When it comes to launch planning, it's easy to get overwhelmed by everything you need to do. But fear not! This article will break down a 2-week open and closed launch as an example to show you how a successful product launch happens.

Here's the extremely high-level view of your launch plan:

• Start planning 3 months out so you aren't stressed

• You should be pre-marketing for 4-6 weeks ahead of launch

• Set low and high launch goals to manage your expectations

• Create a compelling sales page and captivating sales emails

• Build a social media marketing plan for during the launch

• Track your sales and remember your why for launching

That's the zoomed-out view of your launch, but now let's dive into each step so you have a product launch plan that will lead to revenue and happy customers!

Understanding Your Audience and Offer

Successful product launches are tied to knowing who you are trying to reach and what pain points your digital product is addressing.

Understanding your audience and the key benefits of your offer is essential for creating a marketing strategy that leads to sales.

Defining Your Target Audience

Your target audience forms the core of your launch plan. These are potential customers whose needs align with your product's value proposition.

To define your audience, it's helpful to fully picture this person in your mind so you can tailor all your messaging to them specifically:

• Where are they on their journey right now?

• What problems are they encountering?

• Does their income level match the price of your product?

• Do they share similar values to you?

• What frustrates them about your industry?

Defining your audience also involves understanding their behaviors, preferences, and challenges. Customer feedback surveys and market research can offer valuable insights into their psychology and how they interact with similar products if you don't have a clear picture of them.

Understanding Your Offer and the Problem It Solves

To create a compelling narrative around your product, clearly articulate the benefits and how it addresses specific issues your target audience faces.

One problem with most people's launch strategy is that they focus too much on the features of the product and not the actual benefits.

List your product features and translate them into benefits that solve a real-world problem for your customer.

Example Features/Benefits Table:

By understanding your target audience and how your product meets their needs, you lay the foundation for a successful launch.

Setting Low and High Goals for Your Launch

If there is ONE non-negotiable tactic for product launch planning we believe it's setting low and high goals.

Goal-setting is crucial for launch success because it sets your expectations up front. Too many creators will go into a launch with unrealistic expectations based on their specific email newsletter audience size, social media following, and level of trust from potential customers.

Whether it's your first official launch or you're a seasoned pro, writing down your sales goals up front will help reduce disappointment during your launch.

Why Low and High Goals are Crucial

Low (conservative) goals serve as an achievable benchmark, ensuring your product launch strategy meets your minimum expectations.

High (aspirational) goals reflect the best-case scenario, inspiring you to think big, but not so out of reach based on your limited audience size.

How to Set Low and High Launch Goals

Let's start with your low goals. These are sales numbers you should feel very confident that you can hit based on your audience size, product price, and a conservative conversion percentage.

Example Low Goals (selling a $100 digital product):

👉 Based on conservative conversion numbers, a realistic low goal would be 23 sales with an estimated launch revenue of $2,300.

Now, let's take a look at high goals. Again, these are not "shoot for moon!" goals, these are simply higher conversion percentages that still feel achievable.

Example High Goals (same $100 prodcut):

👉 Your high goals would be 46 sales or $4,600 in revenue.

Align these goals with your product and market strategy, refine them with every launch you do, and if you're not seeing the revenue numbers you want to hit you may need to spend more time outside of your launches doing content creation, social media marketing, and other audience-building strategies.

Building an Effective Pre-Marketing Strategy

Constructing an effective pre-marketing strategy is crucial for a successful launch. This involves laying the groundwork for your launch in advance and energizing your potential customers.

We like to look at pre-marketing plan in two phases. Phase #1 is creating your effective product launch plans and building all your assets and launch timelines. Phase #2 is the lead-up to your launch where you're starting to share marketing content with your audience.

Phase #1: Start Your Launch Planning 3 Months Out

A meticulous launch plan should begin at least three months before the actual launch. Giving yourself 3 months to set your marketing goals, build your launch process, and create all your promotional content will reduce overwhelm and stress!

3 months before launch:

• Complete product development.

• Refine your overall marketing plan.

• Develop creative assets and establish a marketing campaign for social media.

• Do outreach for any potential interviews/mentions with peers in your industry.

2 months before launch:

• Get content ready for social media platforms.

• Write, design, and soft launch your sales page.

• Write your sales emails and key messages you'll share with your audience.

1 month before launch:

• Start pre-marketing to your email list and social channels (weekly!)

• Have beta testers go through your product for any last feedback.

• Set your low and high launch goals.

• Have a simple product launch checklist ready for launch day.

Phase #2: Why the 4-6 Weeks Leading Up to Your Launch Are Critical

The 4-6 weeks before your launch are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT for momentum building, generating customer excitement, and finalizing your launch plan.

We highly recommend focusing on the following things:

• Weekly momentum building: This is prime time for generating buzz around your product launch. You should be including mentions about your upcoming launch date in your email newsletter as well as social media posts.

• Final touches: Use this time to make any final adjustments to your product based on early customer feedback and ensure all launch materials are polished and ready.

• Outreach and relationships: If you have any interviews or marketing collaborations with your peers, you should be executing these.

