Pre-Launch Marketing: How to Approach Copy and Strategy

NOTE: This podcast episode about pre-launch marketing was transcribed by an AI tool. Please forgive any typos or errors. Erin Ollila 00:00 Today on the podcast, I am interviewing Ashe Chow. She’s a launch strategist and conversion copywriter who focuses on the pre launch phase of all sales. But what you might not know about Ash is that she actually wrote Harry Potter fan fiction when she was a teenager and almost won an award for one of them. So ash tell me about this Harry Potter fan fiction. What was encouraging you to do that? I’m guessing you’re a huge Harry Potter fan. Is there any special characters that you completely love? Let us know what’s what’s happening. Oh my gosh, it’s so funny that you bring it up. It was definitely my more cringy stage of being a teenager. So yes, I was a huge Harry Potter fan. And I don’t know like I just stumbled onto the whole fanfiction world, specifically, really liking the whole Hermione getting together with Draco Malfoy storyline. I mean, that didn’t happen in the actual series, right? If I give you a fan, you know that they’re all like enemies, but I don’t know, I just fell into that hole sharp. And there’s like a big, big fan fiction world out there. For people who really like Germany. And I don’t know, like I was also a really big writer when I was younger. And after reading so many fanfictions I started just like writing my art and you know, just uploaded it to Wattpad and got some decent amount of traction to the point where they were like, You annotated for an award. I mean, spoiler alert. I never finished that fanfiction. Thankfully, I’m too, like, I’m too embarrassed to go back and read over it. But yeah, fun fact, I was I used to moonlight as a fan fiction writer, oh, my gosh, I love this. You were young. Right? So like, you weren’t necessarily thinking what you’re going to be doing later on in your life or a business or anything and you are interested in like a creative outlet. And but not only that, it’s not just the sitting, it’s not just the writing. It’s the fact that you uploaded it right, like the confidence that you are able to share it. I think that’s so I actually really admire that because I think it’s like it shows that you have that determination that you really need regardless to be an entrepreneur, right? We all can create things, we all might have things that we’re interested in. But it’s that it’s the launch, it’s the like sending it out in the world, to have other people see it and judge it. And I mean, obviously, you were nominated. So it did well. But I think that when it comes to working as a copywriter, I know a lot of my clients, even though I don’t do sales copywriting, it’s that fear before the launch that I think makes people so anxious about putting their stuff out there. So you specialize in pre launch copy? And we’ll jump to that in a second. But can you talk about that at all? Like, do you hear your clients worry about what they’re offering to the world? Or their their services that they’re providing when they’re just about to do that launch? Bayes? Yeah, 100% all the time. So I’m a huge feelings person as well. And I think that I see with my clients or with myself, when we’re about to put something out in the world for the first time, we attach a lot of ourselves to it. And obviously, it makes sense because we created it, like we created it for our purpose. We wanted to help people, we pour a lot of ourselves into our product or our creation. And then once you release it into the world, it’s technically it’s like, it’s no longer yours, right? It’s out there for anyone to judge and criticize. And I think that fear is what stops a lot of people from publishing their, like, you know, their first blog posts, or launching their first product or doing anything for the first time. And that fear is 100% valid. And even as a strategist, you know, I see my clients feel the fear all the time. And when I launched my own product, that fear was there, like what if no one buys? Because Because we treat it as a reflection of like, what do people think about us? Does this mean that I’m not valuable? Does this mean that I’m not worthy, and you know, I’m someone who struggles a lot with self worth, and I entwine it a lot with so putting that product out there, it was like, Oh, if people don’t buy it, it must mean that I’m not good enough. I’m not valuable. People don’t like me. And when you’re attaching all of these meanings to your launch, it can be a very emotional, low key traumatic experience. And it’s normal. I say all that to say that is 100% normal everyone experiences that everyone has that fear. I guess the the trick is to not like feel that fear, yes, and know that it is valid, but don’t let it stop you from ultimately taking action. So the biggest thing that helped me with that was something that my mindset coach, Linda Perry taught me and she said, you know, the victory is about taking action, not the outcome. So technically, it doesn’t actually matter who buys it or who snaps it up what the victory is in the fact that you put it out there in the first place. It’s like in the fact that you you created something out of nothing. And you you decided to put it out in the world because you believe that it would help people and that action is what we should be focusing on and celebrating as opposed to Ash Chow 05:00 So how much money did you make and how many people bought it. And I think when you can shift your mindset from outcomes to actions, you’re going to that fear will start to dissipate, and you are more likely to take action and feel content with the fact that you did. I love that phrase that you just shared with us, my word of the year this year was actually due. Because I am an Ideator. By nature, I love to come up with ideas. I love to strategize, I have so many things going at once that I want to do, but I don’t historically have not necessarily followed through on so many of them. So my whole goal for this year was to take action on anything and everything that not necessarily came to mind. But that I wanted, right. So this is the