Step 1: Create a Launch Strategy Schedule

Add a brief overview or the name of the lesson here.

The first step in mapping out your launch is deciding exactly when it will happen – and for how long. Without a launch schedule, you’ll miss important steps, forget to send important emails, and won’t make as much money.

Some people don't like to plan because they want to fly by the seat of their pants.  You can definitely do that, but there are two major reasons you should plan instead.  

First, it is less stressful.  This is true if you work by yourself or with a team.  When you know what tasks to do when, you can breakdown a big project into little bit size pieces.

Second, it gives you time to let people know about your new product. During the process you could let your audience know about it, as well as your affiliates.  This allows your affiliates to create a bonus and add it to their promotional schedule.

So you'll to remember that planning reflects directly on your ROI.  Whether that is money or time.  

Your launch schedule is your roadmap to making sales while also keeping your sanity. When you know what has to happen when in a chronological timeline makes life easy for you and any outside contractors you hire to assist with the launch. Instead of wondering “what happens next?” your entire team can see the progression of steps and knows exactly when different deadlines are due.

From the beginning of the launch, everyone is on the same page.

Getting Started

To get started, you'll want to decide on the following when scheduling your launch/promotion.  

1. What type of a product / launch will this be?  This could be your product, a giveaway/summit/bundle, a special month long promotion, a different deal each day (like 13 days of Christmas).
2. Who is partcipating?  This could be something you're doing by yourself, with a JV partner, or with people who plan to participate.  Each of these will take different lead times to get done (see #4).
3. How many days will the launch be?  This could be 3 days to 30+ it really depends on what you're promoting and how you want to set it up.
4. How long does the lead up time need to be?  If you're doing a longer promotion, you'll likely have a longer time frame before you start promoting the launch.  So a short launch like 3 to 10 days could take 30 days to get everything together whereas, a giveaway that has other creators participating might take 60 to 90 days.
5. Pick the dates that work for you to launch your product / promotion and add them to your calendar.

When you're scheduling your launch or promotional dates you'll want to take a look at your work and personal calendars and take note of the months and days when you don’t have anything scheduled. Be careful scheduling a launch right before/after your family’s vacation.

Also, be aware of the following because these could work for or against your launch:

• Do you generally notice a slow down during a certain time of year? 
• Are there other months or seasons when things pick up?
• Are there certain holidays / times that you could take advantage of to help promote your launch?
• Is there any you want to stay away from?

I want to give you a few examples for what time of year to schedule:

Example 1: Slow Periods

Normally, all businesses have a slow time during the year.  You could take advantage of this by creating a promotion that will offer your audience a massive discount and / or your affiliates more commissions if they promote during this time period.

You could also offer a bundle, giveaway, or summit.  All of these bring massive value to your audience and will help you grow your business.

Example 2: Holidays

Take advantage of holidays especially Black Friday.  Offer a promotion that is going to help your audience take advantag of your amazing proucts at a huge discount.

Or you could create 13 Days of Christmas and offer a discount for each day.

Now, here is a sample launch schedule for a typical launch that tends to work well for your products:

Launch Schedule Example:

• Day 1 – Release first pre-launch content 
• Day 3 – Second pre-launch content
• Day 5 – Sales webinar or livestream event
• Day 6 – Open cart
• Day 7 – End early bird price
• Day 8 – Launch extended payment plan
• Day 9 – Cart close

I want to walk through this schedule a little. 

We’ll discuss pre-launch content in the next section, but this content will get your audience excited about your launch. It builds anticipation and intrigue while still offering value or help with an existing problem. Your audience should want to hear more about your product or what you're doing after reading this content.

Now if you'll notice that nothing is listed for Days 2 and 4 but that doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything. You still want to be in front of your audience, so a good way to do that is to be present on social media. Schedule some podcast or other media interviews for those days so you can promote your webinar and/or new product. Send out emails promoting your upcoming webinar or livestream event.

Tailor this schedule to the needs of your audience.

A webinar or livestream option is listed for Day 5, but this is completely up to you - so don't stress if you don't want to go live.  Find something else that you can do that instead.

Here is why you should consider it...

At this point in the launch schedule, you’ve built up buzz and you’ve offered help without giving away all your secrets; now it’s time to outwardly promote your new product. Video is extremely powerful in developing the relationship between you and your audience members, so don’t dismiss this option. This format allows for offering your paid product at the end, which will entice audience members to buy right away to jumpstart your sales.

Your plan doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be written down for you and your team to easily reference. 

Today's Action:  Plan Your Launch & Add It To Your Calendar

• Decide Launch Type: Determine if it's a product release, giveaway, summit, bundle, special promotion, or another type of product launch or promotion.
• Identify Participants: Specify if the launch involves a solo effort, a JV partner, or other participants.
• Set Launch Duration: Choose the number of days for the launch, considering the nature of the promotion.
• Determine Lead Time: Assess the time required for preparation, considering the complexity of the launch.
• Add To Calendar: Mark launch dates on your calendar.
• Create Your Launch Strategy Plan: Ensure your launch plan is documented for easy reference by you and your team.

Not sure what your next step is? (this headline will change each time based on the products you're offering)
 

In here you're going to add more product that go with the course.  This could be PLR that will help them or the next course they should look into.  You can also add affiliate offers, but look in your products first.

Also, you can create a buy button from Shopify or create a collection where it adds select products at the bottom here.

You could also add a product image in the columns below and then link to those specific products.  Lots of income potential here.  Don't forget to put the uri parimeters so you can record where the purchases came from.  You want to be able to track it.

In here you're going to add more product that go with the course.  This could be PLR that will help them or the next course they should look into.  You can also add affiliate offers, but look in your products first.

Also, you can create a buy button from Shopify or create a collection where it adds select products at the bottom here.

You could also add a product image in the columns below and then link to those specific products.  Lots of income potential here.  Don't forget to put the uri parimeters so you can record where the purchases came from.  You want to be able to track it.