5 Biggest mistakes when launching

If you have ever launched before, you know how easy it is to make mistakes.

When you are spinning all those plates and in many instances they just spin faster as you get near the finish line, it is easy to drop one or two along the way.

Over my years of working with multiple businesses both in-house and since I have set up my own business, I have made plenty of mistakes.

Being in the world of profile and momentum building for the last 12 years, I have also seen plenty of these mistakes from the side lines.

So here I share my list of 5 biggest mistakes when launching, so you can avoid these potholes.

LAUNCH MISTAKE 1

Diving straight into launch without a strategy

With my background in marketing strategy, I know how full well the importance of having one for your business and it is no different when launching.

How will you know where to promote your launch, when you need to start and what you need to talk about in your launch if you are flying by the edge of the seat throughout the launch process?

How will you know the launch did or did not meet your goals if you have never noted the goals in the first place.

The clearer your goals are and the clearer you are about how these goals can be met, the better the impact your launch efforts will have.

For example, one of the most common goal for launching a course is – Get XXX sign ups to my programme.

Now the strategy to meet this goal, could include:

Showing up in your content consistently
Giving value to your audience
Talking about your course
Growing your audience

Each of these activities will have a way you can measure of just how well you stayed on track and perhaps give you a reason why your goal was or was not met.

Don’t forget to make these objectives smart, listing how exactly these look like for you.

LAUNCH MISTAKE 2

Not being clear on who your target audience

This is one of the biggest mistakes when launching I have seen. Your course or group programme is not suitable to everyone.

Be specific and think about your target audience. Their age, disposable income, family status, their hobbies and books they read – all these attributes count.

Narrow them down to that one person who it is perfect for and then talk to them in your content.

LAUNCH MISTAKE 3

Unclear transformation/ Messaging

Whatever you are selling, it must have a clear transformation (promise) – an easy to understand benefit, that the customer can achieve with your help.

Don’t forget to also talk about WHY it is important to invest in this programme or course.

Remember: a confused mind says NO.

Keep your messaging as simple as possible and the transformation crystal clear.

Making the process to sign up, join your list or attend your next workshop incredibly easy and fun to do.

LAUNCH MISTAKE 4

Promoting more than one thing at once

Every launch needs time in between launches so your audience feels like you are no selling all the time.

It also helps if you don’t feel like you are just going from one launch to the next without much time to decompress and ‘enjoy’ the fruits of your labour.

Chances are you are a busy parent with multiple commitments, a house and a business to run.

Be sure to factor in all that you are doing and allow sufficient time in between launches.

LAUNCH MISTAKE 5

Not giving long enough to launch

This is one of the most common mistakes I see when it comes to launching your course or programme.

Going from “I need to launch this thing” to opening the cart, without much time to warm up your audience about it is one of the common reasons your audience don’t buy.

In marketing, we go with a certain statistic to draw campaign effectiveness. Your audience need to see and/or hear about you, your offer and why it is needed at least 7 times and in many instances it’s more like 12 before they are ready to buy from you.

This does not take into account the aspect that not all your messages, such as posts, blogs or emails get opened or seen. So to really maximise on the exposure that launching a course can give you, you need to be showing up at least 3 times more during your launch phase than you are when you are not launching.

I hate failing

Yes it sucks and is disheartening when your launch doesn’t go the way you wanted it to.

But it is about what you learn and how you dust yourself off that really matters.

So… what are you waiting for: Get launching!