Does the word launch make you break out into a cold sweat? The thought of putting yourself out there, creating all that content, and actually getting people to buy from you can sometimes feel daunting.
Listen up – it doesn’t have to be that way! It just doesn’t.
Launching can be a complex process, or it can be very simple. It’s all about how you move through the 4 stages of your launch. It’s important that you understand each stage of a launch and what goes into it so that you’re able to successfully implement it in your business.
Here are the 4 stages of a successful (and profitable) launch
1. Pre-Pre-Launch
I know, it might seem ridiculous to have a pre-launch to the pre-launch. However, it is important and your pre-launch will build off of the work you do in this stage.
The pre-pre-launch is made up of all of the things you need to do before you even begin to execute your pre-launch strategy.
In this stage, you are going to focus on three things:
- Create a plan.
- Define your purpose.
- Dive deep into your ideal audience.
Doing all of this and knowing the answers to these questions will help you to create all of the content involved in the next three stages (and trust me, there’s a lot of content.)
2. Pre-Launch
This is the stage where you are getting things ready for the launch.
There are a lot of things going on at this stage…
- You’re creating content
- You’re audience building
- You’re warming up your audience
- You’re building out the back end of your tech
All of these things are vital to the success of your launch so make sure you are paying each of them enough attention.
As mentioned above, the pre-launch is the stage where you begin to plan out your content for the launch. And, towards the end of the pre-launch, you will even start to release some of the content you’re creating.
What types of content will you be creating?
- Blog posts
- Social media posts
- Videos
- Podcast episodes and promotional interviews
- Email sequences
Make sure that the content you are creating is high quality and aligns with the product, service, or solution that you’re selling. Also, be sure that it is drumming up excitement for your upcoming launch.
During this stage, you also want to plan the content for, schedule, and promote your free or low-cost webinar or training. Workshops are really working well right now. This training is typically the event that opens your doors, in other words, the “take-off” for your launch. It will be the very first thing in your launch so it needs to be completely planned for during the pre-launch.
This pre-launch stage should begin four months prior to opening the doors to your course or group program, whatever it is that you’re launching.
3. Launch
This is it! You’ve been working on your product, service, or solution for months (maybe even years) and it’s finally time to share it with the world!
The launch is all about making a BIG splash on launch week. Everything you’ve been working on comes together on launch week!
There are a lot of moving parts during launch week so you want to make sure you’re organized and prepared.
Make sure you have a plan for…
- How you’re going to promote
- What you’re going to do for your training
- Be ready to pivot
This is when you are actually opening the doors for your product, service, or solution. During the pre-pre-launch, you should have decided how long you will leave your doors open. Typically, that’s three, five, or seven days.
You will open your launch with that free or paid training you planned for and promoted during the pre-launch. This will establish you as an expert and you will “sell from the stage” in this training.
Once the training ends, you follow up with a series of emails or texts that establish urgency and need for your new program or course. During the launch, this content typically goes out once or twice a day.
Also, be sure that you’ve planned for how you’ll handle any customer inquiries or feedback.
4. Post-Launch
Once you’ve completed launch week, you move into the post-launch stage. During the post-launch stage, the first thing I want you to do is to celebrate! Take some time to really enjoy the fact that you did something successfully.
To ensure you get the most out of your launch, you will want to do a few things, post-launch:
- Continue delivering an amazing customer experience. Follow up with your new customers – thank them, answer questions, and provide them with additional resources.
- Take this opportunity to down-sell something to those in your audience who didn’t purchase during your launch.
With just a little planning and effort, you can make the post-launch stage just as successful as your launch. Don’t forget to take some time to look at the metrics. Learn what worked and what didn’t! Then, learn from all of this valuable information.