most silly thing in the world. But we just renovated our upstairs bathroom, and I haven’t had a hand towel holder in forever. So we just keep putting our hand towels on. And it’s been months. So we just keep putting hand towels on the sink. And yes, it is large enough to hold a hand towel, but it drives me bananas. Like, every time my kids wash their hands. Every time I’m in that bathroom, it just drives me crazy. So after nine months, I was like Aaron by the hand towel holder, right? Like, I know, this is silly. And it’s obviously not related to launching a product, but it is related to so much of business stuff we keep than putting off the tiny things. And it leads to lots of feelings. Like for me that hand towel thing was like frustration with myself that I wasn’t making the time to do something that felt so silly. It was an annoyance with other people, it was a reflection of not being organized, right like so I had all of these internal feelings every time I looked at the hand towel or change my hand towel or just walked by the room, when I could resolve it by taking the tiniest action. So a share that by saying like one I agree with that sentiment, and I think it’s really uplifting for the people who are putting their offers out there. Because I know for a fact that my clients who have multiple offers, I would say maybe it gets easier with time. But it also does reoccur every new offer that you’re launching, right like it’s a new baby you’re bringing into the world and, and this cycle of feeling the feelings is very present for people. And I don’t think as many people talk about it, I think a lot of people struggle with this confidence complex, maybe like you know, but like when you take action, you build confidence. So if we’re resetting the mindset, as your coach mentioned, just by taking action, you’re reducing some of the anxiety and fear in launching and building a confidence. I don’t remember exactly what it was that you said. But it made me think about the fact that you were mentioning, taking these steps and just doing something really was great for that pre launch period, which is exactly what you do, right? If you can build confidence in yourself, and then encourage your audience to start thinking about whatever it is you’re launching, their feedback will also help you get that confidence on the launch. And like you know, dissipate some of the anxiety that comes with launching because you’re already getting excitement and buzz surrounding what you’re doing. While you’re in the process of getting it ready. Yeah, 100% I think that is why the pre launch is so important because you are getting into the habit of talking about the topic of your digital product and what you’re about to launch. And you’re right, like getting that initial feedback from your audience, showing them behind the scenes and hearing their feedback is what’s going to give you the confidence and the momentum to keep going forward. Plus the mere fact that you’re talking about it means that you’re going to have the follow through, you know, so that is one of the reasons why your pre launch is so important. Yeah. So one thing I will also say is I don’t think that the the idea of a pre launch is something that is that pop like popular yet maybe I think that you’re like on this wonderful spiral where you’re leading us all in this great direction of things that we should be considering that we’re already not doing. So I was so excited when I first went to your workshop on your power framework to learn about the idea of this pre launch period, and how to be strategic with it. So let’s first talk about the idea of what a pre launch is like when I don’t know if the the right question here is when should someone be considering pre launch? Or? Yeah, maybe that is the question like when should someone consider starting a pre launch if they’d like to put a new offer out into the world? Yeah, that’s a really great question. So if you’re not familiar, like Like the name suggests, pre launch is obviously referring to that time period before you announce or drop your digital product or service to the world. And that’s something most people neglect. Because when you think of a launch, you think of like the day that you announced your product, right? But in reality, you actually need to start dropping content a lot earlier than that so that you can get your audience ready for your product. And when I say like, get them ready to what I mean is that the majority of your audience right now are probably not in the right Erin Ollila 10:00 state of mind to buy a digital product, they are likely carrying a lot of beliefs that are deterring them from seeing the value of the topic you’re going to teach, or they are really doubting their own ability to achieve whatever they want. So for example, Aaron, let’s say you want to release a course on podcasts that you because you’ve become a super successful podcaster. But let’s say a majority of your audience might be thinking, why would I create a podcast when, when the market is already so saturated, so they’re like, they’re not too convinced about why they should learn podcasting, therefore, they’re not, they may not be as keen to do a course. Or they may be thinking like, oh, like, I really want a podcast. But I don’t know, if I have a unique message, there are already 1000s of podcasts on what I want to say like I don’t think I can break into the market. So again, they’re really it’s really deterring them from wanting to pursue the whole podcasting Avenue. And what happens if you don’t address these beliefs, and if you don’t have a pre launch is that if you were to randomly drop your podcasting course, because these beliefs are so strong and prevalent in your audience’s mind, when they see your cause, they’re going to be like, ooh, like, all of these beliefs are going to come roaring up, and they’re gonna be like, oh, like the markets too saturated, like now’s not the right time to invest in this course, or I don’t believe in my ability to create a podcast, so now’s not the right time. So what you’ll find is that they’ll end up talking themselves out of it, which may mean