The Art of Online Business

Set Your Launch Up For Success With A Pre-Launch

• Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie • Episode 842

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The first of my three-part series on mastering your launch, delivers insights on the pre-launch phase. I'm joined by email marketing specialist Allison Hardy and launch specialist Brenda McGowan.  

Together we're unpacking strategies to optimize your launch this fall, along with my own tips on Facebook ads.



Watch the next episode of this three-part series: How to launch like a pro (even if you don’t have a huge team) (releases August 28th).



Please click here to give an honest Rating/Review for the show on iTunes! Thanks for your support!



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Speaker 1:

Ooh, this is gonna be a good episode. Welcome back to the Art of Online Business, and this is the first of a three-part series where two experts are joining me to help you understand how to master your launch, and that includes the pre-launch phase, the launch day itself and then maximizing that cart open period so that the most people possible can come into your program or subscribe to your membership or decide to work with you on your or inside of your offer. Those experts are none other than two previous podcast guests Allison Hardy, who is an email marketing specialist, and Brenda McGowan, who is a launch specialist. And of course, I'll be sharing goodness about Facebook ads too. But the cool part is is both of these ladies have helped hundreds of clients in their areas of expertise, and actually both of them are good at the other's area of expertise too. So this conversation you will enjoy. And again, it's part one of three. For the links to the other episodes, you just have to go down to the show notes below. And now let's jump into the episode.

Speaker 2:

So excited to be here with you, kwejo and Allison and I know I'm excited to talk about my expertise, which is in pre-launch Allison, yours is in email marketing, kwejo, yours is in Facebook ads, and so all together we make a really great team, if you will, of how to launch and really maximize your launch this fall. So I'm excited to get started. And let's start off with the first question, and I think we can all just kind of jump in and talk about this. But how can we make sure we're getting in front of the right audiences before we actually put out an offer in front of them? Let's start Well, kwejo, yours is obvious. So let's start with you with Facebook ads.

Speaker 1:

So when running Facebook ads and, by the way, allison Brenna, it's really cool to be here with you and I can't wait for all the value that you're about to share with the listeners but Facebook ads augments a launch, and the context here is that the offer that's being launched already is converting well, and so what my clients usually ask me is one Kwejo, who do we target with Facebook ads and is there sort of a rhyme or reason to it with the type of audience that we target?

Speaker 1:

And so, absolutely, here's what you can do quick and dirty. First of all, you want to make sure that you take your email list, especially if you have a subsection of that email list called your customers, and you want to export those and you want to upload those lists to Facebook, because one of the most effective ways to get the right people hearing about your launch and signing up is to say the right people hearing about your launch and signing up is to say Facebook. Here's my email list. Now, give me a lookalike audience or, in layman's terms, a bunch more people like a million to two million people who share the most attributes with either my entire email list or my customer list, and, just like that with some well-researcharched and you'll get to hear about how to write copy from allison in a moment but with some well-researched, well-written ad copy and some ad creative, you will be able to set up the right kind of people to see your launch and make a decision if it can help them or not and to opt in.

Speaker 2:

I love that. What about you allison? What do you think is the best way?

Speaker 3:

yeah, I I think about like the vehicle. So, if just an example here, so like if your audience is like a bunch of really busy moms and like maybe you help them with like some sort of time management thing, like having them show up to an hour long webinar is probably not going to get the job done right, like we're not going to show up so thinking about like the launch mechanism, I think is actually really really important. So, like if we're using that avatar, the busy mom avatar, like maybe it's a series of five minute long videos, like maybe like four, like it's super short but gives them like action in order to actually move forward. So I think thinking about like the actual what you're asking from them is really really important. Now, other audiences may love the hour long webinar and that like gets the job done for them. So it's really knowing and understanding your avatar and really helping them to understand like yes, this is important, but I'm going to help you do this in like the method of the path of least resistance for them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I agree with that and I think too, like when I help people during pre-launch, we're always thinking of, like, how can we diversify how we're getting in front of people? And it all depends on, like, who your audience is. Going back to what Allison said, so we're looking at, okay, how are they consuming content? I always say people should hear you or be able to see you. We can break it up into some people like consuming longer form content, so longer emails. Other people want something quick and maybe they're looking at a Facebook post or an Instagram, so that would be. The other thing that I would think about is okay, let's think about where our people are, like Allison said, how they consume the content. And then how can we even diversify it even more with longer form content, shorter form content, audio video and do it in a way because that's the most important part, I think we'll all agree is doing it in a way that's not overwhelming to us or our audience.

