Launch announcements fail in predictable ways. They open with a paragraph of throat-clearing about how excited the company is. They list features as if buyers read feature lists. They end with a CTA nobody clicks because the preceding 400 words didn't establish the reason to care. The template below is how we write ours — five sections, one page, and each section has to justify its existence or be cut.
We cut the opening paragraph from every announcement we shipped after reading this. We haven't had a launch post with a throat-clearing opener since, and our read-completion rate went up 22%.
Section 1 · The claim (one sentence)
The first sentence is the claim. Not "we're excited to announce." Not "we've been working on this for months." A single sentence that tells the reader what's new and what it does for them. "Stratridge now audits your positioning against AI-generated search queries — not just your homepage — because the buyer's first research surface is increasingly an LLM response, not a Google SERP."
What the first sentence must do
Section 2 · The frame (one short paragraph, 60 words)
What has changed in the buyer's world that makes this announcement relevant. Not the company's history. The buyer's situation. Keep it under 60 words; this is setup, not substance. If this paragraph runs over 100 words, cut to 60.
Section 3 · The substance (200–250 words)
What the capability does, what it doesn't do, and who it's for. Use plain sentences, not feature bullets. If you must use bullets, use three; if you need more than three, you are listing features instead of making the argument. The substance section is where most announcements fail — they try to cover everything and end up conveying nothing. Name the two or three things the capability changes in the reader's workflow, not the twelve things it's capable of.
Section 4 · The proof (one specific thing)
One specific piece of evidence. Named customer with a one-line outcome, a specific benchmark against a previous method, or a published study. If you have no proof yet (early launch, pre-customer), say so honestly — "our early-access customers report X, though we're two months from claiming that with confidence." Unproven proof is worse than no proof.
Section 5 · The action (one sentence)
One CTA. Not three. The action the reader should take next, phrased as a direct invitation, not as marketing filler. "Run your own audit at stratridge.com/scan — ninety seconds, no credit card." Not "click here to learn more about the future of positioning."
What doesn't go in
A launch announcement that hits these five sections, nothing more, reads in under 90 seconds, closes with a clear action, and outperforms a 1,200-word version every time we've tested it. Length is not the problem; unearned words are. The template exists because the temptation is always to add just one more sentence, and the disciplined cut is what keeps the announcement doing its job.
Launch Playbook
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