Episode 24: Online Launch Trends: Bold Strategies for Successful Launches

Transcript

Welcome to meaningful work remarkable life. I’m your host Brook McCarthy and I’m a business coach, trainer and speaker living and working on the unseeded lands of the cameras located here in Sydney, Australia. In this podcast, we explore the paradoxes inherent in working for love and money, magnifying your impact, and doing work you feel born to do, we explore the intersections of the meanings we bring to work and the meanings we derive from work.

Today’s episode, we are talking about bold launching. So if you are selling through the internet, any type of thing, but specifically, if you’re selling courses, if you’re selling coaching masterminds, if you are selling training or digital products, digital downloads, then this episode is going to be particularly useful and valuable to you because I’m going to cover what has changed and what is working right now, we have been in a bubble, our economy has had a bubble for 2020 2122, we have had a bit of a false economy due to that which shall not be mentioned. And so what worked in 2022, which was only two years ago, let me do the math for you. doesn’t work anymore, it just doesn’t work the same way. So we cannot be using the same strategies and tactics, we’ve got to adopt what we’re doing. If we want our launching to be successful. Now, of course, everybody’s idea of success is different. And I consider competing against myself really the only race that I am, you know participating in, I want to hopefully beat my personal best, I want to get a little bit better and a little bit better. Every time I run a launch. Now, the pinnacle of business or online business rather, is launches. And then the pinnacle of launches is launch events. So why don’t we just go right into the pointy end of it. And talk about launch events. Now there are two main launch events and nothing hugely has changed. In this respect. We have webinars, and we have, you know many variations of these, they may not be called webinars, but in effect, it is a free training that is run online. And then we have our free challenges. So these are the two main launch events that I’m going to be talking about today. But I want to talk about some of the trends that I’m seeing and some of the trends behind the scenes that business owners online business owners are sharing info and insights into as to what’s working. So one of the major things that has changed is that we are increasingly overwhelmed with information, we have got access to so much information. And of course, one of the most popular list building techniques, email list building techniques, and I guess you could call it a launch event, you could certainly incorporate it into your, you know, launch promotion plan. His online summits and virtual conferences, virtual summits, and bundles. And of course, the problem with this, the flip side of this is that we have access, if you’re participating in a virtual summit or a bundle, then you have access to so much digital training and digital resources information, you know, useful, valuable, irrelevant things that, you know, it can be counterproductive, because the reason you participated as a business owner in a bundle or in a virtual Summit, and you’ve shared your precious IP, your precious trainings, is to grow your email list. So in exchange, you get visibility, you get, hopefully a commensurate growth in your email list and in your social media channels. But of course, those people have also signed up to everybody else’s goodies. And so they are now being inundated with emails from people they don’t really know or recognise. So that becomes a bit of an issue, right? Because, you know, we don’t really want to have a big influx of email addresses and then have a big influx of unsubscribes it’s kind of you know, a waste, it really is. So some of the counter trends to this some of the you know, the ways in which business owners are navigating this and making it a little bit more

