Anytime you begin something, it takes extra effort and focus. Launching anything takes a strategic eye on the ball and the execution excellence to see it through. From a marketing perspective, launching new products, businesses, or locations all have some similar elements to pay attention to. While it is important to drive new eyes to your new offering, we also don’t want to drive that extra activity until we have our marketing ducks in a row.
THE TOP 3 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH
1. Gather your launch team. Organizational excellence requires clear, strategic roles but first you must determine who your go-team consists of. Do you need sales and marketing to weigh in individually or your office manager to coordinate logistics? Who will be responsible for the execution of all the digital deliverable such as websites, landing pages, press releases? Make sure that the people you choose for your launch team are clear on your launch timing, the specific goals and objectives you wish to achieve, and have the right attitudes and mindsets to help your team succeed.
2. Choose your timing wisely. While telescoping in to shorter time frames to launch can prove to be a successful force function for getting a lot done in short order, it also places its own kind of pressure on all the team members and the tasks at hand. Be aware that your end game timing is very important to choose wisely - it will essentially drive all your deadlines to the goal. Try and maintain a realistic expectation of the time needed to complete tasks so your team doesn’t get too frazzled in the process. It may even be important to maintain some flexibility and set up a “soft launch” timeframe first so you can allow for tweaks or adjustments before going fully public with your “hard launch.”
3.Prepare a visual timeline. People are visual and preparing a visual timeline for dependencies and tasks leading to your launch end game will help your team members stay on track and organized. Remember the devil is in the details so successful launches are dependent on making our timelines and strategic plans as detailed as possible so nothing gets left out. This often means that there are multiple smaller deadlines on the path to the larger deadline. Gantt charts and project management tools such as Wrike or Asana might be helpful in mapping these tasks out so that everyone continues to track on all the granular details.
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Clearly designate a ringleader for the launch on the team as well. Someone needs to track all the details and pull all the pieces together. Even great symphonies full of professional musicians need a director. Choose someone that has the professional chutzpah but can add humor and levity into the process when the stress levels go up and it's coming down to crunch time - being able to laugh with your team while problem-solving and achieving a huge goal can make your launch so much more fun and successful.
It’s also important to be aware of external factors that may affect the impact of your launch. If you are planning to hold a Grand Opening event at your new office, for example, make sure it doesn’t fall on the exact day your community is holding a big event that may provide transportation or parking challenges, or even distractions that take attention away from your intended goal.
75% of fuel is used in the liftoff so prepare for an busy yet rewarding launch process ahead!
Pouring the proper energy, enthusiasm and planning into your launch will ensure its success. Some of the most exciting and impactful events in your business require launching with velocity, an eye for details, and the combined extra efforts of many on your team. Onward and upward!
The Diamond Group can help you get to the finish line.
The Diamond Group is a strategic growth marketing agency that offers small businesses a proprietary system to create double-digit growth using inbound, content, and digital marketing, website development, and sales enablement tools. Let’s grow better together and have a conversation.
