Five Things To Include In Your Next Launch
“The future depends on what you do today.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
I want to share with you my 5 of my favourite launch activities, just in case you are planning a Fall/Autumn launch.
With launch season (as I call it) coming up, now is the time to be thinking about our launch plans if we are thinking of launching something in September or October. It can be tempting to leave it until the other side of summer but getting into planning mode now will make for much better launch results.
I teach a whole course on launching, which includes several activities I recommend you take when launching a new product or service but in this piece, I’m simply going to share with you my top 5 activities you can include in any launch to make it more successful.
Let’s dive in.
1. Conduct audience research
This one sometimes gets a few groans. Many people resist doing the research before getting too deep into launch mode because they either see it as a waste of time (because they believe they already know what people think) or they worry that the people will tell them things that they don’t want to act on.
The reality is that audience research is foundational to the success of any new offering. Conducting audience research in the form of calls early on in the launch process (aka the pre-launch phase), is a great way to do the following:
- Test your idea to see if it’s really what people need and want. They might need something and not necessarily want it and therefore won’t pay for it.
- Get the exact language your audience is using to describe their struggle or challenge. This is great for copy and sales pages.
- Let your audience know what you are creating before you even begin asking for the sale.
- Let’s your audience know you care about what they think and value their input into your creative process. This is great for building stronger relationships.
Check out the bottom of this piece for an example of how to invite people into research calls.
2. Use takeover graphics
When we’re in launch mode, it’s easy to think that we should be posting about our new offering all the time and yet as conscious business owners we don’t want to do that, because we don’t want to bombard our people.
My solution to this is to use takeover graphics on social media. What that means is changing the cover photo for my Facebook Business Page and Facebook groups that promote my offer with a link in the description to my sales page.
This is also possible on LinkedIn and for platforms that don’t use a cover photo, like Instagram, I simply change my bio so that it let’s people know I am launching something and links to the sales page. What this means is anyone visiting your channel can immediately see that you are launching something, without you needing to post that fact EVERY day!
See below for an example of my last takeover graphic on my Business Facebook Page.
3. Launch partners
This is one of my favourite launch strategies and probably the one that gets most overlooked. Whenever I start planning a launch, I think of a few colleagues, clients or mentors who I think might be willing to share about my new offer with their audience.
I then reach out to them, as early in the process as possible, to ask if they would be willing to support my launch by sharing details with their people. I do this early to give them time to plan it in and so that I can approach other people if they say no. I’m fortunate to have created some great relationships both with colleagues and former clients and in part I think this is because of my generosity in sharing about their offerings.
Having a small group of people supporting your launch can be the difference in a handful of people hearing about it and several hundred or even several thousand people.
4. 1:1 invitations
When we’re launching something new, it’s easy to become focused on our one to many marketing. Social media posts, newsletters etc. What I’ve found to be especially effective is actually taking the time to send personal and thoughtful 1:1 invitations to people who you would personally love to be involved (if it’s a live program, for example) or who you think might really benefit from your new offer.
We tend to think this will come across as pushy or salesy but when done with an attitude of service, with zero attachment to outcome it can actually feel like a compliment by the recipient.
Before I even get into launch mode, I like to think of 10 people would love to have in my workshop/program or who I think would benefit greatly from my new offering and if they haven’t bought as we get near to the end of the launch period, I might drop them a brief note to let them know that I’m offering something I think they’d be a great fit for. No pressure of course! I also never send any links and prefer to say something along the lines of: if you’d like to know more, let me know and I’ll send over details.
5. Final Call communications
I’ve been launching stuff online for a decade now and one thing I’ve learned is that people like to leave their buying decision until the last minute. I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve had a launch, only to get a flurry of sales on the first announcement and then nothing for the rest of the launch period and then another flurry of sales when I make the final call.
It can be tempting to think that if people have stopped buying/signing up that we’ve made all the sales that we’re going to make but sending a reminder to people that the deadline for purchase is approaching (if there is a deadline!) is often all it takes to have people make a decision. I would say that in most of my launches, an equal number of people sign up at the end as they do at the beginning.
Now gently reminding people is different to many of the FOMO inducing tactics we see online like countdown timers and messages like “last chance” and “don’t miss out!” Instead I prefer to send an email titled “Last call to sign up for xxxx” and I’ll also do some last call posts on social. That way hopefully those people who were considering buying but hadn’t yet decided get the opportunity to buy before the deadline passes.
And there you have it 5 of my favourite launch activities.
As I mentioned there are many other launch activities just like these that I cover in my 4 part training series but I hope that these 5 will at least give you some ideas to be getting on with. If you’d like to purchase the full training, I’m offering a €20 discount until the end of August. Just use the code: SUMMER20 at the checkout. Hit the button below to access the sales page. The place to put the code appears after you click the Buy Now button.
That’s it for today, other than to let you know that you can comment and let me know if you have any questions about what I’ve shared in this piece.
