Biggest Lessons from My Online Course Launch

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Launching an online course in 2023?

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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

I've done a lot of launches over the years, but I learned something new every single time. I just finished one up and here are my biggest takeaways.

If you're new here: Hi, I'm Louise here on this channel. I share all my best tips and tricks for creating a more leveraged passive online business. So if that sounds amazing to you, definitely hit subscribe down below!

Lesson #1: Live performs way better than pre-recorded 🔴

The first lesson is that live performs way better than pre-recorded and I know this because I just tested this for my last launch. I did pre-recorded, and for this one I did live, and the results speak for themselves and tell me that live is the way to go.

Now, I still want you to have pre-recorded sales systems in your business, but for when you're doing a larger launch, I think it's worth it to put in the energy and show up live for your audience.

We actually came up with what I think is the perfect schedule I've tried many variations of this over the years, and this is the one that I love and now we'll highly recommend to you.

Here is the schedule:

It was a free four day challenge, and each day I would go live for the lesson and I would stay on for a Q&A and answer as many questions as I possibly could.

This was great. It was really fun. I felt I was genuinely able to connect with people and provide tons and tons of value, and overall the vibe was just so good because of that.

So then on day four, I announced a special offer for my online course Passive Profit Accelerator, which shows you how to create your own successful online course.

So we announced a special offer, and then we had a bonus expiring the next day at midnight. I really liked this. It wasn't like too rushed of a decision for anyone, and they had time to review the offer, everything that was included, and really determine whether it was a good fit for them.

So this felt really good to me and that expired the Friday at midnight.

Lesson #2: Daily bonus trainings can help engagement 💻

Now, with a challenge, generally it's really normal for engagement to drop off significantly once the challenge was over, and we really didn't want that. So this time we added in daily bonus trainings and I'm so happy that we did that. It really helped the momentum keep going and allowed me to keep talking about PPA and why I think it's going to be so life changing!

Even though that bonus expired on the Friday, we were still promoting this special limited time offer until the Tuesday at midnight so I didn't want it to just be crickets and no fun, or no added value.

So yeah, this schedule totally worked. It didn't feel too long or too draining, so I'd highly recommend it and grab that free schedule above!

Obviously there are a lot of different ways to launch, but personally I love challenges. I think you will as well, and that's why I'm sharing that!

Lesson #3: Be transparent about your special offer 💰

Another thing we did that I would recommend you do is on day one, just be super open with people that a special offer is going to come on the last day, and they can be excited about that - let them know that the week itself is not just going to be an extended sales pitch and it's going to be super valuable whether they decide to join you for that next step or not.

I did this and then it just felt like everything was super open and transparent and we were able to just show up and provide tons of value during the week, which felt really good.

So overall it was just a really positive experience, which is what you want. You don't just want it to be like something that's good for sales - you want it to be good for just connecting with your community, for providing tons of value and a good experience, whether they come and join you or not!

Lesson #4: Schedule as much ahead of time as possible 📲

Now, obviously there's a lot of moving pieces to a launch, so I would recommend that you schedule as much as you can ahead of time!

We did that with all of our emails, and social posts in the Facebook group, and on Instagram, so that way I could just focus on being present and putting my energy towards what I was teaching and what I was sharing.

Yeah, we've done that for the most part in Asana (you guys know I love Asana). So that's part of the benefit of using it, is that you can get things really organized and you can execute this way.

It’s definitely going to help, especially if you're looking at this schedule and thinking, “oh my gosh, that's so overwhelming”.

Lesson #5: Protect your energy ⭐️

Okay, now that being said, it's really important to protect your energy.

There was so many times throughout this launch where, yeah, I could have done more like during a launch (there's always more you “could” do - there's always like someone you could reach out to, there's always another like bonus live that you could do, or a collab, or something to help build up momentum of that launch) but honestly, you gotta know when to just be like, “I've done enough today. We're good. I'm going to sleep.”

Lesson #6: Add more mindset notes to your content 💭

Now I wanna share a lesson about the content you share in your launch or your challenge.

I'm really practical and sometimes I can just be like, well, “here's the steps”. You know, do the thing.

Instead, in order for someone to be ready to take your course, there's probably a lot of mindset blocks and shifts that they need to go through in order to actually be ready.

So this time we added so much more mindset in there to address this.

I was really trying to think about my ideal client and what they ultimately wanted for themselves, and then what could be getting in the way of that. Then, that was put through each of the days. So there was a combination of the practical how-tos, but then the added mindset, and I think that really, really helped (and that improved our conversion rate this time).

Because, ultimately, the underlying strategy of a launch or a challenge is you are helping people get closer to the point of being able to work with you inside of your online course.

Finally, I have two little mindset pieces that came up for me during this launch…

Lesson #7: Be careful of what information or content you’re digesting before your launch 💡

The first was that going into this, there was so much external noise about things not working like they used to be, and challenges and launching, just not working.

It really stressed me out.

Then we went ahead and we did it. We had a successful challenge. We had our highest conversion rate ever. So obviously like that wasn't the case!

So I think we need to be super careful about what information, and other people's fears, we're taking into account before we go into something like this.

Things are always shifting, but I think those core things in business that we do (like hosting free trainings and launches) they still work.

If anything, in 2023, you just have to be a stronger marketer than ever, and your messaging really has to call out your ideal client specifically and connect with them.

But if you're doing all of that, it all still works.

Don't let that external negativity get you down! 💛

Lesson #8: Don’t judge the results until your launch is over 🔢

Finally, if you find that your numbers are low throughout the challenge, do not let it mean anything!

I know there are all these numbers of marketing… I was like, “oh my gosh, this signup rate is low” and “okay, the show up right here is low” and you can really like overanalyze it.

So what you don't wanna do is judge the results before your launch is over.

It's really hard to do, but I actually put in our notes as a team before going into this saying “we'll judge it on Wednesday” (when the launch was over).

So yes, we kept notes throughout it so that I had all of that data, but I was just like, “okay we'll see how it performs and we will wait until Wednesday until we judge this”.

So even if you're doing your challenge and you feel like no one's paying attention, I want you to keep showing up as though they are.

A few lives I did, I had maybe three people on, and of course I could have let my mind judge what that meant, but then so many people would watch the replay and leave comments.

So even if you feel like no one is watching the videos, for example, keep showing up as though they are. You don't know how many people are quietly watching the replay, or are simply just loving your energy and they're going to come and join you in your course anyways.

So write that little note for yourself as well: wait until the day after the special offer ends to judge how it all!

And remember: it is just one launch of many 🎉

This launch does not mean anything for your future results, or your capability as an entrepreneur. It's just one little promotion that you're doing.

Those are my launch lessons. I hope that this video was helpful for you.

I appreciate you watching, and I'll see you real soon with another video.

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