline, and creating promotional tactics. But it also takes solid messaging, positioning, and competitive intel—in addition to a narrative that speaks directly to the target audience.

1. Writing a Compelling Story

A product’s story—or, how it’s discussed and placed within a market—should highlight the unique value of the offering. It goes beyond listing features, instead creating a clear connection between the product and user benefit, solution and pain point. A compelling story is an authentic and aspirational tool, and sets the stage for a memorable and impactful product launch that resonates with the target audience.

4. Product Promotion in Multiple Channels

The most effective product promotions are diverse and deliberate. Businesses that make a coordinated effort to advertise and create awareness for new products across platforms and channels will have a broader reach, and an expanded pool of prospects to engage.

3. Making Use of Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a widespread and growing way to do one-to-many marketing and advocacy in the same motion. By partnering with creators or professionals who have significant online followings and platforms to promote and endorse products, businesses add credibility to their claims while generating awareness, building trust, and creating interest.

How to Create a Product Launch Strategy

5 essential stages of a product launch strategy.

Here are five essential stages (with steps) to guide you through the process of creating an effective product launch strategy.

Market Research and Analysis

Conduct thorough market research to understand the industry, target audience, and competitive landscape.
Identify market trends, customer needs, and potential gaps in the market.
Analyze competitor product launches to learn from successes and failures.

Define Your Target Audience

Clearly define the target audience based on insights gathered from market research.
Develop detailed buyer personas to understand the demographics, behaviors, and preferences of ideal customers.
Tailor the product and launch strategy to address the specific needs and pain points of the target audience.

Craft a Compelling Value Proposition

Clearly articulate the unique value that the product brings to the market.
Define the key benefits and advantages that set the product apart from competitors.
Ensure that any value propositions resonate with the identified needs of the target audience.

Develop a Comprehensive Launch Plan

Create a detailed launch plan that outlines the sequence of activities leading up to and following the product launch.
Specify the marketing channels, promotional tactics, and communication strategies.
Set a realistic timeline for each phase of the launch, considering factors such as pre-launch teasers, the launch event, and post-launch follow-ups.

Determine Metrics and Measurement

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the product launch.
Define specific goals related to sales, customer acquisition, brand awareness, and other relevant metrics.
Regularly monitor and analyze the performance data to assess the effectiveness of the launch strategy and make informed adjustments.

Common Reasons Why Product Launch Strategies Fail

Product launch strategies can fail for a variety of reasons, whether environmental, conditional, or unintentional. A successful strategy requires a holistic approach that considers everything with the potential to influence market reception.

Often, unsuccessful launches are rooted in a lack of market understanding and insufficient audience research, both of which result in unclear value propositions and ineffective messaging. Poor timing, subpar promotional efforts, and reluctance to adapt with feedback are equally damaging, as is underestimating the competition.

But the fastest route to failure is misaligning pricing with perceived value—something that’s much easier to avoid when businesses invest in understanding their audience’s goals, pain points, and limitations up front.

Post-Product Launch Strategy

The post-product launch strategy phase is crucial for sustaining momentum, addressing customer feedback, and creating long-term success. It should enable cross-functional teams to:

Actively gather and analyze customer feedback to identify areas for improvement, and iteratively enhance the product based on user experiences and preferences.
Maintain consistent marketing efforts to keep the product in the spotlight, share success stories, and provide updates to reinforce the product’s value.
Provide robust customer support to address inquiries and issues promptly, and engage with customers through various channels to build loyalty.
Continuously monitor and assess key performance indicators (e.g., sales, customer satisfaction scores, market share) to gauge the product’s ongoing success.
Explore opportunities for product line extensions, additional features, or entry into new markets.
Stay vigilant to changes in the market, industry trends, and competitor efforts, and be able to adapt the product strategy accordingly.
Foster a sense of community among users through forums, social media, or other platforms, as well as encourage user-generated content and discussions to enhance the product’s ecosystem.
Explore collaborations with other businesses or influencers to expand reach and appeal, and seek out partnerships to introduce new perspectives and opportunities for growth .
Regularly reassess the product’s pricing strategy and positioning in the market to ensure alignment with customer perceptions and the evolving competitive landscape.
Maintain a long-term vision for the product’s evolution and success by continuously innovating and evolving to stay ahead.

Success Metrics

It’s important to align whatever metrics a product is measured by with the overall objectives of the launch (and the business overall). A mix of short-term and long-term metrics will give PMs a comprehensive view of the product’s success and its total impact on the business.

Regularly monitoring and analyzing these metrics will also provide insight into the effectiveness of the launch strategy, and inform adjustments and improvements over time. Here’s a list of metrics to consider:

Sales Performance

Total sales revenue
Sales growth rate

Customer Acquisition

Number of new customers
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
Conversion rates from leads to customers

Market Share

Percentage of market share gained
Competitive positioning in the market

Customer/Prospect Engagement

Website/campaign page traffic
Social media engagement (likes, shares, comments)
Email open and click-through rates

Product Adoption

Number of product sign-ups or registrations
Rate of product adoption among target users

Customer Satisfaction

Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Customer feedback and reviews
Customer support ticket volume and resolution time

Brand Awareness

Brand mentions and sentiment on social media
Media coverage and PR mentions
Website and social media follower growth

Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI on marketing and promotional activities
ROI on overall product development and launch costs

Product Performance

User engagement with key product features
Product performance metrics (e.g., app downloads, usage frequency)

Retention Rates and Strategic KPIs

Customer retention rates
Churn rates
Completion of specific strategic goals outlined in the product launch strategy

Feedback/Reviews

Feedback and reviews are pivotal for a product’s success and perception. Integrating them into your launch strategy requires thoughtful consideration. Key aspects include timing—gathering pre-launch feedback and encouraging post-launch reviews. Choose appropriate feedback channels, align with user personas, and provide incentives.

Establish a responsive mechanism for addressing concerns and integrate feedback into product development. Regularly monitor, analyze, and promote positive feedback. Educate users on sharing feedback, employ moderation, and view this as a long-term strategy for continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

Promotions Post-Launch

Post-launch promotions are vital for maintaining momentum and maximizing a product’s impact. Things like limited-time offers create urgency, while bundle offers provide increased value, and referral programs incentivize customers to share reviews and recommendations. Business should also implement:

Cross-sell and upsell campaigns to promote additional purchases
Exclusive access rewards for specific customer actions
Loyalty programs, flash sales, and social media contests
Ongoing email marketing, partnerships, and product demonstrations to target specific and new segments
Customer-focused events, both virtual and in-person, to foster ongoing user engagement and positive relationships beyond the initial launch.

Productboard: You Partner In Creating an Effective Product Launch Strategy

Productboard is a comprehensive product management platform , ideal for creating flexible, thorough product launch strategies. By providing a centralized hub for all product-related information, Productboard integrates user persona details and ongoing user feedback, helping PMs gain a deep, detailed understanding of customer needs that can evolve alongside shifts in demand.

With features like roadmap planning and idea management, teams can strategically prioritize and plan product launches with confidence that both broad context and details are being captured and considered. Productboard’s analytics and performance tracking enable consistent, data-driven decision-making, and iterative development support allows teams to refine strategies based on real-time updates.

Leading businesses in every industry rely on Productboard to drive cross-functional visibility, foster transparency, and bring clarity to the product launch strategy process. Start a free trial today to see how your business can build products that see accelerated adoption and sustained success with every launch.

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How To Create a Business Contingency Plan for the Unexpected

A business contingency plan is a strategy for how your company will respond quickly to disruptive events so it can keep operating.

blue wavy lines: business contingency plan

A plan for the unplannable. It sounds like an oxymoron, but that’s the concept behind a business contingency plan: Preparing for potential risks to your company to ensure as much business continuity as possible, even when the unexpected happens.

Every business faces upheaval, disruption, and unanticipated setbacks, some more surprising or serious than others. No matter the scope of these potential events, you can take steps to protect your company. Here’s what to know about a business contingency plan and how to develop a successful playbook—even if you hope never to use it.

What is a business contingency plan?

A business contingency plan (or business continuity plan ) is a strategy for how your company will respond quickly to disruptive events and keep operating. A comprehensive plan lays out the steps management, employees, and other stakeholders would take in multiple scenarios to help minimize the impact on day-to-day operations and quickly recover. Minor unexpected events might include a technical failure that leads to a website outage for several hours or an illness sweeping through your customer service team and leaving it shorthanded.

Contingency plan vs. risk management

Contingency planning is related to risk management , though they differ in several important ways. A business contingency plan provides for a tactical response to a specific disruption, and it’s focused on ensuring business continuity while helping the company recover as quickly as possible. By contrast, risk management is a broader and ongoing process: brainstorming all the possible risks to your company, assessing the likelihood of each one, and implementing strategies to reduce or manage the risks.

Contingency plan examples

Planning for natural disasters is an example of a contingency plan. Say some of your employees are based in the Midwest, and a tornado touches down where three of your workers are based. The same might hold true if a hurricane strikes the Florida coast, where your business has a large office. A designated staffer contacts those affected and confirms they’re safe, but they can’t return to their duties until roads are passable, the power outage ends and Internet service is restored. Management then reassigns any critical operations like order fulfillment to other staffers, who have been trained and prepared for these tasks to ensure business continuity.

5 steps for creating a contingency plan

Assemble the planning team and brainstorm key risks
Perform a business impact analysis (BIA)
Develop response and recovery strategies
Test the plans and train staffers
Regularly review new risks and update plans as needed

Here’s a step-by-step guide for developing a contingency plan:

1. Assemble the planning team and brainstorm key risks

The contingency planning process should include not only management but key personnel: leaders from IT, procurement, human resources, sales, or any other relevant teams. Company-wide representation is an important aspect of any brainstorming session for identifying possible threats because these workers understand details of the organization’s operations and the biggest risks. An open dialogue about business risks is a good way to start to create contingency plans both comprehensive and successful.

2. Perform a business impact analysis (BIA)

Analyzing your business’s normal operations can help you identify the most significant potential threats across the entire organization. Which business functions and systems are most critical? What’s the potential financial, operational, or reputational impact of each specific risk? What’s the worst-case scenario for each aspect of the company’s operations? How could that cascade to other parts of the business? Answering these hypotheticals will help you prioritize and begin shaping mitigation plans.

3. Develop response and recovery strategies

You can now develop a mitigation plan and recovery strategies for each of the scenarios you’ve identified so far. The process will vary depending on the crisis you’re facing, but it could include establishing emergency response procedures, data backup, alternate supplier options, remote work arrangements, natural disaster recovery, and supply-chain crisis management. This process can include designating who’s in charge of crisis communications after an unfavorable event.

4. Test the plans and train staffers

Conduct plan testing through simulation exercises to assess your contingency plan’s strengths and weaknesses and to determine if there is any need for changes, or even a backup plan or Plan B. If the plan is revised, inform key staff and train them in the new protocols. This could include natural disaster and fire drills, mandatory employee training on cybersecurity best practices and crisis response, or cross-training some staffers to perform other duties if needed.

5. Regularly review new risks and update plans as needed

Because risks evolve, revisit and revise your plan to be better prepared to avoid disasters. Periodically reviewing new risks is an essential step in plan maintenance and includes implementing lessons from internal or external incidents, adjusting for changes in staff and operations, and considering new technology or tools.

6 types of contingency plans

Information systems
Crisis communications
Health/pandemic
Supply chain

Contingency plans are unique to each business, but there are several major types of contingency plans, including:

1. Information systems

This is a primary plan for many companies because most organizations depend on computers, data storage, and the internet for daily operations. Risks include system outages, cyberattacks, and data breaches. The contingency plan may cover data backups and recovery, system redundancies, and hacking response procedures.

2. Disasters

These plans often address both smaller-scale disasters and major so-called act-of-God events. Lower-impact possible risks might include incidents like a burst pipe that renders the main office unusable for several days, while high-impact potential risks may be a major natural disaster like a hurricane that destroys an office or ruins warehouse inventory. Mitigation strategies may involve ensuring worker safety, restoring information technology (IT) systems, shifting staffers or critical business functions to other sites, and other steps to get business back to normal as quickly as possible.

3. Financial

This part of the contingency plan addresses financial events that may be internal to the company or macro external factors. Risks include inevitable periodic economic downturns, which can hurt customer spending power and demand for your products. Other risks may be internal and potentially more damaging, like employee theft of funds or inventory. Each results in financial loss for the company. Contingency plans might include maintaining a minimum cash reserve, tapping a bank line of credit to improve your cash position, or boosting sales with strategies like new revenue streams or adjusted pricing.

4. Crisis communications

This portion revolves around clear internal and external communication in times of crisis. Risks include a lack of internal alignment on messaging, confusion among employees about the company’s response or their part in it, and negative external attention or press coverage that harms your brand or reputation. This plan should include processes for clear communication channels to staffers and external stakeholders, training and briefing of designated spokespeople, and establishing a chain of command to manage messaging and keep important parties up to date on the crisis as it evolves.

5. Health/pandemic

The sudden spread of COVID-19 spurred most companies to develop plans for managing a pandemic or other health crisis. Measures could include employee safety protocols, rules for entering the workplace, communication with stakeholders, and shoring up remote-work support and technology.

6. Supply chain

Your company’s ability to produce products and services may depend on access to materials or suppliers. If so, risks include disruptions like raw materials shortages, supplier failures, and trade restrictions. Mitigation plans may involve securing backup suppliers, tracking logistics challenges in the market, and maintaining an emergency supply of inventory or materials.

Business contingency plans FAQ

Why does a business need a contingency plan.

