Product Launch Strategies Online

4 months ago we got an impossible brief...gain 500K users in 3 months. I'm proud to say we just hit 2M users in 4 months, and still growing 10% WOW. To do this we didn't send a single email, pay for an ad, or an influencer, instead we used our community and our tech. Here's our Web3 growth playbook👇 The Web3 Growth Playbook: 1 - Build trust in the market: First you have to have people trust that you are worth their time. There are many projects offering quests, so why do yours? We highlighted our team, our tech, and our successes to prove we were a legit project and worth their time. 2 - Open the aperture: Wallet based quests limit you to Web3 natives. Our tech enables anyone with email or Apple/Google wallet to join in. This allowed us to go beyond just Web3 natives, to create a much larger community by making it easy to participate. 3 - Nail The Value Exchange: There needs to be value for people to take action. We used a combination of early community rewards paid out from our upcoming listing, partner rewards, early access to other projects, mentorships, NFT's, and Discord roles. 4 - Design Quests for key goals : We didn't just ask you to follow us on Discord, rather multiple steps; follow us, and then get a specific role. We didn't just ask you to tweet, we created AI prompts ensuring tweets were unique allowing us to create new trending hashtags each week. 5 - Keep up the momentum: We released new quests regularly, and enabled one off ways to earn points so our admins could award points to any member easily for things like answering question in Discord, participating in a emoji contest, or alerting us to a bug. 6 - Create Rewards: We leveraged our NFT technology to create the Smart Cats, an NFT derivative of a Cool Cat we own. Our community minted over 500K of them in a week. 7 - Create Ambassadors: We created an ambassador program and guided them as to what content to create. In exchange we gave them mentorship, status, and points in return. 8 - Activate your Ecosystem: We are now working with our partners to integrate our quests into theirs, have them offer rewards to our community, and to allow them to personalize experiences with our Smart Pass. So now the pass is the key to our ecosystem, not just our project giving it greater value. We built all of this from scratch with our tech because we didn't see what we wanted in the market. It's provided us with the flexibility to go beyond other questing solutions to drive rapid growth. > 4m individual quests completed in 120 days > 2M users in 120 days > 500K NFT minted in 1 week > 200k unique tweets in 2 weeks > Trending multiple #hashtags > 5k average attendance for Twitter Spaces This effort has been so successful we are now offering the playbook and the Growth Tooling to others. DM me if you're interested to see what we could do for your project.

Most brands think spending 70% of revenue on ads is insane. But our most successful Amazon launches start exactly there. Here's why that "crazy" number makes perfect sense: Amazon gives new products a boost. The algorithm favors fresh launches because Amazon wants new products to be discovered. You get a honeymoon period that you'll never get again. But only if you execute properly from day one. Here's the reality of launch economics: Month 1: 70% ad spend to revenue ratio Month 2: 60% Month 3: 50% ... Month 12: 15% (our average client target) Why the dramatic drop? More organic sales kick in as you build ranking momentum. Reviews accumulate and conversion rates improve. The Amazon flywheel starts spinning. The mistake brands make: They launch a product, let it sit for 3 months with minimal promotion, then wonder why they can't gain traction. By then, you've lost your new product advantage. Amazon's moved on to the next shiny object. At Incrementum Digital, we develop 6-12 month forecasts based on estimated cost-per-click, conversion rates, and competitive pricing. Once we have real data, we pivot. The goal isn't to stay at 70% ad spend forever. It's to invest heavily upfront to capture that organic ranking momentum. Your launch window is everything on Amazon. You either go aggressive from day one or you fight an uphill battle forever. Most brands aren't willing to invest 70% of revenue in ads month one. That's exactly why the ones who do have such a massive advantage.

