How To Create On-Brand Graphics For Your Next Launch
There comes a time when you want to leave behind the beta launches and Google Doc sales pages and level up your launch assets. Christine Lieu, shares how to create cohesive branding for your next launch and when it's time to level up your brand graphics.
In this episode, we talked about...
- Christine's design predications for 2022 and beyond
- the top 3 kinds of graphics business owners need for their launch
- whether or not your launch offer needs its own brand design
- where to start investing in your launch assets
- tiny tweaks that instantly improve your launch graphics
- the role of templates and when it's time to upgrade
...and much, much more
Things mentioned in this episode
- Join Christina's FREE Brand Party Challenge!
It’s a 5-day online challenge for purpose-driven businesses who are ready to stop being inconsistent and finally build the brand they’re so deserving of! Get access to a branding expert at your fingertips as you discover your core values, colour palette, and font pairing to attract quality leads and sales.
Join now: christineldesigns.com/brand-party-challenge
Learn more about Christine Lieu
Christine Lieu is the expert behind CL Designs and the Brand Party Podcast. She's a graphic designer who's traded in climbing the corporate ladder for climbing mountains around the world. Christine helps purpose-driven businesses create cohesive branding, web design, and social content creation to increase your impact and sales. Saying no to dull and clunky visuals and yes to consistency, creativity, and efficiency forms the core of her approach. As the host of the Brand Party Podcast, Christine and her guests deliver fun, honest, to-the-point advice that you can implement RIGHT AWAY in your entrepreneurial journey. It has made Top 10: Canada Design and Apple Podcasts' acclaimed New + Noteworthy list in both the Art and Design categories.
Having earned her stripes in the fast-paced media world, and learned first-hand the challenges faced by startups through her own journey (sometimes the hard way!) Christine wanted to provide lean and efficient design and branding services that would free businesses to push on with what they’re best at. She's helped bootstrap startups, household brands, and pretty much everything in between. When she's not climbing mountains around the world, she's been featured in Yahoo News’ Top 10 graphic designers to watch for in 2021 and has had the honour to be nominated for RBC'S Women of Influence Award two years in a row, and a Digital Publishing Award for her work on Maclean’s “Bulldog” Election Daily issue, worked as a contributing designer on the launch of the Walmart Live Better social campaign, covered nationally broadcasted events such as the Juno Awards and Canadian Music Week with CBC Music, and helped the House of Anesi raise over $90K on their Kickstarter campaign, while helping purpose-driven businesses create branding and design collateral to help drive her clients’ top line.
Website: christineldesigns.com
Brand Party Podcast: christineldesigns.com/podcast
Instagram: @_clieu @brandpartypodcast
Get instant access to a free Brand Consistency Checklist: https://mailchi.mp/941959d7add5/christineldesignsemail
Grab the guide that has helped business owners alike determine what’s most important when you’re just starting to build a brand so you can continue on with what you do best.
Read the full transcript so you don't miss a thing
Sara: There comes a time when you want to leave behind the beta launches and google doc sales pages and level up your launch assets. And that's where today's guest comes in.
You're listening to the launch playbook podcast, the weekly podcast for service based business owners to discover the starts, stops and tools to 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.
Sara: Christine Liu is the expert behind CL designed and the brand party podcast. She's a graphic designer who's traded in climbing the corporate ladder for climbing mountains around the world. Christine helps purpose driven businesses create cohesive branding, web design and social content creation to increase your sales and impact stay no to dull and clunky visuals and yes to consistency, creativity, and efficiency forms the core of her approach. Christine, I am so ready to chat with you today about design assets for launches. I work with so many clients writing all that launch copy. And of course, all those words need to be displayed in a way that's going to attract attention and convert. So welcome. I cannot wait to dive in.
Christine: Thank you so much, Sara for having me. I can't wait either.
Sara: So first, I'm wondering if we can kind of do like a bit of a State of the Union design style. I'm wondering how do you think design is changing in 2022? For online business owners?
Christine: Yeah, you know, that's such a good one. And the digital landscape in particular is ever evolving, as we know. And so I did an episode actually on brand party recently on the kickoff for season four on episode 55. For design trends of 2022. In case your listeners want to pop over for some more details over there. But I would say the biggest one for me is that I've predicted there will be more change in terms of the personal branding realm of things. So it doesn't necessarily need to be so polished anymore, but rather thinking about how you're authentically integrally showing up and how your designs really do reflect that type of connection.
