How far in advance do you plan your pre-launch activities?

Question

I've been reading about this topic a bit more lately, and thought it would be interesting to hear answers from actual Makers!

From what I've read, there seems to be a sweet spot around one month.

Feel free to answer the poll or share your answer in the comments!

Debajit Sarkar · Accepted Answer

As much time it needs to:

1.raise awareness and build excitement for the brand, and

2. test different messages, marketing channels and tactics to figure out what works and what doesn’t

The idea is to reach out to the audience and build loyalty. This takes time..sometimes weeks sometimes months.

A valuable indicator is your lead generation landing page that you use to get visitors to complete a single specific action pre-launch. Once you have enough visitors who have completed the action that’s an indication that your pre launch awareness campaigns are working effectively.

Evelina Radoycheva · Answer

It took us about one month to prepare for the launch. It was enough time to come up with a plan, build brand awareness, prepare all the materials - graphics, videos, copy, etc.

Fabian Maume · Answer

It actually depend on what type of launch you want to go for. I distinguish 2 types of launches: no-frill and all in: https://medium.com/@fabian-maume/should-you-do-all-in-or-no-frill-product-hunt-launches-408a805ed942
No-frill launch only required a week of lead time. This is really good for early-stage startups, which are running on thin resources.
All-in launch required several months of preparations. This is good for more established products, which are trying to boost their brand awareness.

Saksham Pathak · Answer

For our new product CrawlQ.ai which is an AI-based market research tool we have been planning for more than 2 weeks now and hope you all like it

Misha Krunic · Answer

@tanya_gupta0502 Hey, good luck with your launch! You're actually ahead of me when it comes to launching. I'm still looking for best practices and tips too.

Misha Krunic · Answer

@satyendra_sahani Good luck!

Misha Krunic · Answer

@saksham_pathak Thanks for answering! Good luck!

Misha Krunic · Answer

@dsarkar Makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing!

Misha Krunic · Answer

/@fabian @fabian_maume I see. I've read your article and it gave me a lot of useful insights!

Misha Krunic · Answer

@david_mungai1 I see, good luck with your launch! Thanks for sharing!

Abhi S · Answer

A month makes most sense.

Good to activate your community, and get the messaging right.

It's an iterative process that will take 2-4 weeks for sure!

David Mungai · Answer

Just launched today and we're 11 hours in. We took a week to prepare and now we wish we gave it more thought. I really would say that what matters is how long it would take you to build a community and hype around your product.

Satyendra Sahani · Answer

More than a month and now launching tomorrow.
I'll be glad to connect and discuss.

Tanya Gupta · Answer

I remember we had started planning about 2 months before our launch. We are launching this Thursday! Would love to connect with you if you have any last-minute tips!

Answer

Here's your actionable checklist to creating an effective pre-launch strategy: Build a Lead Generation Pre-Launch Landing Page. Start Building Interest within Your Subscriber List. Identify (and Engage with) Your Influencers Who Will Help You Out. Draft Your Editorial Calendar. Start Segmenting Your Audience. Takeaways Dunkinrunsonyou

How far in advance do you plan your pre-launch activities?

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