Here's the 1 shift you need to make for any marketing launch (after running launches for dozens of tech/ai brands): Treat creators like your new PR channel Fact: Your next product launch doesn't need a press release. It needs 30 creators in a room. If an event is worth inviting press to, it's worth inviting creators to. The 6 moves to run creators as your PR channel (tied to a case study with LinkedIn launching their new Creator Marketplace): #1 - Source for the network, not the name. Add one line to your interest form: "Who else should be here?" You're buying the intros, not the seat. #2 - Brief them like press. Embargoed data. A clear narrative. A hard embargo time. When a creator breaks your news first, you become the source, not the sponsor. And their audience follows for exclusive updates/data. #3 - Engineer the 48 hour window. Creator content decays fast. Reach is won in the 2 days after, not the week of. Photographer delivers the album in 24 hours. One pager of facts and FAQs the same night. Hire for turnaround, not the shoot. #4 - Put execs on camera. 15 minutes of an exec's calendar = your highest performing asset of the launch. The keynote clip looks like marketing. The unscripted one looks like access. Audiences reward access. #5 - Gift something filmable. One test: would a creator post this unprompted? Custom playing cards with a QR code. A printed newspaper of the launch. If the swag isn't content, it's landfill with your logo on it. #6 - Load paid before the event ends. Your best organic creator content is your best paid creative. Amplify inside 48 hours, not next week when the moment is dead. Start building your creator roster now. Before you need it. In tech and AI there are too many launches and not enough trusted creators. The good ones are booked. Wait until two weeks out and you're fighting six other companies for the same five people. Creators aren't a tactic you activate last min for a one-off launch. They're your new PR channel. We're running this exact playbook at Creator Match 🧩 for countless tech/ai brands. 💬 If you're a creator, ask yourself how you could get on the roster for one of these brands, and if you're a brand, how can you start building this roster? HUGE s/o to Luiza Cocito & Ali Snider for executing one of the best product launch events I've been to all year - always fun to visit the LinkedIn NYC office in the Empire State Building! Currently wearing my branded bucket hat lol. *** 🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, creator marketing strategies for tech brands, and tips for creators

Everybody thinks growing a web3 project is easy if you have money. Polkadot's example illustrates why this is NOT the case: 👇 So Polkadot spent $37m on Marketing in Q1 and Q2 2024. Some of the top categories were: • $10m on Ads and Sponsorships • $7.9m on Events/Conferences • $4.9m on Influencers • $4.1m on Digital Ads Yet despite these huge marketing activities, Polkadot somehow seems quiet and invisible. So what is it that they could have done better? Here are the top 8 ones for me: 1/ Slash all soccer club and race car sponsorships. These don't attract web3 developers and builders. Seems like we didn't learn our lessons from 2021 when projects splashed money on renaming stadiums and sponsoring all sorts of sports teams. 2/ Use respected influencers to educate about the advantages of your chain. Explain in layman's terms WHY and HOW your chain is different from 100+ other L1s and L2s out there. Simply Tweeting common sense threads and posts will not bring adoption. 3/ Build an in-house team of core contributors and loyal ambassadors and invest in their growth. Let them become the thought leaders of tomorrow in their domain and promote your chain. This is a long-term initiative but will pay big time down the road. 4/ Dramatically increase your funding for Community Building. Enable a variety of educational and ambassadorial programs.  Again, it was the community that kept Solana alive in Dec 2022 when everyone thought it was dead. When you splash 10x more funds on sports team sponsorships, it's sending the wrong to your community. 5/ Increase grants to attract tier one teams to build the best web3 dApps with killer UI/UX. Offer incentives to the existing top projects to bridge to your chain as well. 6/ Allocate more funds to organize dozens of informal Polkadot gatherings targeted at developers across the continents. Empower your community ambassadors and evangelists in different countries. Let them bring the best builders and developers together for casual meetups. 7/ Slash the budget on digital ads. Traditional ads that work well for web2 startups usually don't result in good conversions for web3 projects. 8/ Completely rethink your Media strategy. If you spent millions but people can't remember hearing about you recently, then it didn't work. That's because simply promoting a chain doesn't work. Instead, promote a new chain specific innovation or user facing feature or at least get creative with ads. Coinbase/Base and Solana are killing at this, so learn from them. -- In short, money is important but it's all about HOW you are spending in. And promoting a web3 chain is not the same as scaling a web2 startup. What works in web2 doesn't always fly in web3 and vice versa. Image source: DefiIgnas on X P.S. Anything else you'd add to the list? Let me know below. Follow 👉 Aram Mughalyan & consider sharing ♻️ this post if you like it.

