market-launch

name	market-launch
description	Four-week product / feature / campaign launch plan covering pre-launch, launch week, post-launch, and retention. Invoke whenever the user says "launch", "going live", "product launch", "launch plan", "launch sequence", or runs `/market launch <product>`. Produces LAUNCH-PLAN.md with day-by-day tasks, asset checklist, and metrics to watch.

Market Launch — 4-Week Launch Orchestration

A launch is a campaign, not an event. This skill produces a day-level plan that keeps marketing, product, and support coordinated.

Pre-flight

Confirm:

1. What's launching — new product, new feature, new pricing, new brand
2. Launch date (target ship day)
3. Audience — existing users, new audience, both
4. Goal metric — trial signups, paid conversions, revenue, reach
5. Distribution channels available (website, email list size, social following, paid budget)
6. Team capacity — solo, small team, full org

The 4 Phases

Phase 1 — Pre-launch (Weeks -4 to -1)

Build anticipation, validate the offer, prep assets.

Week -4 — Positioning

• Finalize the one-liner and value prop
• Confirm target audience and pricing
• Build a waitlist landing page
• Draft the press release version (even if you won't send it — it clarifies thinking)

Week -3 — Asset creation

• Hero copy, launch email sequence (5–7 emails), social posts (20+), ad copy (3+ variants per platform)
• Product screenshots, demo video (under 90s), walkthrough
• Pricing page, FAQ page, comparison page if applicable
• Support docs and onboarding flow

Week -2 — Build the audience

• Tease on social (3–5 posts that hint without revealing)
• Waitlist campaign to current list
• Reach out to 10 key customers/partners for early access + quotes
• DM/email 5–10 journalists or creators who cover the space

Week -1 — Dress rehearsal

• Internal review: marketing, product, support, sales all aligned
• QA the signup flow, payment flow, emails trigger correctly
• Schedule all Day 0 posts, emails, ads
• Brief support on expected questions

Phase 2 — Launch week (Days 0–7)

Day 0 — Go live

• Publish the landing page + unlock signups
• Send launch email to full list (morning in primary timezone)
• Post on every social channel — platform-native, not cross-posted
• Activate paid ads
• Personal DMs/emails to 20 key people
• Founder posts on LinkedIn and X with a personal story
• Live in the support channel — first 24h is loud

Day 1 — Social proof push

• Share the first 3 signups/reviews/reactions publicly
• Reply to every comment and DM
• Second email to non-openers of Day 0

Day 2–3 — Evidence

• Share metrics so far ("500 signups in 48 hours")
• User-generated content or early testimonials
• Founder Q&A in comments or live

Day 4–5 — Story

• "Behind the scenes" of the build
• Founder story or customer story
• Demo video or walkthrough

Day 6–7 — Close the week

• Recap post ("Week 1 results")
• Thank-you message
• Soft urgency if launch offer is time-limited
• Final reminder email

Phase 3 — Post-launch (Weeks +2 to +3)

• Iterate based on user feedback
• Publish a launch retro (public is fine — vulnerability earns trust)
• Turn objections into content (FAQ, comparison posts)
• Case study with earliest successful user
• Pitch press / podcasts with real numbers

Phase 4 — Retention (Week +4 and beyond)

• Activation campaign for signups who haven't reached first value
• Win-back for churned trial users
• Weekly product update cadence
• Ongoing content cadence — launches fail when the noise dies after week 2

Asset Checklist

• One-liner (10 words)
• Tagline + subhead
• Hero copy (headline + subhead + primary CTA)
• Product description (100 words)
• Pricing page
• FAQ (10 Q&As minimum)
• Comparison page (if competing with known alternatives)
• Demo video (under 90s)
• Walkthrough video (2–5 minutes)
• 5+ product screenshots
• 7 launch emails (announce, benefit, story, proof, objection, urgency, final)
• 20+ social posts across platforms
• 3+ ad variants per paid platform
• Press release draft
• 3 pitch emails (journalist, creator, customer)
• Support doc + FAQ internal
• Onboarding flow
• Thank-you / confirmation page

Metrics to Watch (daily during launch week)

Metric	Target	Red flag
Landing page visits	[client-specific]	<50% of expected
Visitor → signup	Baseline +X%	Below baseline
Launch email open rate	>40%	<25%
Launch email click rate	>8%	<3%
Social engagement rate	Platform benchmark	Dead silence
Support ticket volume	Expected spike	Overwhelm
Churn/refund rate	<5% first week	>10%

Output: LAUNCH-PLAN.md

# Launch Plan — [Product]
**Launch date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Goal:** [trial signups / revenue / reach]
**Target:** [specific number]

## Positioning
[One-liner, tagline, audience, price]

## Timeline
### Week -4: Positioning
- [specific tasks by day]

### Week -3: Assets
- [specific tasks by day]

### Week -2: Audience build
- [tasks]

### Week -1: Rehearsal
- [tasks]

### Launch Week (Days 0–7)
- Day 0: [detailed]
- Day 1: ...
...

### Post-launch (Weeks +2 to +3)
...

### Retention (Week +4+)
...

## Asset Status
[Full checklist with owner + due date]

## Metrics Dashboard
[Daily tracking table]

## Risk Register
[3–5 things that could go wrong and the mitigation for each]

Quality Bar

• Day-level specificity. "Work on social" is useless; "Write 5 LinkedIn posts matching content pillar 2" is actionable.
• Own asset deadlines. Every asset has a person and a date.
• A launch without retention plan is a sugar high. Always include Phase 4.
• If the team is too small to execute the full plan, cut the plan — don't cut corners on critical items. Smaller launch that happens beats bigger launch that doesn't.