Every business faces upheaval, disruption and unexpected setbacks. Preparing for these events with a contingency plan can help the entire team work together to stay calm, execute the plan, and ensure as much business continuity as possible.

What’s the difference between contingency planning and crisis management?

These concepts are related but not the same. Contingency planning is about a proactive strategy: developing a plan for coping with potential disruptions or crises in the future. Crisis management, by contrast, is reactive and in the moment: the actions taken in response to an event, which often includes implementing steps in the contingency plan, if one exists.

How do I avoid contingency planning pitfalls?

Businesses can take a few steps to avoid pitfalls in contingency planning: involve key stakeholders inside and outside the business to develop the plan; prioritize risks based on likelihood and impact on the business; test the plan and revise it as needed; conduct periodic, comprehensive risk assessments; and train employees and make the lines of communication clear in case of crisis.

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Creating A Robust 2024 Product Launch Marketing Plan

In a fast-moving and highly competitive market of 2024, a well-crafted product launch marketing plan is your blueprint for success. Without this roadmap, brands often stumble into common pitfalls such as misaligned messaging, overlooked audiences, or wasted resources.

Our journey through this article will equip you with strategies to avoid these traps by highlighting the crucial steps for crafting a comprehensive plan. From understanding your market to executing a multi-channel approach, we’ll guide you through creating a robust strategy that not only meets but exceeds the demands of the dynamic 2024 marketplace. Let’s set the stage for a launch that soars beyond expectations.

Content Overview

Understanding Your Product and Market

Before you strategize a product launch marketing plan, you need a keen understanding of your product and its place within the market. Identifying and aligning your product’s unique selling propositions (USPs) with the latest market trends and consumer behaviors is crucial.

Identifying USPs

Analyze Competitors : Look at your competitors and identify what sets your product apart. This could be anything from innovative features, superior quality, or even your brand’s ethical stance.
Customer Feedback : Listen to what customers are saying about similar products. Their pain points can highlight what’s missing in the market and how your product can fill that gap.

Aligning with Market Trends

Ethical Considerations : As digital products become more integrated into daily life, ethical considerations in product design are gaining importance. A focus on ethical production, data privacy, and inclusivity can resonate strongly with 2024 consumers.
Technological Innovations : Stay ahead by leveraging the latest technologies. Whether it’s AI, AR, or sustainable tech, integrating these can make your product stand out.

Crafting Your 2024 Vision

In 2024, setting a clear, visionary goal for your product launch is more critical than ever. It’s about charting a course that’s both ambitious and grounded in reality.

Strategies for Goal Setting

SMART Goals : Ensure each goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework helps in navigating towards success while staying aligned with industry trends.
Future Trends : Incorporate insights on anticipated industry trends into your goals. Whether it’s emerging technologies or shifts in consumer behavior, let these trends guide your objectives.

Embracing Flexibility

Adaptability : The ability to adapt is invaluable. Set checkpoints to review and adjust your goals based on market feedback and new data.
Contingency Planning : Develop contingency plans for potential market shifts. This ensures you’re not just reacting to changes but proactively managing them.

By laying down a visionary yet flexible roadmap, you empower your product launch to not just respond to the market of 2024 but to actively shape it. This approach balances ambition with the agility needed to thrive in an unpredictable landscape.

Audience Identification and Segmentation

Understanding and segmenting your audience goes beyond traditional demographics. The use of AI and big data opens up unprecedented opportunities to identify and cater to niche segments with precision.

Advanced Segmentation Techniques

AI-Driven Insights : Utilize AI algorithms to analyze customer data, revealing patterns and preferences that might not be apparent at first glance. This can help identify niche groups within broader audiences.
Behavioral Segmentation : Beyond basic demographics, segment your audience based on their behavior. Look at purchase history, website navigation patterns, and engagement levels to group similar behaviors.
Predictive Analytics : Use big data to not just understand current trends but to predict future customer behaviors. This proactive approach allows you to anticipate needs and tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.

Employing these cutting-edge techniques allows you to dive deep into the complexity of your audience, ensuring that your 2024 product launch marketing plan reaches every corner of your target market with messages that resonate on a personal level.

The 2024 Multi-Channel Approach

The digital landscape of 2024 has become richer and more diverse, with emerging channels offering new ways to engage your audience. A multi-channel approach ensures your product launch resonates across the spectrum of consumer touchpoints.

Exploring New Channels

AR/VR Experiences : Augmented and Virtual Reality are transforming engagement, offering immersive experiences that can showcase your product in action.
Voice Search Optimization : With the rise of smart speakers, optimizing for voice search becomes crucial to capture the audience using voice commands for queries.
Blockchain Platforms : Emerging as a new medium for secure and transparent transactions, consider how blockchain technology can play a role in your marketing strategy.

Integrating Channels for Cohesion

Seamless Experience Across Platforms : Ensure your messaging is consistent across traditional (TV, print, radio) and digital channels (social media, online ads, email) to provide a unified brand experience.
Leverage Data for Personalization : Use insights gathered from each channel to refine and personalize your marketing efforts, making each interaction with your brand feel bespoke and engaging.

Adopting a multi-channel approach in 2024 means not just spreading your efforts across different platforms but creating a cohesive, integrated strategy that leverages the strengths of each to engage and convert your target audience effectively.

Content and Messaging Strategy

In 2024, crafting a content and messaging strategy that resonates deeply with your audience is key to a successful product launch. This requires a meticulous plan that harmonizes with every phase of the launch, utilizing storytelling to forge an emotional connection.

Strategic Content Planning

Content Calendar : Develop a comprehensive content calendar that aligns with the various phases of your product launch, from anticipation-building teasers to post-launch follow-ups.
Storytelling and Emotional Connection : Utilize storytelling to share the journey of your product, weaving narratives that connect on an emotional level with your audience, highlighting problems solved and value added.

Leveraging Technology for Enhanced Engagement

AI for Optimization : Implement AI tools to analyze engagement and optimize content types, times, and channels for maximum impact.
Personalization at Scale : Use AI to personalize content delivery, ensuring that messages are tailored to the interests, behaviors, and needs of individual audience segments.

By integrating these strategies, your content and messaging will not only captivate and engage but will also build a lasting relationship with your audience, driving the success of your 2024 product launch.

Analytics and Adaptation

In the swiftly evolving 2024 market, the ability to measure, analyze, and adapt your strategies based on real-time data is crucial. Employing advanced metrics and KPIs allows you to fine-tune your product launch for optimal success.

Key Metrics for Success

Engagement Metrics : Track how your audience interacts with your content across platforms to gauge interest and adjust strategies accordingly.
Conversion Rates : Measure the effectiveness of your call-to-actions and marketing funnel, identifying areas for improvement.
Customer Satisfaction : Utilize feedback and satisfaction scores to understand customer perceptions and expectations.

Adaptation Strategies

Real-Time Analysis : Leverage tools that provide real-time analytics , enabling quick adjustments to your marketing approach.
A/B Testing : Regularly test different aspects of your marketing campaign, from email subject lines to landing page designs, to continually refine your strategy.

Embracing a data-driven approach ensures that your 2024 product launch is not only based on the best available information but also remains flexible and responsive to market dynamics.

Risk Management and Contingency Planning

Anticipating and preparing for potential launch setbacks in an unpredictable market is not just wise—it’s essential. Developing robust risk management and contingency plans ensures your launch remains on track, even when faced with unforeseen challenges.

Risk Identification and Mitigation

Risk Assessment : Conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify potential launch obstacles, from supply chain disruptions to shifts in consumer behavior.
Preventive Measures : Implement strategies to mitigate identified risks, such as diversifying suppliers or creating buffer stocks.

Crafting a Contingency Plan

Flexibility : Develop a flexible launch plan that can be easily adapted in response to unexpected events.
Quick Pivoting : Outline clear protocols for quick decision-making and pivoting, ensuring that your team can respond rapidly and efficiently to any situation.

By proactively addressing potential risks and having a dynamic contingency plan in place, you can navigate through uncertainties with confidence, keeping your 2024 product launch on the path to success.

Charting Your Path to Success: Navigate 2024 with Precision and Expertise

As we’ve navigated through the key elements of a successful product launch marketing plan for 2024, one thing is clear: the need for flexibility, advanced analytics, and a forward-thinking approach. Embracing these principles will not only prepare you for the dynamic market of 2024 but also position you for unparalleled success. If crafting and executing such a comprehensive plan seems daunting, fear not. Flying V Group specializes in turning these complex strategies into actionable, winning campaigns.

With our expertise, your product launch marketing plan will not just be a plan, but a roadmap to real, measurable success. Let Flying V Group be your co-pilot in this journey, ensuring your launch soars high above the competition.

How do you create a marketing plan for a product launch?

To create a marketing plan for a product launch, identify your target audience, set clear objectives, develop your messaging, choose the right marketing channels, plan your content, set a budget, and establish metrics for success.

What are the 7 steps of product launch?

The 7 steps of a product launch are: 1) Market research, 2) Product development, 3) Audience identification, 4) Creating a marketing strategy, 5) Planning the launch event, 6) Execution, and 7) Post-launch analysis and follow-up.

What should a product launch plan include?

A product launch plan should include a market analysis, target audience identification, marketing goals, messaging and branding strategy, launch timeline, promotional strategy, budget, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring success.

How do you promote a new product launch?

Promote a new product launch by leveraging social media, email marketing, influencer partnerships, press releases, launch events, and targeted advertisements. Engage your audience with compelling storytelling and exclusive offers.

What is product launch planning?

Product launch planning involves strategizing how to introduce a new product to the market. It includes analyzing the target market, defining the marketing mix, planning promotional activities, and setting objectives to ensure a successful introduction and adoption by the target audience.

Robb Fahrion is a Co-Founder and Partner of Flying V Group. Robb has helped over 350+ companies build their businesses online and is responsible for building Flying V Group into one of the premier marketing agencies in the United States. Robb and his team have managed over $10M in marketing budget and continue to accelerate the growth of clients’ businesses. A love for business and competition is what fuels Robb to create dynamic marketing plans to help his clients grow exponentially.

Written by Robb Fahrion

Digital marketing | marketing strategy, 0 comment (s), april 24, 2024, recent posts.

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3 product launch marketing plan examples

Mastering the art of the product launch: 3 product launch examples plus our recommended process and templates for a successful product launch

You are working during one of the most entrepreneurial eras in history. Thanks to digital media, launching a product to a global audience has never been so manageable.

Equally, competition has never been as fierce. To successfully launch your product online, you need a winning product launch marketing plan. For a successful launch, product marketers need to work with marketing communications experts so that the benefits of the new product are carefully positioned and then, the best online reach channels are selected to reach your audience. We'll show how you can use the RACE framework to review the different media options and build a funnel to maximize interest and sales in your new product.

By using this type of strategic planning and following best practices for using digital channels, product marketers can avoid common product launch pitfalls such as targeting the wrong audience, using the wrong type of content and not optimizing the right customer journeys.

Within new product development (NPD), marketing can make or break the launch. That's why we recommend utilizing our tried and tested marketing processes and templates, to acquire and retain high-value customers from the off.

The RACE Framework

We created the RACE Framework as a structure for marketers and managers to plan, manage and optimize their customer journeys across all the key customer touchpoints - including digital media and experiences.

This visual shows all the potential interactions that can be used during a product launch campaign. You can use it as a visual checklist of what’s required. Keep reading to the end to see examples of it in practice.

Why do you need a product launch marketing plan?

Creating a product launch marketing plan helps you take a structured approach to exploring potential opportunities for your launch, defining your aims, and preparing your launch timeline. This applies to all product marketing activity relating to your launch:

Post-launch

Planning your product launch empowers you to prioritize resources in a logical and effective order. With a product launch campaign, as with so many issues related to business, whilst you can plan for most eventualities, you should also plan for the unexpected. That's why we recommend using an actionable framework to structure your marketing, and make adjustments.

In this blog, we'll cover the fundamentals of planning for your launch, plus examples of product marketing in action, and advice to help you get your launch over the line.

If you're looking for new marketing solutions tools to streamline your marketing activities and boost your performance, did you know Smart Insights offers both free and paid membership options? Find out more about marketing tools, templates, and memberships , integrated across RACE, and chose the right plan for your business.

How to structure your marketing plans with RACE

You may know the Smart Insights RACE Planning framework, integrated across 5 essential outcomes of any marketing or digital marketing plan:

The RACE Framework gives marketers and managers quick access to practical, actionable data about their customers' experiences of your product. That's why we recommend using RACE to plan your product launch campaign.

How do you create a marketing plan for a product launch?

Product marketing is a unique area of marketing. Product marketers work with a critical focus on their products and how customers perceive and utilize them, as shown in this definition by the Product Marketing Alliance .

"Product marketing is the driving force behind getting products to market - and keeping them there. Product marketers are the overarching voices of the customer, masterminds of messaging, enablers of sales, and accelerators of adoption."

That's why, when planning your product launch, it's essential that you chose a customer-focused framework.

Our internationally acclaimed RACE Framework breaks down your product launch campaign plan through a simple customer-focused experience funnel. We recommend these 5 steps to guide you from initial planning to customer sales activation and long-term brand building and advocacy.

A simple 5-step product launch plan based on RACE.

