The Key to Launch Success? Keep It Simple
I have a cautionary tale for you. I once had a client who had the most complicated launch plan I've ever seen. We're talking dozens of pages of launch emails: ten presell emails, fifteen sales emails, five webinar emails, and the list goes on. I had a minor anxiety attack just looking at the document – it was way too overwhelming. Imagine how a customer on the receiving end would feel!
Because I’ve seen firsthand what an overwhelming and too-complex launch looks like, I’m on a mission to make sure you understand how to keep your launch simple. It starts with your launch runway.
What is a launch runway?
Your launch runway is like the guided path inside a dark movie theater. While your customers may not know exactly what they’ll get when they arrive at their seats, they know exactly which way to go to find them.
Your opt-ins, pre-launch webinars, and nurture emails are like those guided paths in a movie theater. They’re a great way to flash those lights that say “Come on down! Come see what we’ve got!” Then, when the show starts (aka your launch), your customers will be excited to see what happens — because they’ve had time to get settled in and get ready.
Creating a launch runway is like setting the scene for your audience before a launch. You’re giving them a little pre-show popcorn, if you will. You don’t want to make the launch runway super hard to follow or make it way too noisy — you want it to easily direct them to their seats for the big show.
How do you do that? Keep reading.
Your first step: Make a clear launch plan
To avoid making your launch runway too cluttered or complex, I always recommend doodling it out. Sometimes it helps to have a visual of how your plan will go. So get a piece of paper and make a schedule of everything you plan to do for your launch. Put everything down that you think you’ll need, including nurture emails, webinar promotions, post-webinar sales promotions, social media graphics, etc. Make sure you map out exactly what your people are going to experience, from the beginning to the end.
If you’re anything like most entrepreneurs, your instinct is to CRAM this runway with a ton of stuff. Pretty soon, you’ll have something that looks a lot like this.
Sure, this type of launch plan is comprehensive and detailed — but there are a lot of emails. For large brands that have a big team and a really massive audience, this can work. But for smaller brands that want to launch something new, you don’t need a launch plan this robust (aka overwhelming). If you put your customers through that, they will be quickly overwhelmed, block your emails, and potentially never engage with your stuff again.
You don’t want to burn that bridge — you want to fortify it. That’s why I recommend that you take everything you just doodled out and pare. it. down.
Cross out everything that isn’t necessary and streamline emails and other communications where you can. Everything should still be there, but you’re including way fewer emails and maybe even spacing out your social promotions. By now, you should have a launch plan that looks something more like this:
See how much more breathing room YOU have — and how much more space you’re giving your potential buyers to consider your offer (instead of suffocating under a pile of notifications)?
Your second step: Show up
Now that you’ve got a plan for how you’ll tell people about your offer or start to warm them up for your launch, it’s time to… well… show up. Your social media is a vital part of your launch runway. You want to give the all-important facetime where you can, whether that’s by going live, responding to folks in your DMs, commenting on other people’s posts, following new hashtags relevant to your offer, etc.
I also recommend that you use your pre-launch runway to offer valuable information that connects to your upcoming offer. Give them tidbits of info and let them know you have something coming for them soon. The key, though, is to make sure that people are primed to see your face more. Because if you only come out of the woodwork during a launch, your followers will notice — and they won’t be impressed.
Your third step: Plant them seeds
A month before your launch, you’re going to start to lay the groundwork for your runway. Start dropping hints in your emails, show behind-the-scenes of the creation process on social, ask for opinions on color schemes, styles, or content. Take people along for the ride — ahead of time. Dropping all these little seeds about your offer will start to bloom when you launch your new offer, and people will be primed to buy because they’ve heard you talking about their problems or needs for a while now.
Your fourth step: Find a launch plan that works for you
If you’re already prepping your next launch and your runway is starting to look like the overwhelmed version I shared above, relax. You can start to pare down your plan using the tips that I shared above. Plus, I’ve got something new to share with you.
Meet Launch BFF, my new monthly launching membership.
Inside this monthly group coaching program, you get launch support in the form of:
⚡️ Live member classes on the 2nd Wednesday of each month
⚡️ Co-working on the 3rd Wednesday of each month
⚡️ Recordings of all past calls available in our member vault
⚡️ A community of online entrepreneurs who currently (or want to!) use live launching as a revenue driver in their business
You’ll get to work with me and the group to identify your "zone of launch genius" so you always feel capable and ready to launch. You’ll be able to stay ahead of the competition (who are still using someone else’s launch formulas) and stay engaged with your products, offers, and launch plans instead of letting them go to the last second.
Are you ready to get support on your launches, post-launch reviews, and general questions? Then you’re ready for Launch BFF. Learn more about Launch BFF and join here.