How to create your successful launch: what to do in each phase of launch

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Today’s talking point:

In this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of my launch preparation process. There are a few non-negotiable things that are essential for every launch I run and it's the key to keeping things stress-free for me. I'll explain the three phases of launch, outline what I do in each phase and explain how you can apply this to your own launches.

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It doesn't matter what I'm launching – a new course, my signature programme or spots for my one on one coaching – there are a few non-negotiable things that are absolutely essential, and help save me from the stress of launching.

These non-negotiables allow me to go through the three phases of a launch with ease and confidence. Those three phases are: pre-launch, launch and post-launch. Each phase comes with its own set of challenges and each requires creativity and strategy. So in this episode, I want to walk you through the general outline of what I do for each stage.

Everyone has their own unique way of running their own launches. But I get questions all the time on how I make sure mine are low pressure yet results-driven.

So before I get into it, I just want you to trust me here when I say that what I am sharing today is not at all what launching has always looked like for me. When I was just getting started in my business, launching was frantic. It felt like this chaotic rat race. It was like a marathon that I never trained for. And it was something that I started to dread in my business. And so what I want for you is to be able to skip right on over the stressful last-minute kind of launches, and be equipped with ideas and tools to run yours as silky smooth as possible from day one.

Launching gets easier and less intimidating with time. Every time you do a launch, you inevitably walk away with new learnings and ideas and strategies. Launching anything can be stressful and scary. And it can even feel kind of vulnerable at first: it's putting something you created out into the world and that feels scary.

But every time you do it, it becomes more natural. You’ll also systemize and streamline your preferred processes more and more, which helps you look at launching with less emotion and more strategy.

So I promise you, it's normal to feel emotional about what you create. But when you launch your product or your service or offer from a place of showing up to serve, all the emotions and the preparations are so worth it. So let's dive on into exactly what my launch plan looks like.

Phase 1: pre-launch

Dave Ramsey once said this about launching: people are in such a hurry to launch their product or business, that they seldom look at marketing from a bird's eye view, and they don't create a systematic plan.

And that feels like it speaks to my younger self right so much. This was me for so, so long because I wasn't separating the actual creation of the product from the creation of the launch pieces.

If you try to do both of those parts simultaneously, in real-time and without an overarching plan, it's always going to lead to forgotten pieces, or last-minute stress.

Looking back at the early days of my business, I realise that while I was prepared in some ways, I was also prepared for chaos and I felt so stressed. I thought ‘oh, okay, welcome to the world of launching’.

I mean, you can do a lot and get a lot of results in a short amount of time. So it has to be worth the stress, right? But over the years, I realised it does not have to be that way. And thank goodness for that!

I started to rewrite the book on what launching should look like for me. I started to create my own rules, my own systems because I do not operate well under stress or pressure. And I don't want to live my life going through these weeks of exhaustion and anxiety.

And while I'm thankful that I learned the way that I did (so that I can never go back to it) I just want for you to know that if you've launched anything before and it's been stressful or anxiety-inducing that doesn't have to be that way. You can rewrite the rules.

separate offer and launch

So when we start at the beginning, my goal is always to separate the actual creation of the product or the offer from the launch itself. A lot of us treat them like they're connected, but they're not in this planning stage.

I aim to complete the offer part first so that I can then create all of the launch assets separately. That gives me a clearer mind. Too many people try to do both parts simultaneously and that's where things get super stressful or lost in the shuffle.

They are related, but disconnected, pieces and two very separate pieces, is going to help you to stay on track.

prepare your pre-launch plan

I like to think of this pre-launch as where you are laying the runway for your audience. It's where you help share the what and the why of whatever it is that you're launching. And then later, when you actually launch your offer you’ll focus on the how.

So the pre-launch is where you start building hype, you start shifting mindsets, you help people to understand that they're going to be qualified for the next steps, which will come with the launch itself.