then that you were going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting during your launch period to convince them otherwise. Or you may end up with less sales than what you want. So to bring it all back, no pre launch. And the reason why you need to be dropping content beforehand, is so that you can address as many of these beliefs as possible, and ultimately get them to a place where they see the value of your topic, and they want to learn from you. And then in terms of your question of like, when do we actually start dropping the content? It’s a very, very nuanced discussion, right? Because it’s kind of like how long is a piece of string, it is really dependent on your audience’s current beliefs, and how much how much it needs to be shifted. And also, it depends on your capacity, because I think a lot of people might randomly drop numbers, like you need two months worth of pre launch content or one month. But if you don’t have the energy to do that, then you’re going to end up with a lackluster launch, because you’re not, you’re not showing up with all of yourself. So even though it’s very nuanced discussion, I do like to suggest to clients that they start intentional pre launch content, at least 30 days out. And when I say intentional pre launch content, I mean that everything that you are releasing in that time period is about the topic that you aren’t going to teach Oh, I Ash Chow 12:46 love that. And I really love the fact that you brought up that we all have different timeframes, energies. And that’s why it really depends on what the individual offers, or the business is able to do. If there’s anything that’s one of my biggest pet peeves in the marketing world, it is that there is a one size fits all approach to anything marketing, which we can probably prove that is almost always not the case, right? So like you could say you need, you know, 30 days, but if it is a very complicated launch, or if people are adjusting their niche lately, it might take months that you really need months of content, before you launch something, especially for a larger price, right? Or maybe I mean, obviously, I think best case, I’m not going to go against what you say I think best case, you do need at least a month if you’re launching something tiny but you know, maybe you have something tiny that’s already really aligned with the offers and the things you do talk about. Maybe you need less time than that, right? It’s about gauging the type of questions people will have the like you say the belief systems that I think needs to be changed, or adjust, adjusted, not necessarily even changed, and figuring out what their needs are and then determining the timeline that you have. I love that. So one thing I see all the time is in the whole copywriting world is that when when our clients come to us, they often come to us last minute meaning like, for me, and it’s it’s the case for everything, it doesn’t make a difference. If you write websites, if you’re doing launch copy emails, you know, someone might want to have like an email nurture sequence for a lead magnet that they created. And you ask them when they’re ready, and they’re like, Oh, well, I just created this lead magnet. So I’m ready today. And you’re like, Guys, there’s just so much more that goes into this, that it’s not like offer equals copy. So what would you do if someone came to you and they were like, Okay, I know that a pre launch is valuable. I never even thought that I needed to do a pre launch and I am ready to go. What would you suggest to them? Would you suggest that they move their launch date back? Is there any as much as I would hate to give this advice? Are there any like last minute tips that they can do if they just simply didn’t have Time for a pre launch and they’re just not going to push the date back. Erin Ollila 15:03 Yeah, it’s actually so funny that you say that it is a very, very good question. Because Because people don’t know that they need it. It’s something that does get chucked onto the bottom of their to do list for their launch. Right? Even though I say that 30 days is an ideal timeframe. And everything you were saying before is correct, like 30 days is good. But also you can also adjust it, I think that some pre launch content is better than none. So for example, sometimes I do have people coming up to me being like I’m launching next week, what do I do? Like? Do I just skip the pre launch? Or do I try and put something out there. And my advice is usually to put at least something out there something small, it could be like you send one email out before your launch sequence, or you put like one or two social posts out before the rest of your launch content. And using that pre launch content, what you would talk about is the main thing that you want your audience to know about your topics are really answering the question like, What does my audience need to know or believe about this topic in order to see my product as a no brainer investment. So here’s an example. Again, with a podcasting one, let’s say that your audience believes that in order to start a podcast, they need to invest in very fancy, expensive equipment. And they believe that it’s expensive to start a podcast. But from your experience, you know that that’s not actually true that you can start with very low cost or free equipment, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. So maybe you might send out one email being like when I started, I started with like, a $5 microphone. And that was it. And I’m still doing very, very well today. And what that email is going to do is going to show your audience that like, oh, like if if Aaron can start off really cheap, it means I can too. And then that way, when you do drop your product, they’re going to be like, oh, like I don’t see cost of the of my microphone as a barrier anymore, because Erin herself started off in a very low cost way. So do you see how even dropping at that one email will still make a difference? Ash Chow 17:03 Yes, absolutely. I love that. You know, it reminds me of something I tell my website, copywriting clients, we need to give them the most information