What are the core elements of every good feature launch?

On average our PMMs sync with their PM counterparts on a weekly cadence. At Intercom the ratio of PMM to PM is usually 1:4.

Quarterly meetings include roadmap review sessions (2-3), usually a few weeks ahead of the following quarter.

Annually PMMs are feeding into the product's winning strategy which consists of defining the next years overall strategy within a product and/or solution area.

Leading up to a launch calendars will fill up with GTM syncs across the various marketing teams, and an increase in adhoc meetings with product counterparts to review and revise.

And last but not least, product marketing is listening in on sales calls on an ongoing basis an on average spends about 1hour per week there, at minimum. 

Feature launches can be a snoozefest. 

If it's just a feature launching, is it worth publicizing this to the customer?  

Every launch should have is a packaged story of WHY you're telling the customer about it and how it's going to change their behavior. If it's not worth a big hoopla, don't burn resources on it. 

It's easier to tuck it into a release OR try to package it up with 2-4 other feature launches so you can create a real bundle into what a customer would want to know about.

Usually if you're advocating for no marketing support, it's the product team that doesn't like this. The product team wants to tell the world about the great and exceptional work that they've done. But if you give product a full GTM for every feature launch, when you have a big, transformational product to launch, it won't land as well since you're burning resources. 

Sometimes the product marketer's role is to say no to marketing because it's not the right thing, and you must build the case to say why not, or be creative to make it bigger.  

I'd say this can change based on the organization, contributing teams, goals for the launch, market you're in, audience... but a few things I would never launch without:

1. Naming. Sounds simple, but the way that your engineering team refers to something is very often NOT the way you should be communicating it externally. Take the time to name.

2. Pricing and packaging. Work out EARLY whether this should only be available to certain tiers.

3. Target personas. Exactly who is this for, and why do they care. What are their alternatives?

4. Extending from the above— a messaging house that every internal team can align behind. The way Support talks about the thing should be aligned with how Sales and Marketing talk about it. Words matter. Framing matters. Value prop matters.

5. Documentation. Whether this comes in the form of a changelog update, a new docs page, a one-pager, or even a blog. Ensure you have public-facing documentation to share.

For large launches, you'll find it handy to also have:

- A list of internal and external FAQs

- Sales & CS enablement + slideware for them to also talk about the thing in meetings

- Blog post + social assets

- Demo video or other imagery 

- "How it works" as part of your messaging house—what's the user journey, what should they do before and after?

- Metrics for success. How do we know we did the thing well?

A good product launch starts with a deep understanding of the customer – who you are building for, their needs/pain points, how to reach them. Building a phased research plan is key — it's important to gather insights to shape both the product value prop and the marketing plan. I find that a lot of teams run research early in product development, but I highly recommend building a testing plan to validate your positioning and creative concept. Concept testing and will help future proof your GTM plan by ensuring you are communicating the value prop in a compelling way that maximizes conversion with your customer base.

When I think of a successful feature launch, I think of a couple of aspects:

1. Business value: Were customers asking for something like this? What problem does it solve for them? Are customers adopting the feature - why or why not?
2. Clear positioning: Is the feature being positioned in a way that clearly articulates its value? Have we carved out the right target audience for the feature - the right segment, the right industry? How is your feature differentiated in the market?
3. Sales understanding: Can sales easily sell the value of the feature to customers and prospects?

Having a good grip of these aspects will ensure you have a good feature launch.

Core elements of a good feature launch include:

• The messaging. This should clearly define what the feature is, the value it brings, and how it's differentiated in the market.

• Campaign coordination. PMM will often orchestrate the campaign, whether it's large or small. This includes giving feedback on marketing collateral for accuracy and coordinating activities across teams.

• Prepping your GTM teams. Any team that is customer facing needs to know about features that a customer or prospect might ask about. For really big launches, internal change management can end up being a major part of the job. I've had experiences where I don't just need to prep the GTM teams, I actually need to convince them that the new product is a good opportunity for the business. Getting everyone on board is critical, because your customers won't be impressed if your team isn't.