Perfect Your Pre-Launch Period
Your launch is only as strong as your audience, and your audience gets pumped up and ready for your offer through the pre-launch period. Ash Chow, a fellow copywriter, walks us through the essential pieces of a successful pre-launch period, including content, timing, and more.
In this episode, we talked about...
- what exactly is the pre-launch period
- one way you're losing sales if you don't focus on your pre-launch runway
- a great example of selling a Tik Tok program
- the type of content to share in your pre-launch plan
- how to use your post-launch debrief to improve your pre-launch runway
- essentials pieces of a successful pre-launch
...and much, much more
Things mentioned in this episode
Connect with Ash Chow http://www.ashchow.com
Get Ash's Power Up Your Pre-Launch Guide for Free https://ashchow.com/prelaunch
Learn more about Ash Chow
Ash Chow is a launch strategist & copywriter for online entrepreneurs who want to leave the world a better place than they found it and sell their digital products on repeat. She discovered copywriting in 2018 in the middle of law school when she realized she wanted to serve the world through words & feelings -- not how well Ash knew the Constitution. So she started a blog, was "found" and hired by an entrepreneur, and the rest is history.
Read the full transcript so you don't miss a thing
Sara: Hey there, launchers. Welcome back, I'm going to come out and lay down a truth that may feel uncomfortable to hear. Your launch is only as strong as your audience and your audience gets pumped up and ready for your offer through the pre launch period. Which is why today, I'm so thrilled to be chatting with ash Chow, a fellow copywriter who writes all things launches and specifically loves talking about the pre launch period. So if you're thinking about launching soon, you'll want to tune into this episode.
You're listening to the launch playbook podcast, the weekly podcast for service based business owners to discover the starts, stops and tools of transformation that go into launching their online offers. I'm your host, Sara Vartanian. And if you want to launch your ideas into the world faster with more success and less burnout. Well, friend, consider this show your secret playbook to get you there.
Hey, Ashley, welcome.
Ash: Hey, Sara, thanks so much for inviting me on.
Sara: I'm so excited after seeing your talk within the copywriter club. I've been wanting to chat with you further about this pre launch period because you gave such a good because I get that short Facebook Live you had done with Robin Kiera. And they knew that I just needed to like have a further conversation with you about this which is why I'm so glad you're here with us today.
Ash: Thanks very much. I'm super honored. That was like one of my best Facebook Lives ever. So I was really nervous for that but I'm glad that it was invaluable and it's led to super cool opportunities like this one.
Sara: That's amazing. Well, I couldn't tell you were nervous if you knew your stuff it was it was so comfortable to like watch and and so value I was taking notes so really, I know but taking more today I think that's always one of the best parts about these interviews to be honest, especially with like when to talk to other fellow copywriters. I'm always like, Oh yeah, like this to like what I'm doing now. I'm gonna work this into what I would do with clients. I don't know if you find this thing way when you're listening. You're talking to other copywriters, too, but it's one of my favorite interviews.
Ash: Yeah. 100%.
Sara: Okay, so will you go ahead and give us a little intro about you and tell us how you got started?
Ash: Yeah, awesome. So I'm Ash Chow. And I am a launch strategist and copywriter for online entrepreneurs who want to sell their digital products on repeat and leave the world a better place than they found it. I'm super grateful that a lot of my clients like they want to they obviously like yes want to make money because that's what a business is all about. But they also are doing it for a bigger purpose of like wanting to genuinely like help other people and make a bigger impact. And like I said, like just leave the world a better place than they found it. And I think like most copywriters I didn't intend to become a copywriter. Like I had no idea this job even existed. So I discovered it around 2018 When I was in the middle of law school, it was super funny because like I worked, I'd worked pretty much all of my teenage years just to get into law school. And then I got there and I was like, this is not it. Like, this is not what I want to do with the rest of my life. So I think I did what like I said most copywriters do, which is just start started cringy blog or pretty much about like my quarter life crisis and how I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and all of my feelings and stories. And some people for some reason, like people really wanted to read that. And then along the way, someone even reached out asking if they could pay me to write for them. And so that was how I discovered copywriting was a thing. And that's how I got started. And along the way, I eventually fell in love with launch copywriting, and writing sales pages and doing all of the things and so that's where we are today.