in the smallest package with the clearest explanation, right, we don’t want to overwhelm them with information, we don’t want to bombard them with things that are going to complicate things. But we also want to give them as much information as possible. So that way, when it is time to meet with them on a discovery call for an example, the initial sales process has already started. So it’s not like you have to become like a service provider. And then the second that Zoom video clicks on your salesperson, right, you can still show up as your true self during like a discovery call as an example, because you’ve already given them the information that they needed on your site to help them make decisions. So when I hear you speak, I hear a lot of that same thing, like the pre lunch period is really just helping them to be able to make a decision later on. By considering the pain points by consider it like nurturing them by encouraging them so that when it is the sales period, we don’t have to all of a sudden become like sleazy, like car salesmen to our audience, and we can still just show up as the business owner, Erin Ollila 18:19 exactly, everything you just said is gone. So think of the pre launch as the content that’s going to convince your audience why they need your product or service and why you are the best person to get it from right. And then when it comes to the actual launch, or like on your website or sales page, it’s then talking about the process or what it will look like after they buy from you. So if we use maybe like a, someone who’s selling brand voice services, right, and that’s very important. So maybe the pre launch is all about convincing people why a brand voice is so important for a brand and how detrimental it can be when you don’t have one. And what that does is that the audience know like, I don’t have a brand voice crap or like, oh, like I bet a look into more resources on this. So I can try and figure it out on my own or whatever. And then once they realize that they need a brand voice, when they see your digital product on brand voice or when they see the fact that you’re selling a service on brand voice guys, they’re going to be like, Oh, yes, that’s what I need. And then when they look at your sales page, the sales page is basically just confirming what’s included in the package or what’s included in the product and how much it’s going to cost and then it should be an easy decision for them. Now that they’ve convinced themselves why they need brand voice. Ash Chow 19:35 Yeah, I just I had recorded an episode that we’ll be launching before this one, but it was about the difference between short sales pages and long sales pages and why they both have value. And what I mentioned on that was when you think about a long sales page, everyone, everyone that I know including all of the people who have long sales pages will always like roll their eyes and be like oh I hate long sales page. edges. But the reason that they exist are for the people who weren’t in this pre launch phase, right? So let’s say you’re offering a product, and then I happen to stumble upon your sales period, whether it’s an open car, you know, all the time, or it’s this short, short, limited time launch period. So I stumbled upon ash and I, and I look at her stuff. And then I have this long sales page that’s doing all of the lifting that you can avoid, kind of if you are actually nurturing your audience, but it’s meant for that person who’s just introduced you for the first time. So if you have done all of this pre launch, I mean, I’m not recommending that we just cut long sales pages. I mean, there’s benefits in to the long into the shore, and I am not the person to speak on those, we’ll have more episodes about actual sales pages coming up. But if you do the pre launch, the people who have been there and experience a pre launch, they can skim, right, which is going to actually cause them less annoyance, if everyone is annoyed by long sales pages, and you give them the opportunity to skim, because you’ve already worked like on nurturing that potential sale, then it just makes it so much easier for them to make a decision when they get to that sales page. Erin Ollila 21:12 Yeah, absolutely. Everything you said is completely correct. Also, another thing about the pre launch, is that you you want to nurture them so much that by the time they hop on to your long form sales page, when they read it, you want their mind to be going like yes, yes, yes, yes, because they believe everything that you’re saying on the sales page, what is really hard is if you get like a skeptical audience onto your sales page, and they’re maybe a bit reluctant to believe what you’re talking about. And so that’s when they might need a little bit more convincing. That’s when the sales page needs to do a lot more heavy lifting. And if you’re going to decent pre launch that helps to shift their belief systems. And then they arrive onto a sales page. That’s once again, confirming those beliefs, it is going to make it a very easy sell. Like you said, Ash Chow 21:57 Yeah, I love that. So I guess my question now, we’ve convinced everyone that we need a pre launch phase, if they didn’t know about it, they know about it. Now they are jumping in their pants to be like, Oh my gosh, I need pre launch for this thing I’m going to offer. But then they’re sitting here, listen to us. And they’re probably like, what do I do now? So I am totally like, giving you the mic on this. What would What does someone do when they want to create it? What’s the most strategic starting point for them? Erin Ollila 22:27 Yeah, it’s so funny that you asked that because it is the natural next question. It’s like dammit, I got to create even more content. What do I even talk about? Like? How do I promote a product or service that may not have technically launched yet? And so to answer this, I created my five stage power framework, because it really does address the five strategic things your content muster, in the lead up. And so to break it down, you in your pre launch, you have to prime your audience, overcome their objections, walk through