Internal Communication for a Product Launch: Successfully Setting Your Teams Up For Launch Day

As of September 26th, 2024, we’ve updated this blog to go more in-depth about the media your teams can use for internal communications and what your team may want to consider avoiding when communicating with various departments.

You are well aware of every aspect of your new product and getting ready to launch it. What about your team? Are they as ready as you are? 

The success behind the internal launch starts long before a product goes live. Before announcing a product externally, it’s extremely important to communicate internally for a successful product launch.

Table of Contents

• What Is Involved in Internal Communication for a Product Launch?
• Tips for Successful Internal Communication for a Product Launch
• 3 Things NOT To Do During Internal Product Launch Communication 
• Preparing for a Successful Product Launch: Internal Communication Example
• Launch Day — Was Your Internal Product Communication Plan Successful?

What Is Involved in Internal Communication for a Product Launch?

Internal product launch communication refers to building awareness and excitement among company employees about major product launches. 

Product launch communication plans involve communicating the details of the product launch strategy with your company team, helping them understand their role in this strategy, and aligning them on a single message.

Product Launch Communication: Why Proper Internal Communication Is Essential

Strong internal communication for a product launch is just as important as your external marketing strategy. 

If you have an unprepared team, you cannot win the game. By having an internal product launch communication plan, you can properly coordinate with your team members, keep them briefed prior to a product launch, and keep your entire team organized and on track.

5 Key Elements of Successful Product Launch Communication 

Let’s go over the key ingredients of effective product launch communication.

#1: Information

How and what you communicate with your employees may rely on each team member’s role in the plan. You don’t want to take Susan from accounting’s time up by CCing her in an email about development unless the information is essential for her role. You can plan accordingly, but your product launch team should be informed of critical points such as:

• Launch objectives
• Target audiences
• Key messages and positioning statements
• Problems where the product or service is the solution
• Product description
• Key activities, schedules, and timelines for the launch
• Ongoing awareness campaigns and lead generation

The overall team, regardless of whether their role is sales or service, should be familiarized with how your product works and all of its features. Things like pricing details would be most relevant to your channel partner’s sales and sales teams, while your marketing team should have a frame of reference for promotional activities.

2: Timing

Product managers and leadership should also ensure that everyone involved has the resources they need at all times during the product launch process. The five primary stages of a product launch include:

1. Initial planning: Setting goals and metrics, understanding your target market, product positioning, etc.
2. Pre-launch: Content development, developing sales training, planning key launch events, engaging in marketing activities, etc. 
3. Sales and channel partner launch: Providing training and tools to salespeople, distributors, and the marketing team 
4. Launch day: The public unveiling of the product or service, gathering initial feedback through product concept testing, etc.
5. Post-launch: Evaluating metrics, gathering prospective client feedback, establishing an impactful lead generation and marketing plan

#3: Channels

Multiple channels are key to effective communication and getting your message across. The channels you use may vary depending on your internal audience. 

For example, salespeople might prefer in-person or Zoom meetings. In contrast, engineers would rather have everything facilitated through an email (we all know that one engineer or developer who cannot attend a meeting without snidely remarking later on that “this could have all been said through an email.”). 

Ask your team members which methods of communication they prefer, but maybe consider using at least one secondary channel for reinforcement. 

Choice methods of communication might include:

• Email or instant message notifications
• Town hall-style meetings
• Intranet or internal social media sites
• On-screen messages or banners in the break room

#4: Language

Avoid technical jargon when communicating with your sales or marketing team. Don’t use marketing buzzwords when communicating with your dev or engineering team. As a team leader, you should be able to code-switch, depending on which department you are talking to. 

But when talking to everyone, generalize your key messages and use language that they all can understand.

 #5: Support

After your internal launch, it is vital for the ongoings to remain transparent and all communication is as clear as it was during pre-launch. Hold regular meetings to take time to speak to your teams about the product launch plan/progress while offering to answer any possible questions. You can even make this a little fun by hosting company-wide events to celebrate the launch while also using it as an opportunity to update everyone on things. 

Sharing customer feedback will be central to keeping your team motivated and informed about your product’s performance and impact. The only way to do that is to elevate platforms that facilitate customer feedback.

AnnouceKit is the key tool for announcing launches, polling customer feedback, and showcasing your product’s roadmap. Learn more about our all-in-one solution for announcing your product or service at any phase of the project or launch.

Quick Setup, Easy to Use, and Many Integrations

Manage your product announcements from a single place and easily distribute them
across multiple channels.

TRY IT FOR FREE NOW

Go to Website

Tips for Successful Internal Communication for a Product Launch

To be successful in internal communications, several points need to be worked on. Let’s examine them in detail.

Reinforce the Objective of The Launch

When communicating internally, revealing the key points of the overall message provides team members with a strong idea of the ultimate goal and enables them to move forward with your product launch strategy.

The key messaging points of the launch should include:

• Descriptive documentation
• Problems the product is meant to solve
• Expectations from the team—feedback, suggestions, testing, etc.
• Target audience
• Plans and timelines for the launch

If you can highlight these key points in your objective, your team members will understand the essential information about the product launch.

Use Different Approaches for Different Departments

The success behind an internal launch starts long before a product goes live — it starts with successful internal communication about the launch with your team. 

