For the past few years, whenever I talk about launching, I find myself prefacing it with the following phrase…
“Launching is as easy or as stressful as you make it out to be.”
I say this because I’ve lived it. Multiple times over.
I’ve had a launch that ran for close to two months, that barely covered my costs.
I’ve had a launch that brought in over $35k in profit, in one week.
I’ve also been behind the scenes with plenty of clients who have launched in their own ways as well.
And while HOW you launch is different for your own goals, business and needs, the framework to do it in a way that’s not only successful but in alignment for you is what makes the difference.
So let’s get right into it!
STEP 1: Know Your Launch Pillars vs Extras
One of the biggest mistakes I see, and have experienced, when it comes to launching is trying to take on more than you can handle and/or need.
I believe a lot of this comes down to comparison and thinking your launch needs to look like someone else’s without realizing what they have going on behind the scenes to support that launch.
Maybe they have a larger team.
Maybe they have more time than you do.
Maybe some of the launch pieces are their gift zone, and not yours.
This is why we want to forget what anyone else is doing and get laser focused on YOU and what your launch needs in order to be successful.
Besides, there’s no one size fits all to the magic that is you. 🙂
Every launch has six key pillars:
1. Audience Prep Content
This is the type of content you’ll be delivering to your audience 30 days before your launch begins, related to your launch offer. This could be through blogging, podcasting, live streams and/or social posts.
What you choose is up to you and your personal style. However, my suggestion, if you’re limited on time, is to just pick the ONE you already are the consistent with the most. You’ve already proven you enjoy producing content that way so it is more likely to be the easiest for you for prep time as well.
2. Your Launch Sales Driver
This is the sales tool that you will use to deliver value and pitch your offer at the end of. This could be a webinar, email sequence, personal invites, challenge, workshop, masterclass, etc. The one you use will be determined by the price point of your offer and your audience.
3. Payments
How will you be collecting payment? This could be as simply as a Paypal link or using a full payment service like ThriveCart.
4. Doors Open Date
When can those purchasing your launch offer expect to start?
5. Bonuses
Will you be offering any bonuses for fast action takers? This is a great way to get traction at different points throughout your launch.
6. Doors Closing Date
When is the last day they can purchase your launch offer?
With each of these pillars, you have exactly what you need to go out there and launch. Your offer
You know that $35k in profit stat I shared with you? These pillars were all I used. It was a new offer being launched and I wanted to keep it simple to make sure it was something my audience connected with before getting fancy.
Next, are your launch extras.
These are the things that aren’t required but can help conversions. Many times, I refer to them as the sprinkles because you can add as little or as many as you’d like to your launch.
Here’s a list of some of the launch extras from our Ultimate Launch Planning Template in Clients to Courses®
That’s right, none of these are REQUIRED for a profitable launch.
Nope, not even a sales page.
The real question here?
Do you have the time/ability/resources to add extras to your launch to increase conversions?
If so, add them.
If not, be honest with yourself about your current capacity.
This could simply mean that you need to take some of the profits from the “pillars only” version of the launch and hire someone to help with the extras for the next time.
Or, you may already have the capacity to add these items and can do so now.
Remember, this launch is not about what others are doing but being honest about your own capacity and needs to be successful.
STEP 2: Set Your Launch Goals and Projections
Setting your goals and projections early on will allow you to take an true assessment of how many people you need to put your launch offer in front of in order to hit your goals.
If we’re being for real for real here, this is one of the biggest pieces that I find people miss when going into a launch period.
And it costs them, big time.
You see, they have big goals but haven’t broken down what it will take in order to reach them.
This can cause unnecessary stress and/or a failed launch… both of which can be easily avoided.
To set your personal launch goals, you’ll need to know:
1. How many buyers do you want?
At the end of your launch, how many people will have purchased your course, joined your group program, membership, etc.?
2. How many leads do you need in order to get those buyers?
This is the key here. How many people will need to be exposed to your sales driver in order to hit your goal? (Note: This is not the total amount of people on your list or social. Just those who need to be on your webinar, in your challenge, etc.)
To calculate this number, take a look at your previous launch of this offer. What was your conversion rate? You can use that percentage in order to determine the leads for this launch. If you don’t know this number, use 2%. It’s an extremely conservative conversion percentage for a warm audience. However, I’d rather us start low and earn more when we don’t have that data yet.
For example: If I want 20 new sales, and am using a 2% conversion rate, this tells me I need 1,000 leads to my sales driver to make it happen.
3. What is the income projection?
If you hit that sales goal, what income will you generate? If you are doing any upsell or downsell offers from this launch, you’ll also calculate the income generated for them as well to get the full picture for this launch.4. Is paid traffic a fit?
