Today’s episode of the podcast is a solo episode all about ways you can launch your products and services in 2023!
In this episode I take you through the launches that I have done in the past and how effective they were, and I also talk to you about what is coming up for this year too.
As always, I’d love to know what you think, and please feel free to share your own reflections and learnings with me, by connecting over on my social media.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
● The pros and cons of different types of launches
● My own experiences of successful and unsuccessful launches
● How to get people to invest in you
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE
If you are thinking about launching, doing what feels the nicest is the key! Think about what you like to do and how you like to show up, because those are the things that will work best for you.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? Okay. As we are in the new year, you might be thinking to yourself, How am I gonna show up this year? How am I going to launch my products and services? How am I gonna make a fuss of them? So I wanted to talk about launching. Now, traditionally, I would say that online businesses that sell like courses or memberships or masterclasses or masterminds or coaching programs, tend to do launches more than say maybe a physical product.
But I do think that some of the things, even if you don't have the online business side. I do think you're still gonna get quite a bit from this because I'm gonna take you through the launches that I have done last year and the years before, and I'm gonna talk to you about how effective they were, and I'm gonna talk to you about what is coming up for this year and what sort of things am I thinking about doing.
Okay, so let's jump in with what I have done so far. Now there's pretty much no launch I haven't done so, I've done challenges and webinars and workshops and boot camps and open houses. I've done longer launches where it's been over seven to eight days. I've done short launches where it's literally just been one webinar.
I've done multiple webinars of the same thing. I've done loads of different ways of launching, and it's really hard to sort of say, actually, you know, I can compare them all fairly cuz I can't, because they were for different things and different effort went into them. Let me talk about what I did last year.
I did a challenge last year. I did a five day email challenge, which I have done previously to promote Build My List. So if you are not sure, I have a course call Build My List that literally takes you step by step through the entire process of creating a lead magnet. And also the tech side of it as well.
And then it includes things like onboarding emails and ideas of what you can email them. And lots and lots of good stuff and it has a huge success rate. But I did a five day challenge, which I've done before and has been successful before. However, this time not quite so successful. What was super interesting is the challenge is meant to introduce you to each step of building your list.
So for instance, day one would be like, How'd you come up with your perfect customer. Now, obviously that's a lot of work coming up with your ideal customer, but I give people a kind of thing that they can do. So the challenge is definitely something where they can come away and have stuff done. And when you are launching anything, if you're doing any of these kind of things, I think that's really, really important that you give your audience something to take away whether they buy from you or not.
I can't tell you the number of webinars I've been sat on that have told me nothing because all they're trying to do is sell to you. So in my opinion, I want someone to get value from me, whether they buy the thing I'm selling or not.
So the challenge was great because people got lots of value. The problem was they did too much work. Like so, whereas normally no one would build a lead magnet in that timeframe because there's a lot more to it or kind of the the work it takes is a lot more to it. And like I said, my idea is I just introduce people to it.
They did it, they did the work, and I was kind of blown away and super pleased in one sense because they came away, a number of them with live lead magnets by the end of that week. But then of course, the other half of me was like, well, there's no need for them to have the course. And in my right mind and my fair mind, I couldn't sell the course to them.
That wouldn't have been fair. Like they didn't need it. So when I had a number of them ask me at the end, do you know, do you think this is suitable? Do you think I need this? I was like, “No.” And I had to be honest with them. I had to say, you, you know, you've taken what I've said in this this challenge and you have ran with it and you've done a really good job.
Now, are there things that will add value in that course? Yes. Is it worth you spending all that money on that course? Probably not. So that was super interesting. So the sales did not go as I would've liked for that. Although the challenge itself was really successful, the engagement was really successful, the results for the people and the challenge was really successful.
But because it was all so successful, it meant that they didn't need the course, which was super interesting because of the fact that I've ran it before, I've ran it exactly as it is, and this never happened. So for me, I think that's really fascinating that if people are going to get involved, they're gonna work really hard at it and try really hard to make it work for them and do the stuff.
And, and I always talk about the fact of, you know, use me, use my brain, pick my brain when you are doing these things with me. So, That was really interesting. Will I run one of those challenges again? No, I don't think so. will I run a challenge again? Yeah, I'd absolutely run a challenge again, because the beauty of a challenge is that they get to see you every day.
That you show up every day and you get to see people and engage with people and have that connection with people, which is really important. Will I do my five day challenge as I've done it before? No, because like I said, they were amazing and they did all the stuff and they didn't need to buy the course.