PLAN. Plan your launch - your product launch marketing plan Research, benchmark, and set objectives against your planned, focused investment in branded content to promote your product. We recommend creating forecasts of how many you will reach and convert using our conversion funnel spreadsheets which estimate the number of people you will be able to reach and convert for each marketing channel you invest in. This will also help set expectations of what is achievable given the launch budgets you have available.
REACH. Create awareness in your market - your product launch campaign plan Here you define how you will use your selected paid, owned, and earned media campaigns to attract your target audiences to discover your product. See our article How to structure an effective campaign plan to win more customers for details of each stage of creating the campaign plan. Key paid media techniques to consider include Google Ads Paid social (for example using LinkedIn or Meta platforms). Given the cost of these media and particularly if your launch category has low search intent, Digital PR including influencer marketing and co-marketing are recommended to be your main focus for earned media to reach your audience most cost-effectively.
ACT. Influence user interaction - your content marketing plan Here you are looking to engage your audience who has shown interest in your product. Content marketing is particularly important here, with using rich media and video key techniques to invest in to get cut through. Developing clear landing pages explaining features and benefits are hygiene factors today. You need to provide WOW. Use content ideation to select the right types of content to engage your audience to entertain, inspire, educate, and convince them of your product. Use our content marketing matrix to brainstorm the best content formats to use for your product launch.
CONVERT. Convert interest to customers. This is the vital part of achieving your commercial targets by winning more online and offline sales. To achieve this you need a contact strategy which starts with how you will acquire leads through using the right lead magnets to gain engagement and then nurture this interest through email marketing and ad retargeting.
ENGAGE. Encourage post-purchase engagement and recommendations. This is often forgotten, but turning early adopter customers into loyal advocates is particularly important with product launches to encourage others to buy. So make sure you build this into your customer onboarding plan.

For each of these stages, we recommend specific actions to take and resources and tools in our guide. You can download your copy of our RACE marketing plan below, which is applicable to both B2B and B2C markets as you'll see below. But first, read our top tips on how to create a successful product launch marketing plan.

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New product launch marketing plan examples

It can be difficult to start from scratch. Included below are some consumer and business product launch examples:

Example – B2C product launch objective: Gaming

To become the bestselling maze-building gaming app.

"Every maze is based on highly accurate maps of some of the world’s most popular actual mazes."

Example – B2C product launch plan

Conduct market research, analyze competitors, and understand gaming app industry trends.
Develop the maze-building gaming app with accurate maps and perform extensive testing for functionality and performance.
Create a unique brand identity, define key attributes, messaging, and positioning that highlight the app's features and realistic maze experiences.
Design a comprehensive marketing strategy using social media, influencers, app store optimization, and targeted advertising.
Optimize the app's presence on app stores through keywords, descriptions, screenshots, and icons using ASO techniques.
Implement user acquisition campaigns, offer incentives, rewards, and updates to engage and retain users.
Track KPIs, analyze data for improvement, gather user feedback, and iterate the app to enhance user satisfaction.

Example – B2C product launch objective: Security

To become the go-to smart home security system for residential households.

"Our smart home security system provides advanced features such as facial recognition, real-time alerts, and seamless integration with other smart devices."

Example – B2C product launch plan:

Conduct market research to understand the target audience and competition.
Develop a user-friendly and secure smart home security system with advanced features.
Create a compelling brand identity and messaging that highlights the system's benefits.
Design a comprehensive marketing strategy using online and offline channels to generate awareness and interest.
Establish partnerships with retailers, e-commerce platforms, and influencers to expand distribution.
Provide customer education, support, and user-friendly documentation.
Continuously gather customer feedback and update the system to meet evolving needs, leveraging positive experiences to build trust and credibility.

Example – B2B product launch objective: SaaS

To become the most trusted online small business accounts software platform you can buy.

"Our software package has been developed in partnership with each of USA’s top three small business accountancy practices."

Example – B2B product launch plan

Conduct in-depth market research to understand the needs and preferences of small businesses seeking online accounting software.
Collaborate with small business accountancy practices to develop a comprehensive and reliable online small business accounts software package.
Create a strong brand identity and positioning that emphasizes trustworthiness, reliability, and expertise in small business accounting.
Design a targeted marketing and communication strategy to reach small businesses, highlighting the software's benefits, ease of use, and industry partnerships.
Establish sales channels, partnerships, and online platforms to ensure widespread availability and easy access to the software for small businesses.
Provide seamless onboarding processes, comprehensive training materials, and responsive customer support to assist small businesses in adopting and utilizing the software effectively.
Regularly collect customer feedback to identify areas for improvement, prioritize updates, and enhance the software based on the evolving needs of small business owners.

As you can see, a new product launch is no mean feat. It's likely you'll need a variety of marketing solutions to help bring your plan to fruition. That's where we come in, as Smart Insights has marketing solutions structured across 20 marketing toolkits , including lifecycle marketing, digital experience, and sector technology.

Expert advice for optimizing your product launch marketing plan

We hope you have found these examples useful. Keep reading for expert advice on optimizing your own product launch marketing plan.

"Plan for the worst"

With so many variables, it would be foolish to suggest you can always be fully prepared for anything. However, by reviewing the risks and defining steps to mitigate them you will be able to remain in control of each stage of your launch, even if the unexpected happens, you’ll be ready to respond to it coolly, rather than react on the spur-of-the-moment.

Smart Insights Business Members can track internal and external factors at play within their NPD eco-system, and adapt accordingly with solutions such as our SWOT/TOWS template , PESTLE analysis template , and Customer journey mapping template .

"Define your product vision and how to reach it"

Depending on your intended market, you will need to develop a clear all-encompassing vision. Each aspect of your product launch vision is supported by a substantiating statement.

Geoffry Moore offers a simple template for drafting a vision statement , based on a fill-in-the-blank approach.

"For [our target customer], who [customer’s need], the [product] is a [product category or description] that [unique benefits and selling points]. Unlike [competitors or current methods], our product [main differentiators]."

Our Digital Experience Learning Path module, Define Digital Value Proposition , helps product and brand marketers craft a powerful DVP, using tools such as the 6Cs of customer motivation and benchmarking.

"Identify your early adopters"

You are intimately familiar with every aspect of your new product. However, the same cannot be said for your prospective markets and audience.

Initially the most important of these markets are ‘early adopters’, particularly where you are launching into a relatively new product category.

During the first phase of your planning, beyond simply considering what your product is, think about how and where it fits on the ‘radar’ of your early adopter marketplace. This is crucial.

Not only does it help ensure the features and benefits of your product are understood, but importantly, it sends out a signal that helps early adopters distinguish your offering against competitors who may produce a similar product.

You can download our product launch playbook to find out more about how to build a marketing plan for each stage of your product launch, across B2B and B2C industries, with examples.

"Create a product launch campaign plan"

Draw up a timeline covering the build-up, launch, and post-launch, mapping each stage against benefit messages aimed at specific markets, along with benchmarks against which you can explain any value propositions against competitors.

When developing your campaign plan, consider how you can work with potential influencers early on. Online, this has far-reaching implications that extend to how and where you promote your product. For example, which influencer blogs should you have in your sights? How about podcasts and trusted journalist reviews?

Smart Insights Business Members can use our marketing campaign plan template to structure their product launch timeline across campaign goals, target audience and targeting, key messages, media plan and budget, campaign assets, execution, and tracking.

"Use tracking KPIs to review audience engagement"

When launching a new product, as with any campaign, you will want to define success criteria, but it’s particularly important for a new product launch campaign since uncertainty means you will need to adjust your approach.

Key performance indicators include:

Video downloads.
Infographic downloads.
Brochure downloads.
Click Through Rates
Volume-based KPIs
Total revenue from customers acquired through online marketing.
Cost Per Lead.
Customer value.

Break down your KPIs by channel to measure and compare your results . Metrics here could include:

Social media traffic and conversion rates.
Email traffic - including benchmarking segmented lists.
Organic traffic, bounce rates, pages per session.
Landing page conversion rates, desktop and mobile.

Finally, don't forget that building the option to update or upgrade a product over time can enhance your income revenue stream. Engagement is a key feature of successful RACE product launch marketing plans, don't undo all your hard work by failing to keep customers engaged post-purchase.

'Engage' is the final stage of our RACE funnel and one that can be overlooked by marketers who don't have a strategic approach to their marketing. But there are so many advantages both interaction and engagement that can boost conversion. Find out more about how to boost your customer engagement and all the other parts of our purchase funnel when you download your free guide today.

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By Dave Chaffey

Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here . Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice . In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary . Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question .

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Contingency planning: 4 steps to prepare for the unexpected

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What is contingency planning?

Why is contingency planning important, 4 steps to develop a contingency plan.

Most days at work are business as usual — you hope. Unfortunately, there are also days where nothing seems to go right. Sometimes, these hiccups are just part of running an organization. And some days, they can be a major disruption in your work.

Because your clients and customers are relying on you to deliver as promised, it’s critical that you have a backup plan in place. There’s no way to prevent all mishaps from occurring, but you can minimize their impact with a little strategic planning .

Rather than waiting for the worst-case scenario to play out, companies — and individuals — can put together a contingency plan. This helps to ensure that normal business operations continue as smoothly as possible.

Learn what a business contingency plan is, why you should have one, and how to start planning in this article.

Contingency planning is a part of a business’ risk management strategy. It’s how companies foresee potential disruptions to the business.

Contingency planning is an action plan put in place to help individuals, teams, and organizations minimize disruption. In common terms, we think of this as “plan B.” Contingency plans are less about how to mitigate negative events and more about proactively developing problem-solving skills.

While traditionally, contingency planning have been an area of focus for managers and organizations, there are many benefits for individuals as well.

To understand contingency planning, it’s best to take a broad view. Sure, when companies have a crisis management plan in place, everyone sleeps a little better at night. It’s nice to know that you’ll know what to do if something happens.

But in life — as well as in business — the only real constant is change. As Tina Gupta, VP of Talent and Employee Experience at WarnerMedia puts it , “Change is not something to solve for.” Fear of change and uncertainty leads people to hide from it, interpreting every bit of rough air as a sign of an impending crash.

When you embrace a future-minded perspective , you no longer have to be afraid of uncertainty. Contingency planning becomes a strategy to be proactive instead of reactive . It’s an exercise in looking for ways to thrive instead of survive.

BetterUp calls this type of person a future-minded leader . Rather than running from potential threats or pretending everything is fine, they cultivate an agile mindset . These people combine optimism, pragmatism, and the ability to envision the future (or, what positive psychologists call prospection ).

Contingency planning example:

Let’s look at how WarnerMedia has been able to embrace contingency planning as a tool to build a psychologically safe environment.

Conducting a risk assessment

Before you can create a contingency plan, you need to identify the risks that may impact your business. The best way to do this is with the support of your team. Hold a brainstorming session where you can talk through recent experiences, upcoming initiatives, and common pitfalls.

This type of risk assessment can't protect you from being surprised. Tomorrow will hold unexpected events, many of which never happened before in your organization (months-long pandemic shutdowns anyone?) Instead think of this assessment as surfacing the things you can prepare for and opening up everyone's imagination to the range of possible obstacles and outcomes. This will prime the pump for awareness, a flexible mindset, and solution-seeking orientation.

Don’t make the mistake of limiting the meeting to just managers. Your entry-level employees and individual contributors will have a lot of insight as to what could happen — and how to handle it.

Companies often make strategic planning an annual event, but you should review your contingency plan more frequently. Risk assessment should ideally be a natural part of planning for every new initiative.

contingency-planning-team-writing-on-a-whiteboard

Here are 4 steps to develop a contingency plan for your team:

1. Identify the triggers

What are the risks? The first step in contingency planning is knowing which scenarios you’re preparing for. It’s impossible to predict everything, but chances are you can think of one (or ten) worst-case scenarios that would throw operations off.

Put these scenarios in order of likelihood. The most probable and important ones will form the backbone of your contingency plan.

2. Examine the situation

In your hypothetical scenario, what would be the most likely course of action? Write that down, but be sure to ask: is it the best course of action? If your new plan is significantly different from what you’ve done before, you’ll want to talk it over with your leaders.

Get your team involved in this stage of the process. One of the benefits of planning in advance is that you have time to brainstorm responses. If the disruption has happened before, ask them what they did to resolve it and what they wish they had done differently.

3. Determine who needs to know

Once you’ve created a viable plan, determine who the stakeholders are. Identify who needs to know as soon as plans change and who will be responsible for kicking plan B into gear. If anyone needs to authorize purchases, provide access to resources, or otherwise support the plan, make sure that they know as well.

contingency-planning-team-having-a-discussion

4. Practice

If you can, do a practice run of your disaster recovery plan. The specifics will vary depending on the “disaster,” but running through the plan is a useful exercise. It will help you spot areas that you might not be able to predict in advance.

For example, when the coronavirus pandemic sent millions of workers into lockdown, companies that already had remote work policies in place were in the ideal position for the change. Companies that relied on brick-and-mortar workplaces had to quickly develop strategies to ensure remote team members had the technology and support they needed to work from home for an extended period of time.

How to maintain a contingency plan

In general, it’s a good idea to review your contingency plan on (at minimum) an annual basis. However, there may be other events that might trigger a review of your recovery strategies.

There are three main parts to your plan: the trigger (or unexpected event), the planned course of action, and the people involved. If any of these change, you’ll want to update your plan.

For example, moving to a new system, platform, or workflow would cause a change in both your Plan As and Plan Bs. If you hire for a new role that sits between functions, that may change the people involved.

Final thoughts

Your business continuity plan isn’t just an exercise in preparedness. It’s an opportunity to help your teams learn how to become more agile and creative problem solvers.

Everyone, from a project management team developing a contingency plan for rolling out a new sales incentive, an IT team planning for a new system to go live, or a manager coaching an employee through creating a contingency plan for meeting work deadlines, needs to develop this skill. In a time of uncertainty and constant change, thinking through possible problems and alternatives in advance is part of life.

Gupta of WarnerMedia says that empowering her team through coaching has helped them "move from overwhelm to thriving through change." When they trust themselves, the company, and the plan, employees become more confident. They’re more willing to take risks and trust each other.

