1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:05,519 More often than not, if somebody's launch fails, it's probably because of a 2 00:00:05,679 --> 00:00:08,320 messaging issue. This is what I've noticed, Right most of the time, 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:12,839 it's a messaging issue. It's not a matter of nobody wanting that actual offer, 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:17,000 it's just that they couldn't communicate it in a way that made people realize 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,079 this was what they needed and this is something that they should prioritize spending their 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:26,320 money on. Welcome to Imperfect Action. I'm Steph Taylor. For years, 7 00:00:26,399 --> 00:00:29,760 I read all the books, downloaded all the freebies, and did all the 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,759 courses, but it wasn't until I started taking imperfect action that my business had 9 00:00:34,759 --> 00:00:40,920 its first million dollars year. Imperfect Action is about doing things before you're ready, 10 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:46,600 prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, and moving forward even when you're not 11 00:00:46,679 --> 00:00:51,039 sure you're doing it right. On this show, you can expect mindset advice, 12 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:55,759 actionable marketing tips and strategies to build a business that brings you more profit, 13 00:00:56,119 --> 00:01:00,159 more freedom, and even more joy. Are you on the list to 14 00:01:00,159 --> 00:01:03,879 get my daily Businesses? Every day, I'll send you a bite sized prompt 15 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,120 designed to help you grow your business in a more intentional way. Sign up 16 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:12,000 at Steph Taylor dot co forward slash DBB, or at the link in the 17 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:19,159 show notes. Hey, welcome back to Imperfect Action. This is episode six 18 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:23,840 hundred and seventy nine. Today, I'm talking about a big mistake that I 19 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:30,680 notice happening with people who are creating online courses, programs, memberships, basically 20 00:01:30,719 --> 00:01:37,680 any kind of offer that they are then planning to launch out into the world. 21 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:42,719 Now, the big mistake is spending too much time focusing on the content 22 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:48,799 of your product and not actually thinking about your launch, or more specifically, 23 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,840 how you're going to sell this product. Now, when I'm talking about the 24 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,280 launch in this context, I'm not talking about the very first time that you 25 00:01:55,359 --> 00:02:00,159 put it out into the world and there's this big champagne and confetti and my 26 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:02,840 online course is available finally to buy for the very first time. That's not 27 00:02:02,879 --> 00:02:07,280 what I mean by the launch. By the launch, I mean the sales 28 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,439 process, the way that you are selling this offer. And you might launch 29 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:15,960 the same offer several times in one yet, so the big mistake is spending 30 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:21,560 way too much time creating the content and not enough time thinking about how you 31 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:24,800 are going to sell it. Now. Wanting to create the best online course 32 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:30,919 program membership is great, but unfortunately the best offer, the best product, 33 00:02:31,039 --> 00:02:36,120 it's not going to sell itself. And that's where your strategy comes into it. 34 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,199 It has nothing at all to do with creating the product and what goes 35 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,159 into it, and everything to do with how you are going to get it 36 00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:46,759 into your customer's hands. Right, you could make the best offer, jam 37 00:02:46,759 --> 00:02:51,599 pack it full of value and content, and it would still struggle to sell 38 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,120 itself. Now, this is the big mistake that I see people making is 39 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,439 they spend way too much time creating that course, that program, that membership, 40 00:02:58,479 --> 00:03:01,159 and not enough time actually launching it. Launching it is one of the 41 00:03:01,159 --> 00:03:05,759 ways you can test that idea. It's how you can get that feedback to 42 00:03:05,879 --> 00:03:08,280 then tweak it and pivot it if you need to, And it's how you 43 00:03:08,319 --> 00:03:12,800 get that offer in front of people. It's how you sell it. Now, 44 00:03:12,879 --> 00:03:17,960 most people think that selling and marketing a digital product a course is about 45 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,599 finding people who want what they are selling, and ninety nine percent of the 46 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:27,199 time this is a backwards strategy that then leads them to wonder, why does 47 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,719 nobody want this? If you are dead silent for eleven months and then poke 48 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,039 your head out of your cave to promote your offer for a month, and 49 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,240 then you disappear again the minute doors close. Your audience isn't going to trust 50 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:45,319 you, let alone buy from you. Great content is important, Great content 51 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:47,719 in your offer and your product is important, but they're not going to buy 52 00:03:47,879 --> 00:03:53,400 just because your course content is good. There are so many great courses out 53 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,439 there with no students. There are so many great memberships that are struggling to 54 00:03:55,439 --> 00:04:00,919 scale. There are so many great group programs that they can't fill. But 55 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,560 there are also so many really terrible ones that are selling well just because somebody's 56 00:04:04,599 --> 00:04:09,199 good at marketing and marketing. When I talk about it in this context, 57 00:04:09,199 --> 00:04:12,520 it's not about getting more followers. It's not about having a big audience. 