Sara: It's amazing. It kind of reminds me when you say that about like the be more authentic. It kind of harkens back to I feel like when Instagram first started, when we were really all about like what was who we were what was going on. And then there was a period of time we really veered to, I guess a more prescribed and maybe cheating or funny, like a happy medium now in between those worlds or?
Christine: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, aesthetics are great to a certain extent. But if it's not actually reflective of the values, the emotions that you want to impact, then I definitely think that there's going to be a disconnection and more than ever, I feel like people are really craving that connection and that real approach to things ultimately to and you know, as your brand, it really does evolve with you.
Sara: Amazing. So Christine, what are some of the favorite graphics you were seeing in the online marketing world these days?
Christine: OhI love a good carousel, I have to say especially you know, if there's really great digestible bits, if it's relatable to your audience, ultimately, or I'm a big fan, just personally of design memes, like the ones where it's like you're naming your file final V 1000 million.ai, or something.
Sara: Oh my gosh!
Christine: Yeah.
Sara: I can relate to that as a writer. I'd like to tabbing out harshly on my computer like version 70 hundred.
Christine: Exactly, just make it digestible, relatable, and your audience is gonna love it.
Sara: And we're with video fit into those launch graphics, or like the graphics that you're seeing?
Christine: I would say it's definitely a big part of it, and people are craving more of it. It's definitely not going away anytime soon. And the wonderful thing about it is that, you know, there's still ways that you can actually implement graphics, or your branding elements into stories and video content as well. Whether it's like adding in your brand colors for you know, the text with stuff like that, or different stickers or gifts, perhaps that you might have some create, there's definitely ways to bring in those different elements to help them stand out. But ultimately making sure that people really get a better understanding of who it is that they're going to be working with.
Sara: I am so grateful that as I'm so I'm an introvert and I'm so grateful that it's just the videos all these days aren't just like a video of you. There's all these other nursing these kind of fun ways to incorporate video without actually being like you talk to the camera. We tell us what a few of your top favorites are those are?
Christine: Mm hmm. I feel like social proof is so powerful as well, I'm sure we can dive into a little bit like testimonials in particular, is so powerful for people to make that buying decision ultimately. So being able to really set up some context whether you have you know, some photography that you could pair with or even just introduce the kind of realm of things of what that transformation looks like and then go into your client customer testimonials. I think that will be really helpful to make sure that it's like the sandwich technique that I often tell my clients to where perhaps you introduce what the problem was or challenge that people may be facing initially and then sharing the testimonial from your client customer. If it's on video, then that's wonderful to to really see the passion and energy behind it, and then round it off with that third piece of having the call to actions of what you want them to do next.
Sara: Yeah, that's so good. I love that sandwich idea there. So in your opinion, are what are the most underused launch graphics?
Christine: Whoo, well, stories to bring in those interactive elements like countdowns, you know, Instagram, thank you so much, we get to put in those links now and not having to rush hours, right. So utilize them make it easy for people to do it in one quick click ultimately, is if you can reduce the amount of steps taken to achieve that same outcome, I think is a service for you, but a service for your potential community as well there. So definitely usage of stories for graphics, I think is underused, or also email newsletters. So in terms of banners, perhaps for more professional look and feel to even promo banners just to visually break up the copy as well, if it gets, you know, quite lengthy in terms of the process, right? Because of course, there's a lot of things to include wonderful things that that but making sure that we can break it up and really keep that interest throughout the whole piece and bring attention to what you have to offer.
Sara: I love that. And I think also as it strikes me too, as you're talking about the testimonials, I bet that also is better kind of underused, as I'm thinking about some of my clients had, it can be hard for them to share all those lovely words that have said about them because it can feel like I'm just like, you know, showing off? Or maybe you need to tell that story. So that stood out to me as well. As you're talking about it. Yeah, changing lives out there. Share it. Yes, yeah. Okay, so how could a business's design change for a launch? Like, do we need a whole new set of branding for each launch? How does it work?