However, one thing that was interesting was a number of people who were brand new to my world took part in that challenge, then joined the membership. So that was really interesting. So it's not like I'm sat here going, the complete thing was a flop. It wasn't. And like I said, the Challenge was fantastic and what people got from it was fantastic.
And the results they had was fantastic. But as a sales exercise, it didn't hit the hit the mark. However, Having people bought them into my world and see what I'm like and show them what I'm like actually did really help when they looked at the membership. So that was really interesting. But challenges are great.
They just take a lot of work and you gotta show up every day and that takes a lot of energy. The other thing I've done this year, the beginning of the year, I did a bootcamp and the bootcamp's aim was to bring people into the membership. So the idea of the bootcamp was during that week, I would do certain select things that were similar to what you might find in the, no, actually it wasn't that it was.
I did three lessons and then I did a coaching call and then I did a Q and A. But the three lessons covered the main areas at the club cover and, and obviously they got to do a coaching call with me and they got to do a Q and A with me. And I'd done a bootcamp previously that worked really nicely. And again, this year, for whatever reason, at the beginning of the year, didn't quite hit.
Now it wasn't too bad. I can't remember my conversion rate. I should have had my conversion rates actually, in order for me to tell you these, but I can't remember my conversion rates off the top of my head. But they, they weren't amazing, but they weren't terrible. But again, running a bootcamp is a lot of work and effort and even things like.
So it's not just the case of showing up every day, it's a case of, right. So you've gotta plan out the bootcamp or the challenge first, because these things tend to be done over a number of days. So you've gotta plan it out. You've gotta create the content or create the presentation or know what you're gonna say, then what you've gotta do is you have got to do things like create the Facebook group for it.
If you're gonna have 'em in a different Facebook group, you've gotta create posts to go every single day to say, this is what's happening today. You've gotta create emails to go out every single day to say, this is what are happening today. You need some kind of landing page or kind of dashboard where everything gets stored for them.
You need things like, I have a schedule at the beginning so they know what's happening when we have an addevent thing. So they know again, they can add all the things to the calendar. So, Yes, it can be done simpler, but for me it's quite a lot of work. So like I said, that was good. I liked it. I liked showing up, I liked having those conversations.
Conversion wise wasn't the best. Then in September I did my first bigger in-person event. So I've done my VIP retreats previously. I did one this year and one not this year, cuz we're now in 2023. I did one in 2022 and one at the end of 2021. I did my first in person, bigger in-person event that wasn't a VIP event in Birmingham in September.
And purely as timing would have it, I had my in-person event. And then the following week was an Open House, an Insider experience is what I called it. So the first thing that was really interesting is the people who came to the in-person event who weren't members were already convinced that they wanted to be members. Cuz one of the best things that works for me from a launching point of view is having my members in the room.
I have members who have been with me since the very, very beginning. I have a very loyal group of people who are very kind and love the membership and love the club, and they love what I do and they are big, big advocates of it. So what were, and again, I didn't plan this, this was just a byproduct, but I wanted to share it cause I think this might be interesting to you.
What happened was when I did that in-person event and people came that weren't in the membership, they actually interacted with my members and they saw how real I was with my members and how real my members were with me in the relationship we had, and they were really kind of like, this place is amazing.
This space is so safe. They loved how we all got on, how well I knew the members. And to be honest, if you have any kind of thing where you have existing customers and you do a good job because if you don't do a good job, then your existing customers are not going going to want to rave about you. But for me, it worked as one of the best things because I didn't, I never went into that live event saying, can you not tell these people who aren't in the membership. How amazing the membership is. Like Not at all. It happened super organically. Super like naturally. It was great. Anyway, so lots of those people who came to the in-person event didn't know the following week was an Open House, so that was the first step. That was really interesting.
So we got lots of them onto the Open House that weren't going or didn't know it was on. Then the Open House was the first time I'd ever run it, so it was called the Club Insider Experience. And the idea was we'll put extra things on for that week. So obviously in the club we do various different things and it normally spans out like one thing a week because I don't wanna overwhelm you.
I don't, you don't need hundreds of things extra to do in your world. And this is a reason I think lots of people are nervous to invest in a membership because they think, because they think that they've gotta invest all this time and they don't have the time. They get overwhelmed. And then also, if they don't invest the time, then they're wasting their money.
That is not the case at all. The case is you take what you need from it, and if that is just coming on one coaching call with me and I answer a very direct question and you go away and that makes a difference in your business, then that was more than worth the payment for that month. Anyway, so I think, so with the insider experience, what we did is we added lots of extra things on for one week.
