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Product launches is always a big deal. A lot of time and effort goes into the launch, where its success is dependent on the planning phase. As Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” As an entrepreneur, it’s important to plan out what you’d like to do as you approach the launch of your business.

What better way to prioritise launch planning than to understand the 5 Things You Need to Plan Your Business Launch

#1. One aligned objective

Whether you’re launching a business or a new product line, an aligned objective sets everyone on your team straight. You may have freelancers, outsourcers, partners, affiliates, and others helping you along the way. As the leader of this big project, you must prepare to look at the big-picture view, establish good communication, and track progress of many moving parts.

As I recall, when I was first launching the Fempreneur Secrets Launch Campaign in 2019, I was practically alone. I had to rely on the goodwill of friends, associates, partners and even my team from Blissful Studios to make the launch a reality. It took us a good 6-months to get everything in order: research, marketing shoot, website development, and reaching out to potential supporters too!

We repeated this again when we launched Profitable Fempreneur and Rising Fempreneur Programs. My whole team was in on the shared objective, which led us to a desired launch.

#2. Your Product Launch Schedule

Since timing is so critical in a product launch, you need a schedule that includes every task, deadline, and milestone. If you’re working solo on your product launch, THIS ONE THING is the most critical element of your product launch success. Without a clear schedule, you’ll be pushing the deadlines ever so flexibly, making it almost impossible for you to be clear on when you’ll be launching.

As Launch Day approaches, refer back to this schedule and check off all the items, tasks and expenditure related to the launch. A good schedule ensures that everything is ready for the big launch and any snags along the way can be dealt with.

For my team and I, we plan our schedule using Airtable. It’s such a useful tool to keep us on track and keep the team aware of their tasks and responsibilities. We talk more about maximising usage of Airtable and other amazing tools in the Fearless Fempreneur Club.

#3. Clear Awareness of Your Target Market

MANY entrepreneurs think that people will buy their product, but the reality is that people will only buy if they see a need. Another common misconception about entrepreneurship is that you can sell to anybody. That’s not true. You MUST decide who you’d like to target as your ideal customers or clients. Without a clear target market and niche, you will leave yourself creating copy, content and product for the masses. That’s so much harder to succeed than targeting a niche segment.

A major part of the planning involves researching your market, choosing the right product and testing to make sure this product is what the people want. You need to gather feedback from your target market in order to refine your strategy. In the Profitable Fempreneur Program, I teach my clients my Best 20 Framework which helps you get closer to understand your dream customers.

#4. Superb Customer Service

On the day of the launch, you want everything to go smoothly. There will certainly be customer issues and questions. You need to be ready to deal with these issues and questions long before your customers start asking them.

Have a good system in place. If you don’t have the resources to handle the questions on your own, choose to either hire additional help for the launch period, or automate the questions process using Chatbots. If you’re not tech savvy, hire freelancer or virtual assistants to help you during the launch period. My favourite platform to hire is Upwork and OnlineJobs.PH. Most of the help I enlist comes through these two platforms.

Educate your team about the values you’d like to present through their customer service. Set what’s known as Standard Operating Protocols and keep the steps simple through usage of FAQ databases. You may have seen these databases appearing frequently in tech companies like Kajabi and Shopify.

#5. Prepare for Contingencies

Part of product launch planning is dealing with things that could go wrong. You need to keep asking yourself “What would I do if this went wrong?”

When I was in National Police Cadet Core, I was taught to have a backup plan for everything. I had to prepare wet weather plan for any camps I’m organising as well as possible first aid or any ‘Acts of God’ situations. The same is true for an entrepreneur. A good entrepreneur need to also have contingency plans from A to Z for their business.

Pre-pandemic, my team at Blissful Studios were planning to launch Livestreaming services. At a time when events was normally physical, we needed to educate our prospects and clients on the importance of this service. We wanted to launch with a physical workshop / seminar to educate our potential clients. One of our contingencies for launch of this workshop / seminar was inclement weather and natural disaster. We were firm on knowing what to show and say about the service online, and postpone the date to after the situation gets better. So, when the pandemic hit, we had a clear path of what to do next.

Finally, proper planning removes the anxiety and panic of a product launch. If you've prepared well in advance, you can spend each day leading up to the launch implementing and monitoring. If there's a small problem along the way, you can easily deal with it and it won't derail the entire launch.

It's no exaggeration to say that planning is what makes or breaks a product launch. The journey to a successful launch begins with the right structure and strategy. Remember, you don’t have to go through this alone. Stay in a community like the Fearless Fempreneurs Club to top your chances of success!