It’s quite the buzzword these days, launching.
People talk about launching this or launching that and they’re not talking about rockets.
Well SpaceX is, but no one else.
You can launch a website or launch a book or launch a product, but what does it all mean? Today I’ll break it down.
In a lot of cases, launching simply means “kick off,” or maybe “grand opening.” If you’re launching a store, or even a website, it means you’re working to get to the point of the grand opening, or the unveiling. With a website it’s the day the site goes live and you’re ready to start promoting it. In these cases, the launch is the work that comes first — before the store opens, before the site is published.
Launching a book is a little bit different. The book is already written, and the launch consists of publicity. Maybe a book virtual book tour, a social media campaign, an blitz on Amazon.
Online Launches
And then there’s doing an online launch. And online launches are an entirely different ballgame.
Unlikely stores, or books, or websites, product launches are more about the method in which a product or service is publicized and sold than it is about the product itself. In some cases, the product may not even be completed when the launch is going on. So the launch is the process of selling the product, not necessarily creating it.
Online launches come in many shapes and sizes. There are launches conducted entirely on email, where the business owner writes a series of emails explaining how the product will change your life. A launch can be done via a series of video trainings, or a webinar, or even using Facebook Live. There are a variety of ways to do them, and new ways are being created every day. But there are three things every good launch has in common.
- An understanding of who the audience is: it isn’t everybody. If you start really paying attention to launches, you begin to see that the good ones really make you feel like they know you. It’s as though the person doing the launch can read your mind. That’s because you are in the target market for that audience. In some cases during a launch this will be really obvious because the person doing the launch will come right out and say, “This is for you if…” and “This is not for you if…” He knows who his target market is and, to avoid wasting your time will let you know right from the beginning if you are in it.
- The ability to tell us a story. Launches aren’t just about a product or a service. They aren’t about modules and worksheets and videos. They are about how your life will change if you use the product or service. If you think about an infomercial for an exercise video, they might touch on how many cds you’ll get or how long the program is, but the meat of the infomercial is how your life will change. How you’ll look in your swimsuit on vacation, how confident you’ll feel when you can slip into your favorite dress or how strong you’ll feel when you can show off your biceps at the pool. They are selling a story, a way of life.
- Really good free training. Successful launches don’t just say, “Buy my product, buy my product.” They offer something very high value first. For a dog trainer, they might offer a webinar or video series on how to get your dog to stop jumping on people at the door, or how to stop barking. The training is free and highly actionable. It’s something you could easily use without buying the course. What that free training does is get people to develop know, like and trust for the product or service and to think, “Wow, if his free training is this good, the paid stuff must be awesome!”
As common as launches are becoming, there are definite ways to do them right and be successful or to do them wrong, not sell a thing and alienate your list. People are becoming more and more jaded every single day and reaching them online becomes a little more difficult.
Launches Change Lives
But here’s the deal. Done successfully, launches change lives. They enable people to quit jobs they hate. They allow parents to stay home, raise kids and work while the kids are in school. They allow people (like me) to travel the US in an RV working wherever I want. 🙂
And launches allow people, all over the world, to change their lives using products and services only available to them online. Launches give everyone with a computer an equal opportunity to improve their lives by buying world class trainings they couldn’t find in their home town. Launches change lives.
If launching is something interests you, you’re going to need to start by growing an email list and setting up a little technology. Find out more about how that all works with my Ultimate Roadmap for Growing Your List.
