How to launch a program
I love the idea of posts where we share our mistakes and what we learned to fix them!
It’s been awhile since I’ve done some sharing about the behind the scenes stuff going on in my business. And since I’ve shared my new Create Your Business subscription box with the world, I’ve got launching swirling around in my head.
A couple of years ago, I had my first attempt at launching my Pinterest coaching program, The Pinterest Traffic Builder.
I was so excited about this Pinterest program – it was different than anything else everyone was putting out there. It was a combination of my time saving Pinterest Process, training videos and a mastermind group where we could all work together to support each other to see better results on Pinterest.
I thought I had done everything right but my first launch crashed and burned. And since I’m being honest here … so did launch number #2, #3 and #4.
It was so bad that I didn’t have the energy to try again until the next year.
But running a business or blog is a learning process and over time, many things were tweaked and shifted with my Pinterest training program. So much that my latest session sold out half of the spaces in less than a week!
I thought I’d share the mistakes I’ve made along the way and what I did to improve the launching process to sell out half of my coaching program so quickly.
Launch Mistake 1: Expecting too much too soon
I thought I had all the pieces in place for this to be a successful launch.
I had done my homework by attending at least 10 different webinars about launching a program/product. I downloaded every worksheet, guide and pdf checklist I could find.
I worked through it all to figure out how many modules to create, how to make a workbook in Canva and did all the steps to create a sales page from the two group coaching programs I was in. I even got feedback from others to review my content and promotional strategy.
It felt like I had clicked every checkbox on my Evernote masterlist.
So the emails started going out to my list.
It wasn’t a huge list, like almost 2000 people but I wasn’t concerned about the number. I had read all the blog posts about how lots of folks had launched their programs with lists under 250 people. { remember, I had done my homework and read a ton of blog posts about launches! }
And I sat and waited.
I waited for the sound of the Paypal app to go off on my phone but all I got was the sound of crickets.
What I learned:
Most business launches are a gradual process.
If you spend time learning more about your favorite successful entrepreneur { either someone famous like Richard Branson or someone you follow on Facebook }, you’ll find that most of these folks have been doing this for years. And I mean like 5, 10 or more years.
They’ll never claim that they were an overnight success story.
As for my community on my list?
Well, that’s been a gradual process too.
I tried to take them from downloading a free ebook to spending the equivalent of a car payment for a program that they’ve never heard of until I started sending them emails.
I didn’t have a clear customer journey that they could take them from learning more about how I could help them. I had nothing in place to provide them more value or to sell them something on the low end of the scale like a $15 ebook.
I don’t think I even understood what a sales funnel was!
My big takeaway: It takes time to know your community and show them what’s it like to work with you before they spend any money.
There are so many other people out there fighting for their attention and their dollars that it takes more than working through a downloadable guide with a checklist to get them click the Buy Here button.
You need to spend time with your community and take them with you down the ‘know, like and trust’ path before they’ll buy from you.
Launch Mistake 2: Waiting too long to get out there
Going back to my launch checklist, I thought all I needed to do was send a bunch of emails and do a couple of webinars and BOOM – everyone would just buy from me.
I was so wrong on this one too!
For many of the people on my list, my one webinar { yeah can you believe this, I did just ONE! } was the first time they’ve seen my face and heard my voice.
I hadn’t done a Facebook Live to answer questions. I didn’t jump into my Instagram stories to share some Pinterest tips. I didn’t do any online workshops before my launch to share any great helpful steps with my community.
And then I just decided to show up in their inbox and they would buy me? Wrong.
What I learned:
I don’t know how many times I’ve said, “People do business with PEOPLE that they know and trust.” And here I was – I didn’t give my community a chance to get know me as a person outside of a profile picture, someone they could trust to help them solve their problems.
My big takeaway: Invest in a good webinar program and make the effort to consistently get yourself out there to connect with your community.
I signed up for Crowdcast and now I schedule at least 2 online workshops every month. Sometimes I bring in guests to share what they know like how to be more visible online and other times, I do some free Pinterest coaching like how to go viral on Pinterest.
