"When you’re launching, you think everyone is as invested in your launch as you are. Spoiler alert… they’re not. People often don’t say 'no this offer isn’t right for me'; most of the time they’re indifferent, they forget about it, or your copy isn’t doing the job of tapping into the subconscious buying behaviors."

04. The Strategy and Copy Assets You Need for Your Next Launch

In today's episode, we’re chatting about the essentials of a live launch strategy and the assets you need to execute it seamlessly. If you’ve ever picked a launch date and then freaked out about all the stuff you need, this is for you. Trust me, launching doesn’t have to be super stressful or overwhelming. With the right prep, you can avoid that last-minute scramble or have plenty of time to find the contractors to outsource parts of your launch.

This episode covers everything from the pre-launch emails to your sales sequence and everything in between so you’ll have a clear plan and know exactly what assets are required. I’ll also going through a more detailed overview of what to include in each sales email. 

Whether you’re launching solo or have a team, this episode will help you feel prepared and confident, making your launch a big success – aka more sales, more money, more clients and more impact. Tune in and let’s get you ready for an amazing launch! 

Topics discussed:

• Discover how many pre-launch emails you need to effectively nurture your audience

• Learn the optimal order to write your sales copy and see how it can transform your entire launch

• Master the A-Z of what to include in a high-converting sales sequence

• Use emails to overcome common objections by showcasing your authority

• Perfect the timing and structure for your email campaign

Thank you for listening to this episode of Copy to Freedom: The Podcast. Subscribe for more lighthearted, inspirational, and actionable chats about business, marketing, and reclaiming your freedom.

Connect with Erin:

Website: https://erinmorris.co/

Instagram: @erinmorris.co

Would you love a free 30-min strategy call with me? These strategy calls have previously been reserved for my DFY high-ticket clients and are valued at over $250.

All you have to do is leave the show an honest review. Take a screenshot and send it to [email protected] and you’ll go into the monthly draw to win a 1:1 strategy call. These calls will be a gamechanger if you’ve got an upcoming launch or need an existing piece of copy improved.

Transcript

Today we’re chatting about a live launch strategy and the assets you need for one.

This is a topic I know will be super helpful to you if you’re like most people and decide to launch something new, you choose a date and then all of a sudden the cart open date is looming and you realize just how many assets you need.

I always say that launching doesn’t need to be this big, stressful, overwhelming thing. And this lack of preparation and timing is often what causes it (hey, this sounds like how I travel!). This episode will help you feel prepared ahead of your launch so that there’s no last-minute scrambling or if you’re outsourcing, you’ll have plenty of time to find the contractors you’d love on your team. I can’t count the number of times I’ve jumped on a discovery call and a client is freaking out because their launch is right around the corner and they don’t have enough time to complete everything. That’s not going to happen to you.

One of the biggest mistakes I see coaches and course creators making when it comes to their launches is not sending enough emails. Three emails are not enough. I know everyone is afraid of sending too many emails, being annoying, or sounding salesy, but the truth is there are three types of people on your list.

Firstly, if you’ve built a great community, you’ll have the people who will buy anything you offer. They just need to see one email, head to the sales page, and they’re sold. This is the dream and the goal with building a personal brand, to fill your email list with a bunch of these people, but this takes time. If you are using a waitlist strategy, these are the people you can send an early bird drop to. It’ll help with your confidence going into the launch if you’ve already made a few sales.

Secondly, you have the fence sitters, or the people who signed up to your list because of an aligned freebie, but they don’t know much about you or you haven’t fully sold them on purchasing from you yet. These people are who you should be focusing your copywriting efforts on. The goal is to nurture them, build authority and trust, and persuade them that what you are offering is going to help end a particular pain point or deliver them their desired transformation. These people are unlikely to buy after seeing just one email. But it’s going to spark their curiosity. They may click over to the sales page, have a skim, and then get distracted and forget about it.

We live in a busy world, but when you’re launching, you think everyone is as invested in your launch as you are. Spoiler alert… they’re not. People often don’t say, “No, this offer isn’t right for me.” Most of the time, they’re indifferent, they forget about it, or your copy isn’t doing the job of tapping into the subconscious buying behaviors. Think of your launch sales sequence as little nudges or reminders for the people who are curious but haven’t taken the leap yet.