Christine: That's a great question. So I'm going to start off with a house analogy, I think will have really helped set the stage a bit more for this. Drumroll, right. If you think about your brand, like a house or your business, like a house, thinking of it as maybe 510 years down the road, you have usually one of two options. So one of them being that you need to freshen things up, keep it modern, relevant with the time so you just have a few things to tweak here and there. Or option number two, you have to knock everything all down start completely from scratch because you had a weak foundation to begin with. So I consider your listeners to think about, which would you rather do one freshen things up and keep it relevant or number two have to start completely from scratch. So more than likely, from Sara's laughter You can imagine I'm hoping most choose number one, make your life a bit easier, right? Definitely. And so with that house analogy, just thinking about it as well that if you have really strong foundations at the beginning, and with these launches, in particular with your various assets that it's going to be much easier to build upon in the long run. And so there should be some differentiation, differentiation, however, that you don't necessarily need to go so far outside of the wheel of change, but that you can still actually use a lot of the key elements and found fundamentals that you do currently have in place, but consider potentially some different brand photography, different primary color and your brand palette to really just encourage some more emphasis and excitement in what they might typically see on your feet or your website.
Sara: But so good. I love the way that you're talking about having that solid foundation makes it possible to build.
Christine: And you have a lot more room to play with as well because you have that clarity and direction of what it is that you stand for.
Sara: I love that. Did you do that for your so no, you have Cl designs? Did you do that for your brand party podcast do that? Are they linked if we if we looked carefully add them?
Christine: Yeah, exactly. So I mean cohesion is definitely a big part of it to make sure that it still feels the same. It's like you know what they say about your eyebrows are like sisters or for example right? So it's kind of that same analogy as well right that you want them to feel like they're related not completely far distance cousins that you've never known right or met but that there's still some relation to it when people go off to see that. Oh, that is definitely identifiable as x person.
Sara: Right so that the guy then like that definitely Gristedes Yes, exactly. Yeah, we did the same with a podcast and my brand as well like using the some of the same font and then just like added on some like when a little bit deeper into the colors. Yeah, round. Yeah. So if budget wasn't a limit, half I know, right? Like per world here. How would we you recommend we spend it on lunch assets like what would we spend it on?
Christine: Well, okay, because we're talking about foundations. I cannot ignore that, like a strong strategy in place will definitely help serve you in terms of the assets of what you're building upon whether it's copywriting with Sarah or you Know the design side of launching as well. And so I also like to refer to it as a success action list that I work with on my clients in terms of launch strategy. Because this way, it's great to feel motivated. But often, you know, you don't want to just walk away with that motivation only you more than likely wants to be able to know and be in control of what those actual next steps look like. So I think that's really important to begin with. But if budget wasn't an option, having a full suite of templates ultimately save you time and marketing spend that's actually customized to your brand specifically. And also to serve the needs of your clients or customers that drive the most impact. And sales is definitely one key element of it that I would say, and knowing that these branded templates are replicable to your success and empowering clients to ultimately take control in their own hands with their creativity to be inspired by as well. But perhaps another key piece would be brand photography to really help bring that visual to life a little bit further. And also a variety of imagery for your content and your assets that you have included in your launch. And the third piece, I would say is a sales page. Really effective design there to make sure that it can be published perhaps like, if you have a very crunch time and your launch schedule, perhaps like I have a sales page in a day where you can get it in less than 24 hours, and really get that offer out into the world so that you can focus on what you enjoy most, and making sure that it's compelling, hot leads and conversions ultimately, as well. And another final piece to consider, I would say is any supportive materials such as workbooks presentations that you might be conducting through your launch programming so that it really does look professional and credible when you are teaching and when people are even post launch and programming that they can refer back to you moving forward.
Sara: Oh my gosh, thank you so much. That's like the great wish list to have right there to start thinking about like, okay, we're budgeting for our deal launch, what could we actually get done there. So let's actually go the other way, if we are in a budget for a launch, what's the one thing that we think we should focus on for our design.
Christine: I would say the number one thing is probably your sales page, I would say is probably the most effective one. More than likely, if people have considered making buying decisions in the past, they've asked for a referral or they've gone to somebody's website. So making sure this is a really effective piece of your lead generation is going to be working for you ongoingly. Right. This can be used for additional programs that you come out with it could be used for weightless in the future as well. I think that one's going to be a real key piece to bring it all home for you.