the why behind your offer, establish your expertise, and reshift their beliefs. So if we go through that, if you think about it, your audience currently has a lot of beliefs, right, that may not align with what you’re actually selling. So when you create pre launch content, you first start off by priming them. And what that means is pretty much keeping the topic of your digital product or service, top of mind. So I’m about to launch a podcasting course your pre launch content needs to start talking about the benefits of podcasting and why people should jump on a podcasting train. If you’re launching a brand voice service. Again, your pre launch content needs to be talking about the importance of brand voice, and so on and so forth. Then we come to overcoming objections. So if you’re listening to this podcast, you might know that objections are those doubts and hesitations that stop someone from buying or making a decision. Now in the pre launch, you’re specifically tackling objections related to the topic itself. So again, with the podcasting, an objection to someone wanting to start a podcast is that podcasting is a very saturated market. And so they’re like, why would I want to start a podcast when it’s too late. So what your pre launch content needs to do is convinced them or show them that it’s not too late to start a podcast, even if it is saturated, or you can show them that you yourself started when it was very saturated, and you’re still thriving. So you’re really helping overcome the objection towards your topic. Then there’s walking through your wife, which is really helping your audience understand the purpose behind your offer and why you felt called to create it. And the reason this is so important is because there are tons of digital products out there that are probably on the same topic as yours, and are competing for your audience’s attention. But by sharing your purpose and your why you’ll be able to distinguish yourself from them. Then there’s establishing your expertise, which is pretty self explanatory, but basically in order for your audience to want to learn or buy from you, they have to know that what you’re teaching them is actually going to give them results. So you might share maybe the results that you’ve done for other people, or even sharing your own origin story is sharing your expertise. So how did you go from not having started a podcast before to now being like, on the top charts? How did you go from Yeah, not knowing anything about your topic to now becoming the expert, then finally, there’s really shifting beliefs. And that’s pretty much what I’ve been talking about the whole time. But basically, like, if your audience believes one thing about your topic that doesn’t align, then you need to help them adopt or adjust to a different set of beliefs. So for example, if they believe podcasting is too expensive, you need to get them to see that podcasting is something that can be done in a low cost or free way. So that is the power framework in a nutshell. And hopefully that is starting to spark ideas, who what topics you need to talk about in the lead up to your launch. Ash Chow 25:59 Now, I love that. And it’s funny, because when you were explaining all of the letters and what they meant, I was like, Oh, I could talk about this for like, you know, like all the different things that I do in my business. I love how clear that is. I think maybe when I first started to hear you talk about the pre launch period, it wasn’t so much the idea of the fact that we need to be talking before a launch, because I think just in general from being in the Marketing Marketing World, I understand that. But I think what really was so inspiring to me was the actual framework, because I do I think it covers everything you really need to do. And it’s it’s able like just the way you described it right there, you can do it in a way that people understand easily, right? So that I work with both clients who are do it yourselfers and for the people who want it done for them. And my di wires like they are motivated, and they’re excited. And they know that they can write copy. But they they just need a little extra help. Right. So if they come to you and they learn this power framework, I think that they would feel excited, because it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. It’s not like you have to sit down with a blank piece of paper and just come up with a month’s worth of content, you can work through all five of those parts of your framework and have a complete set of content to go. But my question that I had when you were talking is do you use the power framework in that exact order that you that you mentioned it? Can you mix it up? Does that? Does that make a difference in in the pre launch period of how they share the content? Erin Ollila 27:34 Yeah, that’s a really, really good question. So obviously, this is an audio podcast, so you can’t see anything. But usually, when I present my power framework, it’s in the diagram of a circle. And the reason it’s in a circle is because it’s it you need to be doing all of these things on repeat. So there’s not necessarily a set order, I’m not going to say to you like first you prime then you overcome the objections, although you can do it in that order, if you want. But like for example, let’s say you Erin ran an email about how you started podcasting with like, a $10 microphone, you didn’t have a studio Jack, you just recorded in your wardrobe. And at first you had no idea what you were doing, you would like stutter, you had zero listeners, but through persistence and through trial and error, you’ve managed to grow your podcasts from its humble beginnings. And now you’re topping the marketing charts, blah, blah. And now you’re passionate about helping other people within that story slash within that one email, what you’re doing there is you’re overcoming that objection of Oh, it’s too expensive, because you just shared how you started off with like a $10 microphone, you’re sharing your your expertise, because you’re detailing the fact that you went from zero to nothing. And you’ve learned the strategies and