58 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:17,120 You can have a great product and a big audience and still struggle to sell 59 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:23,319 your offer if you don't get these things right. So firstly, clarity on 60 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:28,000 exactly who your offer is for. You may think you know who your offer 61 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,680 is for, but most of the time when I chat to my students about 62 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,800 this, or clients as well in now VIP days, they try and tell 63 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,240 me who their offer is for, and I realize, huh, they're rambling 64 00:04:39,439 --> 00:04:43,600 because they actually don't know who their offer is for, so they're just giving 65 00:04:43,639 --> 00:04:46,360 me like the word vomit version of it. If I ask you who is 66 00:04:46,399 --> 00:04:53,319 your offer for and your response is some kind of broad segment of people business 67 00:04:53,319 --> 00:04:57,279 owners, for example, rather than saying a business owner who is in their 68 00:04:57,319 --> 00:05:01,000 third year of business and runs some kind of service based or if your answer 69 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:09,160 includes and or it includes or right business owner who runs a service based business 70 00:05:09,399 --> 00:05:14,439 or an e commerce business, that means you don't know who your offer is 71 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,839 for, clearly enough. And two problems with not knowing exactly who your offer 72 00:05:18,879 --> 00:05:21,600 is for. Firstly, your offer is not going to get them the best 73 00:05:21,639 --> 00:05:26,720 result. The best kind of online cause or program is the one that gets 74 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,000 the right people from a to be the quickest possible way. But if you 75 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:38,000 have a really broad intended buyer for this offer, then it's going to be 76 00:05:38,079 --> 00:05:42,160 really challenging because you might have to add extra content just in case they're in 77 00:05:42,199 --> 00:05:46,519 this situation or just in case they have this problem. And the other problem 78 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,600 is that your messaging won't resonate with them in a way that makes them think, 79 00:05:50,079 --> 00:05:54,360 oh, this was made for me, and instead you might find that 80 00:05:54,399 --> 00:05:58,040 they're questioning, is this for me? Or they won't see the value in 81 00:05:58,079 --> 00:06:02,279 it. Then Number two to audience research. Once you know who your offer 82 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,120 is for, you need to start talking to people who are similar to that 83 00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:10,560 ideal client. Find out what they're struggling with, find out how they are 84 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:15,079 experiencing the problem that your offer solves, find out what they desire, and 85 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,519 then listen to the language that they use to talk about it. Using the 86 00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:24,519 language or listening to that language is the shortcut to creating messaging that resonates with 87 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,800 the right people and shows them that it's the right choice for them. It's 88 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,839 exactly what they need. It also shows you what you need to include in 89 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:35,040 your offer and what maybe you don't need to include because they already understand this. 90 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,639 And it also shows you what kind of free content you need to share 91 00:06:39,759 --> 00:06:43,680 in the lead up Two doors open, which leads me to number three. 92 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,040 Free content. So when I talk about free content, I'm talking about social 93 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,399 posts, podcast episodes, if you have a podcast, emails to your list, 94 00:06:50,959 --> 00:06:56,120 everything that you are sharing for free online in that sixty to ninety days 95 00:06:56,639 --> 00:07:00,240 before you actually ask somebody to buy, and all of this content is ideally 96 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,639 bridging what I call the magician's gap, the gap between where your ideal client 97 00:07:03,759 --> 00:07:08,040 is right now and where they need to be to be ready to buy your 98 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:12,600 particular offer. This content is not going to be how to content. Instead, 99 00:07:12,959 --> 00:07:15,879 you're going to cover that bridge. You're going to bridge that gap in 100 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,759 their knowledge they're understanding right Your audience research will help you to understand where your 101 00:07:19,759 --> 00:07:23,519 audience is at right now, where your ideal client to that right now, 102 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,360 and you, as the expert, also need to start thinking about where do 103 00:07:28,399 --> 00:07:30,319 they need to be to be ready to buy, and then you can bridge 104 00:07:30,319 --> 00:07:33,519 that gap with your free content so that when you sell to them, you've 105 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:38,639 already brought them on this journey to where they need to be right Your other 106 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,399 free content piece is your launch lead magnet. Now. Back in episode six 107 00:07:42,519 --> 00:07:46,639 hundred and seventy four, I shared an episode on how to develop the right 108 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,920 lead magnet for a particular offer. If you want to listen to that episode, 109 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,600 send me a DM on Instagram. I'm there at steph Taylor dot Co. 110 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,360 Send me the number six seven four, six hundred and seventy four and 111 00:07:57,519 --> 00:08:01,920 I'll send you the automatic link to and listen to that episode directly now. 112 00:08:01,959 --> 00:08:05,959 Next week, I'm also running a free live event for people who are on 113 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,279 the Launch Magic waitlist only. It is capped at one hundred attendees, but 114 00:08:11,399 --> 00:08:13,079 you need to be on the waitlist to score and invite. So if you 115 00:08:13,079 --> 00:08:16,680 send me a DM on Instagram send me the word magic, or if you 116 00:08:16,759 --> 00:08:20,000 visit Steph Taylor dot co slash Magic, you can join the waitlist over there 117 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:24,600 and you'll get that invite when it goes out. Okay, Number four your 118 00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:28,879 offer messaging. So, in other words, how are you communicating your offer 119 00:08:28,959 --> 00:08:33,399 in a way that makes the right person think this was made for me and 120 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,279 the wrong person realized, oh, this isn't for me. So your messaging 121 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:41,240 is going to include how you preempt your ideal clients questions and their objections and 122 00:08:41,279 --> 00:08:46,159 how you address those. It's going to include how you communicate