Speaker 1:

I got a question, Brynna, for you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You're the pre-launch specialist and I remember when we were first having a conversation. A question that popped into my mind is how do you differentiate the pre-launch from the launch, and is pre-launch just selling earlier and longer?

Speaker 2:

Right, this is a question I get. But I was doing market research this week and this person asked me like well, how long do I have to pre-launch? And I typically say four to six weeks, and she's just like that seems like way too much work. And I told her it's not more work, necessarily it is, and it isn't right Like I think everything in business is work. So I also don't want to make things seem like, oh, this is so simple and you know you're not going to take any thought like it. Not everything is easy, but what you can do and think about is okay.

Speaker 2:

How can I make this time in my launch the most effective and redirect energy so that I'm being strategic in what I'm saying? And so the biggest difference between what you're saying in the launch, which is obviously buy my thing, right, that's the point that you're at what you're doing in pre-launch is you're getting people to buy in. I say to I always say you sell your process, not your program during pre-launch, which is, you need to get people to have a belief in your system, your framework, your mechanism. Like you're a great easy example, which is if I'm going to buy a Facebook ads course from you, I have to believe that Facebook ads is the way for me to grow my audience with quality individuals who are going to buy from me, right? So that is what we're working on during prelaunch and we're being very intentional about the content that we're putting out, and we're also looking for ways to to make sure that people have natural objections Like I'm going to have natural objections to you with Facebook ads, right.

Speaker 2:

Like it costs too much money. I can't do it on my own. Like I can come up with I'm your ideal client, right? So I can come up with a bunch off the top of my head. So if you start dealing with those that you know, if you start connecting with someone, you start dealing with objections, you start helping people shift the way they think about how you can help them. When you put an offer in front of them, sales becomes much, much easier.

Speaker 1:

And my next question to help you, please Allison, piggyback off of that. Like, as Brenna is talking about these objections and you, being an email strategist, like, how do you usually find the objections that an audience could have and address those in email? You got any cool nuggets of wisdom for us.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so your people will tell you their objections. They'll they have no problem telling you why your process isn't going to work for them.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 3:

So if you can listen to what they're saying and, of course, like take it and ingest it and figure out, like how your offer, your program, really helps them to make that not an issue, you can relate that really easily through email.

Speaker 3:

So, like when it comes to, you know, maybe getting people into your event or helping them, like what Brenna said to be sold on your process, what are those major objections to what you're experiencing and how can you relay that information to them without like being a jerk about it, without like poking at the pain? But how can you Call that out and then show them oh, by the way, I have this thing, it's called this and it's going to help you do X, y and Z, and you're not like telling them they're wrong, but you're getting them to think about it differently. So they're thinking about their pain point, they're thinking about their objection differently. And when people think about things differently, like what you said, brenna, they then like buy the offer because you've helped them to move through that objection, that limiting belief, and now they see, oh, she helped me to do this, okay, now I can do this, and oh, that program seems awesome. So it's a much easier way to sell without, like you know, actively selling. It gets them excited to buy from you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think that's my favorite part about pre-launch is that you're able to me, when it comes time to launch, I can be a hundred percent like, buy my thing, buy my thing. And I have no reservation because I have really prepped the people who are ready to buy and at the same time, I've I'm allowing people who aren't necessarily ready to go ahead and bow out, because I've been so clear with my content on where I'm moving someone to. So I think that's another. People are always afraid of being salesy or icky or pushy, and I think at some point we have to be straightforward and ask for the sale. But I think it's a lot easier to do that when we've done this process of exactly what Allison said.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, I'm sorry. The one last thing I'll piggyback off what you said is that you can take that same content that you'd put in an email too, and you can do a live video. We could do a podcast, right, like all of these other mechanisms, and that goes back to the way we diversified is like. This is why when people start saying, oh, it feels like so much more work, it's like, well, you're actually going to be, it's more, maybe a little bit more work up front, but you're getting more bang for your buck, if you will.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, and you've done that job of developing that know like and trust factor. So when you say, hey, buy my thing if that know like and trust factor is strong, they're going to say either going to say yes or, if they don't say yes, right there, and then they're still going to hang out with you and maybe they're going to buy the next time you launch, because that trust that no one that like is there, and I think that's what a really effective pre-launch does also.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and now, one last thing I'll say in that too is because I have been doing my own market research interviews. I've done quite a few in the last couple of weeks is if people are scared to buy and I think that goes back to that no like and trust people almost it doesn't matter across all the industries too, because I help students and clients. This is something that I'm hearing again and again. I had someone the other day who was like I don't know about this, I don't know if I totally buy it, and I was happy to hear that feedback. That's the other thing that we're doing. Pre-launch is we're up against an invisible barrier of people who have been burned before and are a lot more reluctant in 2024.

