The most honest and detailed launch strategy you’ll ever read

Hey hey,

This is the final part of the 3-part email series where I share what I learned from my first-ever launch.

In case you missed the previous ones, here is part 1 and part 2.

Now let’s dive into the main topic.

When I was still a beginner in my creator journey, I thought marketing was for scammers and unethical creators who were doing it for a quick buck.

But marketing is one of the best skills you can learn as a creator and entrepreneur.

Marketing isn’t about making money, it’s about helping people make the right decision.

And I’m no marketing expert, I’m still learning the ropes of how to do marketing right.

Here’s everything I did (right and wrong):

1) Building tension

Selling in email is all about building tension.

The first email I announced that I was selling The Modern Creator was in Creating A Brand That Attracts Fans.

I took the Dan Koe approach with it (writing 1,500+ words and promoting the course inside it). It did well, but the ROI it had wasn’t the best—it requires a lot more effort, for similar results.

This isn’t to say that Dan’s approach doesn’t work. It does, but not for the launch strategies.

Because not everyone is going to read your 1,500+ word emails just to reach the part where you promote your product.

And since Kieran is in the process of launching a new product, I figured he might have some useful advice for me.

Here’s what he said:

Start sending shorter (300-500 words), story-based emails that tackle a problem, present your course as the solution, and send them 2-3x a week.

That’s what I did leading up to the launch.

All 9 of my sales were before launch.

I’ll tell you why I failed to make any sales during launch day in a bit.

…but for now, let’s talk about marketing on social media.

2) The launch strategy

A typical launch takes about 3 weeks.

Week 1:

In the first email of the first week, you announce you’re releasing a product (then you start applying point #1).

But not all of your audience is in your email list. So what do you do?

You promote your newsletter on your social media.

Here’s what I did:

Every 2-3 days I would write a post that is related to a newsletter (in which I promote my course there) and plug the newsletter in the comments — that way daddy Elon doesn’t get angry at me and kill the reach of my post.

Week 2:

This is where things start to somewhat go fast.

In the second week, I wrote 2 threads (again related to my product) and promoted the course in those threads.

From the 2 threads 44 people went and saw the landing page (but I didn’t make any sales from them).

This is where I also wrote a weird email: Starting your newsletter with a pointless story

I’ll be honest with you, I thought it would be a disaster.

And in a way it was.

2 people unsubscribed to the newsletter…

But the good news: it was the most successful email in terms of sales.

It had a 15% click rate and it generated 4 sales (not bad eh?).

Maybe people don’t like it when you’re being too serious.

Week 3: Launch Week

This is where shit hit the fan and I failed. HARD.

If you ask any traditional marketer or creator (who knows what he’s doing) what to do in launch week, They'll tell you this:

Start promoting your course on social media daily, send daily emails promoting your course, and when it’s launch day send 2 emails that day.

1 very serious and thought-out email and the other reminding them that the prices will increase in a few hours.

Well…

I didn’t do any of that…

I wrote 2 long forms and mentioned that I’m launching a course.

I also only sent 3 emails that week and when it was launch day I didn’t send any…

The only email I sent was AFTER the prices were increased…

And it wasn’t very well thought-out and professionally written.

It was a simple email that followed a simple structure.

"Boring introduction.

blah blah blah.

• Problem 1

• Problem 2

• Problem 3

blah blah blah

Buy my course."

So naturally, I made 0 sales on launch day.

And it’s probably why I made 0 sales during launch day.

Numbers for people who love numbers

I now have about 70 email subscribers (I removed 50 inactive subs 2 months ago).

Sent out 7 “sales” emails.

Had around 112 people visit the landing page and made 9 sales (~8% conversion rate)

The best-performing emails:

1. Starting your newsletter with a pointless story — 15% click rate and 4 sales

2. Creating a brand that attracts fans — 14.81% click rate and 3 sales.

3. I wish I learned this skill before wasting months of trying to "figure it out" — 14.71% click rate and 2 sales

Total revenue made: $801

Profit: $701.1 (Gumroad + PayPal fees).

Not bad for a first launch…

• Could I have made more money if I offered mentorship programs? Yes

• Was it going to be another $5k month? Yes

• Could I have, in good heart taken on 9 people as clients and given each one the attention and support they deserve? No.

What does this mean for the future?

During my launch, I met an entrepreneur who's making more than $100k/mo and I wish I applied the advice he told me.

Here’s what he said:

“Make 2 kinds of offers for your product.

1. Only the digital product ($139)

2. Digital product + mentorship ($700+)

This way you’ll still sell your course to a large number of people and still help those who want 1:1 help.”

Why didn't I apply his advice before?

I don't know.

Maybe it's because I was burned out or that I got lazy.

But in the next launch (which I’m working on right now), I’ll be applying his advice and see how things go.

Thank you for reading.

I’ll see you on Sunday with a not-so-serious email where I won’t sell you anything (I promise).

Hussain

PS:

Let me know what you think of this mini 3-part email series.

What did you like and hate about them? What had you wished to see in them?

Who knows maybe it can inspire a new email.