Product launches – it’s a topic that means a lot to just about everyone who’s running a business.
And you know what? There is a *ton* of mis-information out there about product launches – and there’s a pretty good reason for that:
When people are teaching about it they’re usually in the middle of one themselves!
Product launches can seem much, much more complex than they really are, and we’d like to set the record straight. Let it be said, once and for all, that crafting a product launch does not have to be that difficult. In fact, they can be pretty simple once you have understand how to look at them.
So that’s what you’ll find in this podcast; step-by-step instructions on how to plan and execute a product launch for anything you’d want to sell…
Click here to listen to the podcast:
Product Launches that Generate the Big Bucks
Distilled Wisdom
- Product launches scare people because they are often overcomplicated by the people who are teaching about them. Let go of the idea that it needs to be complex.
- Step 1 – Pick two dates: Cart Open and Cart Close. The time in between these dates is your launch window. You will write an email for both the open and close dates.
- Step 2 – Pick a third date a little while before the Open Cart Date. This is your Pre-Launch Window. You’ll be writing an email for the first day of Pre-Launch as well.
- Step 3 – Populate your pre-launch window with the emails you’ll be sending to your list. Your goal with these emails is to build excitement and get people engaged and excited about what you’re doing.
- Step 4 – Populate your launch window with the emails you’ll be sending between the cart opening and the cart closing.
- You want to reach out to people during your pre-launch and launch windows as many times as possible – as long as you have a good reason to do so. That means news, updates, FAQs, and case studies are all appropriate, but messages saying “Don’t forget to buy my thing!” are not.
- Make a point of split-testing your emails and opt-ins so that you learn what works best for your audience.
- Yep. That’s actually it.
Resources
Have you run a launch before? What did you find worked well for you, and what didn’t?
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Megan Dougherty has been with Firepole Marketing since 2010, first as Danny’s Assistant and more recently as Content Editor and Assistant Instructor. When she’s not working with wonderful students and readers here, she’s building her own audience based business helping the young and underemployed handle their money at Paying For Life.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s that simple?!? I have my first set of 3-4 products in their final stages of development. Looking forward to “launch” (pun intended) in to 2013, loading up the podcast now to learn more! Thanks Danny as always my man…
I know – I was amazed too!
And thank you for the pun.
Thanks guys,
I don’t have any new product launch in the immediate future but learning more about split testing and being ready for the future is really good.
My biggest mistake in my previous launch was having the period between the open and the close gate too long. There was no urgency for anyone and it allowed people to delay and suspect that there would be another window soon after. If I’d been more exclusive I think more people would have opted in to avoid missing out.
It can be a fine balance between giving people time to make the decision and creating false scarcity – you have to test different lengths of the calendar too, I guess, along with all of the other split tests.
It can be pretty hard to really get one variable too. I guess a/b testing at least let’s you use the same time to measure a difference. But even if you do it later in the year, you might be more valued and trusted by then.
Danny,
Your delivery method for teaching us is spot on! You provide easy to follow instructions, tools for success and you break big ideas down into smaller doable steps for us. I’m launching a product in January and am so excited to use the tools you’ve provided though this launch tutorial and the Write Like Freddy course that I’m currently taking. You offer CLARITY!!! Thanks, thanks, thanks!
Thanks for the kind words Kelly! I’ll make sure Danny sees them.
Good luck with the launch!
Megan
This is probably the third time this month I have been working on an online article for a client that caters to small business owners and you have posted something on the topic I was writing about. As a freelance writer, I have never, personally, launched an actual product on my own (though I have done them as part of a team when I was a corporate PR employee). All the research I’ve done over the last few hours for this article has been so very complicated and in-depth…and my article is supposed to be under 1,000 words!
I think most people think product launches, just like every other aspect of marketing, are supposed to be stressful. Thank you for breaking everything down, as always, into simple, easy, effective measures. I always come to you guys for a reminder that life doesn’t have to be complicated.
Having just come off my first launch, I now know that I need to do a lot more pre-planning for my pre-launch and launch window emails.
Otherwise, the launch actually went well!
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