HOW TO LAUNCH

You may have noticed that I have been launching over the past few weeks. At the time of writing, the doors are open to Actually’s flagship training programme: How to Actually Spread the Word. 

No matter how you feel about launching, there is no getting away from the fact that can be exhausting. So in today’s blog I thought I’d share with you my five lessons about launching. I can’t promise that they will make your next launch any less tiring but I hope they make it less trying! 

IT’S ALL IN THE PREPARATION

I love launching. But I watch friends of mine go through this process as though they were being dragged by the hair through Hell itself. They hate it. They are stressed out for weeks beforehand and exhausted for weeks afterwards. 

Having discussed this with them at length I have come to the conclusion that the difference between a happy launch and a stressful, exhausting and trying launch comes down to preparation. I do about 95% of the work of my launch before it even begins. I write the social media posts, the emails, the landing pages and the challenge content way ahead of the launch. I organise the prizes and bonuses and I make sure I am crystal clear about the offer. All of this is done in advance so that during the launch period itself, all I have to focus on is delivery. 

Trust me, before you do your next launch, make sure you’ve prepped as much of it as you possible can in advance. 

LAUNCH LIKE YOU

I like to launch with a Challenge followed by a Masterclass. It works for me. It gives my audience an opportunity to get to know me, to understand how I work and to get a sense of what it might be like to work with me. We build up a relationship over the week of the challenge and we celebrate together in the Masterclass. 

But this is how I like to launch. It might not work for you. There are as many different ways to launch as there are people who want to do the launching. So forget the gurus who tell you that there is only one sure-fire way to do everything. Be you. Launch like you. After all, nine times out of ten, it’s YOU that your clients are buying. 

ADD VALUE AT EVERY STEP

Now this is a non-negotiable – as far as I am concerned – whatever kind of launch you are planning. Your launch activity must add value to your people. Whether you help them to have some big ‘aha moments’ and realisations or you teach them some valuable new tools and techniques, make sure that they are getting something useful for the time they are investing with you. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, if you really add value with your free ‘launch’ content then people will understand that your paid content is also going to be off the charts valuable! 

More importantly, it’s just the right thing to do. I don’t know about you but I am sick to death of challenges and ‘FREE’ Masterclasses where the content is useless and the whole thing is just one great big sales pitch. It irritates me beyond measure so why would I inflict that on people I want to build a relationship with? 

REMEMBER WE ARE LIVING IN A NEW WORLD

Which brings me to my fourth lesson: we are living in a new world now and you need to review everything – including how you launch – in this light. 

What worked last year won’t necessarily work now. Hell…what worked last month may not work now! 

People are less tolerant, less patient, more uncertain and more demanding than they have been ever before. And that is fair enough. We’ve been through a collective trauma. We are entitled to be unsettled. Think about how this new world has affected your clients, what they really need and want from you (here’s a few clues – reassurance, connection, trust) and make sure your launch reflects that. 

PLANS ARE LIKE BOUNDARIES

I am a great advocate of planning. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that already. That’s why I run a series of planning workshops – the Actually Planning Cycle – to encourage my clients to plan properly. 

I had planned this launch for the end of September but then moved it so that I wouldn’t clash with a friend’s big event – meaning that I have ended up launching at an already very busy time. 

I’ll be honest. There have been tears. 

But I’ve come to a really useful realisation: that plans are like boundaries. Neither are set in stone and both can be flexed and adapted if the need arises. However, when we change our plans – just like when we compromise our boundaries – there are consequences. 

For me, this week, the consequences are that I am overwhelmed, over-tired and very much looking forward to a few days of rest. 

I hope these lessons help you as you plan your next big launch. And if you’re interested in what this launch was all about, you can find out more about our flagship training programme here: https://actually.world/htastw/

Let’s ACTUALLY make a difference.

Sara Price

Founder, Actually

September 2020