the systems, you are sort of sharing your why because you were talking about how this is such a passionate area for you, and you want to impact others in this way. So can you see how that one email is baking in multiple elements of my power framework? So to answer your question, it’s not necessarily like stages or steps, it’s more like keep these things in mind. When you are creating your pre launch strategy or contents. Or more accurately, it’s like make sure that you’re doing at least these five things in the content that you create. Ash Chow 29:20 Now, I love that. I love how you mentioned the email, because when you were originally going through each of the letters of the framework, I was thinking social media post, and then you know, when you described it that way, it makes complete sense how so many so many of those assets of the framework would be mentioned in one email. And in a sense, can you imagine like sending an email just talking about like the objections, right? Like it doesn’t make sense that you wouldn’t bring I mean, you can you can make it mainly about that. But it doesn’t make sense that you wouldn’t be in a little bit in there even if you go all of the objections and then you just talk about your own experience of understanding them, right. So most emails, it seems Like what have multiple of those baked in? Erin Ollila 30:03 Exactly. So even though for example, you might have an email that’s focused on overcoming the objections, you’re naturally going to bring in your expertise, you’re naturally going to be priming them. Because you’re talking about podcasting, you’re naturally going to be bringing in your why. So really, the power framework is just to, again, is a reminder of like, make sure you do these things. But don’t worry, because you’re naturally going to bring in all of those other elements. And just to touch on what you were saying before, I know I keep referencing like emails. But when we talk about pre launch content, content can mean anything that you’re comfortable with producing, it could be like an email, it could be a social post, it could be a podcast, or a blog post, the mechanism doesn’t really matter. It’s more just like whatever mechanism you’re going to publish, make sure you address and do each of these things. Ash Chow 30:51 Yeah, I love that you said that. So right before your episode comes out, we have a series on SEO, and in all of the conversations I had with my guest, and even myself, when I did the solo episodes, we talked about the fact that your website in general that you’re if you’re focusing SEO on it is really your own content, you’re you’re owning it, whereas you don’t on social media. And I know so many of my clients have been social media cautious, I’d say they’re either feeling burnt out by it, which makes a lot of sense. You know, like we’re living through a pandemic. And it’s been a tough couple of years, where people have seen so many different things aside of the pandemic, like social, you know, unjust now, or everything that’s happening that like they’re feeling frustrated with social or they’re feeling frustrated with being sold to on social. So I love that you mentioned that it’s not just I mean, it would work wonderfully on social. And of course, if you’re excited about using social as part of your pre launch and launch period, go for absolutely put it there. But if you are a little hesitant about using social media, it works so well, elsewhere, it works in your blog content, like you know, it would work on this podcast, for example, if I was wanting to launch a product, and I wanted to sell it as part of the episodes, I could prime people that things are coming out, you know, so if you’re showing up on YouTube, if you do daily lives, or if you’re on Instagram stories all the time, like wherever it is that you feel your audiences and that you feel your best, you can bring the framework and still really have a successful pre launch period. Erin Ollila 32:23 Yeah, exactly. And another thing on that as well is that it could even inform your opt in or your lead magnet, because I think that’s a very important part of the pre launch is also growing your audience and building your list. But for example, if you know that your audience are like, Oh, my gosh, thing is too expensive, you might create a lead magnet that’s like Here are a list of free resources that I have personally used to grow my podcast to be at the top of the chart. And just by releasing that lead by that what you’re doing there is obviously like overcoming the objections. But you’re also you know, like priming them to start thinking about podcasting, you’re also really shifting that belief, because like now that they have this list of free resources, it’s not too expensive, no longer becomes an excuse, right? So all of that to say the mechanism or the way you deliver the content, doesn’t matter what the power framework is that I help you with is more the topics that are going to strategically nurture your audience, and so that they are in the right state of mind to invest in your product. And the beauty of that power framework, again, to continue tooting my horn, is that hopefully you can see how when you know exactly what you need to do, you’re not going to waste hours creating fluffy content or, or any sort of content. Now you know exactly what points to hit to nurture your audience. And so it’s ultimately a time saver as well, because we’re focusing just on the intentional strategic topics. Yeah, Ash Chow 33:49 I love that. And that really circles back to the beginning of this conversation about the quote that you shared from your mindset coach, and how I mentioned like I was focusing on the word do, you know, when I said that out loud, I wanted to throw a caveat in there that it’s like, although I am committing to taking action, regardless of like, where it falls in the process, that tiny towel holder for my bathroom, or something more major in my business, right? I don’t want to be on strategic. So I think that when you have things like templates guides, this power framework that really are are setting a foundation for you, it’s just so