I always like to give myself at least one month of the pre-launch phase, which is just focused on serving and educating and really helping people to get ready for the launch. But I would say anywhere from four to eight weeks before your launch begins is a really critical time period that so many people miss because they are stuck in creation mode, or doing things last minute.

Before pre-launch, I always map out the entire project. I reverse engineer and figure out when launch week is and then I start working backwards. When I'm planning this, I want to look at everything that I'm going to need in terms of copy, emails, graphics, videos, opt-ins, sales pages, thank you pages and so on.

So before you start plugging away at each of those tasks, try to write down as many things that you can think of that you are going to have to get done. Just listing out all of those things can be a little bit overwhelming, so feel free to ponder this for a while.

So ask yourself: what kind of content can you create to share prior to the launch that will help you? What will help your people to understand the what and the why? Do you need a sales page? How is somebody going to check out or provide payment for your offer? How are you going to promote the offer? What kind of copy or graphics will you need?

It's a lot to think about but when we start to break it down, it helps make it more digestible and it helps us prepare for all these pieces in advance. (The Pre-Launch Planning Bootcamp will help you with this too!)

This will help you make a blueprint you can replicate for each launch. You can just tweak it slightly for each different launch. Having it all written down and outlined in a playbook like this ensures that you're not going to miss any important pieces. And it can save you from those super stressful last minute the day before, even during the launch itself.

warm people up

Now it’s time to talk about your topic – help people understand the what and the why your product. You can kind of start shifting your content in that direction and getting people excited. Once you know what your launch date is, you can work backwards from there and just kind of peck away at the big and little tasks you’ve already outlined. Make sure to leave some space in between to breathe and review and make sure that everything is the way that you want it, too.

Phase 2: Launch

The launch phase will be a whirlwind of emotions. And I try to anticipate feeling excitement/nerves/exhaustion more in a launch. Since I anticipate feeling all of those things are more in a launch, I want to be able to trust that what I built prior while I was strategic or not super emotional or exhausted.

During launch week, I have my calendar and a project management system that marks out exactly what is happening day by day. It's imperative that you know what email is being sent, which social posts are going, what part of the launch you're in.

Most of my launches are seven days or up to 10. And that is perfect for me to be able to get the word out to keep up my energy, to make myself available for any questions and just stay committed to showing up.

free webinars/courses

Once you're in the launch, it's about sharing how this new offer can help or serve or deliver an end result or change someone's life. So now you're into this part of the launch, you're not necessarily selling the features, you are selling the end result of what it is that you've created.

One of my favourite ways to launch an offer is to host a free challenge or a masterclass. And I know so many people who use webinars, and they kind of ruin it for everyone because it turns into this sneaky sales opportunity. But I believe that you have to earn your right to do that based on the free value that you share.

To me, a webinar or a free challenge has to provide free value in education and be able to get someone results regardless of whether they purchase anything. They also have to share glimpses of what those next steps can look like if you join the offer or a course or if they choose to buy your product.

So I look at it as over-serving, over-delivering, getting someone results and then providing the invitation for the next steps (which is through purchasing an offer). If you can help someone get a result, grow their confidence they can actually follow through, they're going to be way more likely to take advantage of your invitation to join your offer.

In my most recent launch, I did a free course for the first time. And honestly, it was so much value. The show-up rate of the participants was amazing for me, participation was its highest, and my conversion rate was also the highest it's been.

email marketing

Beyond the webinars and the challenges, I also deploy emails throughout launches to touch on objections to share and answer common questions, generate excitement and urgency, and continue sharing the value of the offer. So if you have an email list, which I sincerely hope that you do, you want to add that to the top of your priority list.

Email is one of the main tools I use when launching and one of the biggest results drivers for me. So your email plan might vary depending on your email list size, or the cost of your offer. But I aim for one, sometimes two, emails per day throughout the full launch period. Generally, I have fewer emails going out on the front end of the launch, and more going out towards the end.

