Stop Skipping this Big Step when Launching your Business
I’ll let it out and be vunerable for a moment: my weakness as an entrepreneur is that I am short-sighted. I want results like, yesterday. When I have an idea, I want to implement it in the next 45 minutes. Otherwise, I’m on to the next thing.
Shiny Object Syndrome. I have it bad.
My focus is something I work very hard on, to be honest. I have to establish processes and steps that literally SLOW. ME. DOWN.
And when I’m launching a new product, that’s a difficult thing.
I am so passionate and excited and I want to go – go – go and get this thing launched while the juices are flowing!
Taking my time is seriously the hardest thing for me. And that’s why these next words are so. dang. Important.
Stop skipping prelaunch.
When you have something new to promote, you need to spend A LONG time in prelaunch.
Like, a painstakingly long time.
So let’s get to it:
Quickly — what do I mean by Prelaunch?!
Prelaunch is basically your “prep time” before you have your big ideas hashed out. You know, those “big ideas” that I usually try to rush into a whole 45 minutes (which I obviously know is wrong, uhg…)
When launching something new, prelaunch may take a few weeks. Yes, WEEKS.
Actually, one of my current coaching clients isn’t planning on launching until May, and we’ve been working together on this since November. Her patience is something I truly admire. But she is going to have a KILLER launch once she’s ready.
Psst… Get my Prelaunch Emails here:
The process that works the best for me is to decide on a launch date on the calendar that is VERY FAR AWAY. And I work towards it. These weeks are what entrepreneurs like me choose to ignore and rush past, probably because they are boring and tedious.
But they are so necessary.
Why is Prelaunch so necessary?
I’ll first state the obvious:
- Your best ideas probably don’t come to you in 45 minutes. You actually probably will benefit from a little planning, no?
- The beauty of Prelaunch is that you can actually use that time to build an audience to LAUNCH to.
Re-read #2, ok? PreLaunch is the time you build your audience.
You know, so when you send out your big launch email and spam your Facebook and scream from the mountain tops that you have finally launched, people actually know what to do.
People act! People GIVE YOU THEIR MONEY!
Because you’ve been prepping them to do it for weeks.
It’s so obvious that a beautifully leveraged Prelaunch could really set up a brand for success.
Prelaunch in Action
If you wanted to see this in action, check out what I’m doing with my new brand, ShopBuzzed.com.
The basic gist of it is that we’re launching a series pop up shops in bars all over Chicago, and the first one launches March 3rd.
We’re promoting the launch of our first shop on Instagram and on our website, which is basically just a landing page to collect emails.
Throughout the next few weeks, we will be sending a series of emails to help promote the event, define our brand, and just overall entertain our audience. You know, til we get our sh*t together and are ready to launch.
Come March 3, we should have an audience fully prepped and ready to come have a great time with us at our first Shop Buzzed event!
About that Prelaunch Email Series
You’re absolutely right to think that the bread and butter of prelaunch is happening within the email series.
Next important question: What the heck do I talk to my audience about?
It may seem difficult to come up with weeks worth of emails promoting a brand or product that doesn’t exist. But it’s not that difficult, I promise. Actually, I’ve done it a bunch of times.
And I even compiled them for you! Click below and I’ll send you my cheat sheet that I like to call “What the Heck am I Going to Talk to Them About” It’s a list of topics to connect with your audience BEFORE you have anything to sell them.