How to consistently convert your followers to loyal customers

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Today’s talking point:

It takes time for people to trust you and buy from you. It takes time for people to see your social media posts. It takes time for people to decide to attend your free training or challenge. But time is something we never have enough of. So how can you have a successful launch WITHOUT working 24/7?

In this episode, I’m walking you through every step of my launch promotion roadmap to help you show up every single day and convert your followers into customers during a launch period.

Why launch periods will help your business

When I started offering coaching services, I had NO idea what a launch was. I didn’t even know what a webinar was or a free challenge. All I knew was that I was getting asked a lot of questions like:

What tools do you use for scheduling social media?
Do you have any tips for creating content for a launch?
How do I take time off in my business without feeling guilty?

I was creating content to serve those who trusted me enough to ask these questions, but I didn't have a strategy behind helping them. I just knew I wanted to help. And then I started creating products and services to fulfil those needs. Does that sound familiar, boss?

In fact, during my 4-year career as a business coach (and before that as a social media manager), I didn’t realise I was launching when I actually was. That might sound silly but it’s true!

Of course, I knew there were times when I was promoting aspects of my business. But that looked like just announcing it on my social media and in my newsletter. And then I would just hope for the best.

Knowing what I do now, I realise if I had created a calendar of launches with clearly defined goals the launches would have been way more successful. And that’s because it takes time for people to buy. It takes time for people to see your social media posts. It takes time for people to make a decision to attend your webinar or free challenge or even or grab your freebie.

That's why I'm going to walk you through my exact process of how to convert your followers into customers during your launch period using social media. I've learnt that a great launch takes time, but time is something that we don't have enough of. I can’t be the only one who thinks that and that’s even more true for me over the past 5 months since I gave birth to my son.

So, let’s chat about how to best prepare for your launch.

Your checklist for launch success

This isn’t about how to launch. (I’m going to show you how to do that in the Outline Your Launch Plan in 4 Days Challenge.) In this episode, we’re focusing on how to promote your launch on social media.

As business owners, we all have unique ways to promote aspects of our businesses. So to ensure that we're on the same page as we get to the social media marketing of your launch here's a basic checklist to prepare for your success…

I have a clearly defined result or promise for the launch: This means your followers know exactly what you're selling and you've clearly defined the results they'll get if they decide to invest.
I have scheduled the start date of the launch: Mark this date on your calendar, add stickers, add emojis, or just add multicolour highlighter marks all over this date because your launch is something exciting. It is something special.
I have scheduled the end date of the launch: Having an end date or closing cart or expiring bonuses is a great way to encourage people to actually make a decision. When somebody sees a promotion, they might think that something they'll buy or they'll get to in the future. But when there's a deadline of some sort (like limited seats, a discount before a certain date etc) people are more likely to make a decision within a set timeframe.
I am ready to show up every day on social media with a plan and strategy to promote this launch: You’ve got to commit to launching because it isn't for the faint of heart – planning and executing a launch is a process. It can be tiring, I’m gonna tell you straight. And it pulls on every fibre of your being. But it also gets to be fun and it’s one of the most powerful marketing mechanisms for your business, especially if you want exponential growth.

The ‘secret’ to creating launch momentum

The ‘secret’ to creating launch momentum on social media is consistency. Yep. That's all. In fact, I believe the greatest secret to my success is consistency. It's showing up every day, day after day on social media to create conversations, not just sales pitches and create content.

I know you're probably sick of me saying consistency is the thing. But I'm going to keep saying it because far too many of us know that consistency is a game changer. And then we still can't manage to make it part of our daily workflow.

You know this, I know this, but just in case you need more reasons to show up every day on social media before you start your launch to help you convert those followers, here are a few of my favorites…

You build trust with your followers when you talk with them and not just sell to them.
When your audience is warm, AKA with you, your Facebook and Instagram ads are cheaper because social platforms know exactly who they should be showing the ads to. If you choose to go down that route, of course!
Followers are more likely to share your launch with others because they know, like, and trust you. And they want to support your endeavours the same way they'd want to help a friend. And when followers share your work, that snowball effect is incredible.

The mistake that’s holding you back

A big mistake I see with creative business owners is that they use social media for promotional purposes only. They might randomly post on social media usually. But all of a sudden when they're in a launch, they're posting every day, like it's their own version of QVC or something.

Last year, I worked with a client in the fashion industry and one of the things they wanted to improve was the number of discovery calls they were booking. Before we started working on this, I had a look through their social media posts.

Immediately I could see the problem.

Every single post had the same call to action to book a discovery call. Every. Single. One.

Don’t use social media just to sell. I want you to use social media to connect, build trust, and create conversations, then sell. That's the biggest secret.