Effective and user friendly has to do with access. Because in the age of information, while we’ve got, you know, a whole library, full of digital trainings that are kept on various platforms and various places with various passwords that we can’t remember, and you know, 20,000 emails in our inbox, all pushing useful, valuable, relevant information at us. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. So how do we make it quiet, a little quieter? And most importantly, how do we make it easy for people to access us? So one of the big trends is in audio. This looks like private podcasts, I’m going to be sharing links in the show notes in today’s episode, so do go ahead and click on those links. All the apps I’m going to mention today apps that I use, and most of them I absolutely love. One of them is Hello audio. So every single thing that I teach now, every training that I record, comes with its own private podcast. And so if we translate this to a launch event, we have audio only events, we have audio only virtual summits with private podcast feeds, whereby participants sign up to a private podcast, and they’re able to access those audios, they may have a limited time access, which of course can help get people get engagement up? Because you know, what’s the point? Right? What’s the point of signing up to something only to lose access, because you’ve neglected to pay attention and you’ve neglected to actually consume it. But this makes a hell of a lot of sense, right? Because we can access it through our our mobile phone, we can access it on the go. And alongside those private podcasts, through the likes of Hello audio are other apps that have been utilised. So recently, I participated. I didn’t run this, but I participated through a free challenge that was run through telegram. And initially, the business owner had turned on the ability for everybody in that channel to post and she very quickly turned it off, because as she said, What’s the point of having like, you know, a whole bunch of comments when actually the main event, which is what she’s talking about, gets lost in the app. So you know, that’s a pretty valid point, right? Yes, it’s fun to make friends on the internet. But you know, more importantly, we’re there to actually, you know, access the content, access the information, the valuable information. So you can run a audio only summit or a audio only challenge through telegram through WhatsApp through Voxer. That’s another of my favourites. I do a little bit of Voxer coaching with some of my clients. And I also use WhatsApp for coaching clients as well. But this is a really useful trend because again, the accessibility we’re trying to make it accessible and easy for people as engaging and easy as possible. And of course, we can have the best, you know, online training around. But if it requires participants to sit at a desk in front of their laptops, you know, find their passwords login doesn’t matter how brilliant and awesome the the actual learning platform is. It’s still a bunch of hindrances, right it’s still a bunch of hurdles that that participants need to overcome. So I’m I’m really enjoying this, I think that the audio only trend and applying this to a webinar, you could absolutely, definitely if you think about a webinar, what is it? Well, typically it’s video, but why does it have to be video? Why do we need slides? You know, more and more. I see business owners, and I’ve done this myself where we do without the slides, and you can either talk directly to people because why the hell wouldn’t you? Or you can you know, stand on your soapbox, so to speak. I know a lot of group coaching. It’s not really group coaching, not in my eyes anyway. Because there’s no coaching going on. It is more a lecture by the coach where you know, participants are listening. And then maybe at the end of the talk, you know, they have 10 minutes of q&a. But if you do have a group and if it’s a group that is a manageable size, why on earth would you not just have a coaching conversation have a group coaching conversation? So this is what I incorporated into my life’s a pitch challenge the last two times I’ve run it I had a small upsell which was $55 for five days of lunchtime coaching with me. So this is another key trend. Challenge is a great I love a challenge I had like legitimately Hand on hand on heart, I am not blowing smoke up your ass right now, I had so much fun during laughs a pitch in February. And I participated. And, you know, it was profitable for me for the pitching that I did not just, you know, the sales that eventuated out of it. But one of the downsides, because you know, nothing is perfect, there is no strategy or tactic that was that is without fault. And one of the cons of free challenges is that you’ve got to participate, like all things, right, you can have fabulous lead magnets, fantastic, you know, resources free or otherwise. But you’ve got to get people to actually engage with them, it is pointless if they don’t, it is, you know, wonderful, composing all these fabulous, fabulous resources for people. But what is the point, if they don’t actually engage, if they don’t engage, if they don’t implement, they don’t actually get an outcome. So one of the trends in online launches, and specifically in launch events is to have some kind of a challenge hub hub some kind of event, again, it could be a single day event, it could be a live stream or a webinar, that is run over one to three days, it doesn’t have to be a single one off thing. Or it could be a challenge where people have to actually participate, they have to do something they have to do, you know, a scavenger hunt of sorts, or they have to follow instructions, they have to go through the actions of the challenge. And then to have a portion of it, that’s an upsell, you can also just do a low price thing, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. So another launch trend, and other launch event trend that is working really well is to have an event. And again, this could be a multi day event, or it could be a single day, but it tends to be a multi day event. This is what online business owners report as working right now. Not too many days, because the longer the event, the more of a drop off, you’re gonna get. So I would suggest three to five days, three to five days is a good amount if you’re going to have a multi day event. And you can have either the upsell as I did in last a pitch where by somebody signs up for the free challenge. And then on the thank you page after they’ve registered, they get the upsell, they’re invited to purchase the mentoring circle is what I called it. But the other thing you can do is you can run a launch event, you can run a challenge. And again, it might be called a challenge. It might be cold, you know, a live stream, it might be called something else, you could call it a gathering a party and immersion symposium. You can call it whatever the hell you want to call it. But it’s a low cost. So it’s maybe nine $10, maybe it’s $17. Maybe it’s $27. Maybe it’s $33, maybe it’s $47 Whatever it is, it tends to be less than $50. But in effects, having that small entry fee helps with the engagement helps with engagement. Now, of course, people will still spend money and not participate and not engage and have excellent intentions of doing so when you send them all the reminder emails and you make it as easy as possible for them to access. Perhaps you run it through telegram or WhatsApp or Voxer or you know, private podcast, you make it as easy as possible for people and they still don’t show up. So you know, it’s not a fail, there is nothing in business, and especially an online business that is failsafe everything has you know, downsides to it. But this is a really great trend, because having that little bit of cash that you put in means a likely bump or bump up or whatever delete delete, Backspace, Backspace, and in getting people to actually show up and participate.

