A brand contacts an agency six weeks before a product launch, wanting coverage on the day in the magazines they grew up reading.
Those magazines closed that issue three months ago. Nobody has told the brand, and the agency now has to decide whether to explain that or take the money.
Step 1: establish the date first
The launch date, whether it is fixed, whether anything is already committed and whether a soft launch is possible. Everything else depends on it.
Step 2: explain lead times plainly
Long-lead print works months ahead. Weekly and online publications work in weeks. Trade press varies. Broadcast depends on the story. Publishing these ranges is the most useful thing an agency can put on its site.
Step 3: say what is achievable in the time
With six weeks, trade and online are realistic, some broadcast is possible and the long-lead opportunity has passed. Being specific converts better than a vague promise.
Step 4: offer the alternative timeline
Coverage after launch, a second moment a few months later, or a phased approach. Brands fixate on launch day and a well-timed follow-up often performs better.
Step 5: establish what is actually newsworthy
A new product is not a story on its own. What is different, what problem it solves, whether there is data, a founder story or a cultural angle. Agencies that establish this early produce better results and better briefings.
Step 6: check the assets exist
Photography, samples for review, a spokesperson available for interviews, approved messaging and a press release. Missing assets are the most common cause of a launch campaign underdelivering.
Step 7: agree the embargo approach
Whether press get advance access, under what terms and when the embargo lifts. Brands frequently do not understand this and a broken embargo damages relationships.
Step 8: confirm spokesperson availability
Someone who can speak, is prepared and is free in launch week. A founder on holiday during launch is a real and frequent problem.
Step 9: publish what a launch package includes
Strategy, media list, materials, outreach, follow-up and reporting, with a duration. Brands compare launch packages and cannot without inclusions listed.
Step 10: be honest about guarantees
No agency controls placement, which is the position set out in what PR retainers include and other pricing questions.
Step 10b: plan what happens after launch week
Coverage arrives across a fortnight and then stops, and a brand that budgeted only for launch has nothing to sustain interest. Explaining what a follow-on period costs, and what it typically achieves, turns a one-off project into a longer arrangement while the client is still enthusiastic rather than three months later when momentum has gone.
Step 11: brands face their own launch spike
Their customer enquiries surge at the same time, as covered in launch day questions when a DTC brand drops a product.
Step 12: urgent enquiries arrive at all hours
Launch dates create panic, much like crisis PR enquiries that arrive out of hours, and keeping published answers current is covered in how to keep a chatbot's answers accurate as your business changes.
Getting started
Publish media lead times, what a launch package includes and what is achievable at different notice, then capture launch dates at any hour. Setting up takes minutes with install the widget and train your bot. SpideyChat for agencies answers from your published pages.