Most founders test their messaging with expensive marketing campaigns. Smart founders test it with coffee conversations. The big marketing push approach: • Spend $10K on ads to test messaging • Launch to everyone at once • Get unclear feedback mixed with noise • Pivot the entire strategy based on vanity metrics The conversation experiment approach: • Talk to 10 people from ICP #1 this week • Try different messaging with each group • Learn what resonates before spending a dollar • Refine based on real reactions, not click-through rates Why conversations beat campaigns: → Real-time feedback → You see their face when you explain your value prop. Data can't show you confusion. → Deeper insights → 'That's interesting, but what I really need is...' vs. a bounced visitor → Multiple ICP testing Week 1: Talk to small business owners Week 2: Talk to enterprise managers Week 3: Talk to freelancers See who actually gets excited. Messaging iteration Try 3 different value props with the same ICP. See which one makes them lean forward. The conversation experiment framework: Week 1: 5 conversations with ICP #1, messaging version A Week 2: 5 conversations with ICP #1, messaging version B Week 3: 5 conversations with ICP #2, best messaging from week 1-2 Week 4: 5 conversations with ICP #3, refined messaging What you learn: Which ICP immediately understands the problem What words make them say 'Yes, exactly!' Which objections come up repeatedly Who's willing to pay vs. who just thinks it's 'cool' The goal: Find the ICP + messaging combo that creates genuine excitement. Then you can spend marketing dollars with confidence. Conversations scale insights. Campaigns scale what's already working. Which ICP are you assuming will love your product without actually talking to them?

How to do a live product launch (from someone who just did one to nearly 15,000 people): I just spent the past 3 months of my life preparing to announce 7 products in a 21 minute stream… Here’s how we did it: 1. LOCK THE TIMELINE WITH PRODUCT & ENGINEERING I needed to know exactly what would be going live as part of the event, and they needed to know that we were counting on them to deliver. Every other decision (branding, scripting, studio space, marketing) sits on top of that date. 2. START A WAITLIST & BRAND IT SEXY This was one of my favourite parts, and I owe it all to our creative director and designers. They came up with a beautiful theme and design system to communicate "the future, in focus". Then we built a landing page for people to sign up and RSVP. 3. FIND THE SPACE & LOCK THE DATE We discovered a beautiful loft in Greenpoint and landed on a date in early May that worked with everyone’s schedules. 4. SCRIPTING (THE HARDEST PART) Writing a script about products and features that are still several months away from launching isn’t easy. And once the recording is complete, there’s no going back. 5. START MARKETING 10 WEEKS OUT We sent a steady stream of emails to our users to encourage them to join, kept a steady drip of social content running through the promotion period, and onboarded about a dozen beta users who got early access in exchange for promoting the event on their socials. I’ve also tied it into my own socials and newsletter as organically as I could for the past few months.  6. EVERYONE IS DISTRIBUTION The entire company updated their banners on their social profiles and added custom email footers encouraging recipients to RSVP. 7. EDITING For the past month we were trading emails nonstop with production companies: iterating creative direction, offering feedback, and making edits around the clock. The final version that aired on Thursday was almost unrecognizable from the first few cuts we received. BONUS: pushups to get the blood flowing before recording // It's been a long few months, but it’s genuinely the project I’m most proud of in my entire career. I wanted bigger and better this time around, and I think we delivered. I went into a lot more detail on the BTS in my newsletter if you want to read it btw: https://lnkd.in/eY84ywDb

