gtm-launch-plan

GTM Launch Plan

This skill produces a launch plan sized to what is actually being launched, with clear goals, owners and dates, and a review point where the team decides what to keep doing. It treats launch day as one milestone in a sequence, not the finish line.

When to use

• A new product, major feature, pricing change, packaging change or new market entry is coming.
• The team is about to "announce it on LinkedIn and see what happens".
• Several functions (product, marketing, sales, success) need to coordinate on one date.
• A previous launch landed with little effect and the team wants to know why.

What you need

Ask for these before drafting:

1. What is launching: the change, who it is for, and what it replaces or adds.
2. Business goal: new pipeline, expansion revenue, retention, competitive defense, or awareness in a new segment.
3. Target audience: existing customers, prospects in the ICP, a new segment, partners.
4. Positioning and messaging: if they exist; otherwise capture a working version.
5. Date and constraints: target date, hard dependencies, budget, team capacity.
6. Channels you own: email list size, social following, community, events, partner reach, sales team size.

Process

1. Tier the launch. Pick a tier based on impact, not excitement:
   • Tier 1: new product, new market, or major pricing change. Full cross-functional plan, external announcement, sales enablement, customer communication.
   • Tier 2: significant feature or packaging update. Customer communication, enablement, targeted outreach, modest external push.
   • Tier 3: improvement or minor feature. Release notes, in-product messaging, help docs. Over-launching small changes burns audience attention; under-launching big ones wastes the build.
2. Set goals with numbers. Two or three goals tied to the business objective, each with a measure and a time window, for example qualified opportunities sourced in 60 days, adoption rate among existing accounts in 30 days, expansion pipeline in a quarter. Add one leading indicator per goal that is visible in the first two weeks.
3. Confirm the story. One-paragraph launch narrative: who it is for, what problem it solves, why now, and the proof. Every asset is derived from this paragraph.
4. Plan readiness (before launch). Work backward from the date. Typical readiness items: messaging and FAQ approved, pricing and packaging live in billing and quoting, sales enablement session plus a one-page brief, objection handling, demo environment, support documentation and macros, website pages, tracking and attribution set up, customer communication drafted.
5. Set a go/no-go gate. About one week before launch, review readiness items. Define which ones block launch (product stable, pricing live, support trained) and which can slip.
6. Plan launch week. Decide the notice model per audience: advance notice, simultaneous release, or segmented rollout. Advance notice to customers and partners avoids surprises, but weigh it against confidentiality (embargo leaks), contractual notice periods for price or terms changes, consistent pricing disclosure, and whether the change is material or regulated, in which case legal and communications review sets the order. Then sequence prospects and the public. Pick channels where the audience already is, and give each channel an owner and a date.
7. Plan the momentum phase. Most launches fade after a week. Schedule weeks 2 to 12: customer stories, webinars or demos, outbound plays aimed at accounts where the launch is most relevant, follow-up content addressing questions that came up.
8. Define the review. Set dates at 30 and 90 days to compare results to goals and decide: scale what works, fix what is underperforming, or stop.

Output format

LAUNCH PLAN: [name]   Tier: [1/2/3]   Launch date: [date]   Owner: [name/role]

Goals
| Goal | Measure | Target | Window | Leading indicator (first 2 weeks) |

Launch narrative
[one paragraph]

Readiness plan
| Item | Owner | Due | Blocks launch? | Status |

Go/no-go review: [date], decision makers: [...]

Launch week
| Day | Audience | Channel | Asset / action | Owner |

Momentum (weeks 2-12)
| Week | Play | Audience | Owner |

Measurement: [where each metric is tracked]
Reviews: 30-day [date], 90-day [date]
Risks and mitigations: ...

Quality checklist

• The tier matches the scale of the change and is justified in one line.
• Every goal has a number, a window and a leading indicator.
• Existing customers hear about the launch before the public.
• Sales and support readiness happen before launch day, with owners and dates.
• Blocking versus non-blocking readiness items are distinguished.
• There is a plan for weeks 2 to 12, not only launch day.
• Review dates and decision criteria are set.

Common mistakes

• Launch day as the whole plan. A single announcement produces a spike and then silence. Pipeline comes from the follow-through.
• Sales hears last. If reps learn about the launch from the press release, they cannot sell it and customers ask questions nobody can answer.
• Vanity goals. Impressions and likes say little about revenue. Tie goals to pipeline, adoption or retention.
• Every channel at once. Spreading thin across channels with no owner beats nothing only slightly. Choose fewer channels and do them properly.
• Tracking added after the fact. Without attribution set up before launch, the 30-day review becomes guesswork.
• No decision at review. A review that only reports numbers wastes the data. End it with continue, change or stop.

Example prompts

• "We're launching a new enterprise tier on March 3. Build the launch plan."
• "Help me decide whether this feature is a Tier 1, 2 or 3 launch, then plan it."
• "Create a readiness checklist and go/no-go gate for our product launch in the Nordics."
• "Our last launch got attention but no pipeline. Plan the next one so that doesn't happen."
• "Draft weeks 2 to 12 of momentum activity after our launch announcement."