Today we’re going to dive into how to launch a product online. We will cover everything from confidence, to making sure you have the right audience, to setting up your onboarding sequence.
IE 211: How to Launch a Product Online
If you’re not sure how to outline your product, how to create a sales funnel, what it should look like, you need my product guide.
It will teach you exactly how to create your own product that sells; with a 5-point checklist, a sales funnel worksheet, and an invite to my private Facebook group. If you haven’t grabbed this freebie, now is the time.
Do Your Research
If you are thinking about launching a product or service, the very first thing you need to do is research. You want to get an idea of what is out there.
You also need an idea about pricing because you don’t want to be the most expensive or the cheapest either.
You need a feel of what others are offering that is serving the same purpose as your product or service. Do they provide a course, do they have an eBook, how many hours of content do they provide, and what problem does it solve?
Put Yourself Out There
You want to make sure you fill in any voids you find in the products and services you research. It doesn’t matter if someone else is selling something similar to the product or service you plan to launch. YOU are what will sell your product.
Someone else can do exactly what you are doing, but they are not you.
I often have people ask me, “How do I get more people to sign up for my list” or “How do I get more people to look at my list?”
You have to create personal connections with your audience. So many of you feel like you know me because of my podcast or my Instagram stories.
Start thinking of ways you can put yourself out there and create those connections.
Know Who Your Person Is
You have to know your target audience for your product or service.
If you are someone who is traditionally known for creating free family recipes, and now you are trying to pivot and talk about health or even offering a product for sale, you have to teach your audience about it.
Show your audience the value of your product and tell them exactly who it is meant for. Show your audience that you are the expert in this niche.
Engage Your Audience
Once you know who your target audience is, you can begin to engage with them.
No matter what your product or service is, you have to have an email list of your ideal audience. I hope you already know and understand this.
You have to be growing your list with a freebie. This is necessary in order to get your product and service in front of your ideal person.
What is it your audience wants? Once you know this, you will know what kind of freebie to offer that will cause them to want to sign up for your email list.
Once they are signed up, you have to email them regularly. You cannot just send them an email once a month and expect them to know you or care about you.
Give your people an opportunity to get to know you via your emails. I send out 3 emails a week to my people.
Let Your Audience Guide You
Now that you have an engaged audience who is sharing their opinions with you, either via email responses or social media responses, you will know what product they need to solve their problems.
Instagram Stories is one of the best places to get responses from your people. You can use polls and your DM’s to get a conversation going.
After you’ve decided on a product, the best way to create excitement for the product is to talk about it a lot as you are creating it.
When I was writing my book last year, I was constantly reaching out to my audience and letting them know what I was working on, and asking for their help. My book cover is the picture that my audience chose.
You want to use the right language that will really speak to your audience. You want them to feel like their opinion matters to you. They need to know that you hear them.
Set Up Your Onboarding Sequence
The next piece, that a lot of people skip, is that you need to set up customer onboarding.
I recently purchased from a small business owner in the Charlotte area. She blew me away with her onboarding process for the organic beauty product I was purchasing. I received an email when my order was confirmed, and when the box came, she had a little card inside letting me know her Instagram so I could share and tag her. I did that three or four times because she made it simple for me and made the product beautiful.
The same thing should happen even if you’re not sending out a physical product. Your people should be getting an email from you, thanking them for signing up and explaining how to use the digital product.
You should send follow-up emails telling them how they can use the product to the best of their ability and how to share and tag you.
Continue to talk about your product a week or two weeks down the road. You want to understand how it is benefitting them. Ask questions about their experience. You will get testimonials if you continue to follow up after they have had time to consume it.
Create a Marketing Plan
The next step is creating your marketing plan for promoting your product. You have to talk about your product. It needs to be on your blog, your website, your social media, in your emails.
How will you make this happen?
Will you use influencer or affiliate marketing? What will your sales emails look like? You must have a plan.
You cannot expect anyone to hear about your product or share about it if you have only mentioned it one time. Know what days you will be talking about it and what you will be saying.
Fail Forward Naturally
Sometimes you need to jump in and then refine as you go. Many of you have heard me use the phrase “fail forward.” As long as you move forward after mistakes, you are succeeding.
You cannot be everywhere. Pick and choose what you will be able to handle. You don’t have to do everything. Go where your people are and talk to them. That is what matters.
People need to see things an average of seven times before they take action. Show up for them where they are and talk about your product. Don’t waste time promoting your products on a platform where you have no audience.
Share your product or service naturally. In almost every podcast episode, I give examples of my clients.
You can show up on Instagram stories and make a recipe from your new ebook and let everyone who’s watching know that they can get access to it and so much more in your ebook. This is a great way to grab people’s attention.
Practice Your Confidence
The biggest thing I need to get across when it comes to actually selling a product is that people have to know, like, and trust you. You have to be authentic. People don’t buy things because you have a beautiful product or perfect funnel.
If you don’t let yourself be known, your audience will not feel connected to you and they will not want to buy from you.
Many of you listening have never launched your own product. It might be hard to sell something because you’ve never asked for a cent from your audience.
Your audience won’t be used to that in the beginning, but as you continue to share and be authentic they will have the desire to learn from your expertise.
Have confidence in selling your product. Confidence is not something you are born with; you have to practice and work at it.
Don’t be afraid, just be yourself. Products and services are a phenomenal way to hit your projection goals for 2021, hit your revenue goals, and grow your business.
If you haven’t done it yet, please grab the product guide to help you put into practice what you’ve learned in this episode today.
Action Steps:
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