Last week we launched Mutiny and got over 1M views and 5x'd our users. And it only cost us $14k. If you're a founder or marketer, here's our product launch playbook: Startup launches have become their own micro industry. We were quoted (twice) $100k for video and $50k+ for influencer amplification to hit 1M views on social. We decided that was insane, so we did it ourselves. Here's our playbook: 1. Nail the narrative before anything else. We were launching a new agent to help GTM teams create anything customer-facing. But people are inundated by launches, so we needed a stronger hook. We had killed our flagship SaaS product to go all-in on AI, a story that was genuinely different. So we led with that hook, while making sure the details and the video were all about the new product, not the past. 2. Create a killer video. Two rules going in: clarity is king, and pain is relatable. If someone watches and still doesn't know what we do, we failed. And if they can't see themselves in the first 30 seconds, we lost them. We knew you had to see the product in action to understand it, so we were really hands on about which 3 examples we can include. Shout out to the Represent team for helping us make an amazing video on a tight deadline. 3. Customer amplification. 6 weeks prior to launch, we made it our #1 goal to make great companies like Rippling and Snowflake genuinely successful. Then we turned those wins into stories we could share on our channels. When people saw brands that they recognized getting real results, it created FOMO that’s hard to manufacture. Next, we identified a wide number of active users and asked them to share their own posts. We created notes and asset screenshots to make it easier. 4. Ecosystem amplification Investors have large networks and a vested interest in our success. We reached out to every investor to ask for their support and sent them all the calendar invite! We also asked the CEOs and teams at our favorite tools and asked them to amplify our launch. Framer, Pylon, Momentic, and others used our launch buzz to write about their role in our story. 5. Plan a rolling thunder We planned activities for the following 4 weeks, one big splash a week. For example, today we launched on Product Hunt (go check us out!) and next week we are launching a big case study with Anthropic. What would we do differently? Influencers were a new area for us. I was skeptical of paying $50k to buy posts, so we dabbled a small amount in paid posts. The results were mixed. A few drove good impressions but overall, we don’t think they were super impactful. Next time, we want to pick influencers with relevant followings and get them to know and love our mission. The results from the launch: 1M impressions across all posts. We 5x’d daily active users and tripled MRR in a week. And we ended up on TBPN because the post went viral. We're live on Product Hunt today. If you want to support us, please go check us out over there.

The smartest launch campaigns don’t rely on one story. They build an ecosystem of stories. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 influencer launch is a great example of this approach. Instead of asking one creator to explain everything about the phone, Samsung worked with multiple creators across different verticals — each highlighting the feature that matters most to their audience. Film creators showcased Nightography, capturing cinematic low-light scenes that prove the camera’s power without saying a word. Gaming creators focused on the phone’s AI gaming capabilities, showing smoother gameplay, faster responses, and immersive performance. Lifestyle creators highlighted the privacy display, framing it as a practical everyday feature for people constantly on their phones in public spaces. Why this strategy works → Feature–creator alignment. Each creator demonstrates what they naturally understand best. → Audience relevance. Film fans, gamers, and lifestyle audiences each see the feature that matters to them. → Campaign depth. Instead of one big message, Samsung builds a network of narratives around the same product. Great product launches today aren’t one-off influencer posts. They’re creator ecosystems. Different creators. Different angles. One product story told through multiple perspectives. That’s how you turn a launch into something people actually pay attention to.