Sara: Oh, my gosh, she just warmed my heart was saying that because like first of all sales page is my favorite to write as a copywriter. But also I do feel like I have so many clients who, in the end, of course, they are making budget decisions. So like, we're often like focusing on the sales page. But then they'll take some of the graphics that were created from the sales page, and then pull them into us, you know, the other stuff that they just use design on their own type of thing. But at least they have some core things that were created for them.
Christine: Exactly. And the thing is that people often overlook is that with your website, you're already paying for the investment of your domain, your hosting platform that you're using for whether it's like Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Wordpress, whatever that looks like for your business, but you're already spending money there. I want you to be able to make money to return that investment. And then more.
Sara: Oh, yes, so good. Okay, so you mentioned templates a little bit. And I know you're mentioning that getting them designed if they were on our, you know, our no budget list. But let's say again, we're on the budget. Where do you templates that we can purchase, let's say from new they're all over like Creative Market, or different companies are hosting them or selling them? Where do templates belong in our business eco structure? How do we know which ones to choose?
Christine: Well, as a fellow business owner, I'm all about saving time and money. Right. So they're not a bad thing? I want to destigmatize that for sure. But also to provide another perspective that Isn't it frustrating that you've spent so much time and energy, just being able to create content only to see your competitor using the exact same one and perhaps a slightly different color? So it's right here. Yeah, it's sad. And I feel I feel for you, right. And so keeping tabs on what's new and what's out is definitely great to keep that awareness in mind in terms of that ego structure that you have in awareness for templates coming out, that might inspire you as well. But my suggestion to really solve this is to work with an expert ideally, who is able to help customize these elements and bring in new perspectives, new elements that Canva or other you know, Creative Market, other platforms and markets that may not be able to offer a more customized solution for your needs.
Sara: That's really helpful to think about I know that's one thing I'm always torn about with it. You know, we're talking talk with my team about sometimes we purchase some templates, we have some great but then now we've also purchased them for different reasons. And then it's true, they start, we end up often not using them, because then I start seeing them everywhere. Right? And I think that once I have them, I can't unsee them.
Christine: Yeah, right, exactly. I remember like Remembrance Day this past year, and I saw the exact same that Canva template out there at least five times and just, you know, a quick 10 seconds scrolling through on my Instagram dies, and you put in a lot of effort, I want to make sure that it's going as far as possible and actually attracting the right people to and it's really frustrating, you know, that. It's not necessarily maybe how you envision your business. And it, I think, when it's time to really move on to it's like analyzing whether it's converting and working for your specific needs or conversations that you're looking to block or it leads that you're looking to book in for your new program, whatever that looks like. But ultimately, to just checking those analytics on a regular basis, maybe monthly, whatever that looks like for your business, but they don't really lie, you know, and just thinking about what your goal is, as well, because analytics, even though similarly to templates, they aren't bad. They're meant to help inform you and inspire you to make those informed decisions moving forward. And so even thinking about like your website, for example, and bounce rates, they often have a bad stigmatism attached to it. But considering if on your website, you have a website integration, for example, where you do want people to take that next action on an external third party, then it's actually not a bad thing if your bounce rate is, you know, quite high, because you want people to take that next action
that makes so much sense. This episode of the launch playbook podcast is brought to you by my free launch maps, they're a complete step by step map of all your launch assets. So you know exactly what messaging notes to hit, and when to share each piece of copy. Because I know that you have signed up for many freebies over the years only to be disappointed with the camera PDF there are Lea gave you any info. But I promise you the launch maps aren't that when I showed these to my OBM, she literally walked off the screen that I was giving away this for free. This is the exact launch Map Template I use for every single one of my one on one clients. And inside to be able to personalize, tweak and repeat a strategy for your messaging for each and every launch. From pre launch to post. Go and get your free lunch map. www dot Sara vartanian.com/launch-map. So just go back to templates a little bit more there too. Christine, you were saying about working with like a professional ideally, to get a set design, let's say to start with, do you think it's something that we should add to again, extend sort of like we're doing with the launch, you know, a launch assets or we get the we get the brand photography done? You know, every so often like maybe once or twice a year getting that done? Do you think it's the same with templates that we should like add on to those on a regular basis? Or what are your thoughts?
