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You’ve put in the work to develop and create something new, something totally awesome. It may be a new design, a new line, or just a new colorway. You want your people to know about this thing, but you don’t want to feel sales-y or weird…so how do you announce your thing to the world in a way you can feel good about?

In this episode I teach you EXACTLY how to create your next launch (and I've created a Kit with all the resources you need!)

Find your entire Launch Plan Resource Guide of the worksheet right here.

I’ve talked about launching in the past, in fact, back in episode 162, I created a checklist. To make it easy for you to find everything, I’ve gathered it all up in one place! Get the Launching Resource Guide at TaraSwiger.com/launch You’ll get the links to every episode about launches, along with the PDF schedule I created for episode 162 and you’ll get the Launch Plan I’ve created for you in today’s episode. 

Before we dive into what you’re going to do, your first step is to get the right mindset.
A launch is making the most of your product. It’s highlighting or featuring your product. It’s putting all your time and energy behind ONE item, so that you can really highlight the benefits of that one thing. 

“But, Tara, I want to increase my sales of everything. “

Yes, and focusing on the benefits of one of your items, and giving it all the attention it deserves WILL increase sales of other things. I know this for sure, the knitwear designers I’ve worked with will launch one new pattern, but see an uptick in sales of their other patterns. 

So you see that over time, as you launch new items and add more back catalog, every launch can bring in more sales. 

Before we get into the steps, I want to be clear – you can launch brand-new products, or you can “launch” older items that you’ve had in your shop forever. Theses steps can be used to highlight or feature anything – the point is putting as much love and attention and time in order to market it effectively. 

Every launch is going to go better if you have some channels where you’ve been consistently connecting with your ideal buyer. 

That might be Instagram, YouTube, a business Facebook page, your blog, your email list – if you don’t have at least SOME people gathered someplace where they will see your message, you can’t expect to make sales – you don’t have anyone to sell TO. 

Launching regularly is going to be a way to get content and consistency in those communities, so if you haven’t been showing up consistently, this Launch plan can help you start to show up consistently, but adjust your expectations accordingly – if you haven’t already been connnecting, you won’t make a sale as quickly. 

(If you have no idea where or how to connect with your ideal buyer (or who that even is), head over to the Resources for this episode, and I’ll like a free workshop that will teach you more about this concept.)

Here’s your launch plan

1. Pick a product to launch and clarify the benefits
2. Create an authentic offer with a deadline. 
3. Define your goals and commit to doing what it takes to reach them. 
4. Go to where you have people. 
5. Keep notes and keep experimenting.

Let’s go through this step-by-step: 

Pick a product and clarify the benefits. 

What are you going to launch?
What does your buyer love about it?
What does your need to know before she can decide?
What makes it valuable?
List the physical attributes (features) – how does that translate into benefits (what it means for the customer)

(I have episodes that dive deeper into these questions, they’ll be linked up in the Resource Guide at TaraSwiger.com/launch ) 

Think about communicating the answers both in visuals (pictures and videos) and in words – write it up like you will share it with your audience. 

Don’t skip this step – really write out the answer to these questions and take as much time as it needs to clearly communicate this. This will save you tons of time later (You won’t be sitting down to Instagram thinking “What the heck do I want to say?”)

Create an authentic offer with a deadline.

So here’s the thing – you might not have naturally-occuring deadlines, but your launch is going to go better if it has a start date and end date, and if buyers have a reason to buy NOW and not later. 

But this doesn’t mean you just make up a deadline or you lie about what the real deadline is. Don’t say it won’t be available later if it will be. That’s what I mean by authentic. 

What I mean by offer is – what are you selling right now? 

Your product + right now special = your offer. 

Most people jump right to a sale or discount, “Oh, I’ll give 10% off until Friday, that’s my offer.”

Sure, you can do that, but that’s not sustainable and if you discount regularly, people will expect it and wait for it. (Think about those big box craft store 40% off coupons – do you ever buy anything full price from Micheals when you know you could wait for the 40% off coupons?)

Spend a little more time to come up with something more interesting, something with a naturally end point. 

If you’re launching a brand-new product for the first time ever, your offer is simply: Get the newest thing first! You don’t need to add on anything to that offer. But when you’re launching something that has been sitting in your shop, try an offer!

Here’s a few suggestions: 

• A knitalong or group event for your pattern (or book or kit) at X date, so your deadline is the start of that (or the shipping deadline, if you’ve got to ship yarn)
• A brand-new product that you’re offering exclusively to your list (or followers) first – the deadline is when it’s no longer exclusive (and then you launch it to others for a week or two)
• Make a limited number – when the spots (or products) are gone, they’re gone.
• Customize it for free for the next X buyers. (Put their name on it, or sign it!)
• Give it a bonus, for a limited time (a free mini-product for next 20 purchases, a Resource Guide (aka, PDF), a free 15min consultation with you, to make the most of their product, an entry into a giveaway you’re holding with another brand).
  How do you know what will work best? Test it! 

Can you skip this step and just focus on highlighting one of your normal products, nothing special, without a deadline? 

Absolutely! In fact, that’s just good marketing – in between launches with deadlines you can just focus on a product at a time for 2-4 weeks! But try some special offers, once a quarter or so, to experiment with what works! 