When things go awry, your plan won’t just minimize the potential impact. It will empower your team to thrive in uncertainty as they respond to whatever gets thrown their way.

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Allaya Cooks-Campbell

With over 15 years of content experience, Allaya Cooks Campbell has written for outlets such as ScaryMommy, HRzone, and HuffPost. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and is a certified yoga instructor as well as a certified Integrative Wellness & Life Coach. Allaya is passionate about whole-person wellness, yoga, and mental health.

It depends. Understanding the contingency theory of leadership

Contingent workforce management: what employers need to know, leaders are prioritizing well-being over leadership skills in the post-covid workplace, when the new normal is a no-show: why future-mindedness is the mindset organizations need now, how to build a high performance team, according to patty mccord, transformation through coaching: netapp’s visionary approach to talent enablement, meet the future-minded leader: your organization’s answer to uncertainty, an exclusive conversation with fred kofman, deloitte webinar: unlocking human potential (the "roots & shoots" framework), 4 reasons why you can't afford to skip out on succession planning, the secret to developing managers that help your business thrive, people managers: the antidote to employee burnout, from self-awareness to self-control: a powerful leadership technique, building the human transformation company: the principles that shape our future, reflections on shift: cracking the code to people transformation in the workplace, and beyond, leading people as people, a conversation with cynt marshall, ceo of the dallas mavericks, the key to a more resilient organization is more resilient teams, uplift 2020: ushering in a new era of employee experience, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Marketing Contingency Planning

by Ian Linton

Published on 1 Jan 2021

A marketing contingency plan can help a small business protect revenue, profitability and customer relationships by preparing for unexpected events. The sudden arrival of a powerful new competitor, a problem in your supply chain, the resignation of an important sales representative, a virus attack on your website or the discovery of a major product defect can have serious consequences. If you have a contingency plan in place, you can respond quickly to changes and protect your company against the risk of business and financial damage.

The starting point for a marketing contingency plan is awareness of the risks. You should make a list of potential vulnerabilities in your marketing program, focusing on items that are outside your control. Changes in economic conditions, for example, could impact your customers’ spending power and hit sales of your products. Changes in personnel at key accounts could weaken the customer relationships you have developed and open opportunities for competitors. A major marketing campaign or massive price cut by a competitor could lead to loss of business. By working through a series of “what happens if” scenarios, you can identify areas where you need to prepare a response.

When you have identified the vulnerabilities, you must monitor conditions to try to get an early warning of any increase in risk. Ask your sales team to meet regularly with key clients and look for signs of competitive activity. Check industry publications for competitive advertising and look for details of new products or special offers on their websites. Monitor the performance of your suppliers to ensure that they can maintain continuity of supply and meet your quality standards.

Your contingency plan should set out the actions you will take in the event of a threat or problem. If a competitor cuts prices, set out the prices your team can offer to maintain the volume of sales. If an important customer moves business to a competitor, identify customers or prospects where you could increase business to cover the loss. Set out your procedures for dealing with a product defect and a possible recall campaign. If an important member of your sales team leaves, identify a replacement and prepare a training program to bring that representative up to speed. Identify alternative sources of important components in case one of your suppliers has delivery or quality problems.

When the plan is complete, share it with members of the sales and marketing team so that they are aware of their role in monitoring risk and responding to threats. Appoint a member of the team to keep the plan up to date by incorporating any new research or important information from the field.

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New Product Launch: The Perfect Marketing Plan (With Examples)

No one is better at building anticipation ahead of a launch than Apple. New product launches trigger publicized spec leaks and reveal events draw crowds in the millions (over 2.7 million people watched the iPhone 12 presentation live).

In the iPhone 13’s first quarter, it generated $71.6 billion in revenue (despite parts shortages and a global pandemic).

You don’t have to create Apple-level hype to see a successful new product launch. Trading app Robinhood launched with almost one million users thanks to a pinpointed market need and waitlist pre-launch campaign.

Unfortunately, many product launches take a “build it and they will come approach,” failing to gain traction and eventually fizzling out. These launches lack the key component of promotion and acquisition.

In this article, you’ll learn how to design an effective new product launch plan to avoid this pitfall and generate demand.

Before starting on your new product launch plan, make sure you’ve crafted a product launch strategy. This’ll help you inform and execute the tactical aspects of your product launch plan.

Pre-launch: Paving the way for a successful product launch

The pre-launch stage is often the busiest and most impactful stage of a new product launch. Rushed or poorly planned product launches will flop.

Activities during this phase focus on building brand awareness and anticipation, developing product messaging , identifying key marketing channels , and driving demand for your new product to ensure a successful launch.

1. Challenge yourself to become a product expert

Some marketers stop learning about their product after the initial research and strategy development. In reality, you’ll be learning and adapting your product and strategy as you gain more insights from your customers.

Through the entire product lifecycle , the product marketing manager (PMM) and their team should be the masters of the new product. Using the product marketing strategy you’ve developed, your product marketing team must know:

What the product does;
Why it exists;
Who it serves;
How it helps them, and;
Why it’s the best option.

You’ll continually develop this expertise by working closely with other departments. Learn from marketing, sales, and customer success what customers are raving and ranting about.

Interview product managers and engineers to gain a technical understanding of the product. Or better yet, use the product yourself. Tie challenges back to your product benefits.

Slite , a digital workplace for async teams, connects their customers’ challenges to their product benefits on their ”Discussions” feature landing page .

Slite found that a common frustration around a competitor’s tool is communication getting lost in Slack threads.

Instead of dancing around the topic, they called it out on the landing page:

“A place for more focused discussions.”
“Tired of endless Slack threads?”
“Slack isn’t cutting it, and it’s about time for a better alternative.”

Learn all you can from market research and by interacting with other teams. Then tie your customers’ challenges to benefits in the clearest way possible.

2. Generate excitement and buy-in with an internal press release

Create an internal press release to communicate your positioning with your entire team.

Having a single source of truth document ensures clarity and consistency across marketing, sales, product, and customer success teams. It also builds internal excitement for the new product launch.

Amazon’s former director, Ian McAllister, describes a framework he uses for internal press releases :

“ Heading: Name the product in a way the reader (i.e. your target customers) will understand. Subheading: Describe who the market for the product is and what benefit they get. One sentence only underneath the title. Summary: Give a summary of the product and the benefit. Assume the reader will not read anything else so make this paragraph good. Problem: Describe the problem your product solves. Solution: Describe how your product elegantly solves the problem. Quote from You: A quote from a spokesperson in your company. How to Get Started: Describe how easy it is to get started. Customer Quote: Provide a quote from a hypothetical customer that describes how they experienced the benefit. Closing and Call to Action: Wrap it up and give pointers where the reader should go next.”

Keep it short and simple (under a page and a half), and avoid overly corporate or technical language. McAllister revealed his trick for communicating the product’s unique positioning and messaging is to pretend you’re talking to Oprah:

“Imagine you’re sitting on Oprah’s couch and have just explained the product to her, and then you listen as she explains it to her audience.’”

The press release should help shape every aspect of product development. The product team can refer back to the document, asking at all times if what they’re developing meets the brief.

Doing so will keep the product team focused on customer benefits and help them avoid wasting resources on features that aren’t important.

3. Building genuinely useful marketing personas

Often, marketing personas are empty, unrealistic imitations of who marketers hope their customers are. This happens when the persona development process is top-down instead of bottom-up.

Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of SparkToro explains his experience with the typical user persona :

“Build personas → Make sure they get used across the company → Create product and marketing initiatives to employ the personas → Get no benefit at all → Doh!”

Fishkin recommends a five-step approach to creating genuinely useful buyer personas:

List out the applications your personas are solving for. Who’s doing what with your product? What information might they require to do that work effectively?
Audit and cull. Identify realistic elements that can be tested and proved through data-gathering exercises.
Substantiate with data. Leverage internal customer data from social accounts, web analytics, email subscribers, and current product usage data. Scrape insights from market research, industry statistics, and competitor press releases.

Interview your customers , your prospects, and your lost deals to understand real-life needs and challenges. Access audience intelligence from tools like SparkToro , Brandwatch , and Helixa to gather quantitative data at scale.

Segment your personas. Use the data you’ve gathered to establish the characteristics that separate one group from another. If two or more sets of your market share overlapping behaviors and characters, group them under one persona.
Settle on a presentation format. Present your personas in a way that makes sense for your team to digest. That might be a Google Doc with a few bullet points, an infographic-style design, or a short video.

HubSpot offers a free tool that creates personas like this:

4. Determine which channels you’ll capitalize on

Your product marketing strategy should inform the channels you’ll use to reach your audience (leading up to and including launch day).

Build a list of the specific channels you’re going to use. Then consider:

What you’re going to share in which locations;
When you’re going to share it;
Who is responsible for executing and monitoring each task.

Here are four common channels to build hype and reach before you launch and on launch day.

Consider which channels you’ll allocate ad spend. Your next steps will depend on the channels you use.

For example, will you run Google Ads? You’ll need to determine the key search phrases you’ll target.

Considering a publisher network? You’ll need to identify where your audience is most engaged and ensure your budget is going to the right places.

No matter your chosen channel, ensure messaging and creative tie back to your product marketing strategy .

Customers who want your new product may come to you through various organic channels, like search and social media.

If you want to encourage organic traffic by investing in content marketing, you’ll need to identify the topics most relevant to your new product users.

You’ll also want to consider how your website needs to change to reflect the new product. Will you need to create a new landing page, feature the product on your homepage, create new content on your blog, etc.?

Take Later , an Instagram marketing platform.

When it dropped a new product feature (first comment scheduling), Later knew it could reach its existing audience on Instagram.

The platform designed an informative video to demonstrate exactly how the new product works, and published it on Instagram where their target users are.

If you have existing relationships with media (newspapers, magazines, radio, online publications), use them to broadcast your launch.

If not, where do opportunities exist to form new relationships?

Develop a strategy for media outreach. Develop easy-access content that journalists, PR, and other media professionals can use (e.g., press releases and brand kits).

Take Happsy , an organic mattress retailer.

When launching its new product, Happsy leveraged PRNewswire’s large reach to promote a press release announcing its certified organic bed-in-a-box.

Take advantage of relevant media outlets and include an exclusive offer to entice readers:

Traditional press releases can only take you so far. Happsy leveraged media outlets they had relationships with and issued a press release.

To make a real splash, you have to be where your audience is most active and give them content they’re looking for.

For example, AI video editing software Kamua launched on Product Hunt , where tech-minded individuals learn about new tools.

Their launch campaign on a site targeting their user base gained them so much engagement, they rose to the third “most hunted” product on the site in a day.

Leverage digital PR by showing up where your audience is active and engaging with them on launch day.

Influencers

Think about how you’ll leverage third parties, like thought leaders and other brands, to promote your product and spread your message.

Mention is a platform where you can find influencers and track their activity once employed to see how it’s impacting your reach.

Consequently, Mention put this to good use when marketing its new product . It created an influencer marketing microsite and got other marketing influencers involved to help capture more attention.

There are many ways to use influencer marketing . Consider:

Whether you’ll use a partner channel;
Whether you’re involved in any communities that you might engage;
If you can leverage online forums like Reddit to maximize reach and conversation;
Whether you’ll use more formal influencer relationships to promote the new product launch.

Millennials don’t want to be advertised to , which is why many businesses are using influencers instead. Learn your audience’s preferences, then fit your channels to your audience.

5. Increase organic visibility to boost brand awareness and demand

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial growth driver for B2B product launches.

Because organic content can take time to reap traffic rewards, publish before launch. This allows time for pages to be indexed, spark conversation, and rank.

Create high-value, intent-focused long-form content to attract top-of-funnel prospects, based on both product-driven and problem-driven topics.

Take sales CRM Pipedrive . One of their target markets is real estate agents.

Pipedrive uses concise, informative, search-optimized descriptions to win top positions, like this featured snippet for the keyword “real estate CRM.”

Pipedrive also focuses on developing top-of-funnel, problem-driven content to attract real estate agents struggling with cold-calling and lead generation.

Prioritize topics that have a higher likelihood of ranking.

For example, take these two search phrases “top real estate CRM” and “best CRM for real estate investors.”

Real estate CRM search data from Semrush

Both keywords have similar monthly search volume, but one has a keyword difficulty of 39% and the other has a difficulty of 63% (according to SEMrush).

Having identified which key search phrases provide the best opportunities, use a tool like Airtable to build out a content calendar, detailing for each piece:

Project status;
Writers and editors responsible;
Distribution channels.

6. Debug website issues and improve user experience

Most of your product launch campaign activities will direct traffic back to your website. So, before launch day, make sure your site is prepared to handle traffic spikes.

OrangeValley found that if their site was just one second slower, their conversion rate dropped by 25% .

Ensure that your site:

Has a healthy load speed;
Is not bogged down by excessive code;
Doesn’t have any 404 warnings or dead links;
Is easily navigable;
Is mobile-responsive;
Doesn’t host any duplicate content;
Is secure and uses HTTPS;
Has an XML sitemap to help search engines crawl and index pages.

Find tools and learn how to fix these issues to prepare your website for traffic and growth in CXL’s article on technical SEO .

7. Collaborate to develop initial messaging

Develop your product messaging in the pre-launch phase, but be prepared to adapt it as you collect customer feedback during and post-launch.

Morgan Molnar, Director of Product Marketing at Momentive , shares a template for developing initial product messaging in her CXL course on product launches .

Use this template to write a short description of your product. Detail key value propositions and the features that deliver them.

Share your product messaging with other teams across marketing, sales, product development, and customer success to gather important feedback.

