How to Launch Your New Thing With *Joy*

So the other day I was consulting with a super smart client and the client had designed THE MOST AMAZING ONLINE COURSE. We’re talking full-on developed course, innovative ideas, a really smart and interesting framework, with professionally designed materials, and content that made me go WOW.

The problem: she’s too shy / weirded out to sell it.

She did everything right! Hired a designer to make her a bomb-ass sales page, wrote great copy, put all sorts of FAQs and addressed objections and made it look very, very cool.

Then, she put it on her website.

And then waited.

She had put it up there, and hoped for the best; hoped that people arriving to her site would, you know, buy it.

Nope, those sons of bitches did not. 🤌🏻

Since the product wasn’t flying off the shelves, she ended up getting nervous and hastily discounted the price—a common knee-jerk reaction—so it was already reduced to a humble $200 price point, which was not appropriate for the level of content and expertise it contained.

And worse? Because the product wasn’t selling, she had no choice but to book herself full of 1:1 work—which can be rewarding and provide good short-term cash flow, but is also debilitating when your business needs a lifeline.

(Or when you need a lifeline. And a smoke.)

Finally, because nothing was working, she lost confidence in the product, and shut up about it forever. Or, at least until she called me. But not having confidence in your thing is the #1 killer of all sales, because if you don’t want to talk about it? You can’t sell it.

I have found this to be—oh god, I really want to say “epidemic,” but how can we ever use that word again??? But, this is such a common phenomenon, it needs its own name. What do we call it when we build something so beautiful but then have debilitating imposter syndrome that soaks into our skull and paralyzes our brains and makes it impossible to even want to tell anyone about our masterpiece???

This is dad-joke-level corny but maybe we’re going to have to petition to call it “Low Self of Steam,” because half of the problem isn’t just self-esteem but also…your whole entire self, um, lacking steam. 🚞

Then again that self-esteem crap is really vital. Someday they’re gonna talk about us and it will be documented in all the books of time that we are the generation WHO TORTURED THEMSELVES FOR A LIFETIME. Like, in a really great pioneering kind of way, but also in a maddening “how did they stay sane???” kind of way, what with all the socials and the online business and the digital rat race we’re in now. Ew.

However, that’s when she told me something over the phone that I wasn’t expecting. As her and I talked about her project, I kept saying, “Oh, you’ve got to re-launch this.” And finally she looked at me and goes, “But, like, I don’t know how to launch something???” And then I wanted to hit myself over the head because sometimes you forget that you’ve been doing something for so long, it’s second nature to you but, like ANCIENT HIEROGLYPHICS to someone else.

Another key fundamental problem: not knowing where to start! Or how to sell something online. Or do it in a way that makes anybody care about what you’re doing.

So then I thought: you know what? She is not alone. Let’s do a micro middle finger guide on this. And it’ll be for all the peeps who are building some type of product or course or program or paid newsletter but don’t really know how to…sell it.

If you follow these guidelines, you will bring in far more digital bacon than if you just put it up there sheepishly on your website and hope to become a vegan.

That literally never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever works. I don’t mean the veganism, which I’m sure is a treat, but the putting-it-up-on-your-website-and-letting-the-universe-bring-good-things-your-way.

No fucking way. Not happening. I promise you, even if I were to quietly put up a sales page with a big audience and decent traffic, it’s going to get zero sales. Because that is not how online selling works unless you are Sephora. But, guess what dahhhhling - selling eCommerce is a lot different than selling digital products.

And since digital products are my jam—you know, to give you the freedom and flexibility to travel and work from wherever you want in the world—that’s precisely what we’re going to talk about:

How to launch your thing and get ALL the online sales…the easy and joyful way.

Ready?

Here is the exact plan I’d follow, step-by-step, precisely as I wrote it up for my client, to take your thing and launch it to the world for big bucks. (Even if you don’t know what a “launch” is. 💛)

Behold: The Ash Ambirge Fun-Start Guide to Launching Your Thing and Getting ALL the Online Sales…The Easy & Joyful Way

First, a primer: “launching” is when you take something you are selling, and instead of just quietly putting it in your nav and crossing your fingers—which we’ve learned is negative seven-hundred effective—you instead make a big, fun, public stink out of it, thus forcing the world to sit up and pay attention, and making a buying decision now.

Think: every time your favorite movie star releases a new movie, or every time your favorite artist releases a new album or every time your favorite author releases a new book. Even famous people need to get people excited about their latest thing, right?

We little peasants are not exempt. But, I promise, we can do it in a way that doesn’t feel so scary!

Here’s how you create “a big, fun, public stink,” thus launching your product into the world with gusto, and bringing in a windfall of sales.