But what was really lovely, and I think what was the thing that really worked for it, is I invited them into the Facebook group, i e, the Facebook group that is my members only group, and they got to be in there with everybody. Members came to everything because these were members' activities. We were just opening them up to the wider world.
They got to experience what it was like to be in the club. They got to experience, and one thing that I get a lot, which is. People have been in so many things where they've been sold to in a certain way of like, I'm like this and I'll be there and I'll help you and I'll do this, and I da da da, da. And then they get into the membership and they never see that person again and or you don't get access to that person or that person isn't really the way they are.
And one thing that I get, which is lovely, Is they wanna see me and do my thing and then they go, you're the real deal. And I am the real deal. I do show up. Like I say, I show up. I do give the advice. I do know my members incredibly well. So anyway, so the open house was a really wonderful experience, not only for me but for the members cuz they got to meet new people as well.
And we got to see new faces and we got to share our amazing club and it is ours, it's not mine, our amazing club. And at the end of that insiders experience, one thing that was really helpful from a marketing and sales point of view was because I had added them into the group, I obviously had to put a time in which I removed them from the group.
And again, this wasn't even intentional. I actually stumbled across some of these brilliant ideas last year, not even thinking about it. I just thought, I don't wanna set up another group for them. The part of the membership is that community and they are so very supportive. So actually I'm going to let them into the big group and then I'll have to remove them.
And I initially thought this is gonna be a bit of a pain because this is like an admin thing, a real logistical admin thing. Anyway, I am so glad we did because we literally had a deadline date. Now, as you know, I don't like using the kind of FOMO thing at all, but it was very genuine and very real that obviously you can't stay in this Facebook group if you're not a member.
So they had a point in which they had to decide whether they wanted to stay, and if they did, then they signed up. But at that point, They then got removed from the group if they didn't sign up. And, and it just worked really, really well. I would say it was my biggest percentage conversion from anything I've done.
Like, and it might be because we're doing things differently because I wasn't trying, and in fact, I hardly had to sell at all. I didn't feel like I sold to them. I didn't feel like I was pushing it on them. I was literally saying to them, this is us. This is what we do. If you wanna stay, then cool. This year I have, so this is coming out very early January.
I have a number of in-person events this year, which I just love doing them, quite honestly. And I love providing the people the space to connect with other business owners, but also to work on their business. So yes, so we're having a number of in-person events, which is cool. And I'm doing another insider experience, another open house in February.
Now. How, this'll go, I don't know, because the price has gone up considerably, and I'll have to see what happens from the result, you know, once I've done it. But until you do these things, you don't actually know. So the other thing I wanted to just touch on was a couple of the other, the other launches I've done over the years and my kind of thoughts on them.
So really these are things like webinars and workshops and masterclasses. So these tend to be like a one-off thing as in come and join me at this time for this long, and you'll learn this. I don't mind doing webinars or masterclasses. I quite like them, but I think they're becoming more dated. I really, really do.
I think that people need more than just a one hour to go, “Yes, I wanna buy.” I think people need to see you more. They need to invest more on you. They need more time with you in order to then make that commitment to say, “Yes, I've seen enough of you that I trust that you are the type of person I wanna work with or the type of person I'm willing to hand money to.”
So, so for me, it's not that they don't work, and workshops I see is a little bit different. So I ran a workshop that was like four hours, that was a free workshop. And again, all of these things are free. I've never charged for any of these things and whether I do a kind of paid workshop in the future, which I guess you could argue the, the goal setting is a paid workshop, but that is designed to be a standalone that's not necessarily designed to get you into my club or any other additional sale on top of it.
It's just something I like doing, so. So yeah. So there's a few different options if you are thinking about launching, I think for me, what feels the nicest is the key. Like what do you like to do? How do you like to show up? And ask yourself, how has it been easy to get customers in your world in the past?
Like you'll have some customers that you were like, that was so easy. I could do that all day long. So try and think about stuff like that. So for me, doing what I naturally do by doing my open house works really nicely. I really like it. So yeah, I think, um, I think we need to change and think about how we show up and how we launch and how we get customers into our world.
I don't think we can do what we've always done. I genuinely think that the tide is changing and I have done for a while and I've changed a lot. If you go back two years ago and listen to my podcast, I'm sure I say stuff now that I would not agree with, but I had to go through the process and I had to learn.
So, and I do think change is happening and we need to change with it, so, so yeah, those are my thoughts on launching and kind of a little bit of what I'm gonna do this year and I'm gonna, like see how it goes and see what works and see what doesn't, and I will report back as always. Okay, I will leave you to it. Have a lovely rest of your week and I will see you next week.
