What does a product launch or announcement service include?

A launch service is typically a four-to-eight-week engagement built around one news moment. The agency builds a list of the reporters who cover your category, frames your announcement as a story rather than a feature note, pitches it on a timeline, and coordinates coverage to land on or near your go-live date. The deliverable is published coverage. A press release on a wire, by itself, is not a launch service.

A real launch package includes five pieces. Ask for each by name when you compare proposals:

• Angle - turning "we shipped a feature" into a story a reporter will run. Most launches fail here, before any pitch goes out, so probe how the agency finds angles.
• Target list - the specific reporters who cover your category, sized to the news. A consumer gadget and a developer tool need different rooms.
• Outreach and exclusives - timed pitching, plus the option to give one outlet first access in exchange for a bigger, earlier story.
• Launch-day coordination - aligning press timing with your go-live so coverage and product land together.
• Press kit - boilerplate, images, quotes, founder bio: the assets a reporter requests the moment they decide to write.

You supply two things no agency can: the news itself and a founder who answers reporter questions within hours, not days. Judge the news honestly before you pay. Founders on r/startups make the same point: "journalists aren't going to cover your company for no reason." A redesign rarely qualifies; a new product, a category-first, or a named customer usually does. Documented launches that earned the moment, from Dr. Squatch's Kickstarter to Ooni, started with real news and a date set early. Funding announcements run by different rules; the funding and financial communications page covers them.

A single launch fits a fixed project; a steady release cadence fits a retainer, where each announcement rides on reporter relationships the agency already built for you. PressFriendly runs launches under both its Starter and Full Service plans. Whichever you choose, set the date weeks ahead. Reporters plan coverage in advance, and a launch with real lead time consistently beats a same-week scramble.