Then our third friend on our list is the person who is never going to buy from you no matter what. We want as few of these people as possible. Maybe they’re friends or family who signed up to support you or a serial lead magnet junkie. It doesn’t really matter who this person is; all you need to know about them is that if they get annoyed that you sent too many emails or they unsubscribe, it doesn’t matter. They were never going to purchase anyway. Someone who is a dream client wants to read your emails. They want you to persuade them to make a safe buying decision.

Before we go any further, what is a live launch? A live launch is any sales period with an open and close cart date.

If you want to take your business to the next level income and scalability-wise, I’d argue that live launching is the best thing you can do and is the next step if you’re capped and unable to scale doing just 1:1 work.

Live launches are one of the best ways of creating predictable and recurring revenue. The more you launch, the more you’ll start seeing patterns, uncover specific numbers, and start projecting future revenue.

This also means if you want a quick cash injection because of an upcoming business investment or life event, well, just schedule another launch!

This makes me so excited; this is seriously why I love launch copy so much. Like, who else has the opportunity to be like, "Alright, I’m getting married at the end of the year; it would be nice to earn an extra 40K before it," and boom, actually do it! Like WTF, how insane is that?! Helping women make that a reality will never get old for me.

It doesn’t matter if you’re working toward 6-figures, you’re in the multi 6-figure zone, or you’ve already crossed 7-figures. The assets we’ll be talking about today apply to any stage of business.

I’ll be going over the sales page and sales sequence in more detail later on, but here is a 10,000-foot view of the complete launch copy assets you’ll need.

Pre-launch phase:

• Pre-launch emails

• Three nurture emails that establish the gap between where your audience is now and where they want to be.

• Coming soon, little teasers, potentially leading to a waitlist

[Optional if you have more time and support or it’s not the first time launching] Targeted freebie for list growth

• Landing page

• Thank you page

• Five email nurture sequence

• Hype event

• Three webinar invite emails

• Five emails – confirmation and show-up sequence

  • Pre-Webinar Email #1 — Registration Confirmation

  • Pre-Webinar Email #2 — What’s In It for Me?

  • Pre-Webinar Email #3 — Story/Case Study

  • Pre-Webinar Email #4 — Morning of Reminder

  • Pre-Webinar Email #5 — 15 Minutes Before Go Time

• Landing page

• Thank you page

Launch period:

• Sales page

• Thank you page

• Confirmation email

• Sales sequence – six emails

It’s a lot! I get that. But with more saturation and decreasing attention spans, it requires a lot more noise to get and hold the attention of your ideal clients.

And that’s why having someone to outsource the copy can be such a huge time saver and relief. There are already so many other moving parts of your launch, between creating the social media strategy, creating the offer if it’s new, plus also keeping up with your regular workload and clients.

I’m also a firm believer that because you’re putting in so much time into creating and launching your new offer, you deserve to give it the best chance of success. If you haven’t listened to my episode on the myths about copywriting that are costing you sales, head over and listen to that next. Specifically, one of the biggest myths is that copywriting is just writing that sounds good or that you know your business so well that you can write your own copy. I’ve been studying copywriting, human sales psychology, influence principles, and messaging for almost four years now, and I’m still learning.

There is a science to copywriting. And I know everyone is in different stages of their business and has different budgets, but if you are in a position to outsource your launch copy, this can create a solid ROI.

But whether you’re ready to outsource or not, I think everyone should have a good understanding of what goes into each asset.

And one of my biggest tips is to not start at the beginning.

The first part of the funnel copy I start with is always the sales page.

The sales page is where you’ll send all of your traffic; it’s the home of your messaging angles and offer details. It forms the foundation of your launch and will make writing every other piece of copy so much easier because you’ll be able to pull parts of this into your emails. Each email will generally be specific sections of your sales page.

We’re all about sustainable launching and living our biggest lives. If I can make it easier for you, I will.

It also helps with mindset. When you get everything out of your head and into the sales page, everything is laid out in front of you, it’s now official. It also gives you the birds-eye view of what you’re selling, whether there are any offer strategy pieces missing, if you need to update a module, and exactly what you’re promising ideal clients.

After I’ve done the research and found messaging angles, am clear on brand voice, and know offer specifics and strategy, I put aside a full day of writing for the first draft (about eight hours), and then like to come back to it with fresh, clear eyes (after at least a day) to give it a once over and do the editing.

If you’re not allowing this time for writing your sales page, you’re not doing your offer justice.

Next, I move into the sales sequence.

Staying on timing, the first emails can take me 2-2.5 hours, and then once I’m in a flow, I get a bit quicker, but you should set aside at least 1.5 hours per email.

