Last week we launched STORY! What a week it was with so many details. We did our best to plan a launch that would build trust and take others on the journey with us. While it was a small launch strategy compared to some of the incredibly complex ones out there, it was a good learning experience for us. We did some things well and other things we will do better next time.

A launch is an opportunity to build awareness, earn trust, and get a new project off to a great start. A successful launch builds momentum for the coming months. The temptation with a launch is to focus on the details we see and forget to think about what others will be experiencing alongside the launch. It is easy to assume that others will intuitvily know all the heart we are putting into our service. But it’s just not that easy! We have to do our part to communicate with the people we serve. A launch’s success is based on our customer and market’s experience.

Dave Ramsey said, “People are in such a hurry to launch their product or business that they seldom look at marketing from a bird’s eye view and they don’t create a systematic plan.”

Here are ten things we learned about launching a service:

1. Create a launch time-line with each step assigned to a date. This helps keep us on track as the launch date gets closer. Details colliding at last minute happen, but avoiding this as much as possible helps the launch go smoothly.
2. Begin sharing about the upcoming launch on social media and blog six weeks to eight weeks before launch. This lays the foundation for the launch and people will know something new and exciting is on it’s way. By expressing how much it means to us, others start to understand it is something we value and are working hard on.
3. Create a free item offering valuable information that will benefit the reader while telling the reader a bit about the new project. Make sure the free item is valuable to the same people that will value the soon to be released product. To receive the free item, ask for an email. This will form a specific email list that is interested in the launch. We did this with the STORY pdf.
4. Organize a giveaway. Giveaways are a fun way to celebrate the launch and gives the opportunity to  share something festive alongside the launch. Asking others to tag friends when entering helps spread the word about the launch.
5. Ask a few near and dear friends to share the launch with their following. Make it easy for them and provide photos and possible words to use when sharing. Offer to return the favor in anyway possible.
6. Prepare photos for social media that connect to the launch for sharing the day before, the day of, and the day after launch. This way we can take our followers on the launch journey with us as the launch is taking place.
7. Let others know exactly when to expect launch. A concrete time builds anticipation. Just make sure you can keep it.:)
8. Near the time of launch, send an email to the people that signed up for the free item listed in #3 and share the launch with them.
9. Set up analytics so it can be tracked where viewers are coming from and what they are doing when on the site once the launch is taking place. While this detail does not affect our customer’s experience, it is info that will be helpful for future launches and help us serve our clients the best way possible.
10. And finally, let go of perfection and launch. Since weeks of work go into most launches, this is the time we must remember to celebrate a bit ourselves. Life is dry and dull if we forget to do this.

Launch strategies can be complex or simple and they will vary based on the audience and what is being launched. A launch strategy for a product available for purchase for a limited time will involve more steps then listed here. The Bottom Line: Plan Your Product Launch

A brand STORY is communication, across multiple platforms and touchpoints, online and offline. Our story is what our customer and target market is experiencing. Our business will succeed when our customers are expiring a good story resulting is connection and trust. And launching a product is part of that!