5 Steps To Launch A Product Online | Kellie O'Brien Media

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One of the most anxious and stressful things we can do as business owners is an online product launch. I've lost count of how many launches I've done for myself and for clients over the years. However, one thing I know is that it doesn't matter how big or small the campaign, the least stressful is the one with a strong plan mapped out beforehand.

In this blog post, I want to guide you through the 5 steps to launch a product, program or course online that has helped myself and clients fill four spots in a mastermind to yielding five and six figures of course sales.

Preparing for an online product launch

There are a lot of things that can hold you back from success.

It may be the mindset games that play in your head. You know the ones:

What if I fail to have product launch success?
I don't know enough
People will hate it
What if it's a huge success and I can't handle it?

That last one is real!

And sometimes it's that you genuinely don't know how all the pieces fit together during a launch. If that's you, then this Six Weeks To Launch checklist is a handy tool to have with you.

Download Your Checklist

You may already have the seed of an amazing idea for your program or course. Or maybe you've already launched your program once or twice, but you want to do it "properly" this time.

This is your five product launch strategy steps for a product, program or course, without ending up panicking at the 11th hour because you forgot to do an integral step.

1. Your Pre-Launch

Step one in your product launch plan happens long before you get to the campaign part at all. In my Six Weeks To Launch checklist, you'll see that the bulk of the first six weeks is preparing for your "event". More on that later.

The reality is, the more effort you put in with your pre-launch, the more successful your launch will be.

Here's a little of what those six weeks might include:

Six Weeks: Decision Making

This 4-6 week pre-launch phase should involve a lot of the decision making. This includes mapping out the timeline. That timeline will include:

blog posts
email newsletters
social media marketing plan and content
public relations campaign
pre-content pieces / event
creation of pages (registration, sales, cart...)
early bird offer
open cart emails
Advertising campaign

There is a lot of organising of people that can happen at this stage, depending on what type of launch you're going to do. For example, if you have affiliates or joint ventures, these commitments need to be in place early. If you're going to have a team support you, then ensure you have those people in place.

If you're unsure who to have on your launch team, some ideas include: launch strategist, copywriter, tech, mindset coach, administrative and/or customer service support, Facebook ads expert. When I'm coaching a client, I often help with launch strategy, copywriting, tech set up, Facebook ad set up and management, and mindset.

One of the key parts is your "pre-launch event". It's a free event you put on to pique people's interest about your program and get them excited to buy. You need to determine what your pre-content event will be. See step 2 for more.

Mindset can be one of the biggest areas you'll be challenged in when it comes to launching. Knowing a little of what to expect (little things like nearly half your sales can often come in the final 2-3 days) can go a long way in calming nerves.

Five Weeks: Systems and Storytelling

We want to use this week to either decide on systems or set them up. This includes everything from your webinar software, payment processing, landing pages and email marketing.

We then blend the set up and building of our landing and sales pages with the storytelling and messages that you'll use not only through that sales page, but also through blog posts, emails, social media and your "big launch event".

You can enhance the storytelling and social proof to attract sales, by using this time to collate any testimonials and case studies you can use throughout your launch.

One of the key stages is your "pre-launch event". It's a free event you put on to

One final thing to think about in this stage is analytics. Seems a bit premature, I know, but make sure to have your Facebook pixel set up, Google Analytics working and Google goals set so you have data at the end of your campaign to look at. This data will help you improve your next campaign.

Four Weeks: Start your launch

This is the time to start your launch, by creating and launching your social media campaign, PR campaign and advertising campaign. You can also start talking about your launch, letting fans and subscribers know they can join your waitlist so they're first to hear about the program when it's launched.

This is also the start of your nurturing blog posts and newsletters in the lead up to the big event.

Take the time to set up what's coming in the future weeks, like your early bird email sequence and your autoresponder for those who purchase.

Three Weeks: Create consistency

You want to be consistent with the nurturing content, including your blog post, newsletter and social media content.

