How to Launch Your Offer With Integrity (& Without Bro Marketing)

We’ve all heard a lot lately about “bro marketing” tactics — and in 2023, those strategies do not pass the vibe check. But ICYMI and aren’t sure what bro marketing is, here’s the rundown.

We’re going to share a few examples, some more ridiculous than the next. 

• Stories-turned-lessons about why you need their offer: “I was at the coffee shop this week and the barista messed up my order. It reminded me how much people need my course.”

• Content lacks substance because it’s been watered down to appeal to the masses: “Truly, this program is for everyone. Everyone can benefit from what I’m teaching you.

• Offers overpromise and underdeliver: “Honestly, if you want to make a million dollars in 6 weeks, this is the only course that will show you how to do that.” 

• Pain point-pushing without tact: “You could grab this program, or you could decide to be unhappy, fat, and poor forever.” 

As a business owner, we’re betting you had a pretty visceral reaction to all of that. And yeah, while those are examples, they’re inspired by some real bad actors. Maybe you’ve seen a few?

When you care about your customers (and not just making $$ of some poor schmoe), it’s really hard to be okay with faulty promises and content that provides little to no value to our audiences. We’d rather be there to support them and provide genuine help where needed. We want to run our businesses more ethically than what bro marketing allows for. 

But at the end of the day, you still have to market, launch, and sell your offers to more than just crickets. So, how do you do that while maintaining your integrity? There are a few ways to launch with integrity that still get you the results that bro marketers used to get (their day is over, they’re dying). 

Niche down your audience

Niching down is one of the best ways to steer clear of bro marketing tactics. Why? Because it limits your opportunity to be generic and to “target the masses” just to drive more revenue. If you only target female entrepreneurs who are also moms, instead of just entrepreneurs, and you make it known that’s your niche, it’s harder to fall off course. 

To get the right people’s attention, you have to be specific and talk to them directly, which leaves more space for genuine stories, language, and ways to market your offer in general. 

Get crystal-freakin’-clear on your offer

What are people going to get out of your offer? It shouldn’t be hard for people to figure out. One of the tell-tell signs of bro marketing is a very vague offer that promises a lot (“This program will change your life!”), but you’re not quite sure how it delivers on this promise. 

Be specific and clear about everything within your offer — the bonuses, the inclusions, and the transformations. Examples of this include simple phrases, like:

• “If you join this course, you’ll learn how to DIY your budget in less time than trying to Google how-to articles on your own.”
• “If you work with my team, we’ll take the content stress off of your plate by taking care of it all for you — the copy, design, and posting!”
• “In my membership, you’ll get access to valuable resources that show you how to hire the right people, plus a group of other business owners just like you to cheer you on as you do it!”

Instead of phrases like:

• “This course will help you make more money, and you too can reach 7-figure status!”
• “This membership will change your life and help you become a better entrepreneur.”
• “My team and I can turn you into a millionaire fast!”

See how these phrases are so vague that it makes you tilt your head and ask, “Okay, but….how?!” They also make promises they can’t keep because they’re so vague. 

When you’re specific, you give your audience the chance to have real results, forcing you to stay accountable for delivering that to them. It ups the odds someone will buy from you, too, because they know exactly what they’re paying for.

Align launch strategies with your values 

Have you ever launched something after following a framework you got from a coach or an expert and… it felt off?

When we feel scummy about the way we market, it’s because we aren’t launching in a way that lines up with our core values. That’s another dead giveaway of bro marketing: Taking everything in your launches with a one-size-fits-all approach.

If you’re doing the exact same framework, word-for-word, that everyone else is using and find something’s not working or adding up…of course, you’re not going to feel great about it!

That’s not to say that frameworks are bad or that there’s not someone who can benefit from them. But when we operate from a place of discomfort or in a way that compromises our values, we’re less likely to do our launches in a way that we feel keeps our integrity intact. And your audience can feel it. 

If you value connection, offer ways to connect — like webinars, free communities, complementary 1:1 calls, etc. Take traditional tactics and make them your own. Find the secret sauce that YOU love and roll with that!

Build connections

We can talk about sales funnels all day long, but they will never trump 1:1 connections because people don’t buy products, they buy an experience. And at the heart of that experience? Their connection to the business that provides it. 

Don’t forget to leave space to foster connection while you launch. This could be encouraging comments, DMs, or replies on your emails, personally reaching out to people to see what they think about your offer, or the classic post-launch email “Why didn’t you buy?”question. 

You can also interact and engage with your audience as you launch — it shows that it’s more than just the money to you. 

Launch strategies with a bad reputation

It can feel like a fine line between promoting and selling your offers, and keeping the integrity intact. But sales and marketing, at their core, aren’t inherently bad! There are so many ways you can effectively grow your business and make money from your launches without sacrificing your values or integrity in the process. 

Plus, you don’t have to do so much for your launch that you burn out. If you’re getting ready to launch and already feeling crispy, check out our Burnout-Free Launch Guide.