much easier to step into that foundation. So if there is someone that’s listening, that is going to be doing their own launch, and they hear what you’re saying, and they’re like, Okay, this is overwhelming. I know it would be helpful, but like, I’ve never done a pre launch period before. They can just look at that formula for the framework and say to themselves, okay, for them, let’s pretend they love social media. So for them, they can work through those five letters. And they can just show up as themselves on social for a short period of time before the launch. Maybe that’s their testing phase. So then After they do that launch, they’ll be excited to do pre launch because they did a short period. They tested it out, they worked through your method, and they were being strategic. They weren’t just guessing. So they they worked through it. And they were able to be extra strategic in round two, because they had already done it one time, it wasn’t new to them. That actually brings me to one more question. It’s, what about the people who have already launched things, you know, maybe to some success, or maybe to no success? And they’re listening to this conversation and saying, Hmm, like, how could I bake this pre launch into my future launches of my product? Do you think that the power framework works really well, for people who have already like been doing this for a while? And maybe you want to make some adjustments? Erin Ollila 35:44 Yeah, 100%, even if, for example, you’re you have an evergreen course, that’s not based on an open and closed carb diet, it’s still helpful, because really, what the power framework is doing is telling you like how to move your audience from where they are now, which may be skeptical and hesitant to a place where they are like, Yes, I see the value of this product, yes, I’m willing to drop money on it. So even if you launched, like, quote, unquote, unsuccessfully, the first time around, you might incorporate it might be, for example, because you didn’t overcome their objections towards the topic of your product. So now, you might bake in more content to overcome those objections or address those misconceptions. Or your launch might not have worked out the best time because you didn’t prime them like you were talking about all sorts of random stuff, only to then drop a course on my website design. So Biden, but now you’re going to know how to prime your audience and get them to start thinking about a website design way before you actually drop your course. All of that to say, Yeah, use the framework, because it will help you create relevant, strategic, intentional content. Yeah. Ash Chow 36:48 And I think in some ways, maybe it makes it easier for the people who already have launched before, you know, regardless of the success that they’ve had, right? They already have data, whether it’s just content that they’ve created, and they can compare it against the framework, or whether it’s actual true data, like from the the amount of conversions, or whatever it is that’s coming in, and that can help them decide, okay, maybe it was a certain during the actual launch process, maybe this eat these emails performed really well, that led to conversions. Okay, so if that’s performing really well, and that’s convincing, let’s look at how we can bring that back into the pre launch period. Because obviously, that information worked. Well, I would take the framework and then, you know, put it against what you’re working with and determine Do you have any gaps? Is there anything that you could do more that would, you know, fit the whole framework to actually make your future launches? Or your current? If it’s an evergreen option? What can you do to really bring that power framework into what you have at this point? Erin Ollila 37:48 Yeah, exactly. It could also help you, for example, think up new lead magnets, create a new funnel, just something to spice it up a bit, if you’re getting tired of how you normally launch. And just another note, as well, I helped one of my clients, you know, they never used to have a pre launch, like, they would just have the webinar and then boom, into our into our program, please. And they would be very, very successful, you know, like I joined their program without going through any sort of pre launch from them. But since they have hired me, and we’ve actually implemented a proper pre launch for them, they’ve definitely seen the results of that. And that was like they managed to convert a lot of people earlier on. So a lot of people enrolled in the early bird period, to the point where they gained an extra an extra 17k in revenue, just during the earlybird phase. And then, you know, they converted people a lot earlier. And through that 17k. By the way, it meant that they could pay off all of their, like targeted ad costs. So they were starting off profitable. All of that to say if you’ve it’s not too late to incorporate a pre launch, and there are significant benefits to doing it, even if you’ve never done it before. Like Aaron said, like maybe you use the framework to figure out where the gaps are. And then you incorporate that into your next launch. And see how that turns out. Ash Chow 39:08 And I’m a big believer on like, not necessarily starting off small, but let’s starting off at where you’re at building upon that, and then testing. So when I’ve heard not just what you just said, but everything that you’ve said throughout this conversation. You know, I think one of your objections that you have, to people that are listening to this is you know, it’s not that they would think a pre launch is unimportant. It might might be that they think they don’t have time, or it may be seems like just an extra thing that they have to do. But if you take it from that perspective, as in marketing, we’re always building and we’re always testing, they can do a simplified pre launch period if like especially if they’re down to the wire and it’s almost time a simplified, free lunch and then that gives them information for future write that gives them again, like we talked about the confidence to do to do things the to work into your lunch