So I recently did my first launch and it taught me so many invaluable lessons, some of which I thought it may be useful to share with you!

I have been supporting clients with their launches for the last few years so did have second hand experience of how much work and energy is needed for the prep, the launch itself and the ‘open cart’ period that follows.

But experiencing all those things for myself, when it was my business and my first course involved was a completely different experience altogether!

So if you have an upcoming launch, here are a few lessons I learned…

1. NEVER underestimate the importance of preparation

This is something that I preach to my clients over and over again. When it comes to a launch you can never be too prepared!

If it is a digital course you are launching, make sure that you have all the resources ready – from slides to workbooks to bonuses! You will want to ensure that this is all uploaded onto your course platform in advance. Why give yourself the added stress of having to add things in once you have hit ‘go live’?

If it is a live course or membership you are delivering, try always be a comfortable amount of time ahead of yourself. This will vary depending on the kind of person you are. If you are someone who stresses easily you may want to have the majority, if not all of the course written and ready to go  beforehand. But if you are a little more laid back you might be happy to just have the first 2 modules / month’s worth of content completed in advance.

Do remember that once you have launched, it will free up a lot of your time that you have been using to promote and sell. This will then give you time to prepare your final modules if they are weeks or months away. i.e. you do not have to have everything written and prepared in advance!

2. Schedule as much as you can

I LOVE scheduling! Blogs, emails, social media posts… you can never to too far ahead of yourself.

This is particularly true when it comes to a launch. You want to ensure that you have as much of your posts and emails scheduled in advance.

Spend some time planning out how your launch will look and what posts / emails you need to communicate with your audience to build excitement before the big day and then to make them aware that your launch is happening.

If you are running a challenge as part of your launch make sure that you have all your reminder and follow up emails scheduled ahead of time. You will not want to be doing this on the days during the challenge when you are also trying to answer questions and be present for your audience.

If you’d like to learn more about scheduling your emails – check out this blog post.

3. Keep your energy levels up

Try to keep your current exercise and nutrition routine going no matter how busy you find you are during the launch. Once these things start to slip you’ll start to feel sluggish and it takes much longer to get into a routine again than it does it drop it (speaking from experience here!!)

You need to be on your best form from the very start of your launch to ‘cart closing’ as you’ll want to be present on social media and promoting your new course / membership until the end! Eating healthily and getting some exercise will help you keep your energy levels up.

4. Use early bird incentives

You will have spent many, many hours researching your new offering and know how it is going to help many people. You will communicate this perfectly to your audience, who will know that it is just for them, and some of them will be ready to buy… but most people need a reason to ‘Buy Now’.

In my experience giving them a deadline works. That might be money off if they buy before a certain date or a number of bonuses if they purchase within the first 48 hours.

Use countdown timers on your sales page or in your Instagram stories to let people know when these early bird offers end. They will not want to miss them.

5. Take time for self care after your launch

Congratulations! You did it!! Many never get this far but you did! Loads of people have wonderful ideas for new products / services / courses /memberships but they never actually follow through and create them. You did and you should be very proud of yourself for that.

To celebrate how incredible you are make sure that you reward yourself somehow AND that you take a little time off… even if it’s just a day.

It takes so much energy to plan and execute a launch. The adrenaline will get you through your launch period but you will feel tired afterwards (especially if you are an introvert and have had to expend lots of energy putting yourself out there!) So take it easy for a while and allow yourself to be proud of your amazing achievement.

Best of luck with your launch!

If you would like to know how I can support you through your next launch please book a discovery call and let’s chat.