PWPM Wiki
Product LaunchCommunication Plan

Product Launch Communication Plan

This is a practical guide to building a communication plan for a product launch project — who gets what information, when, how and from whom, adapted to the realities of coordinating a cross-functional launch to bring a product to market.

What a Communication Plan is

A communication plan is who gets what information, when, how and from whom. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Communication Plan. On a product launch project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.

Why it matters for a Product Launch project

Product Launch projects live or die on coordinating a cross-functional launch to bring a product to market. A well-built communication plan gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how product launch projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.

What to include

  • Audiences
  • Messages / information needs
  • Frequency and channel
  • Owner

Product Launch-specific considerations

Tailor the communication plan to the risks that most often derail product launch projects:

  • Cross-team coordination
  • Fixed launch dates
  • Market and competitor response

Example

On a real product launch project, the communication plan would be shaped by coordinating a cross-functional launch to bring a product to market. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — cross-team coordination, fixed launch dates, market and competitor response — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.