How to plan a product launch for your business

June 21, 2022

It could be that you’ve never actually launched
(and yes you DO need to launch all your products/services).

Janet Murray Courageous Content Podcast Headshot

Here’s what I cover in this episode of the Courageous Content Podcast (which is also available as a blog post).

What is a launch anyway?

Before we get stuck into the strategy, let’s clear something up.

If you’ve done any of the following things:

* Put a new product/service on sale
* Started an email newsletter, social media account or podcast
* Created an email lead magnet

…you already had a launch. In fact, you may have had dozens.

If you want people to take action, you need a launch.

And you need to launch your 1-2-1 services,

You also need to launch group coaching programmes, products, challenges, books, podcasts.

You also need to keep re-launching your existing products. This means finding new ways to talk about your products/services. And new reasons for your customers/clients to buy.

That’s not to say you need to create email lead magnets, build out sales funnels and send marketing emails for every product/service you launch.

But you DO need a strategy, so you can make sure you hit your goals (whatever they might be).

To find out more, listen to: what is a launch anyway.

Phase 1: Product development

It sounds obvious, but any product/service you create needs to solve a specific problem for a specific type of person.

This is particularly relevant when selling a done-for-you/ done-with-you service – or coaching/consulting. For someone to invest time/money into solving a problem, it has to be pretty painful for tham. And not solving the problem typically has negative consequences e.g. loss of time or money.

A common mistake I see – particularly with coaches/consultants – is creating a service they want to deliver – rather than what people want to buy.

This is why it’s SO important to spend time on product research – otherwise you can end up creating a product/service no one wants to buy.

Plan a product launch

If you have a product-based business, focus on the problems your ideal customers have that lead them to invest in your product. For example, my Courageous Content Planner solves two key problems for business owners.

1. Struggling to come up with content ideas
2. Struggling to stay consistent/organised with content

The Courageous Content Planner includes hundreds of awareness days and key dates. While there are tons of websites out there that list awareness days – having all the date in one place – on your planner, saves time trawling those websites to compile your own list of awareness dates.

If the problem your product solves doesn’t seem obvious – think about how it compares to your competitors.

For example, if you have a wooden toy company the problem you solve might be providing plastic-free play things for children. For someone who is looking to reduce their plastic use – and/or buy a gift for a child whose parents are – that definitely solves a problem.

During the product development phase you’ll need to create the following types of content:

  • Social media posts and other content that will help you understand what problems your ideal customers/clients have (and how you can solve them). This will typically mean asking lots of questions. If you have my Courageous Content Planner, this is an example of community content
  • A ‘quick offer’. This is a document I recommend business owners create for every product they are thinking of selling – which outlines what the product is and the benefits. Typically this will be no more than a few hundred words long (think of it like a short sales page). You can use this document to get feedback on your idea from prospective customers/clients.
  • You’ll also need to create a launch plan for your product/service – starting at the end of your launch period.

Phase 2: Pre-order

A common mistake people make when launching a new product/service is focusing all their attention on the ‘cart open’ phase i.e. when your product/service is actually on sale.

But what you do in the weeks/months leading up to your ‘cart open’ period can make or break your launch (and your sales).

For best results, you’ll need to create the following content:

  • Audience growth content e.g. blogs, social media posts that answer your ideal customers/clients questions about the problem your product solves (and establishes your authority in that area)
  • Delivery content: for a service/ digital product/coaching programme this might mean making decisions on things like: the balance of 1-2-1/group sessions, video tutorials, digital downloads – and planning any content you might need to create to deliver that outcome. With a physical product it might literally be about delivery – i.e. how it will be sent/packaged.
  • Waitlist/teaser content: to boost launch sales of your product/service, you need to get people excited about your product BEFORE it goes on sale. So you need to create content that does exactly that (ideally including a waitlist campaign

 

Teaser content

 

Phase 3: Launch (cart open)

A common mistake I see people making – particularly with digital product launches – is focusing all their attention on their cart open week. When (as I’ve already shared), what often makes the biggest difference to sales is what you do in the weeks/months leading up to the launch.

That said, you do need to create specific content for your launch. As a minimum you’ll need:

  • A sales page
  • 5-7 marketing emails
  • Onboarding/delivery emails (2-3)
  • Promotional social media posts (6+)
  • Testimonials

Find out more about the content you need to create to launch a digital product.

It’s good to get ahead with your launch content – but you don’t need to create all your content ahead of your ‘cart open’ week. In fact, not creating all of it can be a good thing (particularly if you’re new to launching). If your launch isn’t going to plan, you may need to change course i.e. create new/different content – so make sure you allow space in your diary in case this is necessary.

Your launch debrief (and why you shouldn’t skip this part)

It is important to schedule some time for a course launch debrief – so you can reflect on what went well – and what didn’t – so you can make changes/improvements for next time. This is particularly important if your launch didn’t go as well as expected. Check out the launch debrief on my Courageous Content planner giveaway.

What is the 90 Day Product Launch Sprint?

My 90 Day Product Launch sprint is an online challenge taking place between July 1 and Sep 30. If you are a member of my Courators Club, you’ll get access to this as part of your membership. If not, you can purchase a 90 Day Pass for the club that will allow you to take part in the challenge (and get access to other member benefits including my guided content planning sessions).

You’ll be sent a launch plan and a task to complete each week to help you plan and create content for your launch.

And you’ll get access to specific content templates to help with your product launch (including. email marketing templates, social media and sales page templates).

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