For example, sales representatives may be able to identify common phrases or language your target audience uses to describe their pain points.

8. Test your message before it gets to your customers

Use message testing products like Wynter to understand how your customers see your product and messaging before bringing the product to market.

Build your target audience using Wynter’s proprietary B2B panel, set up the test creative (e.g., your new landing page), and customize your test questions.

Use this feedback to amend your product messaging where appropriate, and run a second test to validate changes.

9. Create shareable pre-launch content to generate hype

Prepare for launch day by creating shareable content. This will help generate discussion around your new product.

The more people you have sharing and interacting with your product, the more likely it is to land in front of people who need it and want to buy it.

For example, Rand Fishkin, co-founder at SparkToro , created pre-launch content detailing their funding journey.

Marker.io also launched in public, transparently narrating the entire process along the way. Hotjar describes Marker.io’s launch in their case study :

“Gary Gaspar and his team launched Marker.io , a visual communication tool, back in 2015. Being featured on Product Hunt within a month made them think they had ‘arrived’, but they were far from it: they attracted about 20 upvotes and 2 comments (…one of which was Gary’s). For the second Product Hunt launch, the team worked relentlessly. They made a very detailed action plan, sharpened their product visuals and copy, built shareable documentation that included a demo video—and only then did the hard work pay off: Marker received 600 upvotes and around 3,000 new signups over the course of one month.”

Marker.io even made their Product Hunt launch plan publicly available in a Trello board:

Leading up to your new product launch, focus on creating highly-shareable content like this to build awareness and stimulate conversation.

Launch day: Deploying your new product launch plan

Launch day is all about coordination. Without coordination, your chances of reaching the right audiences (and even virality) are lower.

Enable sales and marketing teams to spread the word about your new product, and have a clear plan for doing this.

Advocates and influencers should be prepared to push your message to their own audiences to further your impact.

All parties must understand how the product works, where it brings value to your audience, and why competitors’ customers should second-guess their choice. Luckily, you’ve covered this in pre-launch.

Here’s how to bring everything together on launch day.

10. Develop a coordinated plan of attack

Coordinate sales and marketing teams to have the right activities ready to go at the right time:

Who is available to book product demo meetings?
Will you be running live streams, webinars, giveaways, etc.? Who owns these tasks, and when and how will they take place?
What emails will you send? How will they be scheduled? Who’ll be responsible for handling responses, and what kind of responses can you anticipate?
If you have a sales team, who is making phone calls? To whom? When?
Who is responsible for inbound calls?

Prepare your teams by having step-by-step plays ready to go (when X happens, we do Y). You won’t anticipate every customer challenge, but you can help your team operate autonomously by preparing as much as you can.

Leaders (particularly those with established audiences), should also be prepared to push the message out and engage with the community.

Let’s revisit Rand Fishkin.

On launch day, Fishkin engaged consistently with his Twitter audience, answering questions, demonstrating use cases, and helping the community get the most out of SparkToro.

Use your collaborative work platform to organize your plan so everyone knows where they’re meant to be and what they should be doing on launch day.

11. Share relevant content across your primary channels

Share a formal product announcement message along with other communications on launch day.

You’ve determined which channels you’ll rely most heavily on during the pre-launch phase; now’s the time to act on that plan:

Roll out new product landing pages;
Publish and share new blog posts and how-to articles;
Schedule social media posts throughout the day that promote your product’s value props;
Encourage discussions with your audience when they engage with your content;
Coordinate media and PR releases to drop on the same day and link back to your main launch platform (such as the new product landing page).

The best way to communicate your new product launch is to show potential customers exactly how your product is going to solve their problem.

Take CRM platform monday.com .

When they released their new product workdocs (a collaborative document editor similar to Google Docs), monday.com used a short, informative video to demonstrate the product’s value and key competitive differentiators.

The video featured a face-to-face comparison with existing word document editors demonstrating workdocs’ speed and collaboration abilities, showing their audience exactly why they should choose workdocs over a competitor product.

12. Galvanize your advocates for sharing launch-day content

Leverage any influencers you have a relationship with—without “buying” them.

Ensure that your influencer partner sincerely backs what you’re selling and that it’s helpful to their audience.

Engage your advocates to upvote your new product on Product Hunt , and to share content on relevant social media platforms.

To maximize engagement (and to allow influencers to retain authenticity), have advocates publish unique content rather than simply retweeting your existing posts.

Take Ashley R. Cummings , freelance writer, and SparkToro advocate.

Rather than simply retweeting one of Fishkin’s product videos Cummings shares a quick tip on using SparkToro to find interview sources.

Fishkin then leverages this user-generated content by sharing this insight and product advocacy with his own audience.

13. Use a referral program to turn your customers into advocates

Referral schemes are an important part of long-term product marketing strategy , generating a near-passive stream for customer acquisition.

Take Airtable, a low-code platform for building collaborative apps.

Airtable encourages users to invite their network by offering $10 worth of credits for each person invited.

Use a compelling referral offer to grow your customer base quickly at launch.

For example, you could offer a “first month free” initiative for both the inviter and invitee. Offer this incentive for a limited time to boost initial launch sign-ups before reverting to your long-term referral scheme offer.

Post-launch: Conducting a post-mortem

Focus areas for the post-launch phase are retention of your new, hard-won customers, and KPI tracking. Consider:

How do we retain the customers we’ve attracted at launch? How can we convert trial users into paid ones? What tactics do we have in play to upsell and increase customer lifetime value (CLV) ?
What KPIs are we tracking? How does our performance stack up against expectations? What are the underlying causes behind low performance (if applicable), and what will we do about it?
What lessons can we learn from this experience to apply to future product launches? What insights have we gained that might apply to product development in the next life cycle ?

The launch isn’t over at midnight on launch day. Here’s what to do next.

14. Execute your customer retention strategy

Your product launch tactics were successful. You’ve attracted a group of prospects and converted them into users.

Now it’s time to keep them from switching to the competition.

Use customer-facing webinars to show existing customers how to get the most out of your product and to demonstrate specific applications.
Leverage email marketing campaigns to introduce users to product features step-by-step.
Send out product updates when resolving bugs or adding new features.
Encourage customers to follow your social media pages, and post insightful, shareable guides to using your product in a real-life context.

Make your customer retention strategy a two-way conversation by encouraging customers to give feedback on your product. Ask those who switched from a competitor what drove them to leave.

Alex Turnbull of GrooveHQ shares a simple email template for capturing customer feedback .

Analyze customer service data and support logs to identify areas of friction. Review email performance to understand what actions take place (or don’t) when you send out retention-focused emails.

15. Conduct a post-mortem and analyze results

Start by evaluating your performance on metrics that measure the success of your product launch. Track metrics like:

Content engagement metrics such as time on page, bounce rate, and page views;
Click-through rates for ads and organic content;
Volume-based KPIs like the number of new trials, new customers, referrals, sales qualified leads;
Total revenue from customers acquired through online marketing;
Cost Per Lead segmented by acquisition channel, and;
Average Customer Value .

Compare your actual metrics against your forecasts and goals, and ask:

Which goals did we achieve?
Which goals did we not achieve?
In either case, why?

Try not to make assumptions about the reasons behind meeting (or not meeting) your goals.

Engage with your customers (and non-customers) to understand how your marketing efforts impacted performance against benchmarks.

If you hit your goal for sales qualified leads, but fell short of the KPI for the number of new customers, this may indicate a breakdown somewhere in the sales process.

Analyze sales pipeline data to understand drop-off rates at each stage. Meet with sales reps to find out how customers respond to your messaging and word tracks. Set up interviews with missed opportunities, and ask them why they chose not to sign up.

16. Share key learnings with internal departments

Don’t make the mistake of keeping your post-mortem insights to yourself. Sales, marketing, product, and customer success teams can all learn from your findings. They may be able to provide additional insights into what worked and what didn’t.

Use these questions to deconstruct the results of your new product launch marketing plan, and share your answers with all relevant departments:

What lessons can go toward the next product launch?
What could sales have communicated better?
What new issues are being presented to the support team?
What assets could optimize your marketing campaigns?
What demos could ease customers into the new product?
What does our product usage data tell us about the usefulness of the new product?

Post-launch insights can also prove invaluable for informing the product roadmap, so make sure to share key learnings with the product team as well.

Take Wonderflow, a voice of customer analytics company.

Wonderflow was working with a client who produced an innovative new baby monitor. Unfortunately, the product launch didn’t go as planned, and the client wasn’t gaining a lot of traction.

The post-launch feedback analysis identified the problem: the monitor remained silent if there was nothing to report, but parents wanted a regular update, problem or not.

The product team used this feedback to change the monitor’s update sequence, the product marketing team adjusted their messaging and marketing collateral, and sales communicated the updated feature to prospects.

Conclusion

New product launches are a core aspect of product marketing. They require careful collaboration and coordination of sales, marketing, product, and customer success teams to execute effectively.

The majority of your new product launch plan activities take place pre-launch, but don’t discount the importance of a post-launch analysis of your new product’s impact, and subsequent changes to your product marketing strategy. Master new product launch planning to start getting revenue out the gate with CXL’s Product Marketing Minidegree .

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How To Plan A Successful New Product Launch

A successful new product launch is vital for any business. Below we have looked at some of the key areas to consider when developing a strategy for a successful product launch.

From understanding your value proposition and identifying key differentiators between your offering and competitors’, to crafting compelling messages around the benefits of using your product – these elements play an essential role in setting you apart from the competition.

Furthermore, we will discuss how target market identification through social listening can provide valuable insights for informed decision-making during the launch phase. Furthermore, we’ll delve into the importance of having a planned out approach with achievable objectives in place for when you introduce your product.

The importance of pre-launch activities such as beta testing or focus groups cannot be overstated; hence we will explore their significance in refining your final product before its official release. Finally, leveraging social media campaigns alongside pre-order strategies can generate buzz around your new product launch while measuring success through key performance indicators (KPIs) helps inform future marketing efforts.

Engaging Beta Testers or Focus Groups for Unbiased Opinions

Implementing changes based on constructive criticism received, creating landing pages & capturing leads, crafting engaging social media campaigns to generate buzz, offering incentives such as limited-time offers or bonuses for early adopters, establishing clear communication channels across teams, conducting regular progress updates and meetings, measuring success through key performance indicators (kpis), developing relatable stories showcasing real-life benefits of using your product, incorporating storytelling elements in promotional materials, contingency planning for potential risks, how to write content for a new product launch, what to research when launching a new product, what is a new product launch summary, what are some recently launched products, understanding your value proposition.

In order to have a successful launch, it is essential to comprehend the value your product provides. This includes identifying the unique selling points of your offering and how it solves specific problems for customers in ways that competitors cannot match. By doing so, you can craft a compelling message around the benefits of using your product.

Analyze what sets your product apart from others in the market by examining features, pricing, quality, or customer service aspects. Creating a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) helps differentiate yourself from competitors while attracting potential buyers.

Focusing on real-life examples showcasing how users benefit from utilizing your solution.
Incorporating testimonials or case studies to provide social proof.
Employing clear language and visuals to convey complex ideas simply and effectively.

On launch day, it’s important to have a solid product launch strategy in place. This includes having launch leaders who are responsible for executing the plan and ensuring everything runs smoothly.

You need to know your target audience. You need to know what messaging resonants with them and where they spend their time so you can get your message in front of them,

Don’t forget to mark your launch date on your calendar and celebrate your achievements.

By understanding your value proposition, you can ensure that the product launch resonates with your target audience. To effectively reach and engage potential customers, it is important to identify who they are through social listening.

Target Market Identification through Social Listening

Gaining insights into potential customers’ needs and preferences is vital when launching a new product. Utilize social listening tools to identify trends, pain points, and opportunities within target markets to tailor marketing efforts accordingly.

Monitor social media platforms, forums, and blogs for discussions relevant to your product’s industry or niche. Analyze these conversations for common themes that can inform your product launch strategy, such as customer pain points or unmet needs in the market.

Use the information gathered from social listening to make data-driven decisions about your target audience, messaging, and promotional tactics. For example, if you find that users frequently complain about a competitor’s lack of customer support on Twitter, consider emphasizing your superior support services in your marketing materials.

By monitoring online conversations related to their industry or niche, business founders can gain valuable insights that will help inform the decisions they make when launching a new product. Entrepreneurs can increase their prospects of success by establishing a well-thought-out go-to-market plan, allowing them to methodically arrange each phase of the launch.

Developing an Effective Market Strategy

An effective market strategy is crucial for a successful product launch. It helps generate demand while mitigating risks associated with introducing new products to the market. You should consider the following steps:

Defining measurable goals: Set clear objectives for each stage of the launch process, such as generating leads, driving pre-orders, or achieving specific sales targets.
Selecting appropriate marketing channels: Choose the most suitable channels based on your target audience’s preferences and behaviors. This may include social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram or email campaigns targeting existing customers.

Incorporating the chosen marketing channels into your launch plan guarantees that you can reach the intended demographic and attain desired outcomes.

Formulating an efficient go to market approach is critical for a successful product unveiling. To ensure the best possible results, it’s important to thoroughly test your product before launch.

Product Testing Before Official Release

Conducting thorough product testing before officially releasing any new products is crucial to ensure a successful product launch. By gathering feedback from early adopters, you can gain valuable input regarding real-world usage experiences and make necessary improvements prior to widespread availability.

To obtain unbiased opinions on your product, consider engaging beta testers or focus groups. These individuals will provide honest feedback about the functionality, usability, and overall experience of using your offering. This invaluable information allows you to address potential issues before they become larger problems upon release.