Sara: Amazing. I love how you say about, like you're reading this cringy vlog and that someone found you and a client and I really makes me think that that really proves that that pre launch period works because I know maybe you weren't a little launching, officially like pre launching officially then or anything but the fact is like that warm up content like that content you're putting out there brought someone in
Ash: Yeah, that's a really great point. I was talking about this with someone else as well that it's like even though you may put something out there, right like your first blog post or your first podcast episode or whatever. And then you hear like crickets like you're not obviously getting a million likes on it or anything and you're like is it does anyone even care, but it all goes towards that bigger picture of like, your potential audience might be like scrolling, lurking, checking you out and everything, every piece of content that they read or every sort of like touchpoint they have with you. It's all going towards that like know like and trust factor. And it's kind of like it that all comes together to eventually help them make a decision to want to work with you or to buy from you. So all that to say like even if you're putting you're creating content and you're like nobody cares, just take heart because it's all going towards like the bigger picture like someone will be reading and Someone like will want to work with you as a result of all of these pieces that you're putting out.
Sara: For sure I found I had a similar experience, actually, when I got started to is that I had a blog, it was a green, mom's blog. So all around like green living and like eco friendly choices, cloth diapers, all sorts of stuff like that. And I was putting that out week after week, and I was running, like, the very early days of Instagram I was on there like posting things around that. And that's also how I got my first clients is they were like, Hey, you're reading like these blogs all the time. You're reading social posts all the time. Like, maybe you can do that for me, too. And so I think like, as you're saying, like people are paying attention, even if they don't always know. And sometimes I think they thinking like, oh, they they're doing that for themselves. Maybe they do that for me. So I'm really, I just think it's such a good testament to like that pre launch period. And that showing up. So actually, let's get everyone listening on the same page. What exactly is a pre launch period?
Ash: Yeah, great question. So when I refer to the pre launch period, or like the pre launch runway, as most people call it, that's referring to that length of time, before you open your cart, your digital product and let people buy. So it's that like lead up stage. And it really varies from like, the time varies depending on how long you want to spend there. But it's pretty much just that period of time before people can start buying your product. And then when I talk about pre launch content, that's referring to like the like the emails, the social posts, the podcast, episodes, whatever that you drop during that time before you open the doors to your digital product. Also, like I think when people think about launching a product, they think that the cart Open Day is day one of your launch, like which it is but they think like that is the only time you should talk about the product, like when when the call is open. But what you should really be doing is spending all of that time in the lead up, priming your audience and getting them ready to see the value of the offer. So that once your cart is open, they'll already be ready to buy.
Sara: Okay, so it sounds like you're saying like one of the big goals of the pre launch period is to get people primed, ready to buy, and that you're seeing maybe like is teasing the offer as well a little bit then.
Ash: Yeah, so it's all about ultimately getting your ideal customers or your prospects to be in this right state of mind to invest in your product. And when I say like right state, I mean, like they can really see the value of your digital products and why they might need something like it. So like, let's use an example. So let's say you want to create a digital product or a course on how to market your service based business on Tik Tok. But like a lot of your audience are super skeptical about the platform, okay, they might say things like, Oh, am I believing that okay, like Tiktok is really only for dancing teenagers or Tiktok is only good for product based businesses. It's not really a platform for service based businesses or like people only go there for entertainment, not business. So a lot of these statements are like a beliefs that your audience hold about Tiktok . So I just want you to imagine that if you were to launch your course about Tiktok like tomorrow, a large chunk of your audience are probably going to see your announcement. And they may immediately like discounted they might. They might just be like, oh look, but like Tiktok for dancing teenagers. So no thanks all I ticked off. I'm a service based business. And it's only good for product based businesses. So no, thank you. So they may not even click on your sales page, because they've already convinced themselves. It's not for them, right. And like, sir, I know like as copywriters, you and I are focused on creating a killer sales page that is going to overcome all of those objections. And obviously convince people that like, yes, Tiktok is a great platform. But like, what's the point of writing a killer sales page, if your audience doesn't even click on it in the first place, right. And really, the goal of that pre launch phase is all about identifying your prospects, current beliefs and objections. And then creating the content that's going to shift those beliefs and get them to a point where they can see why they need an offer like yours and the value of it. And the way that we shift those beliefs is, like I said, through the content itself. So if you want to think of like your social posts, or your emails as like, the vehicle that's going to guide them from where they are right now, which is maybe like a little bit hesitant and doubtful, and guide them towards the point where you want them to be, which is like, Oh, I they see your digital product as like, a no brainer or like as the solution to their problems.
