Launching Products That Win: Real-Life Strategies from Product Marketing Experts
In this opportunity, I reached out to 6 fantastic product marketers, each with a unique success story from a product launch they’ve driven. From handling tough competitors to defining the right story for their product, these experts have a wealth of experience to share.
So, grab a cup of coffee and get ready to dive into some real-world stories on what it takes to make a product launch truly successful!
Product Launch: Klaviyo by Michael Greene
Company & Product Overview
Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform that enables personalized, data-driven communication. Michael led the launch of Klaviyo’s SMS product, competing against industry heavyweight, Attentive.
Launch Strategy
Michael’s strategy involved a dual-pronged approach: a soft launch to gather feedback from early adopters and a combined sales-led and product-led motion. The sales-led strategy targeted mid-market businesses, focusing on differentiating Klaviyo’s SMS platform from competitors like Attentive through internal training and a competitive “rip and replace” campaign. Sales teams were trained to highlight Klaviyo’s unique capabilities in SMS, integrated with their existing email product.
On the product-led side, entrepreneurs were the primary focus. In-app messaging campaigns were designed to educate users about how they could leverage SMS alongside email. This was followed by triggered email campaigns to further educate and engage customers, ensuring they understood the full potential of the integrated system.
Target Customer
Mid-market eCommerce businesses and entrepreneurs, specifically those managing online stores or running email marketing campaigns.
Results
Within weeks, Klaviyo gained 1,000 SMS users and secured multiple large contracts with mid-market clients. Early feedback from both product-led and sales-led users played a critical role in refining product features and improving customer adoption.
Lessons Learned
Michael emphasized the importance of tight communication between product and product marketing. Misalignment delayed adjustments to the product roadmap based on early feedback.
His tip? Communicate early and often with all stakeholders to avoid surprises and keep the launch process smooth.
Product Launch: Momentum by Clayton Pritchard
Company & Product Overview
Momentum is a customer intelligence platform that enables enterprise listening and automation. Clayton led the launch of Momentum for Upsells & Renewals, a new set of features specifically designed for customer success teams.
Launch Strategy
Clayton’s launch approach built upon Momentum’s existing value proposition, emphasizing the market shift towards retention over net-new growth. The strategy involved leveraging Momentum’s story as a customer success enabler, highlighting how these new features allowed businesses to do more with less during challenging economic times.
The go-to-market plan included a multi-channel approach featuring Product Hunt, PR outreach, social media campaigns, community engagement, and a product video produced by Olivine. The video and content created were designed to target specific pain points related to upsells and renewals, making it clear how these features improved the overall efficiency of customer success teams.
Target Customer
Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) and Customer Success leaders at mid-to-enterprise-level SaaS companies.
Results
Momentum ranked as the #3 product of the day on Product Hunt, leading to a spike in lead volume and multiple expansion requests from current customers. The community engagement across social channels drove significant awareness, solidifying Momentum’s position in the customer success space.
Lessons Learned
Clayton believes that the story you tell around your product is just as important as the product itself. His advice is to start community-building long before launch day, ensuring you have an engaged audience ready to support you when the product goes live.
Product Launch: Cloudli by Dana Salman
Company & Product Overview
Cloudli provides VoIP solutions tailored for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). Dana Salman’s challenge was to launch Cloudli’s cloud-based phone system in a highly competitive telecom market dominated by giants with huge advertising budgets.
Launch Strategy
Dana began with comprehensive market research and competitive analysis, studying the onboarding experience and service quality of larger telecom competitors. With this knowledge, her team created a positioning strategy that emphasized the unique value of Cloudli’s offering for small businesses, specifically how it delivered a flexible, user-friendly experience at a competitive price.
Initially, Cloudli tested a Google PPC campaign, but telecom giants were able to outbid them consistently. Realizing this approach wasn’t sustainable, Dana pivoted to LinkedIn and webinar-based campaigns, targeting Canadian entrepreneurs and SMBs. The LinkedIn Sponsored Updates and Sponsored Inmail campaigns directed users to a webinar hosted by the VP of Sales, highlighting the phone system’s benefits.
Target Customer
SMB CEOs, CTOs, COOs, and VPs with fewer than 100 employees, particularly in Canada.
Results
Despite the challenges with paid search, Dana’s team generated over 400 users and $10,000 in revenue from the alternative channels of webinars and LinkedIn. They were able to fine-tune the product messaging to resonate more effectively with their target audience.
