Product Launch Campaigns: The 90-Day Advertising Roadmap

Product Launch Campaigns: The 90-Day Advertising Roadmap

Most product launches are a fireworks show. Massive spend in week one. Stunning visibility. Then silence. Revenue spikes, then crashes. Three months later, the product sits on a digital shelf collecting dust.

The brands that build sustained revenue from new products don't do fireworks. They do controlled burns. A 90-day campaign structure that builds anticipation before launch, maximizes impact during launch, and sustains momentum after.

Products with structured 90-day launch campaigns generate 2.5x more revenue in their first year compared to products with burst-only launches. Here's the exact framework.

Why Product Launches Fail (And How to Fix It)

Launch failures follow predictable patterns:

The Budget Blowout. Spending 80% of your launch budget in the first week feels aggressive and exciting. It's actually reckless. You haven't learned which audiences respond. You haven't tested which creative works. You're optimizing for nothing because you have no data yet. By the time you know what works, you're out of money.

The Cold Audience Problem. Launching to cold audiences is expensive. They don't know you, don't trust you, and don't care about your new product. On Meta, cold audience CPMs average $7.19. On Google Display, $2.80. These costs multiply when your creative hasn't been tested. You're paying premium prices for unproven ads shown to uninterested people.

The Measurement Vacuum. Most launches set one goal: revenue. But revenue is a lagging indicator. By the time you realize revenue is below target, it's too late to fix the campaign. You need leading indicators at every stage.

The fix is structural. Divide your launch into three phases, each with its own objective, budget, creative strategy, and success metrics. Plan it all before you spend a dollar.

The 90-Day Launch Framework

Here's the high-level architecture:

Notice the budget split. 40% goes to post-launch, not launch week. This is counterintuitive but critical. Launch week captures the early adopters who were already primed. Post-launch is where you convert the majority and build sustainable revenue.

Plan your entire 90-day campaign timeline with our Campaign Scheduler. Map out every phase, every test, every creative rotation.

Pre-Launch: Building Anticipation (Days 1-30)

The pre-launch phase has one job: ensure that when you flip the switch on launch day, you're advertising to warm audiences with proven creative. Not cold audiences with untested ads.

Week 1-2: Audience Building

Start running top-of-funnel content to build engaged audiences you can retarget during launch. This isn't about selling. It's about creating a pool of people who know you exist.

• Meta: Run video content about the problem your product solves. Optimize for ThruPlays. Build Custom Audiences from 75% video viewers. At $7.19 CPM, a $1,000 investment builds an audience of 50,000+ engaged viewers.
• Google: Run Discovery and YouTube campaigns targeting in-market audiences in your category. Build remarketing lists from engaged visitors.
• TikTok: Post organic content teasing the product. Boost top performers. At $10.00 CPM, TikTok reaches younger demographics efficiently for awareness.

Week 2-3: Creative Testing

Test 8-12 creative variations across your pre-launch audiences. Test headlines, hooks, imagery, and formats. By launch day, you'll know your top 3 performers with statistical confidence.

What to test:

• Problem-focused vs. solution-focused messaging
• User-generated content vs. polished brand content
• Video vs. static vs. carousel
• Emotional appeal vs. feature-benefit

Check platform creative requirements with our Creative Specs Checker to ensure every ad variation meets specifications before you test.

Week 3-4: Waitlist and Pre-Registration

Convert your engaged audiences into a waitlist. Offer early access, exclusive pricing, or bonus content for people who sign up before launch. This does two things: builds a high-intent audience for launch day, and gives you email addresses independent of any ad platform.

A well-run pre-launch waitlist converts at 15-30% on launch day. That's your guaranteed revenue floor before you spend a dollar on launch week ads.

Launch Week: Maximum Impact Strategy (Days 31-37)

This is your big push. But because you did the pre-launch work, you're not guessing. You're deploying proven creative to warm audiences. Everything is de-risked.

Day 1-2: Warm Audience Blitz

Hit your warmest audiences first:

• Email your waitlist. This is your highest-converting channel. Expect 30-50% open rates and 10-20% conversion rates from a well-nurtured waitlist.
• Retarget pre-launch engagers. Anyone who watched your videos, visited your landing page, or engaged with your content in the last 30 days. These audiences have 3-5x higher conversion rates than cold traffic.
• Lookalike audiences. Build 1% lookalikes from your waitlist signups and pre-launch engagers. These are your best cold audiences.

Day 3-5: Expand and Scale

Now broaden your reach. Take your winning creative (proven in pre-launch) and push it to wider audiences. Increase lookalike ranges to 2-5%. Enable broad targeting with your best creative and let the algorithms optimize.

This is where you spend the biggest portion of your launch week budget. Monitor ROAS in real-time using our ROAS Calculator. If ROAS holds above your break-even point as you scale, keep pushing.

Day 6-7: Social Proof Amplification

By now you have real customers. Use their reviews, unboxing videos, and testimonials as ad creative. Social proof ads in the second half of launch week typically see 25-40% lower CPA than product-focused ads because they answer the buyer's real question: "Do people like this?"

Post-Launch: Sustaining Momentum (Days 38-90)

This is where most launches die. And where disciplined advertisers win.

Weeks 6-8: Optimization Phase

You now have real conversion data. Use it ruthlessly.