Sara: So how can people figure out what those beliefs people are holding around their topic for their launch?
Ash: Yeah, yeah, super great question. And I feel like the best best way to do that is through research, which is like I think every copyright is a favorite sort of phase just because it gives There's so much data and insight about your audience. So ideally, you you'd be doing your research when you're even when you're in the ideating ideation stage of your digital product, then definitely before you write copy, but I like to send a survey to my clients, email lists, or ask questions on your social media, just to figure out what the audience is currently thinking, believing and feeling about, like the industry or towards the topic of the digital product. So for example, some of my favorite questions I'd like to ask, like, what challenges do you face when it comes to your topic? So for example, like what challenges do you face when it comes to showing up consistently on tick tock? Or like, what challenges do you face when it comes to marketing on LinkedIn? And then I like to ask what's stopping you from getting started? So like, why haven't you use this platform before? Or what's stopping you from starting your own podcast? And in one of my favorite questions is like, what hesitations Do you have around this topic? So like, what hesitations Do you have around marketing your business on tick tock, or you can even straight up ask like, what hesitations you have around investing in a course, or digital product, podcasting, or whatever it is. And the data that you usually get from these odds is typically really rich. And it will tell you so much about, like the barriers that are getting in people's way, the objections that they have, how your audience is sort of like justifying their decisions to themselves and all of that. And usually, what's funny is when I create the surveys to my clients, and they obviously have a look at the data, you already intuitively know just from the responses, what sort of content to create, right? So for example, one of my clients, she created a course about natural dyeing, which is where you like, where you extract colors from, like plants, and things like that, and use it to tie dye clouds. And a lot of the responses from her survey, were saying things like, oh, like the equipment to do it, it's just so expensive. And then my client was like, ranting to me on a call. She was like, It's not expensive at all, like, all you really need is like old pots and pans and an old t shirt. And you can probably get everything you need for as little as under $20. And I was like, great, make that a social part. Like that's your pre launch content. Right.
Sara: Amazing. So from all that information, listening to our, you know, our would be clients we can glean, you're saying like what to talk about? And what kind of posts to create?
Ash: Yeah,exactly. Because your audiences, like your audience are telling you how they think and they feel. And it may not necessarily like you are the expert, like, you know, different. So for example, like they were saying, Oh, it's too expensive to do all of these things. But based on my client experience having done it, she was like, it doesn't have to be and so that was like what she wanted, like that was the belief that she wanted to share if she wanted to tell them like No, it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg to do this, like you can, you can get these materials for free. Or you can go to the local art shop. So it's all about like, I guess addressing their misconceptions or those beliefs and persuading them to see, see it from your point of view.
Sara: And what type of rule would like engagement content have in the pre launch runway? So looking like continents about maybe like, it's about art, you know, you see all those posts are like, Hi, I'm Ash. Hi, I'm Sarah. And this is what I do? Or like, is there a place for that in the pre launch runway as well?
Ash: So when you say engagement product, like you definitely want your audience to get to know, like and trust you, as a human as well, like you want them to want to learn from you and not necessarily any other course creator who's selling the same thing. And then in terms of engagement as well, I like to get my clients to do not always educational, but also more like fun stuff. Like we're talking social media in particular icon stories I've gotten. And I've gotten them to do like polls before, or even little quizzes that are like semi adjacent to their digital course topic just to get their audience used to, like you said, engaging with their content. And so their stuff appears at the top of their feed for them, because you like the people who engage the most are usually a bit more receptive to your content and what you have to stay. And they're a little bit further along the customer journey spectrum. So engagement, engagement posts do play a big role as well, ultimately, because you want you want your audience to connect with you specifically and like you and not necessarily anyone else.
Sara: And it sounds like getting them used to taking a little bit of like action with the things that we're putting out there. Like responding to something or like hitting yes on a poll or all those things like gets them used to prime to like click open that sales page maybe and be open to reading it.