Lessons Learned
Dana learned that early market feedback is crucial and that being flexible with your launch channels is key. When PPC didn’t work, LinkedIn and webinars delivered much better results. Her advice? If one channel isn’t working, be willing to pivot and explore other opportunities.
Product Launch: Experian’s Aperture Data Studio Jessica Allen
Company & Product Overview
Dana learned that early market feedback is crucial and that being flexible with your launch channels is key. When PPC didn’t work, LinkedIn and webinars delivered much better results. Her advice? If one channel isn’t working, be willing to pivot and explore other opportunities.
Launch Strategy
Jessica led a comprehensive launch strategy that began with working closely with analysts to understand the trends in the data quality industry. This helped in developing use cases that were highly relevant to customer needs. She also conducted a competitive analysis to identify opportunities where Aperture Data Studio could stand out.
Positioning was critical: Jessica’s team focused on the product’s ease of use and faster time to implementation, a key differentiator in the marketplace. She developed sales enablement plays and collateral that reflected these differentiators, while also running an internal communications campaign to rally excitement across global teams.
Target Customer
Data practitioners, including Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Data Analysts, and marketing/sales operations teams.
Results
Within the first six months of the launch, Aperture Data Studio generated $435K in revenue and influenced over $1M in pipeline opportunities. Clear positioning and coordinated efforts across global teams contributed to these results.
Lessons Learned
Jessica emphasizes the importance of clear internal communication and stakeholder alignment—especially when launch timelines shift. Keeping everyone informed across different regions helped maintain momentum and avoided last-minute surprises.
Product Launch: Cinnabon by Shweta Ahooja
Company & Product Overview
Cinnabon, a globally recognized bakery brand, is best known for its signature cinnamon rolls. Shweta Ahooja led the launch of a new, healthier cinnamon roll aimed at offering indulgence with less guilt.
Launch Strategy
Shweta’s team focused on developing a portable, lower-calorie version of the iconic cinnamon roll. The goal was to introduce a product that aligned with Cinnabon’s core brand while appealing to more health-conscious consumers.
Her strategy included creating upsell and cross-sell opportunities by encouraging pairing the new roll with beverages and promoting it as a lighter indulgence that could be enjoyed more frequently. This product needed to expand the customer base without cannibalizing existing products. Cross-functional collaboration was key, ensuring that product development, marketing, and sales teams were all aligned.
Target Customer
Health-conscious customers and frequent Cinnabon visitors, including families, young adults, and travelers looking for a quick treat.
Results
The new product became one of the most successful launches in Cinnabon’s history, surpassing typical limited-time offers and earning a permanent spot on the menu.
Lessons Learned/Pro Tips
Shweta stresses the need for stakeholder buy-in and cross-functional collaboration. She emphasizes that no product can succeed in a vacuum—you need support from every team involved in the launch process.
Product Launch: Intercom by Raechel Lambert
Company & Product Overview
During her time at Intercom, Raechel led the launch of the Help Center, focusing on a Minimum Marketable Product (MMP) strategy rather than the typical Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach.
Launch Strategy
Raechel’s team adopted a story-first approach to product development, focusing on addressing specific pain points that Zendesk’s Help Center failed to solve. Instead of launching a product packed with features, they prioritized solving the most critical problems users faced, while crafting messaging that clearly communicated how Intercom was different from its competitors.
Target Customer
Despite offering fewer features, Intercom successfully differentiated itself from Zendesk and grew to compete head-to-head with the industry leader in the following years.
Results
The new product became one of the most successful launches in Cinnabon’s history, surpassing typical limited-time offers and earning a permanent spot on the menu.
Lessons Learned/Pro Tips
Raechel advises product marketers to avoid launching undifferentiated MVPs in competitive markets. Instead, she recommends focusing on a well-defined MMP and ensuring the product story deeply resonates with the audience.
Conclusion
These product launch stories highlight key strategies that successful launches have in common: clear communication, early feedback loops, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to adapt when needed. Whether you’re launching a new product or rolling out new features, staying aligned with your stakeholders and keeping your audience at the center of your strategy is what drives results.
At Olivine, we not only help companies with messaging and positioning but also work as an integrated part of your team to plan and execute product launches.
Reach out to learn how we can help make your next launch a success.
