We’re rounding out our three-part series where I've been bringing in special guests who are experts on the course launch side of launching with a summit. We've heard about what's working in courses, we've learned about live versus evergreen launches, and today we're going to learn about creating anticipation for your offers before your launch.
I have loved this series so much because the better your launches go on their own, the more a summit is going to enhance those results and create magic for your business.
Today, we’re talking about something that I really don't see talked about very much, and that is what you can do before your launch to build anticipation and excitement, and ultimately increase your launch results because of it. We'll focus on using a pre-launch period before launching courses in this episode, but you can apply this to summits or any offer you're looking to build excitement around.
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Episode at a glance:
[4:43] Brenna started us off by explaining that she defines pre-launch as the content you’re putting out during the 6 weeks before you do a live launch. And this concept can be applied to evergreen funnels too! When you sell on evergreen, you'll have a list of people that said no to your evergreen offer at some point, and the pre-launch strategy can be used to warm them back up too.
What I love about pre-launch is it’s a combination of conversion copywriting, putting out content that builds the know-like-trust factor, and helping people decide for themselves if your offer is the best decision for them before you start selling.
The Four A’s to Pre-launch
Brenna walked us through her Four A's to Pre-launch framework, and it was so helpful for understanding the goals and types of content to focus on during this period leading up to a launch!
[6:06] The first A in the framework is Autonomy. As a whole, buyers in the online business space are wanting more time to make a buying decision, and aren't responding as well to high-pressure sales situations. Your pre-launch period serves as a way to give people more time to think about and plan for their buying decision.
[8:06] The next A is Assurance. One of the primary goals of a pre-launch is to build up the know-like-trust factor and help your audiences get to know you and trust you better, which creates peace of mind for your leads and helps them to feel better about buying from you when the launch starts.
Trust comes in all different areas, whether it’s showing our values or showcasing our customer's and clients’ stories, and a pre-launch is a great way to build that trust with your audience before launching.
[9:33] The third A in the framework is Anecdotes which are all about telling stories. People love stories, and through stories, you're able to demonstrate and show people how we can help them. Telling stories about your clients or your own stories connected to your course topic is a big part of warming up an audience before a launch.
[10:13] And finally, we have the 4th A, which is Anticipation. This is the most underutilized strategy in online marketing. Many people go into a launch and use their webinar or challenge as the only way they're warming up their audience before launching, but people often end up feeling blindsided by the offer if there's no anticipation ahead of time. This part of your pre-launch is all about building up curiosity, excitement, and momentum behind your offer before you start selling.
A better experience for everyone involved
[12:47] After learning the Four A's of Pre-launching from Brenna, I just had to circle back and ask more about the Autonomy piece. This is HUGE, and honestly something that isn't talked about enough, especially when it comes to launching through a summit.
A lot of times we’re encouraged to pressure people and force them into making a decision. With summits, you bring in thousands of attendees, and some will buy right away, but some will take more time, and that’s okay. You can continue nurturing those leads that didn't buy and give them the autonomy to make the decision when they're ready.
[15:32] Not only does pre-launching help to increase sales, but it also helps prepare the students who do buy your course to really show up, do the work, and get good results. Adding in a pre-launch before you start selling really helps to make it a win-win for you, your audience, and your new students in your course.
The students who buy when they’re ready come in prepared to do the work and get good results. In turn, they give you better testimonials and tell everyone how great your program is, and that creates an undercurrent of referral marketing. When you put out great content during your pre-launch, and you start getting referrals, it all starts to work together.
[22:16] The way you apply these pre-launch principles will change, depending on what you're selling. For example, if you're asking someone to buy a $50 necklace, they don’t need 8 weeks of pre-launch. But when you’re launching a $6-10,000 mastermind, they’re going to need a little bit more time, and that's where we see the pre-launch having the most impact.
About Brenna
Brenna McGowan is a strategic copywriter, marketing consultant, and launch pro. She believes that hustle-based, high-pressure program launches don’t serve you or your customers. Instead, she helps you leverage pre-launch content so you can launch with confidence, less stress, and more sales.
By leveraging her pre-launch strategies, Brenna’s clients have seen 50%+ revenue growth in their launches without the frenzy and chaos they used to feel when launching. She also helps her students inside The Pre-Launch Plan Program create strategic pre-launch plans that have raked in hundreds of thousands in revenue.
When Brenna’s not strategizing or helping clients launch, you can find her walking her pug, reading cheesy romance books, or shuttling one of her three teenagers around their Northern California neighborhood.
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