A launch is not a one-day event. It is a three-phase process: prepare, launch, sustain. Failed launches usually are not caused by a weak product — they are caused by nobody knowing, nobody believing, and nobody buying at the right moment. Run
58-positioning-globaland31-offer-design-globalfirst to lock the message and the offer; run60-launch-playbook-globalafterwards for the detailed execution checklist.
Information gathering
Read .agents/product-marketing-context-global.md, the positioning doc, and the offer doc if available. If missing, ask up to 4 questions:
- What is being launched? Price, early-bird or bundle pricing, and any capacity limit.
- Who is the primary audience: who are they, where are they, what are they thinking? Do you already have a warm base (followers, email list, past customers)?
- Timeline and budget: exact launch date? Budget allocated to the launch?
- Team and competitors: who do you have (writer, designer, media buyer, agency)? Does a competitor already sell something similar, and how are they positioned?
Principles
- Never launch cold. Start warming the audience at least 2 weeks before launch — teasers, community seeding, email warm-up.
- Beachhead first, expand later. Pick one segment small enough to win and large enough to sustain you. Win there, then move to the next. Always plan from SOM (what you can actually reach in 3-6 months), never from TAM.
- One core message throughout. Every launch asset reflects the same message, taken from the positioning statement.
- Have a plan B. Launch day brings technical failures (page down, ad rejection, payment errors). Have the fallback ready in advance.
- No-go is a valid decision. Launching at the wrong time is worse than launching late. Only the leader decides go/no-go — never delegate it.
Workflow
1. Choose the beachhead segment
Score 2-3 candidate segments (1-5 per question, 45 max):
| Criteria group | Scoring questions |
|---|---|
| Market need | Is the pain clear and growing? Is search or discussion volume high? Is the market durable rather than a passing trend? |
| Competition | Are there large incumbents? Have they saturated the channels? Is there a niche nobody addresses clearly? |
| Reachability | Do you already have a fitting channel or list? Can you test it on a small budget? Can the buyer decide quickly? |
Decision: 30+ points means launch on this beachhead. 25-30 means reconsider or narrow further. Below 25 means revisit the product or the segment.
Signals of a high-value beachhead customer: high LTV, low churn, active referrals. Filter question: "If this product disappeared tomorrow, what would you do?" The more painful the answer, the better the segment.
2. Lock the offer and the launch message
Offer summary (from 31-offer-design-global):
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Product name | |
| List price / early bird / bundle | |
| Sales window and capacity limit | |
| Guarantee | |
| USP — one sentence of difference |
Launch message hierarchy — 5 layers, used in this order inside every asset:
- Hook (pain or desire) > 2. Solution (why this product) > 3. Proof (evidence) > 4. Offer (exactly what they get) > 5. Urgency (why buy now).
Required audience insight: persona, pain point, desire, primary objection, buying trigger. In US/EU markets the dominant objection is usually credibility and reviews rather than price — plan proof accordingly.
3. Set channels by phase
| Channel | Phase | Content | KPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta (Facebook + Instagram) | Pre + Launch | Teaser > announce > urgency | Reach, leads |
| TikTok | Pre + Launch | Hook video, testimonial, creator content | Views, CTR |
| Email + SMS (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Attentive) | Pre + Launch | Warm-up sequence > offer > last call | Open rate, CVR |
| Community seeding (Reddit, Discord, Slack, niche forums) | Pre-launch | Problem-aware content, no offer reveal | Engagement, saved posts |
| Google Search / Shopping | Launch | High-intent and brand keywords | CVR, ROAS |
| Affiliates / partners / creators | Launch | Co-promotion with tracked links | Attributed revenue |
Selection rule: you need both a REACH channel (drives traffic) and a CONVERT channel (closes). One channel rarely does both. Prioritize where the beachhead already spends time and where you have a real advantage.
