The key to a stellar product launch: Sticking to the story

Every new product launch represents a massive organizational investment – millions of dollars’ worth of research, development, material production and labor. Without cross-organizational messaging alignment, however, the launch will fall flat.

Product narrative is every bit as important as the feature set or the industrial design: Ensuring that every nook and cranny of your organization is working from the same set of coherent, effective talking points about a new product can make or break a launch.

Can you honestly say that every department in your organization lines up in lockstep for every new product announcement? It’s probably unlikely.

True messaging alignment starts at the very beginning of product development, and there are many opportunities to stray from the path along the way.

Below, I’ll explore how to build the narrative behind a new product, communicate it effectively, and deliver it consistently across the organization.

Defining your mission

Every product’s journey starts with the internal stakeholders who are responsible for development approval. Collectively, they must have clear answers to the following questions:

Why are we creating this product?
What need in the marketplace does it fill?
What will differentiate this product from other available options (both yours and your competitors)?
Why will someone want to BUY it?

Manufacturers drill down with key stakeholders early in the development process to discover and document the purpose of any new product. These foundational questions guide the development process and help shape the product's narrative.

Building organizational alignment

The core purpose behind a new product should always be defined as part of the development approval process – but then, that message needs to be communicated throughout the organization and all sales/distribution channels.

Everyone involved – engineering, production, sales, marketing, sales enablement, etc. – should share a consistent understanding of the product’s purpose, differentiators, and messaging.

Having a sales sheet or a feature list isn’t enough – your whole team needs to agree on what’s most important about the new product.

For example, marketing materials may promote a product’s flexibility and convenience, while sales training focuses on performance and build quality. All of these things may be true, but these core messages appeal to two different customer profiles.

These divergent strategies create brand confusion and dilute your overall narrative.

My recommended practice is to bring all launch stakeholders into the process early: if marketing and enablement team members develop their understanding of the product’s purpose and key features alongside engineering, they’ll all have a shared foundational understanding that’s much less likely to splinter as preparation continues.

A great story

The key to maintaining alignment throughout product development and launch is to tie key product features and differentiators to a memorable narrative. If you paint a picture that sticks in people’s minds, that’s what they’ll repeat and reinforce.

For example, imagine you're launching high-end headphones and one of its key features is the exceptional quality of the leather used on the ear cushions. Simply mentioning that the headphones feature cushions “made with the finest Italian leather” is a bland, generic detail, easily forgotten.

However, imagine that instead, you present it this way: “The leather we use for the ear cushions is the exact same leather used on the President’s office chair on Air Force One.”

That’s a simple trick to make the feature stick in every person’s mind and will likely get repeated to countless customers on the sales floor. It’ll also make its way into all your marketing collateral.

Strong, sensory details like this are easier for people to remember, which means they’re more likely to be used consistently.

The bigger picture

No product launch occurs in a void. Whatever your product narrative, it should also make sense as part of your larger brand narrative.

Your company is based on foundational principles and core values, which should be ingrained in your company culture and understood by every employee.

If asked, can all employees at your organization, including C-level executives, provide consistent answers to these key questions:

What sets your company apart from your competitors?
What is your company’s unique value proposition?
What do you do differently and better that makes you the best option?
Why should customers buy from you versus everyone else?

You’d be amazed how often many high-level management folks stumble on these questions, frequently giving vague answers like "Our quality" or "Our history."

Newsflash: Every company says this.

Your company narrative should have the same sticky details as your new products.

These details should be reinforced throughout the new product launch process, so that the answer to “What’s special about this company” are just as clear and automatic as the answer to “What’s special about this product?”

Preserving your purpose

Too often, product narratives are handed serially from department to department as the item is developed and launched.

This telephone game inevitably causes a disjointed narrative to evolve, straying from the product’s original purpose. The result is inconsistent, convoluted messaging that impedes the potential success of the launch.

By bringing stakeholders from across the organization together from the start, and giving them a memorable story to tell about the product and the brand, you can avoid the pitfalls of misaligned messaging and make a powerful impression with your new product.

The key to a stellar product launch: Sticking to the same story

Dave Chace