It's always good to audit what's working. So again, coming back to your social analytics as well is going to be really informative to see what type of content and what type of designs ultimately are impacting your community. And so with that being said, I would say again, in the theme of saving time and money, I would say to that you want to make sure that whatever you are coming out with on a regular basis that you could also repurpose for a lot of other platforms or other usage that those ones are the ones that you're investing your hard earned money on and your time for templates, because those are going to get you the most investment back I would say as well. And then considering, like, what is it that you want to refresh or experiment with moving forward because, you know, I don't sugarcoat it either. In the world of social media, things are constantly changing, as you know, to Sarah, that you need to experiment continuously and to bring new kinds of ideas to the table to really help stand out. And sometimes it does take a little bit of time to really see if it's working effectively.
Right. So how can we use our launch graphics to connect to our audience further,
I would say there's definitely a few things that come to mind. And so I would say it really the graphics that you launched with are really going to help tell that captivating story that you have to offer. And perhaps there's a few different things that you could go into to help illustrate this. So I have three different ideas that might be helpful. One of them being a shocking stat or attention grabbing headline in your graphics. So for example, there was a study done in University of Loyola that states that brand recognition is actually boosted by 80%, thanks to the use of color. So that's a big deal, right? So depending on what's actually important and relevant to the impact of what it is that you deliver to your audience and community, then perhaps that's one way to go about it. And really focus on a clear message in terms of the graphic for your elements for your launch. The second one I would say is highlight a really powerful topic. testimonial or quote. So people want to see themselves reflected in who you serve. Ultimately, and we had talked earlier in this episode about how impactful it can be to have other people hype you up the experiences that they've had as well, and really showcase that and spotlight it. So number two, definitely highlight a powerful quote or testimonial. And then number three being launched graphics for video content as well. So again, it's not going anywhere. But perhaps having like a professional graphic for a reels cover will just look really polished, moving forward, but also will this video content will help serve you and reach others long after this launch to really help you with the future as well.
Speaking of video content, do you have some ideas you could share with our listeners that aren't just a speaking to like the camera, what are some other ways we incorporate video into our graphics and design,
I love a great transition, I think is a big piece. Of course, easier said than done. Some of the times if you've gone down that Tiktok rabbit hole for sure. I would say some great transitions are helpful making sure that you have captions for added accessibility, I think is a great piece graphic wise as well to incorporate or even colors to that extent. And then also considering just keeping it really simple and digestible. Because what's so second nature to you. And what you have to offer is often mind blowing to others is what I remind my clients of as well that you want to make it digestible for people to comprehend and have these little bite sized pieces of content that you can then expand upon further or build that interest as well, instead of giving away the whole thing in one go and potentially overwhelming, folks,
that's a good reminder. I love it. So we really like action around here. So if someone was going to design their own launch graphics, what are three tiny tweaks they could make, that would instantly make their graphics look more professional?
Yeah, you can definitely DIY some key elements. So I'm going to give you three tips here, one of them being alignment, so you can tighten up that layout and composition overall, with just making sure things are lined up properly, they have a cohesion to them as number two with their color is a big impact one according to that study, as I had mentioned to to really bring that overall look and feel together. So even if you incorporate video, if you incorporate photography with your graphics, then it's going to really bring it all together. So number two cohesion with color. And then the third piece being style and actually utilize your call to action buttons consistently for familiar encouraged action. So this is particularly for your website, I would say more often than times than not, I'm sure Sarah, you've seen this with your clients as well that you know, they have some really great copy on there that's converting but they don't necessarily put out the ask and the offer with those buttons to take that next step. So really do use them and make sure that they're all styled the same. So builds that familiarity that people could trust.