Incorporate the constructive criticism received during the testing phase into your final product development process. This may involve making adjustments to features, design elements, or even pricing strategies based on user feedback. Ultimately, by taking user feedback into account and making necessary adjustments to features, design elements or pricing strategies, a more polished product that caters to the desired demographic can be achieved.

Verifying your product prior to its public launch is critical for guaranteeing it meets user needs and lacks any major issues. Additionally, creating a landing page with lead magnets will help you capture leads prior to the launch date.

To ensure a successful product launch, it is essential to create landing pages specifically designed for your upcoming products. These pages not only capture leads but also provide exciting information about the innovations being launched soon, helping build anticipation among prospective buyers.

Designing visually appealing landing pages with clear calls-to-action (CTAs): A well designed page will engage visitors and encourage them to take action. This could include signing up for updates or pre-ordering the product. Make sure your CTAs are clear, stand out and easy to understand.
Employing lead magnets such as exclusive content or discounts for pre-orders: Offering incentives like these can entice potential customers to share their contact information in exchange for valuable resources related to your new offering. This helps you grow your email list while simultaneously generating interest in the upcoming launch.

Incorporating these strategies into your product launch plan will help you effectively reach and engage with your target audience on social media platforms before the official release date arrives.

Creating landing pages and capturing leads is an essential part of any successful new product launch. Maximizing revenue can be achieved by taking advantage of the hype generated from your promotional effort through tactics such as social media marketing and pre-ordering.

Leveraging Social Media & Pre-Order Strategies

Utilize social media to amplify awareness around new products by tapping into existing networks of potential customers. Implement pre-order strategies that create urgency among prospective buyers while providing them with exclusive access once the item becomes officially available.

Create eye-catching visuals and shareable content related to your product launch.
Collaborate with influencers or industry experts who can endorse your offering and expand its reach.
Track social media chatter, converse with consumers and respond to any queries or apprehensions they have about the item.
Promote a limited-time discount for those who pre-order before the official launch date, creating a sense of urgency among potential buyers.
Incorporate bonuses like free shipping, additional features, or complementary products exclusively for early adopters – this adds value and encourages people to place their orders sooner rather than later.

Creating anticipation for your product launch through social media and pre-order strategies can be a great way to generate excitement. To ensure successful coordination across teams, it is important to establish clear communication channels and conduct regular progress updates.

Internal Communication and Coordination

Seamless coordination between different departments is essential during product launches. Ensure everyone within the company stays informed throughout each stage of development, fostering collaboration and preventing miscommunication. This can be achieved through:

Create a centralized platform for sharing updates, discussing ideas, and addressing concerns among team members involved in the launch process. Tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams can facilitate real-time conversations while keeping all relevant information organized.

Schedule regular meetings, both virtual and in-person if possible, to ensure that every department is on track with their respective tasks related to the product launch. Check-ins should be performed to identify any potential roadblocks in advance and take measures accordingly.

Ensuring that communication and coordination within the organization are lucid and efficient is a must for achieving an effective product launch. Utilizing KPIs to assess the success of a product launch can provide useful data-driven insights, which may be utilized for upcoming promotional endeavors.

To determine the success of your product launch, it’s essential to set and track relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) . These benchmarks reflect how well your product was received among your target audience and can help you improve upon initial offerings. By analyzing data-driven insights, you’ll be better equipped to inform future marketing efforts.

Identifying relevant KPIs for evaluating performance post-launch: Some common KPIs include website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement, and sales figures. Choose metrics that align with your business goals and accurately measure the impact of your launch strategy.
Analyzing data-driven insights to inform future marketing efforts: Use tools like Google Analytics or other specialized software to collect and analyze data from various sources such as web analytics, email campaigns, or customer feedback surveys. This information will help identify areas for improvement in both product development and promotional activities.

Measuring success through KPIs is an essential step in evaluating the performance of a new product launch. By building a compelling product story, businesses can ensure that their products stand out and are more likely to be successful.

Building a Compelling Product Story

A successful product launch requires crafting an emotional connection between consumers and your offering. This can be achieved by creating a compelling narrative that resonates with target audiences, leading to increased engagement levels across various marketing channels during the launch process.

To create a captivating story, focus on showcasing how your product solves real-life problems for customers. For instance, if you are introducing a fresh fitness application, illustrate tales of triumph from people who have accomplished their ambitions with the help of the app. You can also use customer testimonials or case studies as powerful storytelling tools.

Beyond just sharing user experiences, incorporate storytelling elements into all promotional materials such as blog posts, social media updates, and email campaigns. Use visuals like infographics or videos to further enhance the message and make it more engaging for readers. Additionally, consider partnering with influencers within your industry who can help amplify your product’s story through their own unique perspectives.

“Creating a compelling product story is an essential part of launching a successful new product. By carefully crafting stories that connect with potential customers, businesses can build trust and establish their brand in the market.” To ensure success during launch, it’s important to plan for any risks or obstacles that may arise by creating contingency plans beforehand.

Develop contingency plans addressing risks associated with product launches, demonstrating adaptability and resilience when facing unforeseen challenges head-on – traits valued highly by customers seeking reliability from brands they support over time.

Identifying possible obstacles during the launch phase: Conduct a thorough risk assessment to pinpoint potential issues that may arise during your product launch. This can include supply chain disruptions, technical glitches, or negative customer feedback.
Creating action plans to mitigate disruptions and maintain momentum: Once you’ve identified potential risks, develop strategies to address them effectively. For example, establish backup suppliers in case of delivery delays or create alternative marketing materials if initial campaigns don’t resonate with your target audience.

Incorporating contingency planning into your overall product launch strategy not only helps safeguard against unexpected setbacks but also demonstrates a proactive approach towards problem-solving. By being prepared for various scenarios, you’ll be better equipped to navigate any hurdles encountered along the way and ultimately achieve a successful product launch. This is especially important for launch leaders who want to ensure a successful product launch strategy .

FAQs in Relation to New Product Launch

When writing content for a new product launch, it’s important to understand your value proposition and target audience. Craft compelling messages that highlight the benefits of using your product, incorporate storytelling elements, and use data-driven insights to inform your strategy. Choose appropriate marketing channels based on audience preferences and create visually appealing landing pages with clear calls-to-action.

Research for a new product launch should include identifying key differentiators between your offering and competitors’, analyzing online conversations related to your industry or niche, understanding target market preferences, selecting appropriate marketing channels, engaging beta testers or focus groups for unbiased opinions, and measuring success through relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

A new product launch summary is an overview of the strategies used in introducing a novel offering into the market . It typically includes information about the value proposition, target market identification through social listening tools like Brandwatch , go-to-market strategy development process, and contingency planning for potential risks.

Newly launched products vary across industries; however, notable examples include Apple’s iPhone 13 , Tesla’s Cybertruck, Google’s Pixel 6 smartphone , and Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 foldable device. Keep in mind that new products are constantly being introduced, so it’s essential to stay updated on industry news and trends.

If you need help planning your product launch please contact us for more details.

Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you r business.

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5 Contingency Plans to Overcome B2B Marketing Production Challenges

By Jenni Schreiber

Feb 04, 2020

Microsoft founder Bill Gates once said: “It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” This, too, applies to B2B content marketing.

Lessons learned from bumps in the road during the production of B2B marketing collateral should be seen as opportunities to strengthen and improve your company’s content planning and production process.

Senior Director of Strategic Account Management Kerri Vardon (pictured above) is one of several TSL Marketing project leads serving on the front lines of our clients’ B2B marketing content creation. Her duties range from overseeing budgets to leading client-facing meetings, but just as important is her editorial planning role.

Below, we’ve presented Kerri with 5 B2B content production process risks and scenarios and put her quick-thinking and problem-solving capabilities to the test. Her suggested recovery strategies can benefit both internal marketing departments that handle stakeholders’ projects and outsourced marketing agencies that work for B2B clients.

Scenario 1: Content Marketing Strategy Redirection

How often does this happen in B2B marketing?

Kerri : A lot. People change their minds, especially those overseeing marketing efforts. We must learn to evolve with the needs and wants of our stakeholders.

What problems does this cause?

Kerri: This is a bump, but a small one.

What action should the marketing team take?

Kerri: As Vanilla Ice says, we need to “Stop, collaborate, and listen.”

STOP – Bring the current project to a halt until more clarity is given.

COLLABORATE – Set up a call with the stakeholders to figure out the business driver for the change in scope. Ensure everyone is in agreement on the best path forward.

LISTEN – Consult your production team to find out what’s been completed in the current project and what (if anything) can be used as a springboard into the new microsite. Then work to scope out the rest of the microsite, review production members’ schedules, and set new expectations on timeline and deliverables.

Can you provide some preventive steps?

Kerri: It’s important the stakeholders understand the exact content piece they contracted us to execute and how it fits within their overall B2B digital marketing strategy. If that part isn’t clear, there may be some uncertainty with the marketing approach.

The TSL Marketing approach:

Kerri: The more TSL understands about what you’re trying to achieve, the better our strategy team can guide you in the direction of the tactic that will serve your purpose the best.

Scenario 2: Project Timeline Troubleshooting

A copywriter has fallen ill and your stakeholder is expecting a draft of a long-form blog post in a week. The deadline is firm because the blog coincides with and will link to an upcoming webinar.

Kerri: People get sick. That’s life!

What problems does this cause?

Kerri: Nothing big. The stakeholder has done us a solid by communicating their firm deadline with enough notice for us to be able to pull an audible here.

Kerri: First, check if an alternate production team resource has availability at the ready. Work with the team to see which current projects (if any) have more flexible deadlines in an effort to accommodate this firm deadline.

Kerri: Ensure all resources (hard copies and verbal stakeholder requests) are available to the team. As a precursor to this blog project, arrange a copy intake call with an SME.

Copy intake calls are always recorded so the assigned copywriter (or a fill-in copywriter, in this case) can replay the call in fire drill situations such as this.

Scenario 3: Product Image Accuracy

Kerri: Infrequently, but it can still happen from time to time.

Kerri: None.

Kerri: The Project Manager should reach out to the stakeholder for the correct file, and guidance should be given to the designer to deliver the design as-is to the developer. The developer can go forward with creating the page and then easily replace the image once the correct file is received.

Kerri: Look at your client-provided assets and resources prior to the start of a project. Take stock in what you’ve been given so there is time to ask for what you’re still missing without creating a major time crunch or production delay.

There are other tasks related to the creation of this web page that the developer can start on that are not dependent on this image file. Let’s make the best use of time!

Scenario 4: Marketing Collateral Redesign

A key stakeholder has just returned from a week-long vacation, during which time an eBook was created detailing one of his company’s MSP services. The eBook has been developed and is set to be released tomorrow through an email campaign workflow. But upon his return, the key stakeholder has requested several copy and design edits.

Kerri: More often than marketers would like.

Kerri: This scenario is a bit more challenging because we now need to rally a copywriter, designer, proofreader, and strategist to process through the edits that the key stakeholder wants to see. This involves juggling multiple schedules to accommodate these last-minute (and probably out-of-scope) changes.

Kerri: Set up a call with the key stakeholder and request they come prepared with all requested edits in one document. In prep for this call, the Project Manager should have checked the availability of the team’s resources to action these requested edits. The PM should communicate if the additional round of edits will have any effect on the email workflow launch to properly set expectations.

Kerri: Ensure all key stakeholders and/or channel partners are a part of the approval process for both the copy and design phases of the project. Also align project timelines to take out-of-office time and buffer days into account.

Upon adjusting the production team’s schedules, we would set up a quick internal call for the copywriter, designer, proofreader, and strategist to communicate what needs to happen and when.

Since one task is dependent on the other in this situation, taking time to circle up for 5 minutes as a team will ensure everyone knows which task is next for this round of edits.

Scenario 5: Valid Website Credentials

Kerri: Not too often for TSL’s clients, as we normally ask for these credentials at the onset of a project.

Kerri: A delay in execution that is dependent on client response for us to continue.

Kerri: Have the developer shift focus to another project to allow the Project Manager time to reach out to the stakeholder for the new creds. This could be a turnaround of minutes or days.

Kerri: Get all website login credentials, as well as any file-sharing platform permissions, at the beginning. Save in a secure place.

Ideally, the TSL team has a login or username unique to our efforts so any one-off user password changes do not affect our work.

Final Thoughts: Editorial Planning Risk Mitigation

There are many more things that can go wrong outside of what is listed above. Try to mitigate risks before they become issues and put contingency plans in place as soon as possible.

Allot time in the schedule for the unknown. Keep the communication lines open so that issues are identified and addressed quickly.

Most importantly, take note of issues faced during content production and review them with your team at the end of the project. These lessons learned can ultimately improve and streamline your company’s content production processes.

While TSL Marketing specializes in providing start-to-finish B2B digital content creation services , we’ve also been brought in during various stages of our clients’ own projects to troubleshoot or fill skills gaps in their workflow.

Our Customer Experience team members and strategic account managers can act as problem-solvers for your most-pressing B2B marketing content creation issues. Find out how we can help you.

Tags: design , customer experience , content marketing , marketing , digital marketing , advertising , marketing methods , website strategy , Digital Strategy , digital campaign management

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FDA Plans to Launch Updated Submission Portal for New Tobacco Product Applications in 2025

Beginning 7/16, public may provide comments until 9/16

July 15, 2024

Today, FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) issued two notices in the Federal Register regarding its intention to launch CTP Portal Next Generation – an improved web portal for the submission of applications for certain new tobacco products – next year. The improvements are intended to:

Streamline electronic submission into one system for substantial equivalence (SE) reports and premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs), amendments to previous submissions, and submission of general correspondence;
Introduce a more efficient submission process by eliminating the need for multiple tools, including combining PDF-editing software, FDA’s eSubmitter Desktop Tool, and FDA’s CTP Portal Web application in one place;
Provide tools to expedite data entry, guide applicants to relevant sections, and verify that all required data have been provided by the applicant.

