Launch Read online

  And think back to your smart phone. If your battery hadn’t been dead and you could check out restaurant reviews, well, you would simply be checking another form of social proof. You would be basing your actions on what other people say or do.

  One more example. Let’s say that you want to download a piece of software or an app. You go to download.com or an app store and do a search. There are 30 different software packages that come up in your search. One of them has been downloaded 3.5 million times, one has been downloaded 17,000 times, and the rest have been downloaded just a few hundred times or less. Which one are you going to try first? Most people will start with the one that’s been downloaded 3.5 million times. All those other people must know something, right? Again, that’s social proof in action.

  So here’s how social proof applies to your launch. Due to the interactive nature of your launch, you can create all kinds of social proof. When someone new to your site sees other folks making comments on your Prelaunch Content—saying how excited they are about your launch and how they can’t wait to buy your product—that is social proof in action, and it’s incredibly powerful.

  Layering and Sequencing:

  Taking Mental Triggers to the Next Level

  So this chapter has taken you on a brief tour through the world of mental triggers—these are the things that influence our actions on a very fundamental level all day long, each and every day. These triggers shape our decisions and actions every day. And, more to the point of this book, they shape your prospects’ decisions and actions every day.

  I’ve just given you a brief introduction here. In fact, due to space considerations, I’ve covered only a handful of the mental triggers. The nine mentioned in this chapter represent about half of the triggers that I’ve identified and use in my PLF launches. If you want to go deeper on the mental triggers, I’ve got a video for you at this link: http://thelaunchbook.com/triggers.

  One of the important things to remember about these triggers is that they are not isolated. Many of them are closely related, and they work synergistically. When used together, the impact is compounded.

  For instance, trust and authority are closely linked. It’s easier to establish authority when you have trust. And trust is something that naturally flows from having a position of authority. In fact, there is even a well-worn phrase that combines these two—”trusted authority.”

  Another example is scarcity and social proof. If something is scarce, it’s generally because the demand exceeds supply, which implies there is large demand. And if there’s large demand, well that’s social proof right there. So it’s almost like social proof and scarcity are two sides of the same coin.

  Another key point about mental triggers is that they are more powerful when you sequence them and layer them on top of each other. And that’s where the Product Launch Formula is unparalleled in its power. The very nature of the way we do launches gives you the time and space to use multiple triggers and to have them build on top of one another.

  I’ll cover this more when we get to the Prelaunch Sequence and the Launch Sequence, including what triggers you should activate at what point in your sequences, but here’s a quick example.

  Generally at the beginning of your prelaunch you start with a powerful piece of content that sets up the overall promise and opportunity of the launch. When you share strong compelling content at the start of your prelaunch, you instantly develop authority. That authority comes naturally when you publish that content; it’s nearly automatic. You will also develop reciprocity when you do this, because you’re giving away your great content freely. You have created a need in the receiver to give back to you, which often translates into a sale. You will also have anticipation going for you, as you talk about everything else that’s coming up in your prelaunch.

  As you move further through the prelaunch, you develop social proof as people make public comments about your Prelaunch Content. These comments can be on your blog or in social media—either way, you start to develop strong social proof. And hopefully your interaction throughout the prelaunch starts to build likability with your prospects (and maybe even a little trust).

  Then as the prelaunch nears its end, and you get close to your open cart date, you hit the event and ritual triggers as people start to anticipate your product. This is a natural time to hit the scarcity trigger, when you start talking about your offer and mention the inherently limited nature of the offer.

  That’s a quick example of sequencing and layering mental triggers, but I hope I’ve made it clear how powerful these triggers are. And a PLF-style launch gives you the opportunity to use them together to create an exponentially more powerful effect. That truly is the secret magic here, because not everyone responds to the various triggers in the same way. For example, for some people social proof might influence them strongly, while for others trust and authority are important triggers in their decision making. But when you lay one trigger on top of another throughout your sequences, you build a remarkably irresistible promotion. That’s the power of Product Launch Formula, and that’s why it’s been a complete game changer.

  Okay, we’ve covered a lot of ground. We just wrapped up the mental triggers, and we’ve already given you a solid grounding in the fundamental parts to the PLF puzzle. Now it’s time to press the gas pedal to the floor and get to the hardcore, nitty-gritty fundamentals of putting together one of these launches.

  And we’re going to start with the part of the launch that’s almost completely under the radar. This one component, which no one notices, sets you up for massive success. It’s time for the pre-prelaunch . . .

  The Shot across the Bow: Your Pre-Prelaunch

  Chapter 6

  As you go through this book, it will become obvious that there’s a significant amount of work and planning that goes into one of these launches. I know, I know . . . I wish it weren’t so. But if you want to make a fortune there is always work involved. I figure that if you’re still with me, you’re not afraid of a little work.