4. Build the three-phase timeline
PRE-LAUNCH (T-4 to T-1 weeks):
| Week | Activity | Owner | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-4 | Offer finalized, landing page live | Leader + dev | Page live, tracking verified |
| T-3 | Produce teaser content (3-5 pieces) | Content | Posts ready |
| T-2 | Start seeding and warm-audience ads | Content + performance | Engagement, custom audiences |
| T-1 | Email/SMS pre-launch sequence | Leader | Warm list |
| T-3 days | Ads built and verified, tracking checked | Media buyer | Campaigns in Paused state |
| T-1 day | Full funnel final check > go/no-go | Leader | GO decision |
LAUNCH WEEK:
| Day | Activity | Channel | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-day morning | Official announcement | All | Leader |
| D-day | Turn on BOFU ads | Meta, TikTok, Google | Media buyer |
| D+1 | Follow-up email to non-buying leads | Email/SMS | Leader |
| D+2 | Social proof — first customer reviews | Social | Writer |
| D+3 | Media buyer report > scale, hold, or cut | — | Leader |
| D+5 | Urgency push — remaining capacity or bonus deadline | All | Leader |
| D+7 | Close cart — final email and post | Email + social | Leader |
POST-LAUNCH (D+8 to D+14): compile results (revenue, leads, ROAS, CPA), collect customer feedback to improve the product and capture testimonials, run the team retrospective, and decide whether to convert the campaign to evergreen.
5. Milestones and go/no-go
| Milestone | Timing | Pass criteria |
|---|---|---|
| M1 — Offer + page ready | T-4 | Page live, tracking verified, offer locked (price, bonuses, deadline) |
| M2 — Audience warm | T-1 | Warm base large enough: [X] engagers / [Y] email subscribers / custom audience >= [Z] |
| M3 — Go/no-go | T-1 day | Passes the checklist below |
| M4 — Mid-launch check | D+3 | CPA within threshold, first orders landed |
| M5 — Close + retro | D+7 to D+14 | >= [X]% of target hit, retrospective complete |
Go/no-go checklist (T-1 day, leader signs off):
- Tracking fully working (pixel fires, server-side events, UTMs complete)
- Payment tested end to end (card, PayPal, and any wallet you accept)
- All links resolve, no 404s
- Offer copy correct (price, bonuses, deadline), and every claim substantiated
- Consent and privacy in place: cookie/consent banner, GDPR/CCPA notices, CAN-SPAM unsubscribe in every email
- Team confirmed ready, inbox coverage staffed across the relevant timezones
- Plan B documented for technical failure
Any missing item means NO-GO. Do not launch "roughly ready" and fix later.
6. Success metrics
| Metric | Target | How measured |
|---|---|---|
| Launch-week revenue | ||
| Orders / seats sold | ||
| CPL / CPA | ||
| ROAS | ||
| Email open rate | ||
| Landing page CVR |
Derive targets backwards from the revenue goal using 10-reverse-kpi-global — never set targets by feel. Benchmark against references/benchmarks-global.md for the relevant region and industry; a US launch and an SEA launch are not comparable at face value.
Output structure
File name: gtm-plan-[product-name]-[YYYYMMDD].md
# GTM Plan — [Product] — Launch [date]
## 1. Product and offer summary
| Name / price / early bird / capacity / guarantee / USP |
## 2. Beachhead segment
- SOM score: [X]/45 — decision:
- Persona + pain + desire + objection + trigger:
## 3. Positioning and messaging
- Core message (one sentence):
- Message hierarchy: Hook > Solution > Proof > Offer > Urgency
## 4. Channel plan by phase
| Channel | Phase | Content | KPI |
## 5. Timeline
[Pre-launch T-4 to T-1 | Launch week D-day to D+7 | Post-launch D+8 to D+14]
| Checkpoint | Activity | Owner | Output | Deadline |
## 6. Milestones and go/no-go
| Milestone | Timing | Criteria |
- Go/no-go checklist T-1:
## 7. Success metrics
| Metric | Target | How measured |
## 8. Plan B
| Failure scenario | Fallback |
Related skills
58-positioning-global: run first — the launch core message comes from the positioning statement.31-offer-design-global: run first — the offer must be locked before GTM planning.10-reverse-kpi-global: derive lead and budget targets from the revenue goal.61-budget-planning-global: allocate the launch budget across phases.60-launch-playbook-global: run after — day-by-day execution, war room, escalation.02-campaign-brief-global: turn the GTM plan into briefs for content and performance.
Quality checklist
- Beachhead selected by SOM scoring, not by intuition
- Offer summary complete: price, early bird, capacity, guarantee, USP
- Message hierarchy has all 5 layers: Hook > Solution > Proof > Offer > Urgency
- Channels cover both REACH and CONVERT, each with a role per phase
- Audience warming starts at least 2 weeks before launch
- Timeline covers all three phases with one owner per task
- Milestones have concrete, measurable pass criteria
- Go/no-go checklist complete, including payment, consent, and claim substantiation — leader signs off
- Success metrics derived backwards from the revenue target
- Plan B covers at least 3 failure scenarios (page down, ad rejection, payment failure)
- A retrospective is scheduled after launch (
63-campaign-retrospective-global)