And don’t take it personally about how many people show up live to your events.
With everyone’s busy schedules, most people are more likely to catch your workshop or Facebook Live in the replay. The important thing is to show up and be consistent about it so your community gets to know who you are and what you do.
Launch Mistake 3: Not solving a problem
Sometimes we get a really great idea and get so excited about it that we don’t take the time to work things through.
My first version of the Pinterest coaching program focused on my pinning strategy, which only takes 15 minutes a day.
I was convinced that people who want to use Pinterest as a marketing tool wanted to learn a process that didn’t take up too much time in their busy day. That they didn’t want to spend money on a paid scheduler or spend hours pinning 100+ pins every day.
Now I’m not saying that THIS isn’t an issue for Pinterest users but it’s not really the problem that they wanted me to solve. And certainly NOT something they were willing to pay for!
After my first disaster launch, I spent the next three months working 1:1 with my target customers with Pinterest Audits, listening to what their real challenges were with Pinterest. I learned that most of them weren’t that concerned with the time they spent pinning or spending a few dollars on a scheduler.
What they really wanted to know was how to make money using Pinterest.
They wanted to know how to connect with more customers. And they wanted to learn how to create a customized marketing plan that they could easily duplicate with all their services and products.
What I learned:
Communication with your community is just as important as having a great idea, maybe even more.
Spend some time talking to your customers or have them fill out a survey. Do some research in your Facebook Groups and read not just the posts but the comments from the people in the group.
And compare what you’ve learned to the program or product you’ve created. Does your great idea solve the problem that your customers are talking about?
My big takeaway: Do some research work BEFORE you spend anytime creating a workbook or producing a set of videos.
You can build the best looking website with a slick membership program but if you’re not solving any problems your customers are dealing with, no one is going to buy.
Launch Mistake 4: Following everyone’s advice but not following your gut
I’ve touched on this before about the checklists I’ve downloaded and webinars I watched. I read the guides and followed the step-by-step process to launch a product.
I did everything they told me to do and yet, deep down inside, it just didn’t feel right.
I was told that I needed to create videos and workbooks for at least 6 modules. I needed to develop a website with a membership plugin so I could drip the content over 6 weeks.
I spent WAY too much time, money and frustrated energy trying to do all these things that everyone was telling me that I needed to have for a successful launch.
And what happened after I followed everyone’s advice and steps to launch my Pinterest coaching program? Nothing. Zip, zero, nada.
What I learned:
If it doesn’t feel right, trust your gut.
Just because all these top bloggers have claimed that this launch sequence will generate a 6-figure launch for you, it doesn’t mean it’ll happen for your launch. If you find yourself fighting to do the work because something inside of you is screaming at you not to record that video, don’t do it.
There is no such thing as the perfect launch process with a 6 email sequence that will increase your income by thousands of dollars. It doesn’t exist so stop looking for it.
Stop stressing over this process and do what feels right for you and your business. Developing your program and the launch should flow with ease as you’re creating your sales page and promotional email messages.
My big takeaway: I threw out all my checklists and stopped watching any launch webinars.
I asked myself, “If I paid money to take the Pinterest Traffic Builder program, what would I want to learn and how would I want to learn it?”
I went from a 6 week program that dripped out videos every week to creating a 2-hour Online Learning Workshop.
I set up a private area in a password protected area for questions and to ensure that if anyone was struggling, they’d have a place to go to get their questions answered.
And then as a bonus, I set up a second live 2-hour Online Learning Workshop after the first training session. How many times have you attended an interactive workshop and learned amazing action steps to take your social marketing to the next level only to drop the ball a few weeks later? The additional live 2-hour Online Learning Workshop resolved that problem.
In my heart and in my gut, I felt good about what I now call the Pinterest Traffic Builder program.
Others must have felt it too because finally after all those attempts to launch a Pinterest training program, I made my first sale. And then another one and then another …
I did things my way and it felt good.
I truly believed that my community felt it too because the last session I offered was able to sell out half of the spaces in less than a week.
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