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Lisa needs some liquid cash injections in her business but it’s not going to be possible without launch management.
You see Lisa left her corporate job 5 years ago with the dream of running her own business.
For the first 3 years, Lisa managed things as a solopreneur by wearing many hats.
She handled the bookkeeping, billing, client onboarding, marketing and everything else.
In year 4, Lisa hired her first virtual assistant to do general admin work which saved her loads of time.
Lisa knows that she will need help for her upcoming course launch to avoid burnout.
Let me know if you too are aware of these.
If only there was a way to launch as seamlessly as possible with less stress.
In this post, you’ll learn closely guarded secrets to launching successfully multiple times a year.
You’ll also find how to stay in your zone of genius even with 6 or 7 figure launches.
Before diving into launch secrets let’s spend some time looking at a few key statistics when it comes to launching.
According to G2 and Harvard Business School over 30,000 new consumer products are launched each year but the failure rate is 95%!
Nine out of every 10 customers believe that brand innovation should impact society.
56% of people surveyed said that their friends and family are the sources of new product awareness.
The most hilarious statistic is this; the biggest problem faced by most launchers is a lack of preparedness.
It takes about 28 weeks for a new product to achieve 75% of reach distribution.
According to Saasworthy, when it comes to early adoption the percentage of people buying at launch is 21%.
Another 63% will finally buy when the product has been on the market for some time.
Did you know that on average brands spend around $15 million to launch a new product?
Around 65% of men are early adopters of newly launched products.
While 59% of women tend to wait until the product has been on the market for some time before making a purchase.
Now that you have a general idea of what most brands are experiencing when it comes to launching.
Let’s look at what should be included in standard launch projects.
I know I said 7 but the reality is that if you want your launch to be successful you need a pre-built community too.
So, let’s look at each one of these items one by one.
As a launch manager, I’m constantly surprised by this one thing.
Many small business owners continue to run their business year after year without mapping out their ICA.
In other words, they have a vague idea of who their ideal client is but not in-depth knowledge.
For example, here’s a list of questions you need to be able to answer regarding your ICA.
Bear in mind that this list is not exhaustive but highlights some key questions you have not yet considered.
If you’ve purchased the 90 days in 90 minutes bundle you already have a key secret to mapping out your ICA.
One of the most popular questions that I get asked when assisting clients with launching is how much funding is required?
Well, as you saw previously the average brand spends approximately $15 million when launching a new product.
Most small business owners will not have $15 million set aside for launching.
However, it really depends on the size of your team as well as the size of your email list.
You can get entry-level VAs to assist you with launching for the first time.
After your 4th launch, things start getting serious so you’ll need a dedicated launch manager.
Here’s a budget breakdown of a modest launch.
| Resource | Monthly | One-Off |
|---|---|---|
| Copywriting | $7,000 | |
| Graphic Design | $5,000 | |
| Admin VA | $700.00 | |
| Tech VA | $1,000.00 | |
| Platforms | $300.00 | |
| Launch Manager | $1,500.00 | |
| Facebook Ads Manager | $1,995.00 | |
| Facebook Ads | $1,000.00 | |
| Total | $6,495.00 | $12,000 |
Many small business owners choose to write the copy themselves in an effort to reduce launch costs.
In some cases, you can get away with graphics created by an Admin VA rather than spending on premium graphics.
If you cannot afford Facebook ads you can just launch organically.
One of the best places to start before finalising your launch budget is deciding on the resources needed.
It’s not possible for you to launch successfully without help from anyone.
So, spend some time making a list of the things that you can do.
Then make a second list of the things you need to outsource.
The average launch period takes between 8 and 12 weeks.
Here’s a list of items that you may need for launching.
Some business owners use the following people to help them with launching.
If this is your first launch and you are a solopreneur you may not need a sizeable launch team.
Of course, if you are launching a software-as-a-service (Saas) solution then you’ll probably already have a budget allocated for headcount.
Saas solutions require a dedicated product management team and a solid product launch plan.
These types of solutions also require dedicated customer support teams working around the clock to handle queries.
As you read previously, 95% of product launches fail due to a lack of preparation.
Therefore planning your launch is super important.
On average you’ll need 8-12 weeks to run a launch sprint working backwards from your launch date.
So, spend some time mapping out what you’ll be doing to get the results you need.
Here are some items you’ll need to create for your launch.
I’ve noticed that many clients struggle with the content that they need for a launch.
If you are facing this challenge remember that you are not alone.
