By no means the only way to put together a mini-brief for an upcoming product launch, but we’ve found this format helpful at Coda for internal comms and external outreach planning. Copy, modify, and use as you see fit!
Launching: [Name of Product]
🌟 TL;DR
What's launching
Provide an overview of features/value props of upcoming product launch
Who is the intended user/audience?
Notes on any personas, usage patterns, opportunity sizing go here
Why are we launching it?
Internal motivation can help you craft your external messaging; why are we launching this?
One-Line Pitch
What’s the one-sentence elevator pitch?
Release Date: [DATE]
Outreach Plan: Are you going to proactively announce this? Or reactively manage inbound if users have questions? Both?
Primary Channels: Where are you landing your launch message? Examples could be Press Release, Blog, Social Media, Sales Team, Support Team, etc.
Points of Contact
PM: Name
Design: Name
Eng: Name
PMM: Name
📋 WHAT IS IT?
Fuller detailed version of what’s launching
→ Tip: Include GIFs & Images here!
→ Tip: If Before/After matters, try to get an image of both!
🔧 HOW DOES IT WORK?
How do you access and use the feature? Any watch-outs or things that might be confusing?
→ Tip: Include GIFs & Images here!
❓FAQs
What questions can we get ahead of via our messaging? What do we need to have pre-answered for inbound questions?
Q: Question 1
A: Answer 1
Q: Question 2
A: Answer 2
🚧 RISKS & MITIGATION
Are we risking anything with this product launch or our go-to-market plan?
Risk: Articulate the risk here
Mitigation: Explain how we are mitigating the risk here
⌨️ DRAFT INTERNAL COMMS
How are you giving your team & company a heads-up about this launch?
→ Tip: It may be a synthesis of the above!
📣 DRAFT EXTERNAL COMMS
Use this space to riff on your external messagingーwhether that’s draft email copy, social copy, etc.