Ash: Yeah, exactly. It's all about as well like lowering as much resistance as you can because there's just you know, like we all carry a certain amount of like bias resistance Even when we're engaging with someone new or even, like you said, going into a sales page, but if we can get them used to doing those like mini actions like what you said, like clicking yes on a poll or moving, like responding to a story, things like that is going to prime them to want to take the bigger actions later on, like clicking on the Lincoln bio or buying your course. So yeah.
Sara: Amazing! Can we repurpose any content that we've created that already exists for this runway?
Ash: Yes, I'm a huge fan of repurposing content, because you want to be working smarter, not harder. And it's so funny, I was talking to another copywriter who was launching a digital product. And we obviously like right, this sort of content for a living, but she was saying like men, like she actually was launching her own digital product. And she was like, I forgot just how much there actually is to do like, you have to create your own digital product. And then you got to do all of the emails and the sales page and the like, all the social assets, like there's a lot of writing. So in order to like not burn out. Yeah, I'm a huge believer in repurposing content. So if you write like, if you have a previous email, or a blog post, or an educational blog post that did really well, you can take parts of that and repurpose that into like, your socials, your emails, like if you have existing YouTube videos and things like that, just take the transcript or get that like transcribed. And then yeah, repurpose that into an email, a social parse, etc. I'm always resharing, my clients origin stories, for example. So like how they like their experience going through the challenge and how they made it through to the other side, because I think it's number one, just good for your audience, to hear messages multiple times to reinforce like, the beliefs that you want. And also so that to create that connection between you and the audience, and as we know, like people really love stories. So that's why the origin story is like a really great one to reshare over and over again.
Sara: What role would you say that paid traffic plays in this?
Ash: Yeah, so I think paid traffic is really good for building up your email list. So that's the experience I've had with it with paid traffic. So some of my clients have seen great success in leveraging paid Facebook ads for their pre launch content. So they'll create like a freebie like a lead magnet, and then they'll use Facebook ads to drive traffic to that lead magnet in order to build up their email list. And then that way, when they're ready to launch, they will have like a healthy list full of engaged subscribers. So what we do is like, we'll have the paid Facebook ad, that will lead to the lead magnet. And so people will opt into that. And then they'll go through a welcome sequence, which is where I'll put in a lot of those pre launch topics, to really nurture those subscribers to feed their objections and primed them. So that once she's ready to launch, they'll already be Yeah, ready to go, they can see the value of a product, etc. So that's how I've all my clients have personally leveraged paid traffic,
Sara: Great things for like walking through that. Now earlier, you mentioned that this pre launch runway is the phase before your launch. So like before you officially open cart, is there an ideal length of time for this phase?
Ash: Yeah, so this is like a really nuanced question. I think like this is something I'm also constantly experimenting and testing. And the answer is like, it depends, which I know is not like the straight board response we all want to hear. But for example, I know like with some of the biggest, the bigger close creators, you can, you will notice that they will start seeding their pre launch content way in advance like sometimes like 90 days or 60 days, you'll see like they'll have some sort of new lead magnet or if you listen to their podcasts, they'll start to Yeah, they'll start promoting their lead magnets in their ads. And you already you can sort of guess Okay, they're going to be launching something soon, right?
Sara: Yeah, I was an Amy Porterfield DCA affiliate the other year and it started like in July. Yeah, she doesn't actually open the cart until early September. So it was quite interesting to see such a long pre launch runway from one of those like bigger players and like really just how much went into that phase?