Now, this trend, I would say is a trend towards intimacy. Because there is so much and so many and such large launches going on with such massive launch events that people have disengaged people have become, you know, overwhelmed. The market has become saturated. The market has become more sophisticated and people are like I just don’t want to participate. I do not want to turn up at a pre designated time. That is inconvenient to me. I’ve had 50 reminder emails, and I’ve turned up and I’m just being sold to and you know, I think it was beginning of this year. I can’t remember but A few months back, I signed up for a free webinar. And, you know, I stayed for about, I don’t know, 55 minutes. And then I was really annoyed at myself because I’m like, I’m annoyed at myself for still doing this kind of thing. And I’m annoyed at the person who’s taken my attention and my time for granted. I’m like, I don’t want to spend 55 minutes being sold to like, Give me something of value met, you know, prove that you know what you’re talking about, earn my attention. First, don’t sell to me for 55 minutes straight with maybe a tiny little gem, chucked in the middle somewhere. Like it’s just disrespectful. So I think this is a really good trend, this trend towards intimacy, this trend towards high engagement, this trend towards you know what, we don’t need to have hundreds or 1000s of people on a live webinar like to get to actually get 100, even 100, which, you know, might not sound like a lot depending on where you’re sitting 100 Might sound you know, pretty small. But to get 100 people to attend a live webinar at a pre designated time of your choosing, tends to cost a lot of money. And you need to start with a sizeable list. So I would suggest per 100 People live, you’re going to have to do a really excellent job of email marketing to a list of 500 people, maybe if you’re like, brilliant, if you’re like in the 90th percentile for email marketing people, then yeah, maybe maybe you could get 100 people to turn up with a list of 500. But it’s probably more likely that you’re going to need a list of 3000 or 5000. To get 100 people to show up live and it’s gonna have to be a really awesome topic, like it’s going to have to be a topic that nobody else is teaching or that’s really, you know, interesting and new and memorable. It’s a really memorable title meaningful. So I want to stop this episode just for two quick minutes to tell you about an awesome free resource that I have for you. It is a free video training short, sharp, filled with insights and value. It’s called The Future of premium group programmes. And it’s especially for consultants, coaches, and values based experts. It covers the seven key trends right now. And how these will impact your industry is especially if you sell or want to sell premium group programmes. We also look at how to have the audacity to own your expertise and elevate it, and what you need to do to step up and start playing a bigger game. We also cover why your best clients are waiting for you to charge premium fees, and how to go ahead and make it your new reality to access this awesome free video training the future premium group programmes go to hustle and hard.com.au forward slash future or click on the link in the show notes. Okay, back to the episode.