Logical buyers need the time to review all of the insights and information to determine if they want to invest. So this method of email marketing serves both types of buyers and supports their personal purchasing decisions.

It's so common to feel like you're just shouting from the rooftops getting the word out. But I want you to remember that only a tiny percentage of your audience even sees your posts. So it's just a reminder that you do not need to be shy in promoting your offer. Gentle reminders come in so handy when everyone especially your audience is so busy.

Be clear and energetic

So don't be afraid to get energetically loud. And speaking of getting loud. Another huge mistake that I see all the time is when people are launching. But they're not really directly saying that they're in a launch or that they're launching something. And I love a creative and fun subject line as much as the next person. But when you are in a launch, you want to make sure at least some part of your content is to-the-point and shows exactly what is happening.

On the first day of every launch, I do a post saying ‘spots are open’ to get straight to the point and let people know what’s happening. That is when you should be showing up really energised. That is your time to be loud, be available, be proud and shout from the rooftops. There is no apology needed around your launch because you are busy serving and showing up for 90% of the year. So that 10% of the time that you're actually in a launch, you have earned the right to sell.

Now, some people do long launches that last a couple of weeks or more. They do free challenges or weekly training, some do webinar launches, some quietly launch only to their email list or do a pre-sale. The important thing to remember is that there is no wrong way to launch unless it's a way that doesn't feel good to you.

Look at what is going to work for you energetically and with your life and test out which method of launch and which timeframe of the launch is best for you.

Phase 3: post-launch

Now, finally, we're on to the third phase of launching, which is your post-launch strategy. So after a launch, I always recommend you do a full assessment of everything to review what worked, what didn't work, what I can improve next time.

For this, you want to pull all the numbers that you possibly can from your launch, including open rates on your emails, campaign clicks, webinar numbers, conversions, and of course, your actual sales.

And then you want to take the time to just decompress. I always schedule extra time off after a launch. Then start to document what went well. What did you miss? What left you feeling stressed? What actually provided the biggest results like what moved the needle the most? If you have a team, collect their feedback as well.

reflect

Now my biggest recommendation is that you take all the notes that you can while it's still fresh, because you will have another phenomenon called ‘launch amnesia’. You do not want to forget at all any of these things before you do a whole lot again.

This part should be a fun and low key review. Make it a kind of celebration, don't harp on about the negatives or what didn't work too much. Just try to keep it all objective as much as you can. And trust me, there is always going to be a flop, whether it was an email that didn't convert well or a mess up during your webinar or a typo on your sales page or something that didn't fire up like it was supposed to.

Do not be too hard on yourself for these things. Because it is a completely normal part of the process. Take the time to analyse all of these things in a document and have it as a blueprint for the next time that you launch.

Make sure that you note all of the things that you possibly can, empty your head out and have all of that as a resource before you launch again.

organise

This is also the time to organise all of your launch assets if they aren't already, so you can easily access them next time. I use Asana for everything like this. And I save all of the numbers, the reviews, the links, the assets, all the copy. But if you don't use Asana, you can use Google Drive or Dropbox. Just make it organised data, title it with easily searchable keywords, and just have it ready for you to go for next time. You will thank me later.

I promise you this is not sexy work. But it is so useful. There is nothing worse than time wasted searching through your files trying to find something that you know you already created. So save yourself that time and stress right now.

You now have a full inside look at my launch plan, from pre-launch, to post-launch and everything in between. I am so eager to see how you take these materials and make them your own. How you rock your very own launch, whether that's a course a product, a service, a new collection, a membership, something else that your heart is set on and releasing that out into the world.

Remember, the aim is never perfection when launching it is simply preparing so that you can feel so much peace and ease as you go through the motions of launching your offer and not feel caught off guard by any forgotten or unforeseen circumstances. Launching can be stress-free. Trust me when I say that it took me a long time to figure it out. But if you follow the steps I've outlined today, I know the same will happen for you.