I like that you called out the CTA. That's something I definitely noticed all the time. And even sometimes, myself, like I'll write the copy. And then when we actually see it designed, I'm like, let's add in more here. Let's add in here, let's add in here, like it's once you can actually see it at roll huddle, it looks a little bit differently than what you're actually seeing on like the Google doc page, right? Yeah, it just makes it easy. Exactly. And even the same in emails, too. I've been we've been playing around with a couple of clients, instead of just doing the links and emails actually turning them into the buttons. Yes, pop that a little bit further. Because at launch emails can get pretty lengthy at times, right? Mm hmm. And then there's all that skimming. So we're like playing around with that and we actually had just it's like fresh in my mind. So just a client going through a launch and we'd optimize an email to us before and it went from like one sale to nine sales. It was just anything more those like CTA buttons right and that's all we really did to the email and like Oh, such a good reminder like and so I love that you call attention to like the CTA is they're
so impactful. They're my favorites too and yes with email especially and website because there is so much copy and content and it's all great that you want to make sure that you are encouraging people to actually read it equally as much right so sometimes what I do for clients as well as I review copy to when I'm designing is to bold certain sections or test parts of testimonials etc. Just to really make sure that if people are skimming which majority all are then really catering to them that if they are skimming that there's still pieces that they can emphasize and walk away with with actual value.
That's such a beautiful reminder that relationship between copy and design. And I think like as I mentioned before, like really even though again I look at the Google doc I might ultimately for client or put a highlighter or you know or make a CTA it's not until we see design that we can really see like like as you said, You know what this area needs to be bought like let's use other color here. Let's do something else here and I so always appreciate the designers for pulling that out and for having that. So amazing. We can have that like back and forth conversation about it. because you again until it's like out there, you can't really totally see the user experience, right until it's on the page, and it's there. And they're like, oh, no, we want to call attention to this. And there's all this, like, white space in Texas too heavy looking like what can we do here to change that up? And so I always love the conversations with the designers.
Oh, well, likewise, Sarah, I am so appreciative of you, we've like geeked out on this conversation before that, we appreciate each other so much. So if you can get, like awesome copywriter and designer on board for your launch, then it's gonna create the magic that you're really going after?
Definitely. Okay, so I'm gonna go back to the templates again. And I know I've brought them up a few times, but I just know that they're so yeah, they're so rare, like people are using them. And we don't want to know is like, when is it time to move on from templates that you do yourself? And when is it time to bring on designers such as yourself to do regular assets for you? How do we know?
Yeah, if you're getting frustrated by looking like everybody else, but it's not actually how you quite envisioned for your own business, then maybe that's one indication for sure. If you are even exploring a different target audience, or you're looking to charge higher rates, even this is a good time to reflect on how your designs are communicating effectively. And if it's not actually converting the way that you need them to, or bringing in the leads that you're looking for. This is another great indicator. So we talked a bit about analytics. So again, they don't lie and making sure that your goals are oriented with the actual analytics that are going to reflect those informed decisions when you are reflecting on is this template actually effective for me to continue DIY Ng and utilizing or to invest in another version like it? Or is it time to move on and customize a little bit further down the road here.
So good. Christina, what is one piece of advice you can share with our listeners about their launch design,
I mean, creativity is all about having fun and experimenting, and your launch should be fine. You believe in what you have to offer. And I know that you'd like to nail it once and maybe well, but it's all about trying it out. And if you feel like this launch is feeling like you're at capacity with your business going so well, even as well. It's still okay to reach out for help, so that you can focus on what you enjoy most.
Oh my gosh, I really appreciate that you said about the fun and reaching out for help. What I love with the guests I've had on Christina is I've had people from like working on the tech side of things behind the scenes like coaches and all come back to like, make your launch fun. Protect your and protect your energy. So I love that we're all coming at it from like different sides. Because like really like we know how much like we think a launch can be like, Oh, it's so much. But it doesn't have to be and you can change it up to make it work for you. So I feel like that was a perfect peak of my view ended on just really feels full circle for the conversations I have here.
Oh, brilliant. Well, that's the thing, right there is that I do notice actually, when I launch things that if I'm not having fun, I'm bringing that same, like integral energy to it, that it doesn't actually do as well, which is really interesting to see. So bring the fun. And the funds exactly both.