However, this is a time to create another practice to become consistent with. That is self care and mindset to help you keep a positive attitude for when you might be faced with challenges throughout your launch.

At this point, it's also good to set up your payment system. If you feel you may have a big launch, also let Paypal know you're likely to receive an increase in income. If you don't and you make a lot of money, Paypal has been known to hold your money.

Two Week: More of the same

Yes, this is pretty much the consistency thing again. You've got another blog post, newsletter and more social media coming out. So keep it up. Don't talk yourself out of these nurturing pieces, as they're important. The more you put into creating great pieces of content, the better your launch.

Remember to also keep up that mindset work.

One Week: Are you ready?

With one week until your "big pre-launch event" going live, you want to follow through with all the content you originally set out to share.

It's important to increase the amount of self care and mindset work before your official launch to ensure your mindset is as strong as possible.

Launch Eve: It's time

As I mentioned, I've done a lot of launches for myself and clients. Many achieved big results. But can I tell you, I've never done a one where something hasn't gone wrong.

In fact, a high profile online strategist shared he'd also never done a launch without a hiccup or two.

The thing is, you want those little hiccups to be just that - little hiccups. You don't want a major disaster. The way to avoid that, is to triple check everything before you go live. Check your sales page, thank you page, payment gateway and membership site (if you have one).

And remember, find time for self care today.

2. Your big launch event

Your "big launch event" is really a pre-content piece that gives people a taste of your paid offer. It's about piquing their interest and getting them excited.

Pre-launch content pieces are also often great email list builders. There are many pre-launch content types you can use. I want to share six of them:

Webinars, Workshops or Live Events
Online Summit
Challenge
eBook or Lookbook
Podcast or Audio Training
Video sequence

You can learn more about the six here.

The product launch checklist provides more steps you can look at doing during this pre-launch event.

3. Your Open Cart

You might be thinking you've already done an awful lot of work and you haven't even seen a sale yet. Well, that's where the open cart happens.

If you're doing a webinar, this will happen at the end of the webinar. It's also the moment you'll want to change that "waitlist" button on your sales page to "buy".

You should have your open cart email sequence already set up and triggering without you having to manually do anything. Your job is to keep on top of customer care emails.

If you have an early bird offer, make sure that the sales page changes when the early bird ends.

My tip on open carts is not to have it open too long. I've seen open carts that go for weeks and all it achieves is a burnt out business owner. Generally, results don't change too much if you've got a longer open cart period. If you're unsure on how many days to have your cart open, start with 10 days and refine from there for future launches.

4. Close Cart For Your Launch

You'll need a few emails to let people know your cart is going to close. It's really easy at this point to get scared and stop sending these emails because you're worried about annoying people. Don't.

If you've got them pre-scheduled in your system, then it will avoid you pulling the pin on what is really the most important part of your launch. People won't see every email, so allow your close cart sequence to fully run.

Refund any money promptly but don't take refunds personally. And remind yourself of how many people are excited to be part of your product, program or course.

5. Post Launch

You thought it was all over, didn't you? This is one of the final steps to launch a product, program or course.

This is the time to start delivering your product, program or course. But there are a few other things to do too.

Things like:

Pay affiliates or JVs if you had them
Send thank you notes to anyone who helped with your launch
Review your analytics to see how you might be able to improve your next launch
Send out a survey to see why people chose not to invest. This can provide really valuable insights for you.
Find a way to reward yourself. No matter the result, you've done an awesome job to get through it!

There are a lot of things you can look at with your launch, from the sales, to the audience growth to the anecdotal feedback you receive. Take it all in. It's all valuable.

Next steps to launch a product, program or course

The greatest thing you can do is to first PLAN. Whether it's your first or your 10th launch. This is the one of the first steps to launch a product.

Download a copy of the Six Weeks To Launch checklist, so you can literally "tick" things off as you complete them. It's like a product launch calendar.