Grow Your Biz – Week 4: You never can promote your product and service to much

Having a successful product launch needs so much more than just an amazing product. If your marketing campaign isn’t spot on the best product in the world will not sell. Luckily, thanks to email marketing everyone can have amazing launches. If you want to learn how to launch the right way, keep reading!

Before we start…

What exactly is #GrowYourBiz?

Grow Your Biz is a new blog post series I created after running my online business for two years. Every week I will share my goals and learnings with you so that you can grow your business alongside me.

The internet is a wonderful place, which allows us to create and run a one-person-business from home. But it also can be very lonely and depending on where you live you could be cut off from fellow entrepreneurs. Not being able to chat about your business with someone who has similar goals, struggles and to-dos can be stressful. While family and friends love you and will always listen to you, there are just some things they can’t follow and fully understand – they try to believe me! – if they work a usual nine-to-five.

But you are not alone!

There are many of us even if we live all around the globe. So let’s use this wonderful place called ‘the internet’ once more to share our journey, learn from one another and grow our businesses together.

Review of last week’s goals

• Film + Edit + Upload Flip Through Video
• [27%] Create Sales Funnel for launch week
• Publish two blog posts
• Add to automated Weekly Etsy Products Sales Funnel
• Finalize Files for Launch
• Create Gumroad Listing
• Create Deadline Funnel Campaign
• Write Upsell e-mail for Bullettastisch customers
• Bullettastisch Launch on Friday, October 12th, 2018!!!

As you can see I managed 9.27 of 10 tasks this week, which is amazing! But, I also need to admit that I have been carrying the tasks of

• Sales Page Creation,
• and Video Creation

with me for the past couple of weeks. So let’s talk about my Bullettastisch Printable Bundle Launch for a second here.

Except for my sales funnel, I got everything done on time and I even spend most of Friday outdoors with family and friends. Which is absolutely mind-blowing to me.

You need to understand in the past a launch looked something like this to me:

• Work on the product itself until one day prior to launch.
• Fix final bugs on launch day.
• Get the sales pages done on launch day.
• Have a couple ‘plans’ left on the table what I wanted to include in the product, but never made it due to time constraints.

Also, I always worked insane hours for the last two weeks leading up to launch. Standing up at 11:00 am and working until 2:00 am the next morning. Every single day for two weeks straight. This is not only very unhealthy it also is bad for your relationships and burns you out quickly. The only thing I always did right was to stick to my deadline. When I said it would launch on June, 1st it would launch on June, 1st at the exact time I had stated.

Another thing I used to do before my Journaltastisch Planner PreSale this September, was to only promote my product once. Yes, you heard me right: just once.

While I had been teasing my products leading up to the launch. I always only wrote and send out one e-mail blast + social media posts.

Can we just take a second to appreciate how much money I left on the table?

And that I spend months building a product just to promote it one time.

Unbelievable!

Having said that I want to use today’s blog post to talk with you launch strategy. Because having a great product is only half the secret to a successful launch. The other half is marketing. Continuous marketing.

Having a great product is only half the secret to a successful launch! Click To Tweet

HOW TO LAUNCH THE RIGHT WAY

While there is still a ton I can learn about launching, I wished someone had shared today’s lesson with me two years ago. It would have meant a more secure paycheck, less stress and more people who can profit from the products I create. Because while making money is important – bills anyone? – my main mission is to help busy dreamers send their productivity through the roof with thoughtfully designed and beautifully hand-drawn printable planners.

From the last two years of experience, I recommend two things to do early on:

1. Decide on a launch date and announce it publically.
2. Start teasing your launch as soon as possible.

Why you should announce your launch publically

This serves two purposes. First, it gives you a deadline to work towards. Because if you just plan to create this product someday, you either never will. Or it will take much longer than it should.

Secondly, if you announce it publically your readers/customers are going to hold you accountable. Believe it or not, they are looking forward to it. And they will get disappointed or even mad if the deadline isn’t met. Most certainly, they will look for a solution elsewhere since they obviously can’t depend on you.

Why you should start teasing your launch as soon as possible

The moment I make my decision to create a product I sit down and see where I can fit it into my schedule. I make a list of what needs to happen to realize this product. And add all these tasks to my calendar. This will help me figure out how long it actually will take me. Because it’s very easy to forget holidays, weekends, special occasions or other products that might be due. Having done that I decide on my launch date.

And then I start teasing it to my e-mail list. When I first started launching, I only announced my launch two weeks before it was actually happening. Now I do it months prior. Why? Because of the accountability reasons above. When I know I need to get my taxes done this month, so that I have the whole of November to work on another product, that launches in December. Chances are very high I get my taxes done this month.

FOLLOW THROUGH

After the initial hump, we often face: starting a project. We often tend to get sidetracked with more fun and exciting projects. More often than not, these new ideas aren’t more exciting than the project we need to work on right now. But since we have spent weeks looking at the same product and slaving away at it, we are ready for something new. Unfortunately, most people can’t resist this temptation. Which leads to many started but unfinished projects. Be it in their own home, hobbies or even their professional life if there is no one looking over their shoulder.

I don’t want you to fall into the same trap.

So set your deadline and commit to it fully!

A SAMPLE LAUNCH PLAN

While you can and should tease your product as soon as possible. The detailed launch plan starts for me still two weeks out from the deadline.