It's so true, though, like if you you know, if you don't have the energy to it, I feel like by the time you actually hit the doors open to something that you don't have the energy and the motive like and really the motivation anymore to sustain it through the launch. And you need to because they're gonna ride some waves during your ride, there's gonna be some downtime. Some of you might want to reach out to people and get on lives. Like all those things make a big difference during a launch. And if you hit that, like open date, and you don't feel it, that makes it over. See. Okay, so is there anything that you wish I asked Christine that I didn't, I wonder if
you want to dive into email newsletters and websites a bit because I know we talked a lot about the template side of things, which I think is super helpful for people, but they're looking holistically at their launch design wise, if there's any areas that you want to dive into also,
yeah, take us into email marketing.
What I mean? Hmm, email marketing. I mean, Sarah, I would love to besting there. Yeah, right. How long do we have for this?
I just said settle by get comfy.
I mean, I'm curious to Sara, like, I have a welcome sequence, for example, for a freebie that I have for lead generation. But then also, when it comes to launch time, I do have specific emails that go out to you know, address objections to share what the offer includes for setting expectations, et cetera. But I'm curious to know like how many emails for launches is too much. And then we can dive into some design aspects to really help enhance it to
Yeah, oh, gosh, I love the you asked me that. So in I want to say in like, most of the launches that I write for the open cart emails, which would be like the day you decide to open it the day to close it, we tend to have eight emails. So one per day, one per day, the Last Day has sort of got what seven to eight emails one per day and the Last Day has three Sometimes the fourth the fourth day has to, that tends to be the standard rhythm I have noticed has done well, it's a little bit uncomfortable the last day to send out the reminders, we spread them out like morning, afternoon, evening. But I find that they make all the difference. Like the times that people have not want to do to her like kind of pulled back from sending it out, you can see it in their numbers. And I feel like the way to combat that feeling of like this is too much is one, add consent into the emails and add an opportunity for people to opt out, right. So for any launch with people, we always send an email saying like this is coming. And if you don't want to hear about it, cool, just click here and you won't hear a peep until we're over. And then throughout the launch as well. We'll build in a couple like, Hey, do you don't want to you already know this isn't for you just click here and we'll remove you from it. So I feel like all by offering that, then it can feel less like you're doing like, it's like less overwhelming to people because you've given them the chance to say, No, thank you. And certainly put that the top two email times you put at the bottom of the email. So yeah, usually about eight emails for the open card. And then if you're doing maybe an event, like a like a launch event, or webinar or challenge or something, we have maybe about seven emails, probably leading from the registration up to that event, because there's the reminders show up, maybe getting them warmed up and excited. So but then all in all, like if you want to talk through an entire funnel going from like your lead magnet, when people sign up right through the post purchase sequence, those tend to be about 35 emails, like if you actually like link all the whole pathway, it probably tends to be about that much. It doesn't have to be of course, but you know, that's what I have found myself, like when I'm writing them that's tends to be sort of the number that we land on to take people in the experience we want them to have. Hmm,
yeah, that's a really great point, Sarah, and I love that you're building consent to the decision making process. And again, like analytics for that isn't a bad thing. If people choose to opt out, it's really finding the best fit for them possible. And I think being able to help people clearly identify themselves, if this is the right time right now to work with you or not, is a beautiful thing. And they're going to remember that experience of being asked like, oh, is this actually something relevant for you right now? And, you know, that's a it's a wonderful thing in that sense. So I love that.
Thanks. I find it to like, I've noticed that with my own launches and from the clients that people who have said no one time, it doesn't mean it's no forever, right? Like they'll tell you they're in the next launch. They're just not it's not right now. Yeah, but it's so much nicer. They still want to be in your world, like you give them the option not to just unsubscribe, like, I still want you around. So if you still want to be around, just click out of here, no problem. Like, yeah, you're this exactly, no, no, I've talked about, you know, like the number of emails that could go in, talk to me about how we can break up that text and how we can add some visual elements into those emails.