One of the highest profile elements of product marketing is managing public launches. Back in August we ran our last Paddle Forward - and we have our next one planned for March. Here are a few things we have learned. 1) Help the audience first It's so easy to get caught up in your internal business case for a launch... to focus on what you think it means. But the starting question should be: "Why should hundreds/thousands of our customers and prospects want to attend this, engage AND enjoy the time with us?" How can you help them think about their world differently? How can you give them access to your team? How can you introduce them to new tools that save them time or make them money? 2) Focus on the ‘so what’, not the ‘what’ The best communicators spend most of their time thinking about the reasons, the why, the so what... not the 'what we did'. Yet many product updates skip the context, miss the emotion, bury the 'what's in it for you'. Make the 'so what' how you start, and how you end. It's always better to summarise the details into bitesized chunks and link away for proper documentation. You will hate it at first, because these are hard-won details that you are now relegating. But your audience will thank you. 3) Format matters Some companies have a rhythm of regular programmed virtual and physical events (think Apple or Stripe). Some rely on community promotion of new features. Some rely entirely on written documentation. But the format is more than just whether its a doc or a webinar. It's HOW you deliver it. Is there live Q&A? Is there education and inspiration packaged up with release notes? What's the balance of powerpoint to live demos? How many customers are showing how they use the new product? We blend live presenting of market insight, pre-recorded demos of product updates and customer interviews, and topic-based break-out rooms for live Q&A with our product and engineering teams. 4) Plan, deliver, iterate The best communications build an expectation for more. And the best launches get people asking what you will be launching next. So, don't just plan one. Plan the next one. And right after each one, get feedback from your audience, gather your team for input. Listen to your engineers and product teams. And make a plan to get better. 5) Brand it The best software businesses ship regularly. In order to build expectation, consistency, and affinity, don't just plan a series - brand it. Make it something that your customers and prospects want to get in the diary early. I know many people who plan their lives around WWDC. I remember being in-person at one of the first Meta Facebook F8 conferences - and even meeting Zuck - and then tuning in regularly as I was involved with building Facebook apps. What else have I missed? If you want to take a look at the last Forward, just search "Paddle Forward" on Google or Youtube. Massive shout out to Bianca, Leigh Anne, Danielle and Hayley for how they ran the event.

Most creators obsess over the product. Few obsess over the rollout. The release is part of the art. Not an afterthought. Taylor Swift understands this. Midnights hit 1.4 million equivalent album units in 5 days. Fastest-selling album of 2022. Spotify record for most-streamed album in a day. Radiohead proved it differently with In Rainbows. Pay-what-you-want strategy. Made $3 million instantly. Sold 3+ million copies total. Compare this to most launches: Only 40% of tech products hit their launch goals. Companies that run pre-launch campaigns see 30% higher engagement. Yet 68% of creators launch with less than 2 weeks of planning. The difference? Strategic rollouts. Here's the 7-step framework that turns launches into breakthroughs: 1. Build anticipation, not just awareness Swift's cryptic countdown posts drove millions into detective mode. Create mystery before revelation. Tease features, don't announce them. Let your audience solve the puzzle. 2. Treat timing as a creative choice Radiohead released when the industry said "impossible." Their timing made a statement about value. Your launch date is part of your message. Choose it like you choose your words. 3. Plan for the long arc Most creators go silent after launch day. The best ones create seasons, not moments. Map content for 90 days, not 9 days. Think campaign, not event. 4. Map your content ecosystem One launch needs multiple content formats. Behind-the-scenes videos for YouTube. Process breakdowns for LinkedIn. User stories for testimonials. Each piece feeds the others. 5. Build community before you need it Swift had Swifties before she had albums to sell. Start building relationships today. Engage in comments, not just posts. Your launch audience should already know you. 6. Design feedback loops Launch, listen, adapt, repeat. Every comment is data for your next move. The best launches become conversations. Plan how you'll respond, not just how you'll speak. 7. Create momentum multipliers Design each piece to generate the next piece. User-generated content campaigns. Media coverage from early adopters. Referral programs that reward sharing. Success should snowball, not plateau. Your creative work deserves a creative launch. Stop treating the rollout like an obligation. Start treating it like an opportunity. ♻️ Share this with someone ready to launch their work strategically 🔔 Follow Kabir Sehgal for frameworks on creativity