Ash: Yeah, Amy Porterfield is exactly who I was thinking about when I said that like she she's like, obviously queen of lead magnets and list building. But every one I listened to a podcast episode, and I know she's like dropped a new one. I'm like, yeah, like she's, she's gearing up. But fair enough, because that's her stick. And she has like the capacity to do that. Yeah, and I think sorry, if you want to do like the whole again, lead magnet and build up your email list and build up a healthy enough email list. So you can convert an average amount of them, then you'd want to start a lot earlier. I think the length of your runway can also depend on like your audience, and how much they need to be educated on your digital product. So for example, if your digital products is something that is really new to them, they may need more time and content to warm up and understand your offer. So for example, I was chatting with this guy and he he'd created like this AI software for podcasting, where I think the idea is you can like submit your podcast to this AI. And it like measures the tone and the content. And then it like suggests the best brands for you to collaborate with or something like that. Like, I'm not sure if it's in the market yet. But anyway, we were talking about that. And he wanted to know, some pre launch ideas. And I was like, Well, that sounds, it sounds really new to your particular audience in your market. So your pre launch, like you may need to spend a bit more time educating and warming up the audience. So they understand like, why an AI like this is necessary, like the benefits of measuring tone and voice for the right sponsors and things like that. Whereas if your market is fairly saturated, and your audience is used to seeing courses of a similar nature, like say, Instagram and podcasting course, like, we know why those exists, where there's tons of them around, you'll likely need, I guess, like less. So for me rule of thumb, I get my clients to start intentionally wrapping up their pre launch content, at least 30 days out from their cart Open Day, because I find like, this is just enough time to warm up their audience, but also like a manageable amount of content to create.
Sara: Okay, so is there ever a time where you'd say we could almost bypass most of the pre launch period? So because you're so I hear you're saying that if it's a newer product, or is something like really new, your audit doesn't know, we need to give them more time to sort of, let's say, wrap their heads around it. It's sort of taking these new ideas. But if they're, if it's more, you're seeing saturated like an interim course, there's less of that sort of like pre work and shifting belief we have to do. But is there ever a time that we could do like a really short pre launch phase? Like even like a week? Like let's see some response to try some of them and test it? Or do you think we always need to build in a pre launch phase no matter what?
Ash: Yeah, that's a great question. And something I also want to test as well, I think a short one would be you can do a short one, if it's if you only have like the one main offer. And that's what you're known for. I can't think of an example off the top of my head right now. But like, if you only provide like, one service, or you're only selling like you're known for selling this one digital product, and all of your content is geared towards promoting that product, then you probably don't need as much time because people know you for that particular thing.
Sara: So you kind of already been doing that. All the time anyway. Yeah, pretty much.
Ash: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And in saying that, like, I also want to mention, like, if you if you're like crap, I want to launch next week. Well, I only here two weeks ago, I literally had like, no time, like I think some or any pre launch content is better than natural. Like, if you're already two weeks out from your intended launch day, I think like, even just doing like one or two social media partners. So one email in advance will still go a long way in warming up your audience. So don't think like, Okay, I definitely have to create 30 days worth, like, that's just like to give you some flexibility and leeway. Like if you only have a short amount of time, just create like one or two. And it will still like your audience will still benefit from that.
Sara: Right. But it really goes back to like audience building, right? Like, our launch is as strong as our audiences, right? So that the more ready they are, the more audience we have, the better our launch generally is.
Ash: Yeah. 100%. And I think also, if you it also depends like where your audience is at in terms of the stages of awareness as well. So I haven't really spoke touched much on that. But if you look at the data, and you can tell they, for example, like they're already problem aware, or they're already solution aware, and all they need to know is just the specific details about your offer, then you may not necessarily need to spend as much time in the pre launch, either. So it also depends on your audience, which is why I said like, it's a very new ones.
Sara: Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for being willing to give us some examples. And I think the one around the AI really helps point paint the picture of like, do they do they know about this already versus that Instagram course. Okay, so we're all about the step by step here. So could you walk us through a few of those essential pieces of a successful pre launch runway?
