Product launches are one of the quickest ways to bring in money in your business.
According to a McKinsey survey, more than 50% of all product launches fail to hit business targets.
Which begs the question…
Why is it so freakin’ difficult to run a successful launch? And how can you improve your chances of success?
In this blog, I’m going to share with you my step-by-step plan for executing consistently lucrative launches (and what I always do 1-3 months before to build anticipation and excitement).…
Hey guys! What’s up? It’s Alex.
In this blog, I’m going to walk you through the 3 steps I follow for every single product launch I run in my business.
This plan not only helped me grow my business from $0 to $1M in my first year…
But I’ve used it to help dozens of other clients of mine execute lucrative launches over the last 10 years…
And the best thing about it is that it works no matter what product, service, or type of business you have.
And if you stick around until the end, I’m going to share *the* single biggest revenue-boosting secret to successful launches.
But first – if you’re new to the crew – welcome!
On my blog, you’ll find tips on marketing, branding, social media, and copywriting, so you can build your online empire – without stressing and guessing.
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Alright, now before I dive into my 3-step Launch Plan, keep in mind that everything I’m about to teach you starts with the assumption that you ALREADY have a product or service to promote and at least a small audience to promote that product or service to.
This article is NOT going to help you create a product, build your audience or crystallize your business idea…
But don’t worry, I got you covered there too…
I reverse-engineered exactly what I did to build a million-dollar business from scratch in one year – without ads, a team or fancy tech – and outlined every single step for you in my Big Idea Blueprint…
And I’m going to give it to you FOR FREE.
In my FREE workshop, I’ll walk you step by step as you map out your money-making, industry-shaking business in 5 easy steps so check that out after!
Alright now let’s dive into the FIRST step of my Launch Plan…
Launch Step #1 – PRIMING
Now – I didn’t come up with this concept…
I first read about it in Robert Cialdini’s book “Pre-suasion.”
He defines “PRIMING” as the idea of “Guiding your audience’s attention strategically to move them into agreement with your message BEFORE they experience it.”
So basically what that means is that you are very subtly convincing your audience that they need what you have to sell them WAY BEFORE they even realize you have this thing to sell to them.
Here are some examples from his book…
If you want someone to choose a bottle of French wine at a restaurant, play French background music. If you want them to agree to try an untested product, ask whether they consider themselves adventurous.
He also referenced a study conducted on the VISUAL PRIMING done on two different websites that were selling sofas.
They did a test where they had one website showing fluffy clouds and the other one showed pennies.
The site with the fluffy clouds attracted more consumers who were willing to pay more for comfort, while the ladder attracted consumers who were more likely to pay attention to price and go with the cheapest option.
So you can see how these priming techniques can actually help move someone more into agreement with a message before they actually experience it.
And this is the stuff I really geek out on thinking about so…
How can you implement the priming concept in a launch?
The goal of the priming step is to plant seeds in the mind of your audience – or “feed the need.” Your goal here is to point out the PROBLEM that your launch is going to solve far in advance.
Some people in your audience might not even be aware that they have the problem at all.
So you start EDUCATING about the problem and talking about the solution.
But remember – you’re not actually mentioning your product or service yet.
This should be pure, free, high-value educational content that genuinely helps your audience.
For example…
Before we launched our Look Legit Website Toolkit… we spent a few months educating – on social media, on YouTube, and to the email list – about the importance of having a great website.
Touching specifically on why each page matters – and how it contributes to conversion.
We talked a bit about what the goal of each page is and how you could go about accomplishing that…
BUT we didn’t give any specific formulas away…
Because that’s what is sold inside the Toolkit.
Remember: The goal is not to solve all of their problems but to highlight what that need is and then talk about it in a way that allows people to think, “Oh my gosh, I can really start to see how this person is the one that can help me solve this problem.”
This stage of your Launch should start anywhere from 1-3 months before your Launch goes LIVE.
The less aware your audience is about your product or service… the longer this priming phase should be.
The more effort you put in HERE, the more successful your launch will be and the more people will be ASKING you for a solution.
Which leads me to the next step…
Launch Step #2 – PREPARING
Alright, now you’re about 5-10 days out from your Launch Date…
Now’s the time to start directly addressing your customer’s core challenges and letting them know that you have a solution.
This is often what you’ll hear being referred to as a “teaser period”.
You are PREPARING your audience for what’s coming… but you’re not revealing too much information.
And if you did a good job priming your audience, they will be WAITING FOR IT.
Before we launched our Look Legit Website Toolkit, we had SOO many people asking us to create a program on how to write website copy…
Which made this teaser period so much fun!
What you’re doing here is creating this sense of reciprocity and commitment in your audience.
Reciprocity is that feeling of obligation…
When we are at the receiving end of a nice deed.
So when we were getting ready to launch the website toolkit, all we basically had to say was, “You told me you need this thing to help you solve this problem, and now I’ve created the solution for you.”
Which moves us to…
Launch Step #3 – PROMOTING
So next we move into the promotion period.
This is the period that always gets the most attention, but honestly, it’s the simplest.
ESPECIALLY if you do a great job during the two pre-launch steps…
You’ve just put all this time and energy into priming and preparing…
And now all you gotta do is DELIVER ON WHAT YOU PROMISED.
Your goal here is simple: offer as many people as possible the solution they need to succeed.
So how do you maximize sales during your product launch?
Ahh yes – that’s where the revenue-boosting secret comes in…
Always use some form of SCARCITY.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a successful launch that doesn’t use some form of scarcity.
So what is scarcity?
In marketing, scarcity is the principle of making products or services limited in some way, shape, or form…
And if there’s one thing that’s true about us strange humans, it’s that the more something is limited, the more we want it.
Now there are 4 different TYPES of scarcity you could utilize in your launch and I have an entire tutorial where I break down each one along with some examples, so make sure to check out that blog next.
As promised, you can find my Big Idea Blueprint Workshop right here! Enjoy!
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