1. Set a date. This is paramount. You need to build anticipation. Anticipation is digital marketing foreplay. And we all know how much better the end result is when there’s foreplay.
2. Do a countdown. On your sales page, you’re going to put a countdown to launch. Because this is how other people know that there is a special date, and something special is going on, and they really shouldn’t miss something special, should they?! Cue: paying attention. The first step in any sale on earth. (Use Deadline Funnel for creating countdowns.)
3. Turn your launch into AN EVENT. 🤌🏻 We’re going to keep going with this special theme, because making your thing *feel* as special as it is, is a huge key to making *other people view it as special*. Why does everyone get hyped up about Christmas? Because it only happens once a year. And, hell yes, it’s an event. A tradition for some. A full-on month of everything holiday. That is why Christmas retains its magical feeling; it’s the perception that something magical is going on. How can it not feel magical with all the fanfare surrounding it??? Ditto for your launch: you want to make this feel like the most magical fucking thing to ever drop. That enthusiasm carries. It gets absorbed by your customers. It’s addictive. If it feels good to buy, more people are likely to buy it. And, that is very different from sending out a random sales page and being like, “Oh, hey, I made a thing.”
4. Run a giveaway. I know you hate giveaways. Guess who doesn’t hate giveaways? People who have a chance to win! Case in point: the people at Work Play Branding I’ve been talking about — the photographers??? — they’re launching a brand-new product photography division. And guess what they’re giving away??? A free product photoshoot, of course! This is not just to hype up the launch and draw attention to it, it also plays a very important role in your overall sales campaign: it gives you email addresses. You’ve probably been worried you have a weanie list, but guess what? When you start doing stuff out loud, online, hosting events and giveaways and having fun, you get email addresses. You do not get email addresses from spending 7 hours making a pretty Reel for Instagram. Giveaways can be a really great way to build your list, and apps like Kickoff Labs & ViralSweep let you do all sorts of neat things: share your giveaway with friends to earn more entries or even build a waitlist where people can move up in line just for sharing. (Bonus: ViralSweep is more expensive, but they even have a built-in influencer network where you can pay to have your giveaway shared. More on that in 3…2…1….)
5. Buy ads in newsletters. See, the thing about doing some sort of giveaway is that it gives you something to talk about and share besides “hey, gimmie that money.” So now what you can do is take your giveaway, and you can now buy ads in other people’s newsletters (or use the influencer network suggested above!), and you can share your giveaway…gather email addresses…and have a list to launch to! Super helpful if you have no list. The key here is in trying to find alignment with your giveaway and what you sell, so the people who enter the giveaway are likely to also want what you sell. Know what I mean? You don’t want a bunch of serial killers on your list, if you sell home security systems. (Wow, that got surprisingly…dark?)
6. Set up an affiliate link fo’ yo’ new friends. You know how else you can sweet talk people with email lists into promoting your thing? You give them an affiliate link. An affiliate link would ultimately end up tracking any sales that comes through them, and then awarding them a percentage of it. This is a great way to launch anything, esp if you can set your giveaway up with an affiliate link, so anyone who enters the giveaway is tracked via your affiliate…so even if they buy in a month from now, when you actually launch, your affiliate would still earn credit. There are lots of sites that do affiliate stuff, but by FAR my fav—and the coolest new platform around for digital course and product makers—is Rootabl, founded my friend Laura Sprinkle! It integrates with pretty much any platform where you have a sales page. :)
7. Pump it up on social. I know, SOCIAL. But, if you have fun with this, and think of it like a party, rather than walking the plank, you could definitely generate some fun buzz with your event. You don’t have to, of course! But ViralSweep does have a neat feature where people can enter your giveaway just by using a #hashtag or commenting in the comments. You can ALSO run fun photo or video contests with the app, too, and have other people vote on the winner. Just something to think about if you’re always stuck for what to post on social or how to talk about your thing. Talk about your fun giveaway, instead!
8. Stop being scared to do something cool. Putting this here because it is also a necessary step. ;) YOU GOT THIS!!!!!!
9. Keep driving registrations. However you can.
10. Go live on the day of. I’m really a fan of Riverside for crisp, clear, awesome live streaming but also this new webinar functionality from Wistia is giving me LIFE. (You gotta see that video.) ORRRRR!!!! You realize you can skip video altogether and do—drum roll—a live radio show??? VERY COOL. Might have to start a local one. Should I call it “Donkey 101?”
11. Make it a party. Do something fun and original! Bring on wacky fun guests. Talk about a super niche funny topic related to your biz. Take callers. Choose the giveaway winner live. Drink champagne. Do a live contest. Make a fool of yourself publicly. Do something weird, like draw your subscribers and give out ugly portraits. Get on a horse the first time and film it. I don’t know, something weird and memorable!
12. Make sure the countdown is rolling! Countdown live with them until your product is live. 🎉 Then, celebrate by giving viewers a super duper deal if they buy now while you’re live. Remember: people need a reason to buy now. Otherwise, they will *always* justify waiting.
13. Send a post-event email campaign. For everyone who signed up for your giveaway or email list or wait list, but who didn’t attend - now’s your chance to shine! Plenty of people won’t come - that’s normal - but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make them an offer, too. It shouldn’t be the same offer as you offered to the people who were actually there live, but you can still offer an incentive.
14. Put a timeline on the email incentive. Just like anything, deadlines are required to ask someone to pay attention and make a decision. They don’t need to buy from you, but they do need to decide.
15. Make it just as fun as the live event, but in email. Don’t forget: they weren’t there to see you live, so they don’t know what a blast you can be. Make sure you take your time and write some really fun & engaging emails that show real enthusiasm for what you’re doing. This creates an emotional connection that can help overcome other barriers to the sale (like the fact that they just found you). If you want help with this, don’t forget to grab my latest creative writing course for the internet, launching December 6th! Use code SUBSCRIBERMEAT for a VIP subscriber discount of 40% off before Black Friday.
16. Send the final reminder emails! Do not skip! As the deadline is approaching, you really do need to send a few more emails than you’re comfortable with. I don’t mean pestery, salesy, crappy ones, but the truth is that people are busy, and 50% of the time, they meant to buy it, they intended to buy it, they wanted to buy it, but they let it go, knowing there was still more time to get it. So make sure you send one in the morning, and one in the evening, on the day of the final deadline. (Deadline Funnel lets you put the countdown timer in the emails, so make sure you do that so it’s obvious.)

I could really go on for yeaaaars about this, but I hope this makes sense (I woke up this morning with what feels like knives in my throat and an ear infection - WHY AM I ALWAYS SICK IN THE UNITED STATES).

The most important takeaway here?

Have pride in what you made. Celebrate what you made. Bring the joy. Bring the enthusiasm. If you can make someone excited about what you have built, you’re 99% ahead of the game.

Remember: not everything in life needs to be so serious.

If you’re out there having fun? You are winning.