Everything you need to know about launching an online product or service

In this week’s podcast we will be talking all about launching your online product or service. I am going to talk you through all the different steps involved, and some of the key things that make the real difference in terms of the success of a launch. KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCASTLaunching an online product or service is a bit like baking a cake – you have to follow the steps and the process.This is not a quick win, it takes time.You need to create consistent content in the warm up phase so people can engage with you on a regular basis – you need to be known for your product or service.Start building your email list!Love your audience, keep showing up.You can launch a product or service through masterclasses, webinars, live videos, waitlists or challenges.You need to demonstrate what they are going to get if they then purchase from you – give them a taster.The day you do the webinar, masterclass or challenge, is the day you start selling.Start planning your launch 6 weeks in advance.Being live makes it easier to have that conversation whilst they are sat there and they also get to ask you questions.Create downloads and workbooks to add value.Consider your price point – you should offer a discounted rate for people to buy straight away. You could offer a payment plan.Open cart or closed cart – is there going to be a day where people can no longer join?Your sales page is SO important – there is a download on my website and a course in my academy on this subject.Consider why people didn’t buy – follow up with a survey for feedback.Don’t forget to love the members you already have.Review all of your steps before relaunching.THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…Launching an online product or service is a LONG process, there are so many different steps to it but I promise, if you have the drive and the desire to have an online business, it can be the most wonderful thing.HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISSQuick launch - 04:00The warm up phase - 06:37The pre-launch - 16:21The actual launch - 22:58Post-launch - 31:28Retention and relaunch - 33:23Transcript below Welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? As I'm recording this, it's a beautiful sunny day. We've been so lucky with the weather and I am so, so grateful for having nice weather. I have to say it really does make a difference to my mood. So I am very grateful for the sun shining today and I hope the day that you're listening to this, the sun is shining too and I hope you're having a good day. Okay, so I want to talk today about something that I love. So when I started in marketing about 16-ish years ago, I did well basically over these 16 years, I have done so much marketing. There's probably not much I haven't done. The one thing I haven't done hands-on is TV advertising. We, I used to work for Land Rover, as you may have heard me say before, when I worked next to the people who did the TV advertising, but I didn't do it myself.But other than that, I've pretty much done everything and stuff that is no longer around. I used to do fax marketing, we still lot of postal marketing, whereas some of these things obviously we're not using now. And then some of the things I use today, I had to learn like everybody else because they weren't in my degree 16 years ago. So for me, as you know, it's a passion. I love every, every minute of marketing and I eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. But the last few years I've been very honoured to work with lots of business owners in a particular area, which I love and I want to dedicate today's episode all to that area. So I want to talk to you about launching. Now I have been very lucky over the years, like I said, to work with some amazing entrepreneurs and business owners to help them launch their online products and services.And I have done many, many, many launches, including many launches of my own and I have also spent a long time learning about them and buying courses and attending conferences and even doing a certification with lead pages in conversion marketing. So I know what I'm talking about in this, in this sector, and having done it for myself and for clients, it really has helped me fully understand the process and see what works and what doesn't. And what are some of those secrets behind a successful launch? Why is it that some do really well and others not so well? So today I want to talk you through the wider launch process. Now I want you to know that if you are not selling an online product, if you don't have a course or a membership, I don't want you to skip over this episode and think this is not for you.This is for sure going to give you something even if you don't have those online products. But if you do have an online product, then this is going to be music to your ears because I am literally going to talk you through all the different steps involved and some of the key things that make the real difference in terms of the success of that launch. And do you know what? You know me, I don't lie. I don't tell you some BS. I'd come straight out and tell you the truth. So you're gonna get a very honest look at launching and what honestly makes the launch a success and what doesn't. Quick launch Now, what I'm going to be talking to you about today is quite a process. So that's the first thing I want to quickly address. This is not a two minute job. This is not a, "Oh do you know what? I'm just going to do a quick launch." Now you can do it that way. But that's one of the reasons it's probably not successful because there are lots of moving pieces in launching. And the one analogy that I like to use is it's like baking a cake when you bake a cake. And this is the reason I am not a very good Baker other than the fact I'm celiac and can't eat wheat other than when you bake a cake, you really have to follow the rules and ingredients. You can't go rogue, you can't throw some extra flour in or substitute eggs for something else. You've got to really follow the steps and the process and making one tiny change or moving the goalpost in one place or adding too much or too less or doing something different is going to have a huge impact on the results of that cake or that baking at the end.And that's how I want you to envisage the launch process. There are many moving parts in this and that. Any point, any one of these parts can affect the whole launch. So I want to talk you through the whole launch in in its entirety, but also I want you to know that actually when I worked with people, when people are in the Academy and they're launching or they're on my 90 day programme and we're working together on a launch, the the moving parts, there's a lot more to each single moving part and therefore there's a lot deeper than we'd go, but at the moment for this episode, I'm going, I'm looking at the bigger picture, but if I was to talk to you about one specific area, there's a lot I could go deep in, but like I said at the moment I just went to see it like that.The other thing I want you to know about this episode is I have put together a download where I talk you step by step through this process. Now, in all honesty, because I'm very honest, this style, it doesn't exist at this point. I'm going to do this episode and by the time you are listening to me say this in your ears, the download will be done and you can go to teresaheathwareing.com/launch and you can get your own step-by-step launch process and you can follow that through. The warm up phase Okay, so we're going to break it up into four different parts. We're going to break it up into the pre-prelaunch or the warmup phase. Then we're going to look at the prelaunch. Then we're going to look at the launch and then we're going to look at launch.So let's start with the pre pre-prelaunch, the warmup phase. Now this is the bit that most people do not give enough time to and this can have a huge impact on the success of any launch going forward because you know what happens? People like the idea of having an online business, they liked the idea of selling a course over and over and over or having a membership where lots of people can join. It's this whole going from a one-to-one to a one to many type business and don't get me wrong, I love it and this is what I am doing. This is what I have wanted to do for a long time. This is what I am putting my time and effort into and this is what ultimately I want going forward in the long run. A big massive membership with lots and lots of amazing business owners in there that I can help.So I want you to know that often these tools or these strategies in terms of having these types of businesses people see as a quick win. I am telling you straight up, this is not a quick win. This is hard work. This takes time. And I know you're not going to want to hear that and I know you're going to think no, there must be a cheat. I'm sure someone's that I can launch that list and I can launch like this and I can do this. I can do that. I promise you you are going to have to work hard at this. And this is not a quick win, easy way to make money. So that's the first thing I want to say about this. So the the warmup phase is really the bit that most people are probably not hand on heart consistently doing enough or long enough before they start deciding to actually sell the online product.So in this warm up phase, this consists of creating consistent content. Yeah, I know boring, boring, boring, the reason to stop going on about it, but...