period, the confidence to know that The content that you shared was relevant. And it also helps test right. So like I had mentioned earlier, they may be there when they the people who have already launched this, and they’re looking at your pre work framework as a way to audit their stuff, they’ll realize they’re missing that objection section. So it gives testing is adding new things in trying. And to just sum up this little lecture I’m giving, which is basically agreeing everything that you’re saying, what I want to drive home is if you’re worried about not having the time, or it feels overwhelming to do this pre launch, and it’s new to you think about it this way you create content once and that content can work for you forever. So even if you do need to make adjustments with your testing, maybe talking more about the expertise in a future launch, whatever it is, you’re building off what you already have. So you’re never starting from scratch with your pre launch formula in future launches. Even if you are to put a different offer out there. I think just the practice of working through the formula really gives you the skill that’s necessary to start thinking about how you can do that for different types of offers, as well what the objections might be, what type of the expertise you bring in. Because you know, if you offer do two different things, you might have two different origin stories or two different levels of expertise that you want to share. So I mean, again, I’m really just rallying you here right now, I think it’s such a valuable thing to do, and to think about. And while I can see that some people might be nervous about adding that extra step. I think that walking through this, and especially following the formula that you have, will give them so much more ease and comfort as they do this. Erin Ollila 41:41 Yeah, 100%. And like Aaron said, you can continue to build on that content later on. Like, you can always reuse it and repurpose it. And all of it is ultimately priming and warming up your audience. So it was like even if they don’t buy during your most recent launch, that might be it might nurture and warm them up enough to immediately buy the next time you re launch your program. So it never it never goes to waste, I guess is what we’re saying. Which Ash Chow 42:06 is actually the point that you just said is very valuable, right? I think if you’re going to go into the business of selling things, especially on the internet, you need to realize that it takes multiple touchpoints for people to purchase from you. And you know, especially let’s go back to that like feelings person thing. You said in the beginning, if a launch fails, or just doesn’t perform as well as you thought, like, it’s so easy to internalize that, like, what did I do wrong? Like, why did people not want to buy from me? Well, it could be nothing about you nothing about your offer, and nothing about your copy. It’s their own personal needs. You know, like I think of the things that I’ve purchased myself as a business owner. And some of them I took me a longer time to do it, because maybe I didn’t have the bandwidth. I am a mom of three kids and two of my children were born during this period of being a business owner not being traditionally employed. So there were certain periods as a small business owner that I really was limited on time and energy. So if maybe someone were offering something like a course, as an example, that I really was excited to take, I knew it would be really helpful. But I just could not imagine parceling any more time in my day to take the course, then I wouldn’t purchase it that had nothing to do with them their business or their offering. That being said, there, there are things I legitimately didn’t buy when I had a baby that I have bought now that my kids are older, and I have more availability or energy to spend it working in my business and not just for my clients. So for those for that group of people launching and this pre launch period, primed them for later, even if they don’t convert right now, it makes you trustworthy, it makes you someone that they pay attention to post your launch period, because they feel like what you have is valuable. And it makes that decision making period later, so much easier for them when they do have the bandwidth or availability to work with you. Yeah, Erin Ollila 44:02 100% that is why you do a pre launch of about your point of internalizing all of those things because I know that’s a big, big big factor for a lot of people launching it’s like Erin said like even though it in the moment, it really feels like it must be you must be because people don’t like you or whatever story your inner critic is coming up with. There are actually a lot of factors beyond you that affect a launch like maybe it is because you didn’t prime them enough. It maybe it’s because you didn’t overcome their objections. And it just reminded me as well like what you were saying about being a mom and not having time. The beauty of also having the pre launch and starting to talk about your digital product earlier and starting to see that idea is that you can even stop preparing your audience for the fact that a product is coming up and then they know like oh okay, like something interesting is coming up. I might save up for this. It seems like or I might try and make sure I carve out enough time for this particular product. So really the pre launch is also helping to prepare them to be able to use your product once you’ve dropped it. Ash Chow 45:10 I think we’ve said most of what can be said about the pre launch phase. I mean, I think this is something I enjoy talking about. So I could probably talk to you for about this for a while. And we could make this one long episode and I am so grateful that Ash has allowed us to share her power up your pre launch guide. So that is at Ash chow.com/pre launch and I will put the link to that in the show notes here as well as on my site so it’s easy for you to find that and access it and I think actually more than that, I highly recommend that you hire ash to do it for you. Ash thank you so much for being here today.