• Focus on the benefits: You've likely been heads-down staring at your product for countless hours, it's time to look up and remember your customers care about the benefits not the features!

• Testing everything: Go through your entire sales process from start to finish in a private or incognito browser window. Do a full purchase of your product and make sure any automations work as they should.

• Set low and high goals: Write down your conservative and (realistic) stretch goals to manage your expectations.

These last few weeks are about dotting the i's and crossing the t's, ramping up your audience's anticipation, and ensuring that when launch day arrives, all your previous hard work will lead to a successful product launch.

Crafting Your Sales Page and Sales Emails

A solid product launch plan requires a compelling sales page and sales emails that convert your warm audience to satisfied customers.

Use the POPSEPS Formula for Your Sales Page

The POPSEP formula stands for Problem, Outcome, Product, Social Proof, Examples, Purchase, and Scarcity.

• Problem: Identify the customer's problem (Ex: Do you feel overwhelmed by XYZ?)

• Outcome: Clearly articulate the outcome your customer wants (Ex: You'll save XX hours every month.)

• Product: Showcase your product as the solution to the problem that creates the outcome.

• Social Proof: Display customer testimonials and quotes (you should gather these in the 3 months before your launch).

• Examples: Show what your product look like! Screenshots, video walkthroughs, anything to get your customer excited.

• Purchase: End with a strong call to action to buy.

• Scarcity: Convey urgency or limited availability. If you're doing a 2-week open and closed launch, this is easy because the cart closes at a certain time.

It's very easy to overthink writing and designing a sales page. We believe in keeping it simple and sticking to the POPSEPS formula so you know exactly what to put on your sales page.

Sales Email Topics and Writing Prompts

Email marketing is a huge part of product launch success. Coming up with interesting sales emails is more than just repeating what's on your sales page, it's about conveying stories and messaging that helps convert subscribers into customers.

Here's a table of topics and writing prompts:

With careful planning, those eight email topics can create the exact structure for a 2-week open and closed product launch marketing plan.

Build Your Social Media Launch Marketing Plan

An effective product launch strategy in 2024 most likely includes social media. During the launch planning stage you should've outlined a social media strategy, created your social media posts, and set time on your calendar for when to post your content.

Choose social channels based on where YOU and your target customers are most active. There's no sense in posting on all platforms if you don't have a following on them and if your customers don't hang out there.

Example Social Media Marketing Schedule

Organize your efforts into a coherent schedule for consistent engagement. Social media feeds are overrun with content, so it's important to think about posting multiple times to create the maximum amount of potential touch points with your audience.

Example Schedule:

You might also have a YouTube channel, podcast, TikTok account, etc. Use the example schedule table above to create your own content creation plan of action.

Implementing Your Launch Plan and Launch Bonuses

Creating a Product Launch Checklist ahead of time will save you headaches and stress as your launch official starts.

The most successful product launches are the ones that are planned well in advance, have specific marketing strategies mapped out, and milestones set on a calendar.

The less you "wing it" with a launch, the smoother your launch will go!

Example launch schedule:

Have a "JICLI" Bonus Ready Ahead of Time

"JICLI" stands for "Just In Case Launch Incentive." This is a backup strategy for offering an additional bonus if the initial launch is underperforming.

This bonus is typically offered for a 24-48 hour period during the second week of the launch to boost sales. We like to keep this offer simple and straightforward, but only need to use it if our launch is not going to hit our goals.

A JICLI can be any type of bonus that your audience would find useful:

• 1-on-1 call with you

• Group coaching session

• Additional digital product (template, download, etc)

• Access to future products at a discount

Pre-write two sales emails for your JICLI and have them ready in advance of your launch. Slot them in toward the end of your 2-week launch to motivate customers who are on the fence.

Tracking Your Launch and Avoiding Launch Overwhelm

It's very easy to refresh your payment processor every hour during a launch, but we find having a simple sales dashboard that you update twice per day can help avoid the stress-inducing constant refreshing.

Create a Simple Sales Dashboard to Track Your Launch

You can create a sales dashboard in Notion, Airtable, Google Sheets, or just use a very simple table like the example below. The key is to set time in the morning and evening to update the table with new sales and then ignore it the rest of the day.

Example Dashboard:

Visualize Your Entire Launch and Set Mini Milestones

Break down your launch into manageable milestones months in advance. The further ahead you can get your product completed, sales page designed, sales emails written, social content created, etc, the smoother your launch will go and the calmer you'll feel when launch day rolls around.

Example Milestone Roadmap:

Remember WHY You're Launching in the First Place

Amid the intensity of a product launch, it's easy to lose sight of the fundamental reasons behind it. Regularly remind yourself of the core motivations driving the launch.

• Who is the actual customer you want to help?

• How does your product change their life for the better?

• How does this launch help your financial situation?

Establishing a sense of purpose can invigorate you, sustain momentum, and keep you going through the mundane parts of running a business.

Here's to your next calm launch!

By tracking your launch effectively, creating a streamlined sales dashboard, visualizing progress, setting mini milestones, and maintaining a clear vision of your purpose, you can manage a successful launch without stress and overwhelm.