• Kill any ad set with CPA more than 1.5x your target after 100+ impressions
• Double down on top-performing audiences and creative
• Test new angles based on actual customer feedback
• Refresh creative every 2-3 weeks to prevent fatigue

Weeks 8-10: Channel Expansion

Take your proven messaging and expand to new platforms. If you launched primarily on Meta and Google, test TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn (for B2B products). Use the same creative frameworks that worked, adapted for each platform's format.

Compare platform performance with our Platform Comparison Tool to identify which new channels offer the best opportunity for your product category.

Weeks 10-13: Scale or Pivot

By week 10, you have enough data to make strategic decisions:

• If ROAS is strong: Scale budget by 20% every 5 days. Expand to new audiences. Test new markets or demographics.
• If ROAS is marginal: Optimize landing pages, test new offers (bundles, limited editions), and tighten targeting.
• If ROAS is below break-even: Pivot your positioning. Test fundamentally different messaging angles. Consider whether the product-market fit needs adjustment.

Multi-Platform Launch Strategy

A product launch shouldn't live on one platform. Here's how to coordinate across channels:

Google Ads: Capture Active Demand

Launch Search campaigns targeting your product name and category terms from day one. People who hear about your launch from social, PR, or word-of-mouth will Google it. Be there when they do. At $2.69 average CPC, branded search terms during a launch often convert at 10-15%.

Run Shopping campaigns (for physical products) or Search campaigns for your brand terms. These capture the highest-intent traffic at the lowest cost.

Meta: Drive Awareness and Retargeting

Meta is your awareness engine and retargeting workhorse. Use Advantage+ Shopping campaigns during launch week for maximum algorithm leverage. Layer in manual campaigns for specific audience segments you want to control.

TikTok: Viral Amplification

TikTok is ideal for products with visual appeal. Creator partnerships launched 2-3 days before your official launch create organic buzz. Support organic content with Spark Ads (boosted organic posts) at $10.00 CPM. The combination of organic and paid on TikTok can generate viral moments you can't buy on other platforms.

YouTube: Long-Form Education

For complex products, YouTube ads running product demos and explainer videos convert at higher rates than short-form content. YouTube CPM averages $6.00, making it cost-effective for consideration-stage content that explains why your product matters.

Tag every platform with consistent UTM parameters using our UTM Builder. This is critical for understanding which platform drives actual revenue vs. which just drives clicks.

Launch Budget Allocation by Phase

Here's how to allocate a $10,000 launch budget across the 90-day framework:

Adjust these ratios based on your audience. B2B product? Shift TikTok budget to LinkedIn. E-commerce product with strong visuals? Weight Meta and TikTok heavier. Service-based product? Google Search takes the lion's share.

Model your exact launch budget allocation with our Budget Allocator. Input your total budget and target metrics to see projected results by platform.

Creative Strategy for Each Launch Phase

Your creative must evolve with each phase. Using the same ads for 90 days guarantees creative fatigue and declining performance.

Pre-Launch Creative

• Teaser videos: 15-30 seconds highlighting the problem. End with "Something new is coming."
• Behind-the-scenes: Development process, team stories, the "why" behind the product.
• Countdown content: Build urgency as launch approaches.

Launch Week Creative

• Product reveal: Hero creative showing the product in its best light. Multiple formats per platform.
• Launch offer: Early bird pricing, launch bonuses, limited editions. Create urgency.
• Social proof: Early customer reactions, influencer endorsements, review snippets.

Post-Launch Creative

• Customer testimonials: UGC from real buyers. This becomes your highest-performing creative.
• Use case stories: Show different audiences how the product fits their life.
• Comparison content: How your product compares to alternatives. Address objections directly.

Verify every creative variation meets platform specs with our Creative Specs Checker before uploading.

Measuring Launch Campaign Success

Track different metrics at each phase. Using the wrong metric at the wrong time leads to bad decisions.

Pre-Launch Metrics

• Waitlist signups: Target 1,000+ for a meaningful launch audience
• Video view rate: 25%+ indicates strong content
• Creative CTR: Use pre-launch to identify winners (top quartile)
• Audience size: Retargetable pools of 10,000+ per platform

Launch Week Metrics

• Revenue: Track daily against targets
• ROAS: Should be highest during launch week (warm audiences + urgency)
• Conversion rate: Compare to industry benchmarks for your category
• Sell-through rate: For physical products, are you hitting inventory targets?

Post-Launch Metrics

• Customer acquisition cost: Should stabilize and then decrease as you optimize
• Repeat purchase rate: Indicates product-market fit
• LTV:CAC ratio: Target 3:1 or better for sustainable growth
• Review velocity: More reviews = more social proof = lower future CAC

Use our ROAS Calculator throughout all three phases to track return on every dollar invested. Compare your results against platform benchmarks at Advertising Benchmarks to know whether your launch is outperforming or underperforming your industry.

The 90-day framework works because it replaces hope with structure. You're not guessing what creative will work. You tested it. You're not gambling on cold audiences. You warmed them up. You're not blowing your budget in week one. You're investing it across a strategic timeline designed for sustained growth.

Plan your next launch now. Start with the Campaign Scheduler, set your budget with the Budget Allocator, and track every dollar with the UTM Builder.

Related Guides: Creative Strategy Guide, Budget Optimization Guide, Platform Comparison Guide, Scale Campaigns Without Killing ROAS.