There are many digital businesses facing the same issues.
It’s important to remember that you can reuse the content that brings you results for future launches.
If yes, feel free to book some time in my calendar here for an initial chat if you need to talk things through.
Part of the planning process involves developing a launch strategy.
If you are launching an eCommerce product then you’ll need a solid product launch strategy.
The best strategy will incorporate the product vision and offer a world-class customer experience.
While pen and paper are cheap and reliable it’s important to remember this one thing.
Having a single source of truth will go a long way to giving your team visibility.
Imagine for a moment that the email copy is stored in a notebook somewhere.
When it’s time to upload these into the Email Service Provider (ESP) it becomes awkward.
Simply because only one person has access to it and it will need to be converted to digital format.
Another example is a list of tasks to be completed before the cart is opened.
If it’s written down on pieces of paper at someone’s home office then the team will not have the visibility that they need.
Instead of using pen and paper, I’d advise you to use a project management tool.
Here are a few that are available on the market today.
While this list is not exhaustive it’s important to find the one that you enjoy using.
I’ve created a few resources that compare the features of many project management platforms.
Here’s one that compares ClickUp with Asana and Trello in great detail.
If you prefer you can just compare just Asana and ClickUp here.
Finally, here’s one that looks at Todoist vs Things.
As you can imagine your launch can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.
It’s also important to realise that your potential clients will formulate an opinion about you.
This opinion is formulated based on their interaction with your brand including all the tech.
There isn’t one solution that’s right for everyone.
You’ll need to get a feel for the tech and how well it works for your brand.
Let me give you a breakdown of the tech you might need.
Oh my! I hope that you’re not feeling overwhelmed with all this information.
There’s no need to spend a lot of time reading up on all these platforms if you plan to hire a Tech VA.
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners are not aware that they need a hype event or sales event for launching.
Essentially, a sales event does two things.
Firstly, It gives potential clients or customers a sample of your teaching style.
Think of it as a sampling of your course.
I learned this the hard way. A few years ago I spent money on a program without first sampling the course creator.
It was a total failure for me because I couldn’t follow their teaching style.
The program did not resonate with me at all (trust me I tried).
Secondly, it drives awareness to your potential audience who were not aware of your brand previously.
When it comes to event format a sales event is normally delivered in the following ways.
As you can see the options are endless when it comes to getting your audience ready for your sales pitch.
5-day challenges can be a fun way to get your potential audience excited about their transformation.
It doesn’t have to be a sleazy affair at all.
The important thing to remember is that you need to deliver value to your attendees.
The one thing you need to have in order to make sales is a list of potential buyers.
Creating an audience of motivated buyers is hard work.
In most cases, it takes time to grow your audience organically.
The best ways to grow a community is by using marketing campaigns such as:
It can take between 6 months to 5 years to grow a community of potential buyers.
There are faster ways to achieve it and these include the following:
It’s all about getting the balance right between time and money.
If you don’t have the money then you’ll need to spend the time building your community.
Depending on your budget you can do it faster using paid ads or collaborations.
Every time you embark on the launch of a new product you’ll need to grow a new audience for it.
As you can see there’s a lot that goes into launching your course or program 3-4 times a year.
There just seems to be so many layers involved in the launch process.
This is why it’s important to consider hiring team members to help.
For example, my clients don’t like dealing with all the tech so they bring me on board to assist.
Project launch management is not for the faint-hearted and it could leave you feeling overwhelmed.
A good launch manager will develop efficient launch project plans that will give you a competitive edge.
I also offer a launch management service to assist my client with project management and tech.
One of the secrets to a successful product launch is awesome analytical skills.
When you hire me as a launch manager I’ll develop a custom product launch template for your business.
If you are just launching a blog then you can grab this resource here.
Are you confused about what you might need for your launch?
If yes, feel free to book some time in my calendar here for an initial chat.
Over to you, have you ever launched an offer? How was your experience?
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Running a business on your own or with a small team is hard work every day.
Getting that liquid cash injection from launching 3-4 times a year is so worth the effort and investment.
I started this blog in 2017 because I had a burden on my heart to reduce women’s illiteracy globally.
Because this is a huge undertaking I have decided to help 1,000 women over the next 10 years to become wildly successful in their online business through simplified marketing strategies.
That way we can build a strong business network of women who can donate 1% of their profit and together we can help reduce women’s illiteracy worldwide.
Would you like to be part of this movement? Shoot me an email using alvern (at) successunscrambled (dot) com.
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