Ash: Yeah, so I'm all about creating strategic content and making sure like you're not just creating fluff or creating content for content sake. So I feel like the essential like when we're talking about what we need to do to make a successful freelance period to help remind me or like to act as a guide, I've created like this power framework to help us know exactly what our content should be doing. So we're always creating something like strategic right. So for a successful pre launch the essential pieces there, like your content needs to prime your audience. It needs to overcome objections. It needs to walk through the why Behind your alpha, it needs to establish your expertise and authority. And it needs to reshift beliefs. So those are the five key things that will really make your pre launch a success and really guide your audience to see the value of your offer and make them ready to buy on at least day one of your launch. So if we take it back to priming your audience, so like we were saying before, you don't want to really blindside them by being like, Okay, here's my offer, please buy like you need to prepare them in advance. And the way you do that is to like start talking about topics relevant to your offer, like starts creating that intrigue as well. And curiosity by dropping hints that you know, something is going to be launching soon. And then potentially, like sharing, like, what the solution to the challenges are, but not necessarily like how to achieve it. And I think a key part of priming, as well as like, if you haven't been talking to your audience consistently, like showing up in your emails or socials, like we're just fine. But if you haven't been doing that, now is the time to introduce that consistency back. So your audience are used to hearing from you. Because you don't really want to be that person who says nothing for three quarters of the year, only to spam people's inbox when you have something to sell. And then like overcoming objections is like he was saying before overcoming, like, your audience might have a lot of misconceptions or believe certain things about your industry that might potentially deter them from your offer. So things like Oh, it's too expensive to buy the equipment for this or like, I don't have enough time to do something like this. So your pre launch content really needs to show them how and why these things aren't necessarily a barrier. So showing them like it doesn't have to be expensive to buy the equipment or like, it doesn't have to take up a lot of time, then a key one is really like walking through the why behind your offer. Because like your audience is always going to be asking things like okay, like, why do I need something like this. And because there are a lot of digital products competing for your audience's attention, the best way to really stand out is to help your audience understand the purpose behind your offer. So like why did you create a digital product like this? What gap are you specifically trying to fill? And like? Why will your product work when other solutions haven't before. So your audience can understand like the purpose behind your offer, the exact this will increase their connection to like to you and make them more likely to want to buy it, then you really want to establish your expertise and authority. So really asking, like, what qualifies me to teach on this topic, because your audience like we all want to learn from experts, and we want to know that what you're teaching is going to work for us. So we want to know that you have an intimate understanding of our challenges, and that you are the best guide for the journey. So this is where you share a lot of like your past results, any anything that really helps build up your credibility. And then lastly, it's you really want to be re shifting those beliefs. So really addressing any misconceptions or points of view that your audience has about your industry or topic. And then like persuading them through your content to see that like a different perspective or a different point of view exists. So those are the five things that really make up a successful pre launch strategy.
Sara: My gosh, thank you so much for walking us through that. I hope you were taking notes. I know, I was jotting things down. And I'm definitely going to go back and re listen to that whole step by step you took us through because there are so many golden nuggets in there to help plan. Thank you. Are there any certain channels that you think in general, people should be focusing on? Or? That's probably pretty nuanced as well, too. But anything that you have seen, let's say work really well? Yeah. So
Ash: I think this one, it's whichever channels make sense for you and your audience. So that obviously, like we want to be showing up in places that our audience is showing up at like, there's no point going on LinkedIn if your audience doesn't want to be on there, or you don't really have a platform on there. And also one that you enjoy showing up as well like if you like I personally prefer Instagram over any other platform. So that's where I show up most. But I think what works really well as we both know with email, which is why building up your email list is so important. And so my clients have seen really great results with Yeah, creating a lead magnet and promoting that lead magnet on socials which they then use to get as many people as possible onto their email list. And then within their email list, they'll also have like a separate segment which they call like their waitlist. And what's worked really well is offering some sort of incentive to get onto that waitlist. So things like if you get on the waitlist you'll get like an early bird discount code or like you'll get first year like if you're program has like super limited spots, then the incentive is that the waitlist means you'll be the first ones to hear about it and secure a spot and things like that. So that strategy on that channel has worked super well for a couple of my clients.
Sara: Now I really like how you call them out, using our lead magnet to really boost the audience get people building up, like know and trust, you're saying that you use the content in that welcome sequence to shift beliefs and I and that idea about getting people on the waitlist with like some kind of sort of gift or goodie is really exciting. And really what I love that you mentioned, something we've talked about before on the podcast here is connecting that lead magnet to the final offer. And you speaking about that, like the whole process for that really paints a picture why it's so important that our lead magnet is really connected to the end result we're looking for. But my question for you is, should that lead magnets be sort of in existence all the time? Or do we need to create something? Let's call new on the recording here for the launch a new lead magnet for the launch?