No action is needed from current users of any CTP systems regarding these planned improvements. Existing CTP Portal accounts, along with any pending or in-process applications, will be automatically migrated to the new CTP Portal Next Generation. CTP is committed to ensuring a smooth transition to CTP Portal Next Generation and will provide additional communication and support leading up to the change, including resources on how to use the new system.

As part of the submission process for SE reports and PMTAs in the CTP Portal Next Generation, applicants will be required to input certain information on applicable forms. Accordingly, the two Federal Register notices announced today – one for SE and one for PMTAs – are seeking comments from the public on the input of that information. Beginning July 16, the public comment period will be open through September 16 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Drafts of the updated forms and screenshots of the new system can be viewed in the docket for these notices.

To learn more and comment on “ Substantial Equivalence Reports,” visit the docket .

To learn more and comment on “ Premarket Tobacco Product Applications and Recordkeeping Requirements,” visit the docket .

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CNN Plans Launch of Digital Subscription Product by End of 2024 Amid Newsroom Layoffs

By Brian Steinberg

Brian Steinberg

Senior TV Editor

WPP’s GroupM Names Brian Lesser Global CEO 7 hours ago
Joe Scarborough ‘Very Surprised, Very Disappointed’ by MSNBC’s Decision to Push ‘Morning Joe’ After Assassination Attempt 1 day ago
Trump Attack Sends TV News Anchors Scrambling to Cover RNC, Preparing for ‘Animosity Toward the Press’ 2 days ago

CNN is finally gearing up to compete more aggressively in the digital future, where rivals have already staked out ground.

The Warner Bros. Discovery -backed news outlet will launch a new subscription product on CNN.com before the end of the year, according to a new memo from CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson , and debut two new free ad-supported digital offerings, one based on CNN’s original series and productions, and another based on its Spanish-language service. The moves come amid an overhaul of CNN’s newsroom that will result in the elimination of 100 positions.

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Based in Orlando, FL, the Launch Coordinator position will be part of the Launch Readiness team in the Digital and Technology organization. This team is responsible for the successful launch of large-scale initiatives across the DX TD organization and identifying opportunities to improves included systems before subsequent launches. The launches will focus on Guest-facing applications in the DX line of business including Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and all online DX experiences. This team focuses on documenting the steps and cadence required for successful launches, documenting issues and defects identified during launch, and identifying potential system enhancements that are robust, sustainable, and reduce potential Guest issues for future launches. Reporting to the Manager, Launch Readiness, this role collaborates with cross-functional teams to deliver solutions across various web and mobile technologies. The Launch Coordinator ensures on-time and on-schedule delivery working closely with Product, Technology, and Design. This role requires strong financial and business acumen.

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Project Estimation

Facilitate scope definition, and high-level planning, discovery, and estimation workshops for projects with cross-functional teams
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Create scope definition and drive planning, discovery, and estimation work
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Document learnings from the launch, including updated steps/timings, process gaps, and additional key contacts
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System Improvements

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Provide input into documentation and planning for system improvement opportunities
Assis with leveraging appropriate SRE teams to enact needed changes as engineering improvement opportunities arise
Ensure needed system monitoring is in place and able to drive improved availability with early alerting and self-healing capabilities
Focus on high availability, high performance, capacity planning and seamless changes for targeted systems

What you will need:

3 years of relevant work experience in product delivery, launch readiness, or project management with a focus on technology-based launches/deliveries
Exceptional verbal and written communication and leadership skills, including an ability to communicate effectively at an executive level
Ability to work collaboratively across large matrixed organizations
Possesses significant practical experience in the basics of project management and launch readiness (estimation, planning, runbook creation, issue management, risk management, change management, communication planning).
Experienced in multiple full lifecycle software deliveries from business development to final software acceptance.
Experience with Agile software development methodology
Proven accomplishment as a driver of multiple projects running concurrently
Proven track record managing individual project budgets and budget roll-up of multiple projects
Ability to lead teams to a successful delivery approach
Able to work under tight timetables and high-pressure situations
Proactive and solution-oriented when managing issues
Capable of coaching/mentoring and conflict management/negotiations
Exhibit good judgment skills on when to seek guidance and when to escalate risks and issues

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Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience

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About Disney Experiences:

Disney Experiences brings the magic of Disney stories and franchises to life through theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, unique vacation experiences, products and more around the world. Disney shines in the travel industry with six resort destinations in the United States, Europe and Asia; a top-rated cruise line; a popular vacation ownership program; and an award-winning guided family adventure business. Plus, Disney's global consumer products operations include the world's leading licensing business; the world's largest children's publishing brands; one of the world's largest licensors of games across all platforms; and Disney store locations around the world and on the web.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Experiences. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

This position is with Walt Disney Attractions Technology LLC , which is part of a business we call Disney Experiences .

Walt Disney Attractions Technology LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

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Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end

Paying for CNN is not something people are used to.

Let me rephrase that: Directly paying for CNN is not something people are used to. For decades, an overwhelming majority of American households paid for cable or satellite service, and an opaque slice of that monthly charge — around $1 or so — found its way to Turner, Time Warner, AOL Time Warner, AT&T, Warner Bros. Discovery, or whatever other corporate daddy ran the place at the time.

That was only one slice of the revenue pie, of course — add in advertising, licensing, international, and so on — but it was the most reliable piece, the one that felt like a tax on modern American existence. It all added up to a really good business — one that threw off a little over $5.2 billion in profits in the 2010s.

But that revenue line is evaporating, quickly. The number of U.S. cable subscribers has fallen from 98.7 million in 2016 to 58 million in 2023 , with projections — optimistic ones, arguably — putting that number at 40 million by 2028. That’s a lot of monthly $1 charges gone. Add in a steep ratings decline (and an accompanying ad collapse ) and the future looks very fuzzy.

Mark Thompson, the CNN chief executive appointed last year to modernize the news network, unveiled a set of sweeping changes to the iconic outlet Wednesday, announcing plans to build a billion-dollar digital business, experiment with artificial intelligence and overhaul key newsroom structures. The far-reaching measures, which Thompson described to staffers in a memo as a “key milestone in the transformation of CNN,” will result in about 100 employees, or about three percent of the workforce, being laid off. Those employees, Thompson said, will be eligible for severance packages. Since his appointment last year, Thompson has been candid about the challenges facing CNN, stressing to staffers that swift and dramatic steps are necessary to reorient the television-focused news organization for a digital future.

You can read all of Thompson’s memo here . Much of what he outlines — unifying distinct news operations, streamlining planning processes, becoming more multiplatform — seems thoroughly reasonable, if at times painful. (The changes will lead to the elimination of roughly 100 jobs .) But most interesting is the plan for “BUILDING A BILLION DOLLAR PLUS DIGITAL BUSINESS” via new subscription products. Here’s Thompson (emphasis his):

CNN is already the largest branded digital news destination in the world. As well as amazing reach, we have many millions of deeply engaged loyal users. We plan to take the journalistic firepower, user-experience and commercial potential of CNN Digital to the next level with strategic commitment, significant fresh investment, an injection of specialist expertise and plenty of creativity and experimentation. We will develop new digital products with a special focus on digital experiences worth paying for. First, we will create best-in-class, subscription-ready products that will provide need-to-know news, analysis and context in compelling new formats and experiences, starting with CNN.com’s first subscription product launching before the end of 2024. We want to build on CNN.com’s reach with a new focus on engagement and frequency — how long our users spend with us and how often they return — by improving the quality of the product experience and giving users powerful reasons to come back to us more often.

But I don’t think it’s wrong to be skeptical, at least initially, about the prospects of a CNN.com subscription product. (And the others that will presumably follow this one — once a bundler, always a bundler.) Yes, CNN.com reaches a huge audience; by some measures , it’s the most popular news site in the world. But are those readers committed enough to the CNN brand to convert to monthly paying subscribers?

Second, the boom times for digital news subscriptions seem to be, if not over, ebbing. The Times has established itself as the space’s American winner; it is to general-interest digital news subs what Amazon is to online retail or Google is to search, a massive gravitational force that makes being No. 2 a lot like being No. 10. Look at the Post, a paper that has managed to lose half its digital audience and whose digital subscriber count peaked in January 2021 . Look at Gannett, whose digital subs count peaked a year ago and has been flat-to-down since. Or look at this year’s Digital News Report , which showed the share of people who say they pay for digital news flat for the past three years. Is the CNN digital brand — as huge as it is — distinctive enough to get people to add another subscription to their credit cards?

Finally, CNN has been down this road before. Remember 2017 , the last time CNN was going to build a “BILLION DOLLAR PLUS DIGITAL BUSINESS” via CNN.com subscription products?

After investing in digital “verticals,” or distinct web brands, focused on business and politics and acquiring an online-video startup, CNN is gearing up for another big step: the launch of tiered subscription offerings for its digital news business as early as the second quarter of next year. A proposed premium offering will give subscribers access to special content on topic-specific verticals, such as CNN Money and CNN Politics, built around network personalities. A second option will provide additional, though less specialized, content across all of CNN’s sites. Pricing hasn’t been finalized. The move is part of a broader five-year plan to develop new revenue streams and reach $1 billion in digital revenue by 2022…“We have to find more subscription products,” Mr. Zucker said in an interview.

Those products never reached the market — even though 2017 was a significantly more opportune moment than now. I suspect that’s because testing found limited demand for those personality-driven verticals. (Also, remember NewsCo ?)

CNN journalists do a lot of great work, and I wish these efforts well. But my strong suspicion is that the drivers of cable news success, of free web success, and digital subscription success are too distinct from one another for CNN’s brand to carry over at scale.

Photo of Mark Thompson by Art Streiber/CNN.

Cite this article Hide citations

Benton, Joshua. "Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end." Nieman Journalism Lab . Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 10 Jul. 2024. Web. 11 Jul. 2024.

Benton, J. (2024, Jul. 10). Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end. Nieman Journalism Lab . Retrieved July 11, 2024, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/07/are-you-willing-to-pay-for-cnn-com-prepare-to-be-asked-before-years-end/

Benton, Joshua. "Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end." Nieman Journalism Lab . Last modified July 10, 2024. Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/07/are-you-willing-to-pay-for-cnn-com-prepare-to-be-asked-before-years-end/.

{{cite web | url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/07/are-you-willing-to-pay-for-cnn-com-prepare-to-be-asked-before-years-end/ | title = Are you willing to pay for CNN.com? Prepare to be asked before year’s end | last = Benton | first = Joshua | work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]] | date = 10 July 2024 | accessdate = 11 July 2024 | ref = {{harvid|Benton|2024}} }}

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Government of Canada’s New Canada Green Buildings Strategy: A Plan to Help Canadians Save Money on Their Energy Bills

From: Natural Resources Canada

News release

July 16, 2024 Ottawa, Ontario Natural Resources Canada

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, released Canada’s first Green Buildings Strategy — a strategy focused on saving Canadians money on their energy bills, creating good jobs, seizing the economic opportunities enabled by the low-carbon economy, all while reducing harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The Canada Green Buildings Strategy (CGBS) will drive energy efficiency improvements in Canadians’ homes and buildings, with a key focus on addressing affordability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions associated with heating and cooling are the cause of buildings being Canada’s third-largest emitting sector (after oil and gas and transportation). Buildings are a challenging sector to decarbonize because to succeed, collaboration is needed between the federal government, provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities. We need to take action to retrofit and upgrade the 16 million homes and half a million other buildings standing in Canada today, most of which will still be standing in 2050. And we need new builds to be built more energy-efficient from the onset, especially as Canada rapidly aims to build more homes to address the housing crisis and drive down the cost of housing across the country.

The CGBS aims to:

Accelerate retrofits of existing buildings;
Ensure we are building energy-efficient, climate-resilient and affordable buildings from the start; and
Seize the economic opportunities associated with more efficient and lower carbon building materials and technologies.

To do this, the Strategy helps Canadians adopt heat pumps and save money on their energy bills through programs targeted at low- and median-income households like the new Canada Greener Homes Affordability program and the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program. It includes a commitment to phase out oil heating in new construction in the coming years, a plan to promote low-carbon building materials and spur job creation, and it ensures energy efficiency is factored into decisions on federal housing funding. The CGBS represents a significant step forward in addressing both affordability and climate change. The Strategy provides a comprehensive framework that will help Canada reach our climate goals, make life more affordable for people, and ensure that the cost of building homes does not rise in the midst of a housing crisis.

