The 7 Assets You Need For A Perfect Launch
Have you ever heard of plate spinning? People who practice this craft balance plates, bowls and anything flat they can find on a thin pole, and then proceed to spin them. Their performance will usually start by spinning one object and working their way up to spinning multiple, even a dozen (or more). I remember watching these people on America's Got Talent, and it was impressive.
As a business owner, launching a product or service can feel like you're spinning a LOT of plates simultaneously. Plates piled high with tasks and responsibilities, like planning, strategizing, copywriting, content marketing, implementing and supporting customers… just to name a few. Dropping even one of these plates can be the difference between a sold-out launch, and one that flops entirely.
Because the truth is, launches are a lot of work. The (countless) moving parts require all of your attention, not to mention getting the details right. Depending on the size and complexity of your launch, trying to handle this process alone can be a total stress-inducing headache.
On the flip side, running a launch so successful and effortlessly seamless is possible — just ask any of my copywriting clients. They’ll tell you that a sold-out launch is not only possible, but also achievable, if you have the right assets and support in place (pre-launch). This is where having an experienced team in place comes in — setting you and your launch up for success from the get-go.
So whether this is your first big launch (or you've launched many, many times before), use this checklist of the seven necessary assets for the perfect launch.
1. Create a compelling offer
Your offer is what your entire launch centres around, and pre-launch is the perfect time to refine it into a more compelling offer. Ask yourself: Why is your offer interesting to your market, and why right now?
Consider your value proposition and determine if what you're offering is desirable, or if you can improve it to provide your audience with even more value. Polishing your customer avatar and linking your copy back to your unique selling proposition will inform your ideal audience of exactly what you’re offering and why they should buy from you, specifically. Most importantly, why they should buy from you right NOW.
2. Design Your Ideal Customers Path
If your end goal is to have a sold-out launch (and why shouldn’t it be?!), then design a roadmap that guides your ideal customers to a resounding YES. There’s no one-size-fits-all with what this journey should look like, because no two launches are the same. What might work for you might not work for someone else, or even for each individual launch in your business.
So having a defined target audience is crucial to determining where you pitch your offer, and where the path to your brand starts. Often, clients choose to start this journey on social media or with Google ads, so you'll need to create audience-specific content (but generally not selling your offer just yet — keep reading!).
3. Define Your Attraction Strategy
Every launch needs a robust strategy to attract your ideal customers. This strategy depends on where those customers spend their time online – and this is why defining your target audience initially is sooo important.
For example, an organic content marketing strategy targets ideal customers on the platforms they frequent. You could also drive traffic from paid Facebook or Google ads. Whichever path you choose, it’s best to offer a soft opt-in in the form of a lead magnet or freebie on a landing page to attract people who are ready to take action. This lead magnet will be something loosely related to your offer, but packed with value, so your customers instantly fall in love with your brand.
4. Build An Engagement Campaign
Once your ideal customers have discovered your brand, your engagement campaign kicks in — this is the virtual wine-ing and dining part of their journey. Fun fact: Your ideal customers are more likely to buy after seven touch points, so your engagement campaign is all about building as many of those touch points into the journey as possible.
Whether that’s an email sequence, content marketing strategy or an exclusive invite-only Facebook group with live hangouts, you can drive sales by engaging throughout the entire campaign. A typical path to any campaign's VIP asset, the sales page, is a strategic sales email sequence that customers are sent after they sign up for your lead magnet.
5. Write A Killer Sales Page
Now it's time for (arguably) the most important launch asset in your campaign. Because your sales page is where you drive your ideal customers to buy. It’s the place where your compelling offer meets practical details (like the actual cost and time investment required) paired with psychological triggers demonstrating how and why your offer will make your ideal audience's life better.
This is also where you can include bonuses, scarcity and testimonials to make your offer more attractive. By increasing the value and credibility, you start to create an offer that is simply irresistible. Once you have a powerful sales page layout (I have a killer formula for this!), now you just let your copy do the talking (and selling).
6. Triple Check Your Checkout Page
When I’m ready to buy something as a customer, the worst-case scenario is something goes wrong at the point of purchase, like a broken checkout system. I don’t know about you, but when this happens, I tend to leave and forget about whatever I was trying to buy.
During a launch, this hiccup means lost sales — plain and simple. Ensuring your checkout process works seamlessly before your sales page goes live is so so important to mitigate that risk. There are also other ways to make your purchase seem less risky for those unsure, such as offering secure payment methods, guarantees, instalments or refunds (especially for larger ticket items).
7. Hire a conversion copywriter
And finally, the best asset you can have to support your launch pre-launch is an experienced copywriter who not only understands the process, but understands your business. To be honest, this point should be #1 in the pre-launch process, so your copywriter can support your brand at every single step.
Because, let’s face it, you only have so many hours in the day — and a launch is nothing if not time-intensive. Hiring a copywriter, whether on retainer or by project, who can help you plan, strategize, write copy, integrate, and ensure your launch is as smooth, seamless and, most importantly, stress-free as possible — giving you two extra hands to keep all those plates spinning safely.
If you’re ready to see how we can plan the perfect launch for your business, request your free 30-minute call.
