The biggest launch mistake? Trying to be everywhere at once with a team that's already stretched thin.
I've seen too many product marketers create elaborate 12-channel launch plans that fall apart by week two. The emails get delayed, the social posts go stale, and the sales team never gets trained because you're too busy firefighting.
Here's what actually works: strategic channel selection and sequencing.
The Channel Selection Framework
Not every channel deserves your attention. Start by mapping channels against two dimensions:
Audience reach vs. team capacity. Your ideal channel has high reach with your ICP and can be executed with your current resources. That blog post series you're planning? It might reach thousands, but if you don't have a writer, it's not happening.
Time to impact vs. launch timeline. Some channels deliver fast (email, sales training), others are slow burns (SEO, analyst relations). Match your channel mix to your launch goals.
Here's the filter I use:
- Must-have: Reaches 50%+ of target buyers, executable in 2 weeks
- Should-have: Reaches 25%+ of target buyers, executable in 4 weeks
- Nice-to-have: Everything else gets deferred or delegated
Most product launches need 4-6 core channels, not 12.
The Launch Sequence That Works
Channels aren't launched simultaneously—they're sequenced. Here's the pattern I've seen work repeatedly:
Week -2: Internal enablement first. Before any external communication, your internal teams need to be ready. Sales training, support documentation, customer success briefings. Nothing tanks a launch faster than a sales team that can't demo your product.
Week 0: Owned channels. Launch day hits your owned properties first: website, email list, in-app notifications. You control the message and the timing. No dependencies on journalists or analysts who might delay.
Week 1: Earned and partner channels. Once the foundation is live, activate PR, analyst outreach, and partner co-marketing. These channels amplify your message but require coordination.
Week 2-4: Paid and sustained channels. Paid ads, webinars, content series—these keep momentum going after the initial splash. They're not launch-day critical but they're launch-month essential.
Channel-Specific Execution Tips
Email: Three-email sequence works better than one blast. Preview email to insiders, launch announcement to full list, deep-dive feature email one week later. Each email has a single CTA.
Sales enablement: Don't just send a deck. Run a live training session, record it, and create a 1-page cheat sheet. Sales reps will use the cheat sheet, ignore the deck.
Social media: Create a content calendar but assign owners for each platform. The PM handles LinkedIn thought leadership, marketing handles Twitter/X announcements, the CEO does the founder story. Distributed ownership prevents bottlenecks.
Website: Launch hub or landing page, not just a blog post. Centralize all launch content in one place so prospects and press can find everything. Include product tour, pricing, demo request, and FAQ.
The Coordination System
Multi-channel launches fail because of poor coordination, not bad strategy. Here's the system:
Launch brief: Single-page doc that every channel owner can reference. Product overview, key messages, target audience, launch date, success metrics. No 40-page launch plan that nobody reads.
Channel owners: One person accountable for each channel. They can delegate tasks but they own the outcome. Shared ownership means no ownership.
Weekly standup: 30-minute sync in the month before launch. Each channel owner reports status, blockers, and asks for help. Faster than Slack threads and email chains.
Launch day war room: Slack channel where all channel owners gather on launch day. Quick decisions happen in minutes, not hours. Someone spots a typo on the pricing page? It's fixed in 10 minutes.
The Metrics That Matter
Most launch metrics are vanity metrics. Here's what actually indicates channel success:
For awareness channels (PR, social, content): Measure reach and engagement, but weight engagement 3x higher. 10,000 impressions with 100 clicks beats 50,000 impressions with 50 clicks.
For conversion channels (email, paid, website): Measure conversion rate by stage. Email open rate matters less than email-to-demo rate. Landing page visitors matter less than visitor-to-trial rate.
For enablement channels (sales training, partner enablement): Measure adoption, not completion. Did sales reps use the new pitch? Did partners create co-marketing content? Completion certificates mean nothing.
Track metrics by channel in one dashboard. If a channel isn't performing by week two, you have three options: double down with more resources, optimize the execution, or cut it and reallocate budget.
When to Add or Cut Channels
Your initial channel plan will be wrong. The question is how quickly you adapt.
Add channels when: You're hitting targets ahead of schedule and have capacity. A new channel opportunity emerges (analyst wants to cover you, partner wants to co-market). You're missing a key segment that existing channels don't reach.
Cut channels when: You're two weeks in and seeing <20% of expected results. The channel requires 2x the resources you estimated. The channel reaches the wrong audience (high traffic, low fit).
The best launches I've seen started with 5 channels and ended with 3 high-performing ones. The worst launches started with 10 channels and ended with 10 mediocre ones.
The Reality Check
Here's what nobody tells you about multi-channel launches: they're hard. Coordinating across teams, managing dependencies, making real-time decisions—it's complex.
But the alternative is worse: single-channel launches that reach 20% of your audience, or unfocused multi-channel attempts that spread your team too thin.
Pick your channels strategically, sequence them deliberately, coordinate tightly, and be ready to adapt. That's how multi-channel launches actually work.