Central Elements of the CGBS are:

1. Where we live – residential buildings

As announced in Budget 2024, the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program (CGHAP) is a $800-million retrofit program that will support low-to-median-income Canadians, including renters, to reduce their monthly energy bills by upgrading their homes. Working with delivery partners, the CGHAP will include direct installation delivery, meaning it will be delivered at no cost to the household, and will stack with provincial and territorial programs to support the retrofits. The new program will provide up to four times more than the $5,000 from the Canada Greener Homes Grant.
The Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Grant (OHPA) , was launched in 2022 by the federal government to support low-to-median-income households and to complement existing provincial and territorial programs that help Canadians switch from oil heating to a heat pump. This incentive program is designed to increase the energy efficiency of the home and reduce GHG emissions by providing grants for the installation of heat pumps, saving Canadians money on their heating and cooling bills. When switching to an electric heat pump, households that were fully heating with oil, save from $1,500 to $4,500 per year on their home energy bills.
The Canada Greener Homes Grants program was launched by the federal government in 2021, to support Canadians to retrofit their homes to increase energy efficiency with up to $5,000 in grant funding for eligible investments. The program closed intake in February 2024 to new applicants but has received over 615,000 applications. The program proved very popular, with up to $4–5 million spent each day in support of buildings retrofits and has already led to the purchase and installation of over 149,000 heat pumps (a number which will continue to grow). So far, households are saving an average of nearly $400 per year on their energy bills.
The Canada Greener Homes Loan provides an interest-free loan of up to $40,000 with a repayment term of 10 years, open to all homeowners. Since launch in 2022, $1.23 billion in loan commitments — representing approximately 78,000 loans — have been provided. Approximately 45 percent of the committed loans include the installation of a heat pump.
The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) , administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities , combines funding and capacity building to deliver clear environmental, economic and social impact in Canadian municipalities. GMF’s $300 million initiative helps municipalities deliver energy financing programs for low-rise residential properties.
As announced in Budget 2024, the federal government has committed $30 million to continue developing a National Labelling Approach . The Government of Canada will build on its existing EnerGuide Rating System for homes by working closely with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous communities and other housing sector stakeholders to develop a suite of common labelling standards, tools and guidelines which will support home labelling initiatives across Canada. This National Approach will empower homeowners and prospective home buyers with consistent information about home energy performance, which will support smart decision-making and lower energy bills.
Budget 2024 announced the launch of a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction and upgrading of housing-enabling infrastructure, such as water, wastewater, storm water and solid waste infrastructure to enable new housing supply and help improve densification. Provinces and territories can access this funding if they commit to key actions that increase housing supply, including adopting forthcoming changes to the National Building Code to support more accessible, affordable and climate-friendly housing options.
The Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program (GNPP) explores new ways to decarbonize large clusters of affordable housing. The GNPP pilots the Energiesprong aggregated deep energy retrofit model in Canada. This model, developed by the Netherlands and adopted by the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States, accelerates the pace and scale of retrofits by aggregating similar homes and buildings in an entire neighbourhood to create mass demand for deep energy retrofits — home renovations that cuts a home’s energy usage by at least 50 percent. The large project scale and similarity of buildings permits the use of retrofit approaches such as the use of prefabricated exterior panels to reduce on-site labour, time and overall project costs, while reducing the energy use and emissions from each retrofitted building.
The Canada Greener Affordable Housing Program (CGAH) , administered by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), funds low-interest repayable and forgivable loans to help affordable housing providers complete deep energy retrofits on existing multi-unit buildings through both pre-retrofit funding for planning activities as well as capital costs of retrofits.
The Green Construction through Wood (GCWood) Program provides funding for demonstration projects that showcase the innovative use of wood, supports capacity building, research and development, technical guidance and associated code development priorities.
The Affordable Housing Fund is one of the core programs of the National Housing Strategy , which provides capital to partnered organizations for new affordable housing and the renovation and repair of existing affordable and community housing. Funds are provided as low-interest and/or forgivable loans and contributions. To be eligible, projects must meet the minimum energy and GHG reduction requirements. Under the Fund, Budget 2024 announced $976 million over five years starting in 2024–25 and $24 million in future years to launch a new Rapid Housing Stream under the Fund.
Promoting energy efficiency through the ENERGY STAR and EnerGuide program for products and homes. Canadians can save energy costs by buying ENERGY STAR certified products such as home appliances, which are the same or better than standard products, only they use less energy.
The Government of Canada commits to introducing a regulatory framework that will allow the phase-out of the installation of expensive and polluting oil heating systems in new construction, as early as 2028. This phase-out would include necessary exclusions for regions with insufficient access to the electricity grid and where standby back up heating fuel is required.
Canada’s Energy Efficiency Act (EE Act) provides for the making and enforcement of regulations concerning efficiency standards for energy-using products, as well as the labelling of energy-using products and the collection of data on energy use. Between 2024 and 2026, new amendments to the Energy Efficiency Regulations are planned, which will see the update or addition of energy efficiency or testing standards for a series of energy-using products including air conditioners, heat pumps, gas-fired furnaces (commercial) and storage water heaters, as well as electric and oil-fired water heaters (household).
Through the Codes Acceleration Fund (CAF) , the Government of Canada promotes the adoption and implementation of the highest feasible energy performance tiers of the national model energy codes or other high-performance building codes. The program is providing $100 million in supports to provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous governments and organizations, and other national and non-governmental organizations.
The Local Energy Efficiency Partnerships program accelerates green home construction on a region-by-region basis by helping builders and renovators quickly adopt new innovations, while reducing their costs and risks. LEEP creates skilled, builder, renovator and supply chain networks who enhance local, energy-efficient building practices.
The over $70M per year Energy Innovation Program funds research, development and demonstration projects, and other related scientific activities, targeting the most impactful technologies, including those related to buildings, to maximize environmental and economic outcomes.
NRCan’s CanmetENERGY labs conduct buildings-related R&D to improve building energy systems, develop pathways to carbon-neutral housing and buildings, and advance energy technologies, as well as design and analytical tools to support the reduction of GHG emissions and improved affordability for Canadians.

2. Where we work, study and play – commercial and institutional buildings

The Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program (GICB) , administered by Infrastructure Canada, is a $1.5-billion program that supports green and accessible retrofits, repairs or upgrades of existing public community buildings and the construction of new publicly accessible community buildings that serve high-needs, underserved communities across Canada. For example, just last week the Vancouver Central Library received funding to replace its current cooling systems with new heat pumps and energy recovery equipment to save on operating costs and reduce emissions.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB)’s Building Retrofits Initiative helps to finance the capital costs of publicly and privately owned commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential buildings retrofits, using energy savings, efficiencies and operating cost savings for repayment. The CIB is working with private and public sector real estate owners and other market participants to modernize and improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings by helping to finance capital costs of retrofits and to reduce investment barriers.
The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) , administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities , combines funding and capacity building to deliver clear environmental, economic and social impact in Canadian municipalities. GMF is a $1.65-billion program funded by the Government of Canada and has retrofitted 2,000 larger-scale buildings to date.
The Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative provides funding to organizations (i.e., “retrofit accelerators”) that help building owners in the development of deep retrofits in commercial, institutional and mid- or high-rise multi-unit residential buildings in Canada, and drive market transition in regions across Canada. Retrofits, especially deep retrofits, which dramatically reduce a building’s energy consumption, are complex projects with many moving parts — from project pre-development to financing and project implementation — and involve many players. This complexity generates barriers to deep retrofit projects across Canada, but organizations have been emerging across the country to address these challenges, and the Government of Canada is supporting them.
The ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Platform , administered by Natural Resources Canada, sets an industry standard for benchmarking and comparing energy performance in commercial, institutional and multifamily buildings, helping owners and operators to track and improve energy efficiency across their portfolio of properties. To date, over 42,000 Canadian buildings are in the tool — equivalent to a third of the commercial and institutional building floor space in Canada.

3. Where we lead – federal government buildings

The Greening Government Strategy (GGS) seeks to reduce environmental impacts associated with Government of Canada’s operations to help save taxpayers’ money, including GHG emissions from real property operations and from new government construction projects, enhance climate resiliency of federal government assets, services and activities, support green supply chain markets, and helps Canada meet its net-zero emissions commitments for 2050

The GGS outlines the Government of Canada’s commitment to achieve net-zero emissions in federal real property operations. The GGS commits that new federal buildings are to be net-zero emissions (unless a GHG life-cycle cost analysis indicates net-zero-emissions-ready construction), have a climate change risk assessment and incorporate adaptation measures to reduce significant risks; and major building retrofits are to have a GHG reduction life-cycle cost analysis to determine the optimal GHG savings, and include climate risk assessment and risk reduction measures.

The Government of Canada has recently announced that Crown corporations are now expected to align with the Greening Government Strategy or adopt an equivalent set of commitments in each significant area of their operations, including the commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 and to be climate resilient.
The Greening Government Fund provides project funding to federal government departments and agencies to reduce GHG emissions in their operations. Funding comes from departments and agencies that generate more than one kilotonne of GHG emissions per year from air travel and from departments that are below this threshold that contribute voluntarily.
The Government of Canada implementation of the ‘Buy Clean’ policy approach that leverages federal procurement and investment to promote the use of low or net-zero-carbon construction materials and designs by factoring in embodied carbon or carbon associated with all phases of a product’s life. This will be done through commitments to (1) reduce embodied carbon in Government of Canada infrastructure procurement (via the Greening Government Strategy ), (2) reduce embodied carbon in federal investments in public infrastructure assets, (3) support broader buildings and infrastructure sector market transformation through disclosure, guidelines and demonstration projects (via the NRC’s Platform to Decarbonize the Construction Sector at Scale ) and (4) complementary measures to decarbonize industry through research, development, demonstration and deployment. Investments that reduce embodied carbon in construction projects help create a market for low-carbon construction materials, designs and technologies, driving down their costs and making them more widely available.

The CGBS is about moving forward aggressively with a comprehensive approach to enhancing energy efficiency, saving Canadians money on their energy bills, creating good jobs in communities across the country and reducing GHG emissions from buildings. It is an important part of this federal government’s commitment to ensuring affordability, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability now and for the future.

“Energy efficiency means cost savings for Canadians. At a time when we are facing challenges with affordability and climate change, this plan meets Canadians where they are at and delivers the action they need, at the pace and scale they are demanding. Canada’s first-ever Canada Green Buildings Strategy is a plan to save Canadians money, create jobs and seize the economic opportunities that a clean and sustainable economy presents.” The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Government of Canada

“As we work towards ending Canada’s housing crisis, we need to ensure the longevity of new and existing buildings by making them more energy efficient and resilient to the impacts of climate change. We are proud to announce these investments today that will go a long way in doing just that across the country.” The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada

“The Canada Green Buildings Strategy is all about building more energy efficient and affordable homes and buildings. Cutting the wasted energy from the heating and cooling of our buildings is a win-win, both for lower energy bills and less harmful pollution going into our atmosphere. Already in Canada, we have seen a tidal shift in the adoption of heat pumps at a household level, as well as clean energy solutions for large commercial buildings and industry. It is through close collaboration of provinces and territories, municipalities, Indigenous Peoples, businesses, and individuals over the coming years that we can keep this progress going and make a big dent in the emissions coming from out buildings sector.” The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

“Our government is taking ambitious steps to achieve net zero by 2050 through our Greening Government Strategy. By implementing a Buy Clean approach to a real property portfolio of over 34,000 buildings nationwide, we are maximizing energy efficiency while minimizing the environmental impact of construction materials and design. Through these efforts, we are leading the fight against climate change.” The Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board of Canada and Minister responsible for the Centre for Greening Government

Quick facts

Totalling $903.5 million, the Canada Green Buildings Strategy is funded as a part of Budget 2024 and is mentioned in S olving the Housing Crisis – Canada's Housing Plan . It complements Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy , which lays out a framework to reduce the risk of climate-related disasters, improve health outcomes, protect nature and biodiversity, build and maintain climate resilient infrastructure, and support a strong economy and workers. New and ongoing federal initiatives are already starting to put the Strategy’s vision in practice.

Buildings are Canada’s third-largest emitter of GHG emissions. Nearly all building emissions — over 96 percent — come from space and water heating. To tackle this, major changes in the building sector are underway, with the potential to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help Canadians save money on their energy bills.

Retrofitting existing buildings, building green from the start, and choosing alternatives to fossil fuel heating equipment, such as electric heat pumps, will help Canada achieve its net-zero commitments by 2050. There is also a need to build stronger to better equip communities to withstand the effects of climate change.

To reach Canada’s climate goals, reduce energy bills and build up Canada’s supply of energy-efficient and resilient building stock, there is a need to accelerate the retrofit of approximately 10 million buildings and construct millions of new net-zero buildings in the coming decades.

The Canada Green Building Council estimates that ambitious action on buildings could create up to 1.5 million jobs and inject $150 billion into Canada’s economy by 2030.

Canadian households spend an average of $2,200 a year on home energy costs and these costs are significantly higher in homes that heat with oil and in older homes with poor insulation, ventilation and heating/cooling systems.

The CGBS is a commitment in the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: a sector-by-sector approach to reach Canada’s climate target of cutting emissions by at least 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, laying the foundation to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

As of June 8, 2024, retrofits from the Canada Greener Homes Grant alone are removing over 306,540 metric tonnes of GHG emissions, equivalent to taking nearly 94,000 fossil-fuel–powered vehicles off the road.

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What is a business contingency plan?

Business Continuity Plan vs. Contingency Plan

Contingency Planning: How to Make a Business Contingency Plan

Contingency Planning in 7 Steps

2. Conduct a scenario assessment.

3. Create contingency plans for each scenario.

4. Get your plan approved.

5. Share the plan with your team.

6. Test your plans.

7. Update your plan as needed.

Contingency Planning Timeline

Week One: Identify Key Operations

Weeks Two & Three: Brainstorm Scenarios

Week Four: Draft Plan

Contingency Planning Example

Contingency Planning Mistakes to Avoid

Not securing executive buy-in first.

Failure to cover multiple scenarios.

Set it and forget it.

Create Business Contingency Plan

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What Is A Business Continuity Plan? [+ Template & Examples]

What is a contingency plan?

Five steps to build a strong contingency plan

2. Create a business impact analysis (BIA) report

3. Make a plan

4. Get buy-in from the entire organization—and be realistic about cost

5. Test and reassess your plans regularly

Contingency plan examples

A network provider facing a massive outage

A food distribution company coping with an unexpected shortage

A social network experiencing a customer data breach

The value of contingency planning

Contingency plan solutions

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