  The place where you usually start is with your Pre-Prelaunch Sequence. This is the magic time where your prospects first get an inkling that something cool is coming.

  Over the years I’ve had lots of people try to reverse-engineer the Product Launch Formula process . . . in other words, they watch a couple of launches and try to figure out how the entire thing is put together. The only problem with reverse-engineering something is that there are often parts hidden “beneath the hood.” Leave out those key ingredients, and it screws up the whole thing, making a real mess. And one of the areas that’s almost always overlooked is the “pre-pre”—because it’s the most clandestine. The cool thing is that it’s also one of the simplest and easiest parts of the formula.

  The whole idea of the pre-prelaunch is to begin to activate your tribe—or start building a tribe if you don’t have one yet. But you’re also doing other important foundational work. You’re testing the market’s level of interest in your product idea. You’re trying to surface potential objections so you can answer them during your prelaunch. And finally, you’re gathering information to help finalize your product offer. As if that weren’t enough, you’re doing all of this while setting the stage for your Prelaunch Sequence.

  I like to call your pre-prelaunch the “Shot Across the Bow,” which is a naval term for a warning shot fired toward another ship. The whole idea is to get the other ship’s attention without resorting to an overt attack. Your Pre-Prelaunch Sequence is all about grabbing your market’s attention without actually trying to sell them anything at all.

  Sounds like a big job, right? Well, there’s much to be accomplished in this phase of your launch, which is pretty amazing when you look at how simple and easy the pre-prelaunch really is to pull off.

  In general, my tool of choice for the pre-pre has historically been a simple email or two, although these days social media has also become a big part of the pre-pre for many launches. And there have been a few times where I
’ve used video, and sometimes I’ve thrown a survey into the mix.

  The Ten Pre-Prelaunch Questions

  When I’m about to head into a launch, and I’m thinking about my pre-prelaunch, these are the top ten questions that are running through my mind . . .

  1. “How can I let people know something is coming without having it feel like I’m trying to sell them something?”

  As soon as people think you’re trying to sell something, their defenses go up. It’s like in Star Trek—whenever they sensed a threat, it was “Shields up!” When your prospects feel like there’s a sales pitch coming, they instantly believe you less and distrust you more. So the idea here is to begin the conversation about your product WITHOUT overtly selling it.

  2. “How can I tease their curiosity?”

  Curiosity, which is closely related to anticipation, is another powerful mental trigger. It’s a hook that grabs people and doesn’t let go. If you can start to engage your prospects’ curiosity early on, you’ll keep them interested for the entire launch.

  3. “How can I get their help in creating this product? How can I make this collaborative?”

  This is really important, and it’s something most people miss. People will support the things they help create. So if you can get people engaged and create the feeling like they’re part of the process—possibly even that they’re almost co-creators—then you’ve now moved them from prospects to cheerleaders.

  4. “How can I figure out what their objections are to this product?”

  You can’t sell to people until you overcome their objections to the sale. You can’t overcome those objections until you discover what they are. You might THINK you know what their objections are, but you don’t really KNOW what they are until you start engaging with your prospects. Unfortunately, most people launch their products without having any real idea what those objections are. With the pre-pre you’re going to find out what they are early on—when you still have time to do something about answering and overcoming them.

  5. “How can I start to engage my prospects in a conversation about my offer? How can I be engaging and avoid the “corporate speak” that will kill my launch before it starts?”

  This is closely related to the first question, which was about letting your prospects know something was coming without being “salesy.” The addition here is the “engagement” piece—starting the conversation and being conversational. In other words, this is where you set the stage for the entire “Launch Conversation,” where you create a marketing dialogue instead of a monologue.

  6. “How can I make this fun and humorous and even exciting?”

  Make no mistake. Even though I’m teaching you an incredibly powerful set of tools, your job of keeping people’s attention in a crowded market will always be challenging. Think about every second you’re engaging them as a ticking “attention bomb.” You have only so many seconds where you can keep them engaged. I’m not trying to intimidate you or be overly dramatic, but the reality is that the people you’re selling to have thousands of other things battling for their attention. Think of humor or surprise as an instant attention reset. Every time you get your prospects to laugh or smile, it sets that ticking “attention bomb” back to zero, and you’ve gained some precious extra seconds.

  7. “How can I stand out in a crowded market? How can I be different?”

  This is related to question #6. Standing out is about getting your prospects engaged and keeping them engaged. I never want my marketing to be like other people’s marketing. I want to be different, unique, memorable. There’s an old principle that I always keep in mind: In reality, most people (and businesses) are not having much success. At best, they are getting “average” results. I’m not interested in average results, and you shouldn’t be either. So don’t do what the average business is doing; watch what they’re doing, and do the opposite.