the problem that 123 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,679 your offer solves, the solution to their problem, and the transformation that they're 124 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,440 going to have once that problem is solved. It's going to communicate who it's 125 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:58,799 for, who it's not for. And you could have the best online course, 126 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:03,320 program, membership, whatever, but if your messaging sucks, it's not 127 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,519 going to sell. And more often than not, if somebody's launch fails, 128 00:09:07,159 --> 00:09:11,159 it's probably because of a messaging issue. This is what I've noticed, right 129 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,320 most of the time, it's a messaging issue. It's not a matter of 130 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,600 nobody wanting that actual offer, it's just that they couldn't communicate it in a 131 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:22,919 way that made people realize this was what they needed and this is something that 132 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:28,399 they should prioritize spending their money on. Number five is validation, So testing 133 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,840 that messaging. Once you've got that messaging, test it to see if it 134 00:09:31,879 --> 00:09:37,639 resonates with your ideal client, and potentially even testing the offer, so potentially 135 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,919 launching it, selling it, and then creating it before you've invested all this 136 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,519 time into creating an offer, find out if that's something that people will actually 137 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:50,960 spend money for. And I know waitlists can be a pretty common form of 138 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:56,039 validation, but they're not a great form of validation. They're not super strong 139 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,320 because you're not actually asking somebody to commit to twelve weeks of your course or 140 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:05,120 commit to paying money for it. But instead, if you're asking somebody to 141 00:10:05,159 --> 00:10:09,679 pay for an early bird spot, then that's a much better form of validation. 142 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,240 You know, oh, people are willing to actually hand over their money 143 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:18,159 and commit the time to doing this. Number six is audience grows and email 144 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:24,879 list building. Now I regularly chat with people who tell me some version of 145 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:28,799 I'm disappointed in my launch because only ten people signed up, And then we 146 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,720 do a little bit of digging into the numbers and it turns out that they 147 00:10:31,799 --> 00:10:35,799 only had a hundred people on their email list and their launch actually converted at 148 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,480 ten percent, which is amazing. Rather than waiting for your audience to be 149 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,840 big enough before you launch, start that sixty to ninety day launch process and 150 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:48,080 grow your audience at the same time, and focus on building your email list. 151 00:10:48,519 --> 00:10:50,159 Because now, once you start to think of launching as something that you 152 00:10:50,159 --> 00:10:54,559 can do over and over again. Each time you launch, you can grow 153 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:58,320 your audience a little bit more and you can sell more. And once it's 154 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,480 converting, well, then you can invest in paid ads and you can really 155 00:11:01,519 --> 00:11:05,679 double down on growing that audience and then converting them. And then, lastly, 156 00:11:05,879 --> 00:11:09,679 number seven, your launch assets, so your sales page, your cut 157 00:11:09,759 --> 00:11:13,279 open emails, your webinar slides, all of those things. They're not an 158 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,039 afterthought. These are the things that actually help to sell your offer. They 159 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,759 bring together your messaging in a way that helps the right people decide that your 160 00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:24,960 offer is right for them and the wrong people realize that your offer is the 161 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,720 wrong one for them, And it's not just all about sharing those features and 162 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,559 benefits, right. So it's not about saying, oh, we've got ten 163 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:37,360 zoom calls so that you can ask all of your questions, but it's also 164 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,159 thinking about what are the hesitations that might stop somebody from signing up or what 165 00:11:41,279 --> 00:11:45,399 questions might they have. So if you've got ten zoom calls, some of 166 00:11:45,399 --> 00:11:48,200 the questions to preempt might be what time are the calls? Do I have 167 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,840 to attend them live? Are their recordings? Can I submit my questions ahead 168 00:11:52,879 --> 00:11:56,679 of time? These are all potential questions that will come up for somebody that 169 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,759 can stop them from buying. So there you have it. Those are seven 170 00:12:00,919 --> 00:12:05,200 things that matter more than the content that's inside your product. Yes, create 171 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:09,759 the most incredible experience for your students. Yes, over deliver, but that's 172 00:12:09,759 --> 00:12:13,480 not what's going to sell, okay, So if you want to actually sell 173 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,679 your offers, you also need to focus on who is that ideal client, 174 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,559 getting really clear on them, doing that audience research, creating epic free content, 175 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:26,080 getting clear on your offer messaging, validating that messaging, and that offer 176 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:31,759 building your audience and your email list, and creating strong strategic launch assets. 177 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,320 That is it for today's episode. If you have learned anything from the show 178 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,759 so far, please take the thirty seconds and leave a quick rating and a 179 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:45,120 review. I really really appreciate everyone who does that. Thanks so much for 180 00:12:45,159 --> 00:12:46,399 listening. Catch you next time.