Read the whole draft before commenting. Treat it as hierarchical — certainty decreases as you move down the page. If you hit misalignment in an early section, resolve it there before moving on, since it shapes everything below it.
Naming the tier upfront scopes everyone's effort correctly — a Tier 3 feature doesn't need a press draft, and treating it like Tier 1 burns time that should go to the launches that need it. Set this first so everything below reflects the right scale.
Which tier is this launch?
All hands on deck — full, multi-channel plan with dedicated budget.
Enough to tell customers and prospects directly. Think mini-campaign.
Worth a mention, not a moment. Website, sales deck, simple updates.
Release notes and internal announcement. Marketing isn't involved.
This is the shared starting point for Product and Marketing. It gets everyone — including anyone joining the thread late — oriented on what's shipping and when, before diving into strategy.
What are we launching?
Brief description of what's launching. Internal use only, so code names and internal shorthand are fine. Note whether this is product-led or marketing-led.
How does it work?
A short explanation of how the feature works. If it's complex, link out to a product spec, design doc, or (preferred) a Loom walkthrough.
When?
The important date(s) everyone should know about — code freeze, beta, GA, etc.
Without a named goal, "success" gets decided after the fact — usually by whoever's loudest. This section forces agreement upfront on what this launch is actually for, so Product and Marketing are optimizing for the same outcome.
Company objective
What company objective does this launch relate to?
Metrics goal
A concrete, measurable target.
Messaging goal
What do you want customers to repeat back to us about this product?
Vague audiences produce vague messaging. Naming a primary and secondary persona here keeps every piece of copy downstream tightly targeted instead of trying to speak to everyone.
Who is this launch targeting? Existing customers, prospects, or both? Who's the primary persona? Secondary? Get as specific as possible.
The name and description are the anchor everything else gets written against — headlines, use cases, and messaging all reference back to this. Lock it here so later sections aren't working from a moving target.
Product or feature name & description
Narrow, specific use cases keep the launch grounded in how people actually use the product, not just what it does. They're also the fastest way to sanity-check that positioning and messaging match reality.
3 use cases for this product or feature
Get as narrow as possible per use case. Not "admin users can view a dashboard of invoices" — better: "heads of finance can quickly see a summary of monthly invoices."
This is the highest-level message that carries across every channel of the launch — everything else (blog, email, social, sales talk track) is a sub-message built on top of it. Getting this locked early keeps the whole launch consistent.
Competitors
Who or what is this feature competing with? This may include the status quo (e.g. "doing it in a spreadsheet").
Value prop
Stick to the template exactly. This won't be used word-for-word externally, but it's the foundation every other messaging statement gets built from.
Do this as early as possible and evolve it as launch approaches. If messaging differs by audience, duplicate this block per audience. Tie it back to core company messaging where you can.
Draft headline options while positioning and messaging are still fresh, so the copy stays anchored to what was just agreed — not written cold, later, by whoever's free.
Potential headlines
Draft 3–5 headlines that add color beyond the name and description — for the blog post, landing page, or launch email.
This is where alignment turns into an actual plan. Every asset and channel gets a status and owner-visible link, so nothing slips silently between Product and Marketing.
Assets & docs needed
Every core asset gets a status and owner-visible link, so nothing slips silently between Product and Marketing.
| Asset | Tiers | Needed? | Status | Details / Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog draft | 1 / 2 | |||
| Press draft | 1 | |||
| Messaging doc & copy for all channels | 1 / 2 / 3 | |||
| Screenshots of feature | 1 / 2 / 3 | |||
| Web images for feature | 1 / 2 | |||
| Demo video for feature | 1 / 2 | |||
| Brand / launch video for feature | 1 | |||
| Quotes | 1 / 2 |
Channels / distribution / activities
The full distribution checklist. Tiers scope which rows actually apply — don't force Tier 3 activity into every channel.
| Channel | Tiers | Needed? | Status | Details / Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Press | 1 | |||
| Blog | 1 / 2 | |||
| Social channels | 1 / 2 / 3 | |||
| Web updates | 1 / 2 / 3 | |||
| In-product chat | 1 / 2 / 3 | |||
| Dedicated customer email | 1 / 2 | |||
| Dedicated prospect email | 1 / 2 | |||
| Include in newsletter | 3 | |||
| Communities (Product Hunt, HN, etc.) | 1 | |||
| Share email to investors | 1 | |||
| Partner marketing | 1 | |||
| Help center updates | 1 / 2 / 3 |