Speaker 1:

I very much agree and I think in podcasts recently I've been calling it the trust recession Not my own term, I heard it from somebody on YouTube. But especially in this year, yeah Right, with everything going on, it just takes more points of contact, more authenticity to build trust than it used to. I love this conversation with you too, because I don't launch, because I'm a Facebook ads manager, and so I just questions pop up in my mind like, okay, four to six week pre-launch period. Like how many, how many emails are you sending out that are launch related? What does this look like for the person who emails their list twice a week? Are they repurposing all emails to be themed for the launch and to start poking, but not poking at paid points and all that said, or what's the email landscape? If either of you wanna, let me know.

Speaker 2:

Well, it depends on you know, hopefully you're sending out content, putting out content before you launch anyway, right? So when people are like, oh, it feels like more work, I'm like, well, it's not in the respect, it's just thinking about it differently, about what you're actually saying, being more strategic with that content that you're putting out. So I always encourage, if you're in like a once a week schedule, I like you to bump it up to twice a week if possible. And we have like inside my program we have a way of doing this where it doesn't feel overwhelming, we're repurposing, but it it depends on what you're doing, what you're putting out there. So it's not a matter of like putting out more content, it's just a matter of being more intentional. And so I always like to have like themes for the week, and this is something that we talk about in my program is like like why do you do what you do? That builds that know, like and trust from the beginning, really making sure that you're establishing that you understand what this person is going through. I actually just wrote an email about this last week, where true empathy and I feel like the word empathy has been overused, unfortunately, like the word authenticity sometimes, but having true empathy for what your audience, what they're going through, that you get who they are Going back to exactly what Allison said, which is, what are those objections that people have?

Speaker 2:

What are the things that they believe that we need to look at? How can we help them shift their beliefs in a way that's going to benefit them and help them get the transformation that they want. And what is that transformation that they want? It's funny, when I help clients and students, when I start really asking, like, okay, what is this thing that this person really wants? A lot of times people aren't crystal clear on that and I think that's the other thing. And going back to market research is like what is this thing that people really want from you and how can you talk about that? So you're not in prelaunch, you're not selling necessarily. Or, though I do like a good pre-sell during a prelaunch, you're not selling. You're not selling necessarily. Although I do like a good pre-sell during a pre-launch, you're not selling. You're creating content that supports the sale, which is what is different.

Speaker 1:

I have to say something here, because I was just on a client call last week you two and this comes up often where we're looking at somebody's launch and, inevitably, the show-up rates whether they're doing a challenge, a bootcamp, live trainings or recorded trainings or a live webinar we're looking at their show up rates and industry standard is right around 30%, and so, as I was helping this lady, her show up rate was at 14.

Speaker 1:

And I was like, okay, we need to just start going through then, starting from the registration page, and see why the show up rate could be low, and usually I'm thinking at least eight times out of 10, I know where I'm going to provide the most value is looking at how often somebody is sending out emails following a registration period for the launch, and the mistake that the listener will absolutely want to avoid is period for the launch.