Your 4-week social media launch plan

Now I've learned it's best to create a personalised timeframe for your launches so you can approach it strategically and with ease. But today, I’m going to share it as a 4-week runway template you can steal and use to show up every day to promote your offer and have fun.

So let's break up the four-week template right now…

week 1: warm-up sequence

This week it's all about positioning your business in a favourable light, creating goodwill and reacquainting your followers with what makes your business special. So how do you do this?

Well, you can do this by brand building, showing off what makes your business unique. Building trust, sharing, helpful tips, creating conversation, starters, sharing personal insights.

Now the purpose of your warm-up sequence is to help people decide if they know, like and trust you. So here's an example of an Instagram post during a warm-up sequence that I use to showcase helpful tips.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holly🌿 Business Coach (@abranchofholly)

Week one, the warm-up sequence, is about doing helpful things. The caption above was about helping somebody and making sure they know, like, and trust me.

week 2: nurture sequence

Week two focuses on highlighting reasons why somebody needs your product or service. You're going to do it by overcoming objections, highlighting pressure points by outlining why they need your product or service by showing desired benefits. The purpose of this week’s social media posts is to want to create the desired solution for their needs. That is what the nurture sequence is about.

Here’s an example from one of my launches…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holly🌿 Business Coach (@abranchofholly)

week 3: promotion sequence

This week is where the magic happens. It’s where you announce your pre-launch hype piece. This is where you position a free event or your upcoming launch as a thing that your audience have been wanting or needing.

Essentially, this becomes the solution they're desiring. After two weeks of warming up your audience, they are ready to hear what you have to offer. This is your chance to promote your business and ask for the sale by way of value.

You're going to do it in the following ways: education, accessibility, brand positioning, getting personal, sharing your why.

The purpose of this week’s social media posts is to position your free hype piece as the best solution. Here's an example of an Instagram post during a promotion sequence that I used to promote a free mini training series I had coming up…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holly🌿 Business Coach (@abranchofholly)

week 4: deadline sequence

Week 4 is entirely focused on getting your followers to make a decision. It's just that simple. Do they want to invest in your course, book a photo session on a specific date, sign up for your monthly subscription or become a lifetime member? This is the week that they're going to decide.

You're going to facilitate their decision in the following ways: you could reiterate the benefits of your product or service, highlight testimonials, feature special bonuses.

Now the purpose of this week’s social media posts is one thing: convert your followers into customers by way of a deadline. Here’s an example of an Instagram post or a deadline sequence that I use to showcase the doors were closing to my membership…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holly🌿 Business Coach (@abranchofholly)

Questions to answer before you create launch content

So I've walked you through the four weeks of how to convert your followers into customers and I really hope you’re starting to feel more confident and prepared as you launch. Before you go off and start creating content, I want you to answer the following questions to ensure that you stay aligned with the purpose of promoting your launch on social media.

week 1 questions

What conversations is my ideal client taking part in on social media?
What tips, tricks, recipes etc. can I share with my audience?
What personal stories can I share?
What makes my business unique?

week 2 questions

What are three reasons somebody might not buy my product or service?
What are three benefits of my product or service?

week 3 questions

What made you launch this particular product or service?
What would your ideal client or your number one fan say about your course/product/service?
What three problems does your course/service/product solve?

week 4 questions

What promotions or special bonuses will I include with my launch?
What are three clients or experiences I can use for testimonials?

Separate yourself from the outcome

I've always tied my worth to an outcome. It hurts me to admit this. I used to like myself more when I met a goal and when I considered that my efforts were a success. But sometimes, regardless of whether my efforts were impeccable, the results were out of my hands.

There are times we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we did our best and yet the outcome wasn't what we hoped for. When I encountered moments like this, I turned to self-loathing and I hosted the most epic pity party the world has ever seen. I hung out streamers and I passed out party poppers because my imaginary pity parties, they were awful. And I wanted everybody to be angry with me! And I let all these things shape how I felt about myself.

Do you know how crazy that is? I allowed my worth to be defined by results. The totality of who I was was defined by mere results of events that I couldn't entirely control. No wonder I was hosting pity parties for myself. Have you ever felt the same way? Have you ever faced a time when you felt like you failed and agonised over those moments?

Let me save you years of lessons in heartache: stop wasting time. You are not your results. You are not your failures You are not defined by a client refusal. You are more than a denied project. You are not the outcome of a flopped launch. You are more than you let yourself believe. We have to separate ourselves from the outcome.

When we do that, we free ourselves to believe that the right clients will find us, that the right new projects will arise. And the flops are just valuable business lessons in disguise. When this happens, we are free to believe we are worth far more than our hearts can imagine.