In a sales sequence with at least six emails, you’re looking at a minimum of nine hours of writing.

You now know how much time you should be setting aside, but what’s the content that goes into the sales sequence?

Email 1 is the replay from your hype event. Your hype event is any live masterclass, webinar, challenge—whatever you want to call it—that’s getting your audience primed for what you’re about to sell them. This free event shifts beliefs, builds anticipation, and showcases your coaching or teaching skills while giving your audience a taste of the outcomes they can expect when working with you in a paid container. These events help set the stage for what it is you’re selling and further highlight the gap between where they are currently and where they want to be. They cause people to pay more attention, and you’re giving them something free.

One of the basic principles of sales psychology is the law of reciprocity. In Robert Cialdini’s book Influence, he describes this as the human tendency to feel obligated to do something in return when someone does something for you first.

This first email is super simple: you’ll thank people for watching live, drop some of the major takeaways, and announce the cart is open for your offer. If your audience is in the business space, they know launches last from 5-10 days, so they’re not in a hurry to take action. This is why fast action bonuses work really well. They stop the procrastination and get some early sales. Send this right after your hype event wraps up.

Email #2 is the mindset shift and sent one day after the replay email. This email is designed to identify and shift how your readers think about the problem or solution and highlight a new perspective. The goal is to prepare them mentally and emotionally to see the value in your offer. You can do this by future pacing and showing the possibility and outcome that you promise. Why is this important to your ideal client? What does it really mean if they achieve that thing? Is there a reason they haven’t had success yet? What do they think is the solution, and why is that holding them back?

Email #3: Who’s right for the program. You can send this 2-4 days after email #2. The goal of this email is to reveal the risk of not joining. What is the cost of not joining, or will they go backwards? This email will also create safety in decisions for the ideal buyer. This is a very realistic email about the positive outcomes, the benefits, and desired outcomes immediately, in 3 months, 6 months, a year, 3 years. Then think about those same time frames and what their life will be like if they don’t buy.

Email #4: Bust objections sent 1-3 days after email #3. I love the objection buster emails. One of the big mistakes people make with objections is they start validating all the reasons, benefits, and features and convincing people that it’s not really an objection. What I want you to do instead is to lean into the objection. Validate its legitimacy and stand by your reasoning for it. For example, a prime objection is price. Instead of telling someone all the features and why it’s worth the cost, you’ll want to acknowledge that it’s a high price. Then explain the pricing and the benefits to the reader. Yeah, it’s priced this way because I wanted to make sure you had my 1:1 undivided attention. Unlike other similar programs where you have the option of being selected for hot seat coaching, my program has a higher price point because I want everyone to have hot seat coaching. So, yes, you might be paying a higher price than other programs, but you’re going to uncover and eliminate your blind spots with feedback specific to your circumstances, and in turn, you’ll make back your ROI quicker.

Email #5: FAQs. This email should go out 48-24 hours before cart close. This isn’t a general FAQs email; instead, you want to have very specific questions on here that people need answered to feel like they are making an informed and safe buying decision. "What have your past clients asked before purchasing?" That helps current prospects identify with buyers. As Joanna Wiebe says, when done right, this email has the power to counter objections, position you against competitors, reinforce the big ah-ha's, and create safety by pre-paving the outcome while also helping them identify as a buyer.

Email #6: Cart close 1 (I know I said a minimum of six emails, but I’d highly recommend you do a 24-hour warning, morning of, and one before cart close), so this sequence can really be three emails. Why? Often 80% of your sales will come in these final hours. So if you’re slacking on these, you’re essentially missing out on 80% of your revenue!!!!

Remember earlier on I said the biggest reason people don’t buy is because of indecisiveness? The goal of these emails is to remove that indecision and to add in the final urgency (cart is closing! We’re about to kick off).

You don’t want to bring up any problems, uncertainties, or objections anymore; the persuasion has been completed. Use these emails to empower and hype up the people who are about to change their lives through your program. Think hype, hype, hype with these. Build excitement in a way that they’re empowered to make the decision. You’re not convincing people to join, you’re inviting them to take action on their goals. What’s the first win your new clients will receive?

These emails are where you’ll want to highlight your guarantee and risk reversal. Let people know they can get in and give it a go with a minimum viable commitment. How can you add FOMO?

Great! So that’s a look into the launch copy assets and a deeper look into your sales sequence. Remember, it’s a lot. But putting in the time is essential if you want the sales. If this was helpful to you, I would love for you to share on your stories, and I’ll reshare back!

Love you!!!