  It’s not very hard to stand out in your market and with your prospects. Just do things a little bit differently than your competitors do.

  8. “How can I figure out how my market wants to be sold?”

  This might sound like a weird question, because you might think that the folks in your market aren’t walking around “wanting” to be sold to. And you’re right, they’re not. But they are walking around with problems. And they’re walking around with hopes, dreams, desires, and fears. They’re lying in bed unable to sleep because they’re thinking about those hopes, dreams, desires, and fears. They want solutions. And if you have a solution, they certainly want to buy it from you.

  9. “How can I figure out my exact offer?”

  No matter how much I would like to make Product Launch Formula seem like complete marketing magic, the truth is that you need to create a great offer. In fact, the term that I use for this in PLF is “a crushing offer.” Not really a very technical term, but you get my point. If your launch is going to be a success, you need a crushing offer.

  And if you have a crushing offer, you’re a long way down the road to having a successful launch.

  And your pre-prelaunch is a key to creating a crushing offer. Because if you ask them the right way, your prospects will tell you how to create a great offer.

  10. “How can this naturally lead into my Prelaunch Sequence?”

  Since your launch (and PLF) is all about sequences, all about creating a greased chute that leads right into your launch day, it’s only natural to have your pre-prelaunch tie seamlessly into your Prelaunch Sequence.

  My Favorite Pre-Prelaunch Strategy

  So with those questions running through my head, I looked for an elegant strategy to find the right answers with just an email or two.

  Fortunately, I came up with an old standby strategy that works 95% of the time, and it will almost certainly work for you. There are many variations on this theme, but even the most basic version is extremely effective.

  So let’s just jump into an example. This is a pre-prelaunch that I created all the way back in 2005 for a product I was launching about trading in the stock market. Now before you go thinking this is ancient history and won’t work anymore, I want to tell you that my students in the PLF Coaching Program are still having great success using this exact sequence.

  One more thing: This example is about the stock market, but understand that this strategy has been successfully applied in all kinds of markets. In fact, my students have used it in markets that ranged from “how to learn guitar” to “how to get more clients for your massage practice” to “how to take care of your pet dog.”

  “Quick Announcement and a Favor”

  This is so simple and so elegant that the casual reader might miss just how magical, how powerful this is, but I’m going to trust that you won’t make that mistake.

  So I started this pre-pre with a simple email that I sent out to my list. In recent years, I’ve done something very similar on my Facebook page. This is what was in the email:

  SUBJECT: Quick announcement and a favor . . .

  Jeff Walker here. We’ll be sending your Trading Update in just a little bit. But first I need to ask you a favor . . .

  We’re really close to wrapping up our long-awaited trading manual. We will be releasing it in early January. But before we do, I have to ask you a couple of questions. Can you help us out?

  You can answer the questions here (and get a little more detail on the trading manual) at this link:

  http://www.example.com/

  Thanks and best regards,

  Jeff

  Of course, I gave them a real, live link to the survey . . . but that’s it. The start of the pre-prelaunch came in a simple, plain old email that was only 80 words long. Just that email accomplished quite a bit. But before we walk through it, let’s take a look at the page my readers were sent to if they clicked the link in the email. They landed on a simple web page that said:

  Hi,

  We’re VERY close to finishing our long-awaited Trading Manual.

  We have been working on
this for more than four years, but we are finally going to wrap it up. We will be releasing it in early January.

  This course will be entirely focused on “Support and Resistance.” It will include two printed manuals, eight audio CDs, and one video tutorial DVD. It is going to be a complete brain dump of everything that we know about “SUPPORT and RESISTANCE.”

  We are going to cover all the ways that we use to generate our support and resistance zones, and we are going to show you exactly how we trade those zones.

  HOWEVER, we need your help. Before we finalize everything and send it off to the printer, we need to make sure we have covered everything.

  That is where you come in. Please take a few minutes to answer this super-short survey—there is really only one thing we want to ask you . . .

  What are your two top questions about Support and Resistance that we absolutely NEED to answer in our trading course?

  That was it . . . a super-short email that sent people to a super-short survey.

  But if we go back to the ten pre-prelaunch questions up above, you can see I hit a bunch of them here.

  1. “How can I let people know something is coming without having it feel like I’m trying to sell them something?”

  Well, I definitely let people know something was coming, and I did it without any hint of a pitch. I was simply asking for their help. I wanted their feedback on this project.

  And that truly is what the email was all about. But it also accomplished a lot of other things . . .

  2. “How can I tease their curiosity?”

  I did this in a few ways—first just by telling them something was coming that they couldn’t get yet. And then, in the email, I told them they could “get a little more detail” by clicking on the link.