Ash: Yeah, that's a really, really great question. I think like Sorry, obviously, ideally, you want to be building up your list as much as possible, like throughout the year, or every time you can. But I think like from the research that I suggested you do, when you look at the data, you will probably find or think up new ideas for a strategic lead magnet for your launch. So let me see. Let me explain what I mean by that. So you want to obviously create a lead magnet that's going to attract the right audience, for this specific offer that you're going to launch. Like, there's no point in just attracting anybody onto your email list, if that's ultimately not going to be the right fit for your offer, and then they're not going to convert. So you want to really create something strategic. So I'll give you like, let's think back to that tick tock example. And we know like let's say through the research that so you want to create a course called like how to market your service based business on tick tock, right. And then from the data from your survey or whatever, you can see that your audience currently believes that okay, tick tock is only for product based business. They they're like, Okay, tick tock, how can you even succeed with a service based business on there, it's really hard. There are no like good marketing ideas for service based businesses. So what's the point of even using it but blah, blah, so they're clearly not going to be great, they really clearly not going to convert super well, if you were to launch your course, like the next day. So what you want them to do, like you want them to be aware, or you want them to believe that tick tock is a great platform for service based business, and that there are heaps of marketing topics they can use to convert the audience on their into clients. So in order to get them to believe this and overcome other objections, you can create a lead magnet called something like 10 Tick Tock content ideas to market your service based business, okay, and that could probably just be like a PDF with like a dot point of 10 content ideas. So it's super basic. But what this does is overcomes that objection that they had, which was Tik Tok is not for service based businesses. And now you're like handing them a list of content ideas specific to their business, that will get them to be like, Oh, hey, these are great ideas. Oh, I can use this to potentially create a tick tock to market like my graphic design services or my copywriting service, set it up. Yeah. And ideally, you want them to see and use this lead magnet, start shifting those beliefs, and hopefully they use it and get results. And once they see like those results, they're then more likely to want to buy your course about tick tock. So does that make sense on how you can create a strategic lead magnet just based off the data for your pre launch?
Sara: So much sense. Thank you so much for walking us through that I love the examples that you're giving. I know that's so helpful for our listeners and and you know, I love it, too, is cooperated just like hearing in a concrete way. Like how can this be done? So thank you. So ash, are there any signs that we need to look out for when launching so when we're doing that like post launch debrief? Is there anything that can indicate to us that our pre launch runway actually needs to be improved for next time?
Ash: Yeah, so again, I'm always testing this out. I feel like I keep saying never get like launching really is like a big experiment. But I think that's one way I discovered that pre launch strategy was a thing or then it worked was where I looked at the personal data for some of my clients and notice that the best day for their sales was like day one or day two, so early on, which is really interesting because I think like you most people would expect that like the last day would be the best sales wise because obviously you have urgency is working in your factor there and people want to get in before the deadline and people just tend to procrastinate this as well, which is why they wait too long. Minute like me, but anyway, but I saw like with the data a lot of people were buying in that first day, which meant that like the My clients were getting super profitable from day one already. They were feeling super happy. Like they didn't they didn't have that anxiety anymore of like, oh, are people gonna buy it at all? So it makes sense when I thought about it because because like their audience were already like primed, they could already see the value of the offer. In the pre launch they had already sold themselves on like, Yes, I need this, I can see how this will solve my problems. I really want it. So then as soon as a cot opens, they were like, cool, it's time to snatch it up. And so they did, which is why I feel like day one was the best sales wise. To be fair, a couple of my clients did incentivize this, like I said, by offering early bird bonuses, fast action bonuses, that Adar, but at the same time, Early Bird discounts, and fast action bonuses won't work unless the audience is already sold on the offer, which is where that pre launch comes in. So I would say like if you look at the data, and you see that you're really struggling to get sales during those early days, it's probably a sign you need to look at your pre launch strategy to make sure that you are tackling the right objections and re shifting the right beliefs and all of that
Sara: Amazing now as you have a great lead magnet, right that all the folks listening can sign up for really tell us more about it, and where we can find it. And of course you online.
Ash: Yes. So I have a free guide for all of you called How to power up your pre launch. And it pretty much covers everything we spoke about today. So don't worry about taking notes, you can just grab my guide and look at it. The next time you want to create pre launch content, you can find it at WWE dot Ash chow.com. So definitely check me out there and you can find this particular meet lead magnet at S chow.com/pre launch. And if you want to connect with me or ask me any questions or catch up, you can find me on Instagram at its ash Chow.
Sara: Thank you Ash. It was so great to have you here today. Thank you so much for joining us.
Ash: Thank you This was such a fun conversation.
Sara: Amazing. Thank you.
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