Two weeks out

Send an e-mail blast announcing the product and telling your readers what they can expect from the final product. Don’t promise anything you can’t keep!

It’s better to undersell your product and deliver more than to oversell your product and deliver less. You never ever want to disappoint your customers!

Bonus Action: Create a waiting list website for your potential customers.

This allows you to capture e-mail signups. So that you truly know who is interested in your product. I always link to my waiting list on the very top of my front page.

One week out

Again send an e-mail blast to your readers. Show them preview images of your product. Share an introductory video with them. It depends on the kind of product you sell. The point is to show them what they can get in a more visual way.

Don’t forget to share your waiting list website if you have created one. Keep doing this in every further email until launch.

Three days out

Amp up the excitement. Tell them what the product can do for them. How will it improve their lives? What problem does it solve for them? It’s also a great time to start introducing a timer. Which counts down till launch. I personally love using motionmail for that.

Two days out

Keep showing them glimpses of the final product. Share your story behind it. What motivated you to create it in the first place.

One day out

Tease the hell out of it!

Bonus Action: Pre-write emails that will go out 12h, 4h, and 1h prior to launch. Get them all excited and make sure they are waiting for you to hit publish!

It’s launch day!

One this day I highly recommend making sure you promote your product on as many platforms as possible. Your website, your e-mail list, all your social media accounts. Share the hell out of it and encourage your readers to do the same.

Usually in the past, by this point, I was totally burned out. So instead of doing the steps below I just went away from the internet for up to three weeks. Biggest mistake ever!

Week after launch

I want you to keep promoting your product daily through e-mail. If you have more resources, do so also through social media.

Let me say it again: Daily!

I usually have a special deal for the first week. So everyone who purchases it in the very first week gets the product for a more affordable price. This allows you to reach a broader audience, which is amazing because the more customers you have the more reviews you can get. Which in the end you can use again to promote your product. It also puts a deadline on the opportunity to purchase the product.

Because the thing is we all have decision fatigue.

AVOID DECISION FATIGUE

By reminding your potential customers daily of your special offer, as well as sharing more and more insights with every e-mail you increase your chances of a purchase. We seldom buy something the first time we see it. Most times we need to see it over and over again. At least seven times.

So stop worrying that you annoy your readers and keep promoting the heck out of your product. You spend weeks or even months developing it and you deserve to earn the laurels.

The last three days until the end of my special offer I start adding a timer to my e-mails again. Seeing a clock ticking down will give an additional push.

Don’t get me wrong! It’s not about pressuring someone into buying. It’s about helping with the decision making process. If someone truly wants your product he or she will buy it before the timer hits ZERO (if they can afford it). If they don’t want it this timer helps them too, because they can stop thinking about it afterward. There is a deadline. A moment of finality.

THE LAST DAY

On the very last day before my special offer ends, I will send out four emails again. One 12h out, one 8h out, one 4h out and one 1h out. I don’t do this to annoy anyone. I’m doing this to make sure my potential customers actually see my e-mail.

I don’t know about you but I’m getting at least 30 e-mails every single day. So chances are high I won’t see your product until your special offer is over. Which would be sad for both of us.

So stop feeling bad about promoting your product and make sure it gets seen.

If you are like ‘No way I have the time to write all these e-mails!’, start simple. Instead of writing a completely new e-mail every single day. Just resend the same e-mail over and over again. While this won’t convert as many subscribers into customers. It most certainly will get your product seen.

To put it simply…

Do the very best you can in the time you have! Click To Tweet

Learnings

Do you remember how I told you at the beginning of the post how I handled launches in the past? Working till the last minute and burning myself out completely. While now I can actually relax on launch day until the product goes live and I need to put on my ‘customer support’ hat.

This strategy I go through with every launch and adjust with each learning I make not only allows me to work regular hours. It also increased my sales immensely.

In the past, I had great sales on day 1 and then a few sales over the next few days. And that was it. Now I have great sales on day 1. Good sales on day 2 till 6. And out of the world sales on day 7.

Let me give you some actual numbers:
Comparison of Pre-Sale of Journaltastisch Planner 2018 compared to 2019.

Launch Day: 3 times as many sales this year compared to last year.
Day 1: 3 times as many sales.
Day 2: 7 times as many sales.
Day 3: 18 times as many sales.
Day 4: 6.5 times as many sales.
Day 5: 5 times as many sales.
Day 6: 15 times as many sales.
Day 7: 63 times as many sales.

Do I need to say any more?

GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK

• Write 1 promo e-mail a day, 4 on last day of launch week
• Get ‘income’ section of your taxes for 2017 done
• Publish 2 blog posts this week
• Review your Journaltastisch Planner customer feedback
• Plan out Journaltastisch Planner 2019 Launch
• printables to draw,
• guides to write,
• videos to film,
• marketing strategy
• and so on
• Create long pins for all the blog posts you published the past couple weeks and share them on Pinterest
• Start copying your Journaltastisch Planner guides into teachable – 1h/workday
• Draw all the new Journaltastisch Planner printables planned for launch
• Write out 47 new quotes for your Journaltastisch Planner weekly layouts
• Create evergreen funnel for Bullettastisch Bundle

If you have any more questions regarding product launches please ask them in the comments below.