Lock the decisions that every later task depends on
Write a one-page brief before building a list. Name the product or pair, the announcement, the audience whose understanding or action matters, the communication objective, the launch window, availability constraints, markets, spokesperson, evidence you can provide, and what is explicitly out of scope. If one of these cells is unknown, make the owner and decision date visible.
AMEC's planning guidance starts from the intended business contribution and human problem, then connects objectives, audiences, activities, and measurement. For a small launch, the practical lesson is simple: a count of pitches or parcels is an activity target, not an audience outcome. Write the desired change first and choose only measures you can actually observe.
| Brief decision | Answer to record | Blocker if missing |
|---|---|---|
| Launch proposition | What is new, for whom, and why now | Pitch and assets drift |
| Priority audience | Named audience and relevant market | Contact selection becomes generic |
| Communication objective | Observable output or outcome with a timeframe | Reporting becomes a list of activity |
| Availability | Confirmed date, stock limits, territories | Coverage may point to an unavailable product |
| Evidence | Claims support, images, price, samples, spokesperson | Manual outreach cannot be completed |
| Boundaries | No-go claims, excluded contacts, unsupported features | Corrections arrive during launch week |
Back-plan with readiness gates, not hopeful dates
Give each phase an exit condition. A target date can move while the condition remains stable. For example, outreach is ready only when the core facts, approved assets, availability statement, contact exclusions, and manual sender are confirmed. A product send is ready only when the recipient, product, address handling, stock, and terms note are complete.
Use one status set across the launch: not started, in progress, blocked, ready, complete, and cancelled. Reserve "complete" for an evidenced action. A drafted email is not sent; an approved parcel is not dispatched; a found URL is not a reviewed coverage record.
| Example phase | Planning point | Exit condition |
|---|---|---|
| Brief and objective | T minus 6 weeks | Proposition, audience, availability, and measure approved |
| Contact selection | T minus 4 weeks | Priority and reserve lists reviewed against fit and exclusions |
| Assets and send decisions | T minus 2 weeks | Every priority action is ready or has a named blocker |
| Launch window | T | Manual outreach logged and live assets verified |
| Follow-up and observation | T plus 1 week | Due actions reviewed without assuming outcomes |
| Evidence and retrospective | T plus 2 weeks or later | Known results and open unknowns reconciled |
Turn your own media list into a decision list
Begin with contacts you already own and can justify. Filter by topic, market, language, current role, relationship context, and no-go notes. For each priority contact, write the editorial or creator fit in one sentence and choose an action: press information only, product send only, both, reserve, or exclude. A name without a fit statement is not launch-ready.
Keep the reserve list separate so a late change does not trigger an indiscriminate send. Review outlet moves, shared inboxes, missing provenance, and duplicate-looking records before launch week. cutePR does not supply a journalist database, verify addresses automatically, or choose recipients for you.
- Confirm the person and current outlet or platform.
- Write one sentence of launch-specific fit.
- Check market, language, topic, prior reply, and exclusion notes.
- Choose one primary action and one next date.
- Keep reserves visible but inactive until a decision changes.
Build the launch desk you will actually open each morning
One row should represent one action, even when the same contact has a pitch and a product send. This makes the workload count honest. Include the contact, action type, asset version, due date, status, blocker, last manual action, next action, and evidence link. Sort blocked items first, then actions due today, then observation tasks.
Prepare email in Outlook or your existing tool and record the manual send after it happens. Track product dispatch separately from publication. When no post is visible, preserve the result as not observed or unknown until the planned review is complete.
| Morning check | Question | Operator action |
|---|---|---|
| Blockers | Which due action lacks a fact, asset, address, or approval? | Resolve, reschedule, or cancel |
| Outreach | Which message is approved and ready to send manually? | Send, then log date and channel |
| Product sends | Which parcel is ready, sent, delivered, or uncertain? | Update only the observed milestone |
| Replies | Did a reply change fit, timing, or a contact rule? | Record the material change |
| Coverage | Was a publication observed? | Save evidence and create a coverage record |
| Tomorrow | What is the single next decision for each open row? | Set owner, date, and state |
Reconcile the fictional Solstice launch desk
For the fictional Aster & Rue Solstice launch, 24 source contacts are reviewed. Four are excluded because of stale roles or explicit no-go notes. Twenty are eligible; eight remain reserve and 12 become priority. The priority set contains six press-only contacts, four product-send-only contacts, and two contacts receiving both actions.
That creates 8 manual press actions and 6 product-send actions from 12 people. At the readiness review, five press actions are sent and three are held for a missing approved image. Of the six send actions, three are delivered, one is ready, one needs an address, and one is cancelled. The action total is 5 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 14. No publication count appears here because readiness and outreach do not prove coverage.
| Reconciliation | Count | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Source contacts | 24 | All records reviewed for this launch |
| Excluded | 4 | Stale role or explicit no-go |
| Eligible | 20 | 12 priority + 8 reserve |
| Priority people | 12 | 6 press only + 4 send only + 2 both |
| Planned actions | 14 | 8 manual press actions + 6 product-send actions |
| Observed coverage | Not counted yet | Requires separate publication evidence |
End launch week with a clean next decision
Before closing the launch desk, reconcile every planned action into complete, blocked, rescheduled, or cancelled. Preserve unknown outcomes instead of turning them into zeros. Create coverage records only for observed items, with source links or stored evidence. Then write three short notes: what changed in the audience or message, what remains uncertain, and what the next launch should do differently.
cutePR can connect your own contacts, campaign, products, manual sends, coverage, and report evidence in one private per-user workspace. It does not send email, follow up automatically, monitor publications, or provide team seats. The checklist still works in a spreadsheet; use the product when repeated launches make those relationships difficult to reconcile by hand.