Jason Oakley’s Post

What if I told you the secret to launch success has nothing to do with your marketing budget? It's about internal alignment. While the difference between a release and a launch may seem straightforward, ineffective launch strategies can quietly erode product success. The instinct for speed must be counterbalanced with focus. Teams often conflate releasing new features with value creation. But more is not always better. Customers frequently suffer from feature fatigue while trying to absorb incremental changes. Quick releases should fix bugs, not drive launches. Launch success actually hinges on internal alignment beforehand. Cross-functional collaboration across marketing, sales, customer success and product is mandatory. Launches reveal gaps in alignment through poor adoption. Success requires empowering teams to own solving problems, not just delivering features. So before rushing to launch, pause and confirm the value exchange. Are you solving the right customer problems? Is the solution integrated into customer workflows? Does it align with your brand promise? Launches are moments of truth that test alignment. When anchored in genuine value, they demonstrate commitment, not just capability. Kudos to Jason Oakley for putting together this great graphic to illustrate the difference between releases and launches.

I love breaking go-to-market strategies down into product, market, and channel strategies within a kanban board and then addressing pre-launch, launch, and post-launch initiatives. And strongly feel as though startups/companies :are always: going to market due to both internal and external factors concerning the market.

Great post about the difference between releases and launches in product marketing. 1. A launch should be something meaningful that brings notable value to your customer. 2. Not every release requires a dedicated launch. You can bundle multiple small releases into a larger launch around a specific theme. 3. You should launch a product when you believe is best for the market environment, and most likely it is not when it is immediately released. #marketing #productmarketing #tech

What’s the difference between a #release and a #launch? Both are closely related, but not the same thing. 🔘 A Release = pushing code to production. This can be as small as a big fix to as big as a new game-changing product. 🚀 A Launch = a go-to-market event that brings value to your customers and your business. If you have an agile development process, there could be releases happening every week. Some are big news, but most are not. Which is totally fine. The word “launch” should be associated with something meaningful that brings notable value to your customers and your business. After all, if you treated every release like a launch, you would: 😵💫 Create too much noise → you would drown out the important stuff. Customers wouldn't be able to keep up. You'd see diminishing returns. 😓 Burn out → your go-to-market teams would just be running from one launch to the next. Sales would be changing their pitch every week. Marketing would only focus on launch campaigns. That’s why a launch tiering system is important. It gives you a framework for prioritizing your releases and determining what level of go-to-market effort is required. And remember — just because you release something today that goes undetected, doesn’t mean it can’t be launched later on. You can bundle multiple small, released features into a larger launch around a specific theme. Take Canva Magic Studio for example. I noticed new AI-powered features in their platform weeks before they launched “Magic Studio” where all of these small enhancements became part of a much bigger launch and story. Or Capsule, a video editing tool that bundled multiple AI-based audio features into one launch focused on how their platform uses AI to improve your audio. This has been something common in larger organizations for a while, but I think even startups can move more towards this approach. It doesn't mean you need to slow down shipping new product. It's just a more strategic approach to how you bring them to market. #productmarketing #productlaunch #launch -------------------------- Looking to up-level your product launches? Go to → Bit(dot)ly/ready-for-launch Out next cohort starts next week!

🎥 Building & launching Canva video 📝 Founding Google Keep 🧪 Running experiments at Atlassian, Freelancer and Meta 🚀 Launching products & brands at Eucalyptus ⚖️ Building & growing marketplaces at Airtasker These are just a few of the experiences Product Experts have shared as guest speakers for Strategy & Structured Problem Solving cohorts. Apply for the Feb cohort now to learn directly from more incredible operators (and watch some of these past gems). 🔗 Link below

✂️ Cut, cut, cut! An MVP is not a place to build a brand kit and add "nice to have" features and micro-interactions that surprise and delight. You're building it to test your take on a problem people that people would pay money to solve, right? Cut scope! Cut beyond what you're comfortable with. If you aren't adding back a feature or two, you didn't cut enough. Once you've launched the barest minimum set of features, are people drawn to try out your product to address their problem? That's amazing!! Most people don't make it to this point. Now go do your branding exercises and optimize and polish your product as you expand to more users!

Product launch plans have been used for decades as strategic roadmaps to introduce new products and services to the market effectively. But what exactly do they involve? And are they realistically feasible for small business owners who are tight on time, budget and resources? My latest article for Informi | Talking Small Business breaks things down to show you where to start, what to put into action, common challenges you can overcome and – crucially – how to maintain momentum. A big thank you to Stubble & Co for some fantastic insight into its initial Kickstarter launch, and how over the past three years, the brand's achieved sustained triple-digit growth. Full story here: https://lnkd.in/ewwWW4_2 #productlaunch #smallbusinessuk #smallbusinessmarketing

DAY 64: GOING TO MARKET Many companies create launch checklists, preset templates of the information the marketing team needs to launch a product. But the problem is that not every product launch is the same, either in terms of the product you’re launching or how people receive information. Key learnings: - A great way to launch a product is to identify a launch owner early on, to form a team with representatives from each key group (Design, Engineering, Product, Support, and Marketing), and to establish clear launch objectives and responsibilities within a go-to-market (GTM) plan. NB: Although the launch owner will organize and manage the GTM plan, each department will contribute to it. - Each week, the team will meet to make sure everything is on track to ensure a successful launch, and they’ll communicate any delays or issues and discuss solutions. NB: For these meetings, it’s helpful to create a launch tracker to organize the launch. A launch teacher contains: - Action items: specific tasks, assigned to a particular person/team, along with when each task was assigned, when it was due, and any comments/status updates appropriate for the task. - Caution items: possible problem issues along with who raised them, when they raised them, when each issue was resolved, and any comments. - Key decisions, including who made them, when, and any comments. GTM is subdivided into three sections: prelaunch, launch, and postlaunch. - Prelaunch Planning: The main things to decide during prelaunch are the key launch goals, how you’ll make sure the product is ready for that launch, when and how you’ll launch the product, and what assets you need to launch. Launch objectives: Identifying your key goals up front will let you make other launch decisions, such as when to aim to launch your product. Launch timing: most launch teams identify when they want to launch the product. NB: Understanding your customers and their buying habits will help you identify the best launch window for your product. NOTE: Once the team pick a possible launch date, they will establish a work-back schedule to determine what tasks they need to do when in preparation for launch. #productmanager  #productdevelopment #day64ofbecomingagreatPM #theproductbook

Have you ever been pressed by time for a product launch with very little prep time for marketing? Here are the 5 things you can do to be ready at all times: Smart Planning: Break down tasks into smaller pieces and focus on the most important ones first. This helps in organizing work efficiently. Team Collaboration: Work together with different teams to share ideas and expertise. Collaboration speeds up decision-making and project progress. Ready-Made Templates: Create pre-designed templates for launch materials. These ready-to-use formats make content creation quicker and simpler. Quick Testing: Test and improve product features rapidly. This helps in identifying and fixing issues early on, ensuring a smoother product launch. Emergency Team: Have a dedicated team ready to handle unexpected issues. This team should be capable of making quick decisions to address any challenges that may arise. Now you might say that's okay, but my team doesn't stay long (attrition), or I am the only guy to do all of this, or may be that you don't have the time to do all of the stuff out there. This is where Tee Cube comes in. We'd love to help. Book a visual experience consulting call today, and see how easy all of this can be. #ProductLaunch #TeeCube #visualexperience

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