Before you’re done, write out the offer and deadline, as you’ll explain it to your customer. If this is new, it can feel awkward to communicate, so you’ll want to clear on your words before you start posting about it. (Avoid over-explaining yourself)

Define your goals + commit to them

Why are you doing this? What do you want? 

It is really easy to get excited about a launch and half-way through just feel tired of it all. 

Having a clear vision of why you’re doing this and what it’s bringing to your business can keep you going when you get sick of talking about the same thing. 

Take time to think about WHY you want to do this. 

What do you hope to learn?
How will this impact your business? Why does that matter? 

What is the deeper reason of why you want to grow your business?

How long will this launch period last?

Are you willing to go all in and commit? 

Committing to a goal means that you’re going to do the work to make it happen, and then you let it go. Go all in on the work, the planning, the implementation, the experimenting and trying things and showing up, and let go of the results. Y’all tell me you’re afraid of committing to goals because you’re afraid of failure, or letting yourself down. But committing to a goal doesn’t mean you can NOT FAIL, it means that you are willing to keep working when it doesn’t happen right away. You’re not going to give up. But you gotta let go of “what if it fails”. So what? You’ll still be loved, you’ll still have a business, you’ll still be worthy, but now you’ll ALSO have all this data of what works and what you need to do in order to see real results. 

Show up where your people are. 

Now it’s time for what you probably think of as launching – the actual marketing! 

The good news is that you already have a ton of the thinking done. Now it’s just time to plan it, schedule it and implement it. 

First: Identify your channels.
Where are your people? 

I’m going to talk about marketing channels here (reaching OUT to people), but before you do that, you’ll want to make sure that offer is on your website, explained clearly, highlighting the benefits and sharing social proof when you have it. (Do you have happy customers? Pictures of people using your product? Use that on your offer page. This may be a sales page, or this may link to where they buy (Ravelry, Etsy, etc), but you need it all in one place. 

When it comes to sharing the message, define where exactly you’ll post (don’t leave this for later, write it all out so you can schedule ahead of time, if possible. 

My preference for where you spend your energy:

1. Your email list (unlike social media, you know your subscribers will have the message delivered)
2. Facebook Group (going Live)
3. Instagram + Instagram Stories
4. Facebook Business Page (going Live)
5. Anything else – post on YouTube, mention it on your podcast, share it with specific people or groups.

Got your list of where you’ll show up? Next is to decide WHEN and how often and then plan it. 

I’m going to assume you trust me and you really want to go all in, so instead of telling you how to think about it, I’m going to treat you like you’re one of my Starship Captains and I’m going to tell you exactly what to do, ok? 

(This is what we do in the monthly Group Coaching – this is directly from a recent coaching session)

In your launch week:

Send 3 emails: 

1. Announcing the offer, with the list of benefits, mention the deadline, link directly to the offer page.
2. Share a customer photo, testimonial (or a test-knitter’s project and feedback, if you’re a designer).
   If you don’t have a customer story or testimonial to share, talk about your inspiration, with an eye to the benefits for the buyer. Include a direct link to the product and explain the deadline clearly
3. Warning! Deadline is today! Grab it here (keep this short, include a direct link to buy it. 

Post on Instagram daily (or sub in your FB biz page – better yet hook them up so an IG post goes right to your FB page)

1. Post the announcement of the offer
2. Talk about one of the benefits (close up of the product, if applicable)
3. Share a customer story or testimonial or project
4. What inspired you (with a focus on how that impacts the buyer)
5. Benefits + discussion of value

Go Live at least twice: 

1. Announcement! Excitements!
2. Warning! Offer is ending! 

If you’re launch is more than a week (10-14 days is a good length for most of my customers), add in an email between 2 + 3, where you talk about your inspiration or the benefits, and keep posting on IG daily (or each weekday) – share your process, your studio, your experience. When people buy or start to receive their thing, share every one of their posts and if they’re not posting it (yet) thank them on Instagram Stories. 

So that’s your plan! 

You may not have all the channels I’ve listed here – don’t let that stop you! Take you what you do have and apply this to your channels. Like I said at the beginning, if you haven’t been consistent or more than 100+ people on any platform, you can still absolutely follow these steps, but expect it to increase your connection, not necessarily make sales. 

Next up. you’ll need to actually WRITE the content and take the photos for the platforms YOU have, and schedule it  when you can (using your email software, or an app like Buffer or Later for Facebook and Instagram) and add the live elements to your calendar. 

Your launch is going to be less stressful if you know what to post, when, and it’s all in one doc. 

Not sure what to write and include? This is the kind of thing we work on the Starship. For more on that, check out the Launch Resource Kit – I’ll share the free podcast episodes that are related, and I’ve linked up to the Masterclass where you can learn how I can work with you to help you develop your most effective launch. 

Show up, take notes and keep experimenting. 

The magic of this Launch Plan is that it gives you specific tasks to do that will then give you data about what works in your business, but the only way to get those benefits is to TRACK what is working. 

After you’ve got it all planned and written, use the spreadsheet included in the Launch Resource Guide to track the outcomes of the actions you’re taking. 

Then track the results and tell me about it! DM me on Instagram!

We’ll talk more next week about how to keep sales going after a launch – because it’s not sustainable for you to be doing launches non-stop. 

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