While you provide information to the entire company, your approach to the different departments may differ. Your sales team needs to know about features and pricing. Your marketing team should decide on promotions and campaigns. You should provide your product team with detailed information about everything.

Each department requires different types of communication. Therefore, identifying the different teams in the company and focusing on each department with different systems, purposes, and cultures is important while communicating internally.

Do you know which teams need to be provided with which details? You can separate them in the following way:

• Marketing Team:

You should provide your marketing team with the details on the overall value and benefits of the product — marketing campaigns, promotional materials, use cases, etc. so that they can create new campaigns and new marketing materials.

• Customer Support Team:

Your customer support team should be trained on features and functionalities including but not limited to any documentation, possible malfunctions, etc. so that they can support customers in any case.

• Sales Team:

You should create awareness around features and benefits — feature lists, pricing, prospects, etc.

• Product Team:

Product teams need to be in the know about almost everything, from messaging to details of the launch.

Internal Communication For Product Launches: Understand the Various Mediums

You may have a high-end NYC office space and use communications tools like Slack, Discord, Zoom, or all-in-one workspace tools like Notion or Asana. 

Whatever you use, it doesn’t really matter. They all have one thing in common: they allow you to communicate efficiently and quickly.  What’s important is to choose an internal communication channel that sends your message and any relevant information across your company properly.

Chat Tools

Chat tools are great platforms to use for internal communication for feedback, suggestions, testing, etc. 

Your company can use these internal communication tools during a product launch to announce every remarkable step or any critical change concerning the launch.

For these purposes, using Slack, Discord, or any internal communication tool will ensure more efficient and quick discussions about the product launch.

Release Notes Tools

Release notes are also useful for product launch internal communications. They provide descriptive documentation, a product brief, and any changes or updates concerning the launch. 

Release notes software for product update announcements like AnnounceKit can help make your internal communication much more efficient.

Workspace Tools

Workspaces provide you with much more space to plan, communicate, share, and practice. 

You can use Notion, Asana, or Google Workspace for many purposes, such as providing documentation, chats, meetings, calendars, etc to successfully internally communicate during product launches.

Map Out Your Timing

You want everything to go well, but are you really giving the time needed? 

Timing for an internal product launch is as important as it is for the official launch. You should define the timeline from internal launch to external launch to your team properly for a successful launch. It will give your teams the desired time to schedule, plan, test, and practice their strategies. 

For this purpose, you should define product launch stages well and schedule the dates. This can be divided into 5 stages:

• Initial planning stage
• Pre-launch stage
• Demo launch stage
• Launch stage
• Post-launch

Execute a Demo Launch

Speaking of product launch stages, providing a demo launch for your team before the official launch is essential. It helps your team test the product, go over their plans, see the missing points, give feedback, and evaluate the overall process—all of which will help you prepare for the launch day.

3 Things NOT To Do During Internal Product Launch Communication 

We’ve mentioned our top tips to help successfully communicate internally about your product launch, but is there anything you should avoid doing? Absolutely. Here’s a quick list of things to avoid:

DON’T Send Irrelevant Information

Stakeholders want to know several things and be able to get their part done efficiently. Too much information can leave them feeling disengaged and even overwhelmed. Avoid providing unnecessary information so that the proper teams can: 

1. Know their part in the product launch
2. Take the appropriate actions

DON’T Use Unnecessary Jargon and Systems

This is more of a reminder based on what we mentioned earlier. Keep in mind who you are communicating with internally. Your IT team will use completely different jargon than your marketing, customer service, or sales teams. 

Don’t assume every department understands or uses the same vocabulary. 

Product launch communication, especially internally, means paying attention to how you’re communicating. Use the language each department speaks. 

This can also be said for the amount of documents sent. It’s best not to assume that one calendar, document, or campaign will work for everyone involved in the product launch. Every department will need different amounts of information. Don’t be afraid to send out your message/goal in various ways.

DON’T Stick to One Communication Medium

You can take this one step further by using the various means of communication mentioned earlier based on the team you’re communicating with. 

Your IT department may prefer emails for internal communication for a product launch, while your customer service department may have better luck communicating more efficiently with a medium like Slack.

Preparing for a Successful Product Launch: Internal Communication Example 

Let’s review what we have discussed so far with a simple internal launch example we prepared for you.

Ideally, your internal product launch communication plan is broken down into a product launch calendar. This can help you, and the various teams working on your launch, visualize each milestone.

Whether you choose to create a spreadsheet, a calendar, or both, ensure that everyone that everyone who is involved in the product launch understands:

• Their role
• Their deliverables
• Any necessary meeting times
• Due dates

Launch Day — Was Your Internal Product Communication Plan Successful? 

Internal communication is essential for a successful product launch and by focusing on the points we laid out, you can coordinate with your team more efficiently and successfully manage internal communication for the product launch.

Now for the exciting part!

Your team is all set to maintain the product launch process.

What about after launching the product? You will need to announce product updates internally. 

Take a look at our Internal Release Notes to learn more about how this system can help your team accomplish a successful product launch both internally and externally.

 AnnounceKit makes it easier for teams to announce product launches, software updates, and enhancements while building customer trust and generating excitement. Learn more about how we can help your company communicate effectively.

Quick Setup, Easy to Use, and Many Integrations

Manage your product announcements from a single place and easily distribute them
across multiple channels.

TRY IT FOR FREE NOW

Go to Website