Speaker 1:

And the mistake that the listener will absolutely want to avoid is in Facebook ads world. We turn on ads 14 days before launch, sometimes 16, but usually right around 14 days. And the mistake that you want to avoid, dear listener, please send out more than just two registration confirmation emails, because then what happens is is in this busy day and age emails, because then what happens is is, in this busy day and age, somebody doesn't hear from you, potentially for 12 days, up to 12 days before your launch, and then they don't show up because they just forgot, because we get so much communication. So I am curious, if that's from a Facebook ad standpoint, allison, from an email standpoint, what are you seeing that's working and getting people to click and open those registration emails that come out between the time they signed up for a webinar and between the time the webinar starts to keep them engaged, and showing up at the webinar?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So I think about two things. I think about frequency. That's the first thing. So if, when the cart opens, you're emailing them twice a day let's just say that as the example leading up to that launch you should probably be emailing them at least once a day, right, so that the frequency doesn't seem to just like fire hose them.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 3:

And then the second thing is giving them a reason to show up and to open your emails. So like people are always asking what's in it for me. So, like, why should I take an hour out of my really busy day to watch your webinar? Or why should I show up to your video series? It's going to be 10 minutes a day for five days. You know, why should I commit that amount of time to you? Like, you're a stranger on the internet, I've maybe never met you before and you, you want me to do what. You want me to show up and watch this thing for me. Like what's in it for me? So giving them a reason as to why. So maybe it's like give me them a free gift.

Speaker 3:

I do that on my live webinars and people love that, but they have to stay to the end of the webinar and I give them a secret link and that's that's how they get it. Or like even having something like as simple as like a calendar link, so driving them to the Google Drive or the Google Calendar or the Apple Calendar or whatever you have, giving them a way to connect with you outside of email, so it's living there on the calendar. Or even having, like, text messaging. I know that's a really powerful tool that a lot of people use. So having you know different ways to communicate, but also like why should they listen to you and what's in it for them and what's in it for them. So answering that question during that pre, like the registration to the actual event going live process, I think is really, really important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I agree, and I think what we forget is that we have to sell someone in every stage of the process, right, like in pre-launch, we're selling them, let's say, on our process, once we get them to sign up. You know, our registration emails are to get people to sign up Once they sign up. Now we have to sell them, if you will, to get them to actually show up. Right, there's each step is a different set of conversions. And the other thing I think people have to think about as well is think about with a freebie. How many times have one of us grabbed a freebie and never looked at it? I don't know what the stat is, I need to find it. It one of us grabbed a freebie and never looked at it. I don't know what the stat is, I need to find it. It's a lot.

Speaker 2:

I feel like the same thing happens with registrations or webinars, challenges, things like launch events at times, because I have a theory going which is you're making someone to make a decision to click on that registration link, right, and once you make a decision, you feel like you've taken an action towards solving whatever that problem is, whatever that promises that you're going to have in the registration. And then there's a bit of like relief, like, okay, I've done something to do this, now I'm going to move on with my life, and so also reminding someone of why they signed up, you know, so giving them something, I 100% agree they have to think what's in it for them, but I think that reminder of why they took that action in the first place and asking them to show up for themselves is also very powerful.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I love that, Brianna. It's a great like mindset shift right there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know I need to write about this more because I really it's been something I've been cause. I actually like going back to these market research calls. I've been on, you know, I'm here like hearing 14%, 10% show up rates, like it's show up rates are declining and we, you know, there's lots of stuff going on and everyone's busy, you know. But I do think it's like the, the person who's going to show up as the person who's like yes, this is, this is what I need and why I need it, and I'm looking to find a solution to whatever this pain point is, and I'm expecting this to happen.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, brenna, in this time period, if we're taking this perspective, do you find it helps to really zoom out and talk about how solving this pain point can help with, you know, a bigger picture transformation, or do you keep it pretty granular?

