Are you planning on launching something soon? Maybe a podcast, a new programme, a live event or a book? Regardless of what you are launching, the fundamental launching process is the same and in this post, I will walk you through the 3 essential launch phases to ensure your launch runs smoothly, successfully and as stress-free as possible.

 

Phase 1: Pre-Launch

Launches don’t just happen overnight. As someone who has launched events, websites, productions, blogs and coaching programmes I know that launches can happen quickly BUT to maximise your success whilst minimising your stress I highly recommend you give yourself sufficient time for the pre-launch phase.

Every launch should have a plan. Having a launch plan will ensure that you have thought through all the important things you need to consider before the launch and it will also help you in the heat of the launch.

The launch plan should contain the following:

Objectives

Before you do anything you should set your objectives for the launch. Outline what exactly you are launching and then answer these questions:

• Why are you launching X?
• What are you hoping to achieve from the launch?
• What would a good result look like?

If you are launching a service/product then it might be you want to sell a certain number or hit a financial target. If you are launching a podcast you might want a certain number of downloads within the first week. Or maybe you are launching a YouTube channel or blog and you would like to attract a certain number of visitors?

 

Channels

Once you know what you are trying to achieve it is time to identify all of the marketing and communication channels you will be using during the launch. At this stage, you want to try and cover everything. Possibilities includes:

• Sales Page
• Email
• Blog
• Social Media – list every platform
• Guest opportunities – blogs, podcasts, videos etc
• Advertising – Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google Adwords etc
• Press / PR
• Affiliates / Partners

 

Timings

A launch should have a defined start and end date/time. If you are launching a service or product then you might have an ending where you what you are launching is taken out of the market. In that case defining your beginning and end date is easy. However, even if you are launching something that doesn’t technically end (like a book, podcast etc) you should still decide on a launch end. This will define that you out of launch marketing mode and into ongoing marketing mode.

 

Timeline

Once you have your channels and timings confirmed you can move onto my favourite part – the timeline. I love excel and creating a good Gantt chart so I know exactly what is happening. You should have one axis which outlines your launch (I usually do this by day, but adjust according to how long your launch is) and then on the other axis, you have all of the channels.

Ideally, on the timeline, you want to be plot every single marketing moment there will be. If you plan on posting 3 times a day on Instagram make that clear. If you are going to send out five emails over the launch then plot in the exact days. As you start filling the timeline in you will beginning to see the shape of your launch and you may want to adjust to ensure continuous activity across the launch or maybe you will have a burst of activity.

 

Content

Now that you have a clear timeline outlining everything that will be happening it is time to move onto actually making the content.

You can work through your timeline either by channel or by time and for everything that is going to happen write down exactly what you need. Again try to go into as much detail as possible. By the end, you should have a list of copy that needs to be written, videos that need to be recorded, images that need to be created. Then you have the fun task of making that content.

I highly recommend you prepare as much content as possible before the launch. Due to amazing scheduling tools, lots of content can be prepared in advance: web pages, blog posts, emails, social media, podcast episodes, YouTube videos can be all be waiting to go live. By preparing in advance you will hopefully make your launch less stressful and you will be able to concentrate on the things you have to go live during the launch phase.

 

Phase 2: Launch

The prep is all done and now it is time to launch. If you have followed my advice and prepared as much as possible in advance then you will have done the hard work. However, here are a few things you should be doing in this phase of your launch.

 

Live content

Are there live elements to your launch marketing plan? Are you hosting a live webinar? Will you be going live on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube? If so then make sure that all live elements are taken from the plan and added to your calendar. Give yourself sufficient time before to ensure all of the tech is working and then go live!

 

Customer Service

One of the reasons why I highly recommend preparing in advance is so that during the launch you have the time to focus on customer service. During a launch, you will likely have questions and queries from potential buyers. Time is of the essence during a launch so you want to be monitoring your inbox often, as well as checking your social media for any questions that might arise.

 

Monitor

I like to think of marketing as part art and part science. Whilst you will have created a launch based on best practice you should be monitoring your marketing activity to see how it is performing. Whilst you should have scheduled everything in advance that doesn’t mean it is set in stone. If something performs well maybe you want to rerun it or repurpose it on another channel. And vice versa if something performs badly you might want to adjust another element of your campaign that used similar copy/imagery etc.

 

Phase 3: Post-Launch

The launch is over now what.

 

Put everything into ongoing marketing mode

The first thing you need to do when a launch is over is make sure you remove everything that needs to be removed. This is especially important if your launch has a closed cart moment and you have withdrawn your product/service from the market.

Some things to consider:

• Changing the buy now button to a registration form to notified next time it is available
• Removing your sales page
• Change your social media bios and links (and don’t forget Linktr.ee if you use it)

 

Evaluate Your Launch

This is the launch phase that most people skip, but if you are in business for the long-term, DON’T! Launching is a standard part of entrepreneur life so it is important to take a moment whilst the launch is fresh in your mind to evaluate.

Firstly, go back to your objectives and acknowledge which objectives you met and which objectives you didn’t. If you succeeded – CONGRATULATIONS! Take a moment to celebrate your success. If you didn’t succeed try to work out why.

Secondly, write down the key metrics from your launch. Log into your Google Analytics and see how many people visited your sales page. Check your email open rates and click-through rates. Combined your social media engagement stats for the duration of the launch. Make note of anything that performed really well or something that underperformed. This information will be invaluable when you are planning your next launch.

Thirdly, reflect anecdotally on the launch. How did you feel the launch went? What changes would you make going forward? Was there any information you gathered from customer queries that could help you improve your sales page or FAQs next time? This is a moment for you to just brain dump important lessons that you learnt during the experience that you don’t want to forget.

 

Do you feel ready to launch now?

If you have got to the end of this post well done! Hopefully, you are now clear on the three launch phases (pre-launch, launch and post-launch) and understand what you need to do in each phase to maximise your launch success.

Launching something into the world is a big deal. Maybe you have spent days, weeks, months or even years creating the thing you are launching, so it is important to do everything you can to increase the chances of your launch being successful.

Still feel like you need more support to help your launch start with a bang? Book a call to tell me more about what you are launching and find out exactly how I can help you launch in style.