Now that you have your total leads needed number, is that possible for you to get that through your current list size and organic social methods?If so, you may choose to not run ads.
If not, you will most likely be running ads in order to hit that leads goal. This is where you can then plug that lead number goal into your calculator, along with your average cost per lead.
For example: If we are doing this at 1,000 leads and typically see and average of $3 a lead for ads, we’re projecting a $3,000 ad spend (not including retargeting ads).
Does that ad spend make sense against your income projection?
If so, great! However, if you have a lower ticket offer, you may find yourself in the hole right here and this is a sign to adjust your launch plan to leverage more organic methods and/or add in upsell or downsell options.
STEP 3: Map Out Your Live Launch
Now that you have your launch pillars, extras, goals and projections in place, it’s time to grab your calendar so you can get your launch fully mapped out!
To map out your live launch, you’ll want to include dates for:
1. Audience Pre-Launch Prep Content
This is where you will plan out the pieces of content that will be going out the month before your launch, that we covered in Step 1 above.
2. Sales Driver Promo Period
I typically give two weeks for this where I can send emails, post on social and/or run paid traffic to my webinar or challenge to get sign ups. You’ll see an example of this below.
3. Sales Driver Delivery
If we use a webinar as an example of your sales driver, you’ll be mapping out your pre and post webinar emails, the date of the live webinar and further details of what’s needed. This will make it easy to know when everything is going out.
4. Cart Open Content
Based on the date you sent for your cart opening, this will give you the space to plan out the emails and/or social posts you’ll be using in order to announce your offer is open for sales.
5. Cart Closing Content
Based on when your cart is closing, this is your time to plan out what emails and/or social posts you’ll be sharing to answer common questions and let them know doors are closing.
Here’s an example from the Ultimate Launching Template in Clients to Courses® with how I typically map out my launches. This is an example of promo week one.
Of course, you can make your own launch plan as detailed or free flowing as you prefer. However, one thing I highly suggest is for you to plan time to RELAX as well – especially if you tend to have a tendency to be exhausted after launching in your business.
Personally, I make a rule to do at least two times the amount of self care I typically do, during a launch.
As I know emotions can get high, I pre plan to give myself the space it needs and it has helped tremendously!
STEP 4: Deliver the Live Launch Goods + Take Note
Woo hoo it’s go time!
You have your plan in place and now it’s time to make it happen!
One thing I also make sure to do throughout live launch time is to take note of what’s coming up as I’m in the thick of it.
Where there unexpected issues that came up?
Did I find my energy dropping during a certain time?
Was I having problems with my ads earlier on?
What did I say that surged sales?
These are things I’ll want to be aware of so that when I launch again, I can look back and plan accordingly… making the next launch even better!
If you’re anything like me, you’ll forget all of these things when you go back to look at your launch later so keeping tabs of these in the moment (even if on a quick sheet of paper) can be incredibly helpful.
A great example of this just happened last week as I was mapping out my own upcoming launch and found a note that said “This bot message was a last minute idea, next time try it a week earlier to see sign up difference.”
Thanks previous self, will do!
STEP 5: Complete Your Launch Debrief
You did it! The doors are closed but your launch isn’t done yet.
Not without the debrief.
This is where we take the time to look at the numbers and see how the final outcome compared to your projections.
Just like the quick notes you’re taking during live launch time, seeing the actual numbers will allow you to better plan and maximize your upcoming launches for this offer and/or support turning this offer evergreen.
Here’s a baseline of what to track after your launch:
- Total Revenue Generated
- Total Number Sold
- Total Launch List Size
- Earnings Per Lead (Total Number Sold divided by Launch List Size)
- Total Expenses (team members, ads, ect.)
- Sales Driver Conversion Percentage (Total Number Sold divided by Number Registered)
- Total Profit (Total Revenue divided by Total Expenses)
If you are using paid traffic, you’ll also want to start with tracking your Cost Per Lead (Ad Spend divided by total number of Leads) and Customer Acquisition (Ad Spend divided by total number of Sales) costs.
Depending on how detailed you want to go, there are plenty of other things you can track as well. However, if you aren’t already tracking this, let’s start here because these are the most important for you.
Can you see how knowing these numbers can allow you to restart this launch process again down the road – making each time better and easier than the past?
This knowledge is power!
Ready for your most profitable launch?
You’re now equipped with everything you need to go out there and make it successfully happen.
Now it’s up to you to go apply it to your own business and have fun with it in the process.
Because when you’re following this framework, you’re creating a launch plan based on YOUR business vs someone else’s.
And that’s how success actually happens on this journey.
Happy launching!
