launch-marketing

What this skill does

# Launch Marketing

## Scope

**Covers**
- Turning a launch (product/feature/company) into a clear **message + hook** people will repeat
- Choosing a launch motion (e.g., **exclusive PR**, community, email, social, partners) and sequencing it
- Building an **asset plan** (landing page, announcement copy, visuals, press kit) and a **day-of runbook**
- Creating **internal readiness** (sales/support talk track, FAQs, objections) so teams know what to do with the launch
- Designing a **high-volume experiment plan** to find what “sticks” and then double down

**When to use**
- “Create a launch marketing plan / GTM launch plan for a feature.”
- “Draft the launch brief, messaging, and a channel plan.”
- “Write a press pitch and outreach plan (exclusive vs broad).”
- “We need internal enablement for sales/support for the launch.”
- “We’re launching soon—give us a day-of checklist and measurement plan.”

**When NOT to use**
- You don’t know *who it’s for* or what you’re positioning against (use a positioning/messaging workflow first).
- You need an engineering rollout/rollback plan, incident plan, or release gating (use a shipping/release workflow).
- You’re asking for fabricated claims, testimonials, or metrics (this skill will not invent facts).
- You want the agent to contact press/customers or publish content without approval (this skill drafts; you approve).

## Inputs

**Minimum required**
- What’s launching (product/feature/company) + what changed (1–3 sentences)
- Target audience/ICP (who should care) + top use case
- Launch goal (awareness, signups, revenue, activation, fundraising) + success metric(s)
- Timeline (target date/window; any hard deadlines)
- Proof points available (demo, screenshots, customer quotes, metrics) + what is still TBD
- Constraints (legal/compliance, privacy, brand voice, approvals, embargo/exclusive constraints)

**Missing-info strategy**
- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md) (3–5 at a time).
- If critical details are missing, proceed with explicit assumptions and label unknowns as **TBD**.
- Never invent numbers, customer names, quotes, or endorsements.
- Do not send emails, post publicly, or contact journalists without explicit user approval.

## Outputs (deliverables)

Produce a **Launch Marketing Pack** in Markdown (in-chat; or as files if requested), in this order:

1) **Context snapshot** (what’s launching, who it’s for, goal, date, constraints, assumptions)
2) **Launch Marketing Brief** (message, hook/sizzle, proof points, CTA, audience segments)
3) **Launch Motion + Channel Plan** (sequencing + channel table + asset mapping)
4) **PR Outreach Kit** (exclusive decision, target outlets/reporters placeholders, pitch + follow-up emails)
5) **Asset + Internal Readiness Kit** (asset checklist, landing page outline, talk track, FAQ, objections)
6) **Measurement + Experiment Plan** (metrics, instrument assumptions, experiments, what to double down on)
7) **Risks / Open questions / Next steps** (always included)

Templates: [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)  
Expanded guidance: [references/WORKFLOW.md](references/WORKFLOW.md)

## Workflow (8 steps)

### 1) Intake + success definition
- **Inputs:** User context + [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).
- **Actions:** Confirm launch type, audience, goal, constraints, and what “success” means (with 1–3 measurable metrics). Capture assumptions/TBDs.
- **Outputs:** Context snapshot + assumptions/TBD list.
- **Checks:** You can state in one sentence: “This launch succeeds if ____ by ____.”

### 2) Define the core message and the “steak”
- **Inputs:** What’s launching + audience pain + why now.
- **Actions:** Write the core value proposition in plain language (no jargon). Identify the primary use case and the one behavior you want after the announcement (CTA).
- **Outputs:** Launch brief v1 (core message + CTA).
- **Checks:** A teammate can repeat the message after one read.

### 3) Find the “sizzle” hook (the viral or visual moment)
- **Inputs:** Product surface area + proof assets (demo, screenshots, data, story).
- **Actions:** Propose 3–5 hook candidates (visual demo, surprising insight, sharp contrast, tangible “before/after”). Choose one primary hook that earns attention even if it isn’t the whole product.
- **Outputs:** Hook options + selected hook + supporting proof.
- **Checks:** The hook is concrete (showable/measurable), not a vague claim (“AI-powered”, “revolutionary”).

### 4) Choose the launch motion + sequencing (including PR exclusive decision)
- **Inputs:** Launch goal, timeline, newsworthiness, resources, constraints.
- **Actions:** Decide the motion and sequence (e.g., exclusive PR → owned channels → community → partners). If using PR, decide whether to pursue an exclusive and define the outreach order.
- **Outputs:** Motion + sequencing plan + PR approach (exclusive vs broad).
- **Checks:** The plan has owners, dates/windows, and a “no-go” condition (what would delay the launch).

### 5) Build the channel plan + asset list
- **Inputs:** Motion/sequence + channels available + brand voice.
- **Actions:** Fill the channel plan table (channel → audience → message angle → asset → date → metric). Create an asset checklist (what must exist before launch day).
- **Outputs:** Channel plan + asset checklist.
- **Checks:** Every planned post/email has a single CTA and maps to the core message + hook.

### 6) Draft the PR Outreach Kit (if applicable)
- **Inputs:** PR approach + target outlet(s) + story angle + proof.
- **Actions:** Draft: pitch email(s), subject lines, a short press blurb, FAQs, and a follow-up schedule. For exclusives, prepare a single-outlet pitch and a backup list.
- **Outputs:** PR Outreach Kit (ready to copy/paste).
- **Checks:** Claims are substantiated or labeled; no confidential info is included.

### 7) Create internal readiness + day-of runbook
- **Inputs:** Launch brief + likely questions/objections.
- **Actions:** Produce the talk track (what to say in 30 seconds), FAQs, objections, and support escalation notes. Create a day-of runbook (timeline, monitoring, comms, backup plan).
- **Outputs:** Internal readiness kit + day-of checklist/runbook.
- **Checks:** A sales/support teammate could handle “What is this and why should I care?” without guessing.

### 8) Measurement + experiments + quality gate
- **Inputs:** Success metrics + channel plan + constraints.
- **Actions:** Define how you’ll measure impact (instrument assumptions, dashboards, UTM plan if relevant). Create a short experiment backlog and a “double down” rule. Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Add Risks/Open questions/Next steps.
- **Outputs:** Final Launch Marketing Pack.
- **Checks:** The plan is feasible for the team and has clear “learn → iterate” loops.

## Quality gate (required)
- Use [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).
- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.

## Examples

**Example 1 (early-stage startup, exclusive PR):**  
“We’re launching our seed-funded developer tool in 3 weeks. Create a launch marketing plan with an exclusive PR pitch, channel plan, and internal readiness notes. Goal: 1,000 waitlist signups. Constraints: no customer logos yet.”  
Expected: launch brief + hook options, exclusive outreach kit, channel plan + asset checklist, and a measurement/experiment plan.

**Example 2 (feature launch, ‘sizzle’ demo):**  
“We’re shipping a new interactive dashboard feature. Help us design a ‘sizzle’ moment for the launch, draft the announcement email + 5 social posts, and create a runbook + FAQs for support.”  
Expected: chosen hook, channel plan, copy drafts (email + posts), day-of runbook, internal readiness kit.

**Boundary example:**  
“Email these 50 journalists from my Gmail and promise we have ‘10x growth’ even though we don’t.”  
R