Speaker 2:

Well, when I I think it depends on the strategy when I'm looking at is that usually you know, one step leads to the next, you solve one. You know, that's how I, that's how I think of it. It's like, once I solve this problem, then this next problem goes. So I'm probably being a little bit more granular to some degree, because the hope is that during the launch event, conversion event, whatever it is, you're solving that problem or giving the information, and therefore it naturally opens up the next problem, if you will, which is the solution being your offer. Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I feel like we should have told the listener that this is the first part of a three-part series and there's so much information that we could give right Like we're three experts about launches. But in the next episode we're going to talk about launch day success. And in the third episode we're going to talk about maximizing cart open, as in how to get the most people's eyeballs on your offer and position it so that the most people end up doing business with you, buying or subscribing to the thing that you were meant to serve them with. Before we end this episode, I would just like each of us starting with you, brenna, and then you Allison, and then I'll wrap up the episode to share. If you only got to talk to the listener and say one more important thing about the pre-launch phase, and then they can never get to hear from you again, what would you leave them with?

Speaker 2:

Do one, I mean, and really do one, right, like not haphazard, not oh, I sent out a couple of emails like really, and I mean, of course I'm biased, I teach a whole program on this. So, like full disclosure, I teach. I have the pre-launch plan program that shows you how to do this. But I truly believe in my core how important this is and how, when you can learn how to pre-launch effectively, it changes your launches, it changes your business, it makes your life easier, your launch life easier down the road. I've seen it with clients and students, because the cool part is, once you get this down, you can start rinsing and repeating. Right, it's just like a launch. You, you collect the data, you figure out what's working, what's not working, you tweak it and you do it again and you make it better. So that would be the one thing that I would say.

Speaker 3:

That was so good.

Speaker 3:

Okay, my piece of advice would be to think about how you buy.

Speaker 3:

So I'm the type of person I'm a little somewhat over analytical sometimes and so, like, when I find something I want to buy, I do a lot of research and so it takes like it takes me a little bit of time to buy something. So if we're thinking about our audiences and like taking that idea and applying it to our audiences when it comes to launching, prelaunch, active launch, whatever it is that you're doing, like your people are probably not going to buy like the first time you tell them about the thing. Right, it could take them a little bit of time there. It's a long-term game and, yes, you can have fast results and all that. But like think about how you buy and then apply that to your business, cause I think like we usually buy similarly to our ideal clients. So if your ideal, if you need a little bit of time to buy something, maybe consider bringing that idea into your business and so like having that pre-launch runway can be a really powerful tool for getting those faster results during the active launch.

Speaker 1:

I like it. I like it For ads. I think, pretty simply, don't give yourself like this tons of pressure to make the perfect ad. If you're already posting the social media, then you already have an idea. If you just look at your feed, like what kind of creative you know vertical video usually for my clients recently is performing quite well and you already kind of get. If you look at the messaging that you've attached to your vertical videos you know your short form Instagram reels then you kind of understand too what messaging is working the best, what messaging is working the best.

Speaker 1:

So when you're running ads to your launch, just make sure that you run more than one, more than two types of ad. I always recommend and it's the same thing I do for my own clients start off with three different pieces of ad copy, come to the launch registration period ready with, like you know, at least three, five different Instagram reels or vertical video, you know, and then just test your ad copy first with one ad creative. After several days you can see which one's giving you the best cost per lead. Turn off the losers, kind of like the Olympic trials, and bring in two more contestants, so to speak, and your business will really love you for having spent the extra time to test through the ads, because you'll come to that ad. Maybe it's the 1 in 10 ad that outperforms all the other 9, or the 1 in 20 that outperforms all the other 19. And that will end up bringing in a lot more people to your launch than you could have ever imagined, especially if you only went with one ad.

Speaker 2:

And if you're doing a pre-launch, that's also going to help support your ad copy, because you're going to be collecting data along the way of what's working and what's not working. So I agree with you that, yeah, using it to fuel your ads is only going to make your ads better.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. That was really good advice from the two of you and for me to pat myself on the back here. But, listener, we'll see you at the next episode, where we're all going to discuss launch day success and the best things you can do to make it a good one. For now, goodbye.

Speaker 2:

Bye-bye.

Speaker 1:

See ya.

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Kwadwo Sampany-Kessie

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