Yeah, I'm definitely a big fan of incorporating things. So usually what I've seen for success in my emails, campaigns, as well as like, having that compelling headline up top, it's like in terms of hierarchy as well, giving emphasis and maybe making it bigger, bolder at the beginning of giving context of what it is that they're about to read. And then perhaps like a one liner, or a little paragraph as well, that people can dive into a bit further. But from there usually at that point, I find, it's a great opportunity to add in a graphic, perhaps it's like that upcoming event that you have going on for a live to talk a little bit further about your programming, or there's an opportunity to add some brand photography there, whatever that looks like to keep it relevant, but also to convey that emotion that you're having. So you know, if it's tackling objections that day, in that email, perhaps you have like a shock face or something to that effect to really compel it a little bit further, so people can feel what that's really thinking like versus just reading it and not necessarily visualizing the whole story to captivate them. But otherwise, again, just really making sure that those buttons are stylized. So if there's a way to also mimic that overall styling from your website, even just keeping that a bit consistent, then I think that will be really helpful. And keeping in mind that like reds, yellows, greens, actually are one of the most highest performing color for buttons, surprisingly, which is interesting. So keeping that in mind, if that is in the brand color wheelhouse for what you have, then definitely utilize one of those but making sure that it's very concise clear of what people are clicking into.
This reminds me to we were talking earlier about the sales page. Like if you can only design one thing, focus on the sales page. This is where I have like quite a few clients will go back and pull like the mockups right from the sales pages into their email so we can, you know, showcase those, we're talking about the bonuses, so you know, be able to use those graphics from wherever you had designs really helpful. Sometimes we've had some clients make their own gifts, but it's much more fun if we could do it like professionally but We've done our own little version of it. Yeah, kind of cute.
Sounds very animated element is definitely something that helps get it out for sure. And you make a great point about the mock ups as well. Because especially if people are skimming and glancing through, if there's a lot to go through, then those are really going to go quite far in terms of how people are visualizing it further to definitely.
And then I like, I know that we talked a lot about testimonials. So it's one thing to in my client even doing so not just having, like the written testimonials, but like, sometimes we'll do screen captures, of course, but you know, sometimes putting those screencaptures into something prettier looking than just like how it looked on Facebook. And I'm sure that's where you would come in, in terms of making like really making it stand out look beautiful, but it's again, people love to see, like, the testimonials or the feedback from someone's actual, like, when they actually wrote it, you can see that proof that it was done by someone, as opposed to just us, you know, copying out in our own Yeah,
and you can have a variety of testimonials as well to help diversify this a bit further is like what you had mentioned screenshots in chats that you might have had in DMS comments, videos are really compelling or you know, any, like they come from everywhere, anywhere. So definitely keep yourself a hype file is what I like to call to and love it. You can refer back to it moving forward. And
then I'm guessing that's a designer week, you could put you know, put them like how's it been something nice looking. So you could be really pretty for the eyes. were reading those emails. But yeah, I love that we brought touch with email marketing, and just like what goes in it and how to break up all that text because I can get along?
Totally, yes, make it easier for yourself and for others.
And I hope the listeners made a note about the CTA buttons, because that's really interesting. It's like they were drawn to the stoplight colors.
Taking action. Yeah,
exactly. Okay, so Christina, you have a few helpful resources to share with us. Will you spill the details and where we can sign up?
Sure. So if you loved this episode, then definitely join me on the after party at Brand party podcast, anywhere that Podcasts can be found. Otherwise, I do have a brand consistency checklists that may be really helpful if you're preparing for a launch for that overall cohesion that you might be after so you can sign up for weekly love letters over on my website at Christine l designs COMM The last final bit I would love to personally invite you to the brand party challenge it is a free pay what you choose branding challenge for business owners who are looking to clarify your brand vision. So we discover your color palette, your core values, your mood board for that overall look and feel. You'll be able to join like minded entrepreneurs in a safe community to come as you are to celebrate your brand. So if you're looking for access to a branding expert at your fingertips and to join others, then definitely come and check out the next cohort of the brand party challenge at Christine l designs comm slash brand as party dash challenge. See you there.
Amazing. Thanks for seeing we will drop all those details in the show notes. Thank you for joining us to talk all about design and launching. It's been a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for having me, Sarah. Good luck, everyone.
Thanks for tuning in to the launch playbook podcast. If you want to get weekly launch secrets in your ears. I hope you'll hit subscribe on iTunes so you'll never miss an episode. Because who knows? It could reveal just a thing you've been looking forward to make your next launch a success. And be sure to leave a five star review in iTunes telling me how this episode inspired your launch plans. Until next time, keep putting your big ideas out to the world. I'm rooting for you
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