So in that vein of intimacy is selling through video. And when I say selling through video, I’m not talking about the glossy production videos, the glossy sales videos, although absolutely definitely I think there’s great value in those sales videos. Please don’t misunderstand me. But this is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about there is a rise in selling through video that is unpolished that is shot on a mobile phone that is deliberately casual, where you talk directly to the camera. And maybe it’s one to many like in your thank you page when you’ve got your upsell. Maybe it’s a one to many video but more than likely it’s a one to one video. So one of the other software that I love and again, have a look in the show notes because all these things will be there for you. Is video ask that is one that I love. And another one that I love is Bon jour i use both of them for different reasons. And they have been responsible for 1000s and 1000s of dollars of sales in my business. So this makes a hell of a lot of sense. Because nobody likes to feel like they are a number they have no you know actual the business owner that they’re considering giving potentially 1000s of dollars to doesn’t know their name doesn’t care, you know and that their hard earned dollars could perhaps be contributing towards the business owners tend to trip to Bora Bora flying first class, you know that year. So we want to feel like we are giving our cash to Real people, we want to feel like those people actually know who we are know, our names recognises, you know, and sincerely interested in moving the needle in our businesses, right? Like this is, you know, fair enough. Surely this is this is fair enough. So those, those non polished one to one videos can make a huge difference. And I think a lot of business owners, especially small business owners are scared of this kind of stuff, which is such a crying shame because, you know, we we make things way more complicated way more difficult way more expensive way more inefficient. When we let our fear and our inhibitions stop us some of the simplest things that we can do. And it’s not just me talking about this, there’s a lot of online business owners reporting these tactics as being massively effective right now is to reach out to people and simply tap them on the shoulder, you do not have to do it through bungee or or video ask, you could just simply send an email, but you’re reaching out to people typically, it would be like mid launch, it would be after the sales card has opened after it’s available to purchase after your launch is properly begun. Then to tap people on the shoulder and say, hey, you know, I want to check in to see how you’re feeling. I wouldn’t I’m not a fan of doing this through social media call me old fashioned, but I think that, you know, it is a bit gross. And people haven’t really given you their consent, just because they’re following you, or they’ve liked something that you posted on Instagram, you know, doesn’t mean that it’s, you know, a good thing. And I know a lot of people that are saying the opposite. But I think it’s a bit strange. Like you need to have an existing relationship, you’re already talking on Instagram, DMS are already talking at, you know, in these channels, if you’re going to use these channels midway through a launch, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong and you reaching out one to one, not with people who are disengaged and not opening your emails and ignoring everything. But with people that are opening your emails that are clicking on your links that are actively engaging with your content that may be probably opted in to that particular interest list. You know, having interest lists for what you sell is seriously one of the easiest, easiest original tactics, it’s a tactic I’ve been employing for 12 years now. And you know, it cannot get any simpler like it is low tech, you know, it is just putting up an email form on your website saying, Hey, I’m doing this thing. If you’re interested, register your interest. Yeah. So there’s been a little spin on this lately, as well. And the spin of the trend is instead of calling in an interest list, we call it a waitlist. Yeah, I’m thinking of launching something later in the year, if you’re interested, join the waitlist. And this is, you know, a great tactic. So it’s a very small change, right. And I often see people that have come from more traditional jobs, they’ve come from corporate, you know, corporate jobs, and then they’ve moved into the online business world. And when they try this tactic, they’re waitlist slash interest list tactic. They call it an expression of interests. I don’t love expression of interest, I find it strange language, you know, like, experiment much of corporate speak, like when in our normal lives, do we say I would like to submit an expression of interest, it’s a strange turn of phrase. So waitlist interest list, similar language, but you know, notice the nuances with a waiting list. The point is that, you know, what we’re trying to emphasise here, of course, is urgency and scarcity. We we are trying to make it clear to people, that there is a deadline for these things. And of course, this is what a launch is all about. Yeah, it’s not a grocery item on a shelf that is always available and the grocery store is open 24/7 That is not what we’re doing with a launch, we’ve got a short, sharp window of opportunity you’re in, you’re out, you’re making a decision, because you have to make a decision. You can’t sit on the fence or you can sit on the fence but you know, sitting on the fence, that that is actually making a decision. So use this in these things such as the wait list, and the interest list or the interest list. No, also, this is again, a really simple, low tech, highly effective thing to do know also that not all leads are created equal. So if we consider everybody that’s on our interest list, and let’s pretend we have, you know, 2000 people on our email list, and let’s pretend we have 100 people on our Interest those that have opted in and expressed interest. Yes, I’m interested in that, you know, digital downloads slash core slash events, slash, whatever endeavour that you’re launching, not all of those 100 people are going to be, you know, equal for your attention and your efforts. So if we can create lead scoring, and we are typically you can do this through your email software, hopefully, depending on your email software, you’re able to actually give each lead a score. But you can also do it in a more Lo Fi kind of a way. So in the lives of pitch challenge, for example, the people that were that had purchased the upsell, for the mentoring circle, were, you know, higher leads than the people that were participating, or had signed up for the free challenge, but didn’t buy the upsell. And then within that mentoring circle, the people that participated actively the people that made comments in the Facebook group that reported wins, that actually, you know, got great value from it, these people were kind of higher leads as well. So do not underestimate the value of those one to one reach out. And all of looking at leads from the perspective of which is, you know, higher on the board, so to speak, and which is, you know, not as important. Some of the things and this is, you know, this is kind of very, very recent, is some of the things that have worked best is reaching out one to one, sending an email to somebody and saying, hey, you know, you inquired about working with me three months ago, two months ago, four months ago, whatever. And are you still interested? Because, you know, this is open now. And I’d love to talk with you. And so I did this recently, and the person booked paid upfront in full $4,500, they were not on my email list. They had filled out a form on my website, we had emailed back and forth a few times the lead so to speak, had gone called

the person you know, I wasn’t pursuing them, I wasn’t in conversation, and they weren’t on my email list. So they missed the entire launch. They did not know what what was happening. And then a single email to them at the right time. And they book they pay upfront in full, thank you very much. So do not under estimate the value of intimacy, the the role for this, nobody wants to be treated like a number. Nobody wants to think this business owner wouldn’t give two hoots about about me. They don’t know who I am. They don’t really care. You know, they’re just busy. Living the lap of luxury. And having a well over time. Nobody wants to feel like that. We want to feel like we have some kind of relationship with the person that we’re considering doing business with, we want to feel that we are you know, being valued. We are being seen, we are being heard. Yeah, this is kind of fundamental, fundamental stuff. So why on earth would this trend towards intimacy, not be a marvellous marvellous thing, and it is some of the most simple, low tech, easy things that you can that you can implement all it requires is you to get over your perhaps, you know, inhibitions and perhaps fear of being seen as pushy. Get over that, because that attitude is costing you money and more importantly, it’s costing you peace of mind real quick before you go if this episode has gotten you thinking gotten you excited, or has you changing the way that you do business or life, would you do me a super quick favour and write me a short review. Your Podcast review means so much to me and it helps other values based business owners just like you to find this show which is a fantastic gift to me.