When You Shouldn’t Launch: The Pre-Launch

You’ve built an amazing business, your customers are demanding more, and your new launch is a roaring success.

That’s the dream right?

But in reality, there is a lot more that goes into a launch that determines if it will flop before it makes it out the gate, or will leave your audience itching at the fingers to hit that “add to cart” button.

If you’re thinking you want to launch a product, service or offer, this blog will help you determine if you’re ready to launch, or not!

1. You Don’t Have An Existing Audience To Launch To

One of the most commonly missed steps in launching, (which can result in your launch failing before it even makes it out of the gate) is a lack of audience building. If you don’t have an audience to launch to, you won’t have anyone to buy your offer.

Before you launch, you need to focus on building and acquiring an audience that is specifically tailored to the offer you’re launching. 

Here’s what WON’T help you build your audience:

• Posting inconsistently and without purpose on social media
• Random growth strategies or tactics on social media
• Not letting people know what you’re selling. Just because you build it, doesn’t mean that they will come. 
• Spending more time consuming than creating

Here’s what WILL help you build your audience:

• Creating a freebie opt-in related to your launch offer that helps you build your email list. It can be in the form of an ebook, downloadable resources, webinar, etc. 
• Securing a joint venture partnership with a brand, entrepreneur or influencer who already has an audience of your ideal clients
• Creating a consistent high value content strategy for social media and pairing it with growth tactics – a.k.a sharing amazing content that people want to engage with, like and share.

Once you have a good, ENGAGED audience that you are continually interacting with and priming for your offer, your launch will be so much more successful. Plus, when you have a primed audience, it will be easier to:

• Decide what your audience is interested in. Ask them to help you come up with content ideas or co-create it with you. 
• Get beta testers and tease out testimonials.
• Get pre-orders and a waiting list for when your offer drops.

You don’t need a huge audience to do well in your launch. More important than numbers, is the quality of your list. Engaging with them on the regular before you ever start your launch is essential in your success. 

2. You don’t know your launch goals

If you can’t measure something, then you can’t improve it! Setting your expectations before a launch will help you decide what you want, and what success will look like for you. 

Here are some examples of goals you may want to address:

• How would you like to see your brand awareness grow?
• How would you like to see your engagement grow (social media, email subscribers, etc)?
• What are your launch dates? Typically a launch lasts for 7-10 days, but you can always run your launch by your own rules. You might even choose not to close the cart if it is an evergreen offer, and just end special sign-up bonuses. 
• How much do you need to earn to make ends meet? How much would you like to earn? Setting a revenue goal can help you determine how many people you need in your list and how many sales it will take to get you there. 

3% of a funnel is a NORMAL conversion rate. That means, if you want to earn $10,000 from your launch, with a product at $169, you will need about 60 sales. At a three percent conversion rate, to get 60 people to buy, your list needs to have at least 2000 people.      

3. You Haven’t Warmed Up Your Audience

When you are gearing up to launch, everything you do needs to have the intention of getting your audience excited and ready to buy from you the minute you open up the gates. 

Pre-launch hype is necessary. Without it, your audience will be a lot less likely to engage and buy from you.

So what’s the magic formula to start building the hype?

It’s all about content.

Start delivering lots of high value content for free. Get your expertise across. 

Content should be answering questions like:

• What information does my ideal client need before they are ready to be introduced to, and ultimately buy my offer?
• How can I position or solidify myself as an expert and authority in this specific space?
• How can I get my ideal client excited by the offer I’m launching
• What transformations can your ideal client receive only from taking part in your offer?

We often assume that people are ready to buy, when actually they don’t even know that they even have a problem.

Your pre-launch content needs to be drafted in such a way that it identifies the problem your audience is experiencing, and shows them that there is a solution… YOU! 

Here’s how you can start building hype:

• Use social media. Seed some initial content with social posts to tease your product launch. This could include sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes images, notes from the founder, and links to your blog, for example!
• Partner with influencers. Use the power of influencers to build hype and interest with your offer (especially if it is a product!) Let them try it out for free, and in return ask them to promote you on social media. When choosing influencers, make sure they align with your niche, have a big reach and social following, have high levels of engagement with their audience, and have a good reputation.
• Write blogs. Talk about the problems your audience may be facing, identify with their issues, and connect with them. Your pre-launch content needs to knock down the objections your audience are going to have later when you reveal the offer.
• Write emails. The same content you are drafting for your blog, you can repurpose for your emails. It is also important to have a welcome series inviting in new subscribers. Kick it off with a warm welcome from yourself with an introduction to your brand.

4. You Haven’t Built A Content Calendar

Launches are hectic. There are a million things going on all at once, and it is very easy to get off track. Creating a content calendar for your pre-launch and launch is essential to keeping everything organized and moving forward. 

Your calendar should include every aspect of your marketing strategy, such as emails, social posts, blog content, website content, influencer content, and anything else you plan to include. 

Once you reach your launch date, everything is going to be a whirlwind. When you prepare with a content calendar, you won’t have to worry about the day-to-day operations.

There’s so much that goes into a launch, but hopefully, these tips will help you lay your foundations and have a successful launch! Need some more help with your launch copy? Let’s chat!