Since we’re coming up to the busiest time of the year for a lot of businesses, and with Q1 upon us, getting your launch planning down is a great way to hit the ground running for 2021.

Here are some steps to make sure that you’re setting your business for a
launch that will sky-rocket your results:

Concept Phase

Obvious but very crucial. No project, let alone something as huge as a launch, could survive if you skip this step. Understand the “why” behind bringing your product to life and for “whom”.
For this, it would do you well to get reacquainted with your client personas. Assess which of their interests would be the target for your product, within which timeframe will be most timely for them, and which of their daily challenges will your product be most impactful for.
Map out the best strategy to market your product to your target audience and beyond. Stick with your “why” and “whom” to cut through possible noise that might lower the hype your launch could get.

Initiation Phase

Now that you have mapped out your entire product/ service, understand what each of the components you need to launch this. This can include all of the creative, technical, and marketing elements (think sales pages, copy, payment links, onboarding, email sequences etc).
See to it that you can deliver all the deliverables – whether you need to hire a freelance writer or need another sponsor – it’s better to ensure your arsenal’s loaded by this stage.

Project Planning Phase

Now that you have all the deliverables, map them out in order of what
needs to be completed first – add in any dependencies (for example, you
can complete the sales page until the copy is complete). Most of all, assign tasks (to the right people) and pin deadlines on each of them.
With these tasks in mind, it’s best to support your team with task-tracking/PM tools. It will save everyone A LOT of time. Plus, it ensures that the completion progress is always visible (a.k.a. all the deadlines are met).

Kick-off meeting

This is where you tie in with all of the team members and discuss the project at hand. This includes weekly catch-ups and daily 10-minute scrum meetings to discuss any blockers, progress, and the next steps. Do these meetings as fast and as efficient as possible (that task-tracking tool will really come in handy here). You don’t wanna take valuable work time off of the actual tasks.

Project Execution Phase

This is where the magic happens, you start working in line with your plan and tie in all of the moving parts to make sure that you have a flowy launch!

Does this bring up sudden waves of overwhelm?

Planning is key to ensuring that you are on top of all things launch-related, you have a structure, and that when the launch date rolls around, you are in your full CEO flowy role – answering questions, servicing your clients, and engaging with your audience.

Here are some tips to help you stay on top of the launch plan :

1. Create an executive overview

This will clarify objectives, metrics of success, and back-up plans for your back-up plans (which, you hopefully won’t need). A well-organized executive overview is sure to support all team members in knowing the ins and outs of the launch plan. Keep it concise, free of jargon, and packed with consistent high-level messages (to constantly remind your staff of your launch’s main message). As with your Planning deliverables, store your EO somewhere easy for all team members to access.

2. Make it visual
Most project management tools have a board or a Gantt/ timeline feature. Use this to your advantage so that you can track your launch against milestones, deadlines, and key dates in a visual format.
There are tons of apps for this but be sure to look out for the good ones. Make sure it’s user-friendly and offers a back-up in case of lost data – you CAN NOT lose any of your data.

3. Clarify all roles and responsibilities
There’s nothing worse than going into a launch with your goals, objectives, and tasks but the team is uncertain who will be leading each part of the project. Make sure you clarify this from the onset and assign tasks accordingly in your PM tool.
It makes a world of difference to nail this down since the planning phase. Prevent the huge hassle of task mismatch – make sure everyone is set on their roles all throughout the launch period.

4. Risk factors
This one can often be overlooked, but it’s worth it to take the time to give this a once over. Map out aspects of your launch where high-level risks could pop up. Deduce the possible risks’ impact and understand its cause factors. That way, you can craft prevention and mitigation actions beforehand and be ready to carry them out should the danger arise. The presence of a plan B will totally increase confidence and support for both you and your staff – erasing worries that could have affected performance during launch. The plan B should cover situations ranging from COVID-19 exposure to sudden employee leave. Nothing is 100% fail-proof but as a badass CEO, nothing should stop you from covering 99.9%.

A launch marks a new milestone for your company. It’s the best time to refine your systems, level up staff skills, and be a step closer to creating your dream business!