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40 Ways to Promote Your Next Launch

Hailey Dale

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I’m Hailey – content strategist and founder here at Your Content Empire where we help you create more profitable, purposeful and productive content — and hopefully enjoy yourself more while doing it too. Learn more about me here >>

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40 Ways to Promote Your Next Launch

If you want your launch to be successful, there’s one simple thing you need to do: promote it. And if you feel like there’s only a few ways to promote your next launch, this post will really open your eyes. There are so many different avenues of promotion. 

You have so many options on how to promote your next launch. By the time you’re finished reading this post, you’ll be having more trouble picking and choosing which ones you love the most than trying to come up with ideas. 

Prefer to watch this blog post instead? Click on the video below!

First – What is the PESO model?

The PESO model was originally introduced by Gina Dietrich of Spin Sucks for the PR and media world. But it's a powerful content marketing tool too, especially when applying it to your launch strategy.

Here's what it stands for:

P – paid traffic strategies

E – earned traffic strategies

S – shared traffic strategies

O – owned traffic strategies

My favourite thing about PESO is that it makes sure that you're utilizing all different types of promotion methods and not putting all of your eggs in one basket. Instead of going ALL-IN with Facebook ads, you can make sure you're leveraging earned traffic strategies too!

Download the PESO Launch Planner to get started now.

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The 3 Things to Promote During a Launch

During your launch there are 3 levels you want to promoting:

  • Your offer (as in the thing you're selling)
  • Your pre-launch content (the blog posts)
  • Your pre-launch freebie (the opt-in gift for signing up for your offer interest list and/or a webinar)

Most people just think about the offer itself and forget all about the importance of the pre-launch campaign (check out my post about designing a pre-launch campaign here). But your launch promotion period actually starts 4-5 weeks before you even open your cart and begin enrolling people.

40 Ways to Promote Your Next Launch

There are four types of traffic strategies: paid, earned, shared, and owned. Below we’re providing options for each strategy that you can use to promote your next launch.

Paid Traffic Strategies to Support Your Next Launch

What earned opportunities can you use to get the word out about your launch? Remember to leave enough time for paid traffic when you’re planning your event. You want to make sure that the publish dates align with the launch and what your offer entails.

  1. Click-through Facebook and Instagram ads to your pre-launch blog posts

Ensure you have tracking pixels and a custom audience for website traffic set up so that when people visit these blog posts (and your site), they're added to that custom audience. Meaning that you can retarget them later on in your launch campaign.  Set up click-through ads for all of the pre-launch blog posts.

  1. Conversion Facebook and Instagram ads to your launch freebies

During the pre-launch period, your main goal is to grow your offer interest list as large as you can before you start selling your offer. Run Facebook ads to your freebie to cold traffic (based on interests in other Facebook pages), to your email list and to your website traffic. You can also set up a custom audience on your launch freebie thank you page to exclude anyone who's already signed up.

  1. Retargeting ads to your offer

Once you get into your launch cart period, you can be re-targeting people with your Facebook and Instagram ads who have visited the site, visited the sales page, or who are on your interest list. Set up a Facebook or Instagram ad for your offer that links directly to your sales page. You won't be targeting any cold traffic with this ad unlike the previous two ads. At this stage of your launch (the open cart phase), your main priority is converting your interest list.

  1. Utilize Google remarketing ads

It's a common marketing rule of thumb that people interested in your offer need to see it at least seven times before they're ready to take action and purchase. By setting up Google remarketing ads, you can target anyone who's visited the sales page for your offer with ads when they're visiting other sites.

  1. Sponsoring podcasts

This one will require a bit of foresight, but create a list of podcasts that you know your ideal audience listens to and then approach them with a sponsorship opportunity to promote your offer during the open cart phase.

  1. Affiliates

Reach out to past students, customers, and clients. And if you're launching a new offer, this could be clients or customers from similar offers. They've experienced your brilliance first hand and have the results to show for it, so they're the perfect paid partners to help you spread the word (and get a gift in exchange for it).

  1. Promoted pins to your freebie

Pinterest is one of those places where there's a ton of opportunity right now. As Facebook ads and Google ads get more expensive, Pinterest ads are uncharted territory in comparison. Set up a conversion ad for your freebie to send to new leads (based on their interests) and to retarget to your website traffic. Just a note: Pinterest ads are promoted pins that can last forever, so having something to redirect that traffic to once the launch is over (if your content is coming down and won't be live anymore) – maybe an interest list or a related offer?

  1. Promoted Pins to your pre-launch posts

Similar to the Facebook click-through ads to your pre-launch posts, ensure you have tracking pixels set up so that when people visit these blog posts (and your site), you can retarget them with the freebie ad.

  1. Other Paid Social Ads

Depending on your audience and what you're launching, other social platforms may be more suited. Consider running LinkedIn, and Twitter ads if that's where your perfect launch customers hang out.

  1. Paid Content Promotion Tools

For your pre-launch blog posts, get more eyes on it by using third-party content promotion tools like Outbrain, Revcontent, Quuu or similar tools out there. These are channels specifically meant to help get your content out and in front of people. Like the promoted pins, you want to make sure that you're leaving enough time for this and start it really early during your pre-launch period.

Earned Traffic Strategies to Promote Your Next Launch

What earned opportunities do you have to promote your launch? It can be expensive to promote a launch monetarily, but you do have other options. Earned strategies require your time and effort, but not financial investment. This strategy may make sense for you depending on what you’re launching and the price.

  1. Podcast Interviews 

Similarly to sponsoring podcasts, you can also pitch podcasts that you know your target audience for your launch will be listening to. This will require some foresight because the time between pitching a podcast, to recording a podcast, to having a podcast episode released can take awhile. Plan ahead and pitch early. When you're recording the podcast, always bring it back to a theme related to your launch offer.

  1. Being a Guest Expert in Facebook Groups

Doing a live training session in other Facebook groups is increasingly common for those looking to promote their own launch. Approach owners of groups with your dream customers and offer to be a guest expert for a week using videos, lives or prompts. Win-Win-Win. The members get your high-value free content, the owner of the group gets help with engagement and you get to make an offer at the end about your launch.

  1. Guest Blogging

Just like with podcast interviews, you'll want to plan ahead and pitch your guest posts early so you can time publishing around your launch time. In your about me bio, send readers to your pre-launch freebie opt-in page.

  1. Joint Venture Webinars

One of the fastest ways to grow your audience is to tap into other people's audiences. Find the right person and ask if they'd like to do a joint webinar. It's pretty common in these arrangements to either share audiences (you send your people to their webinar sign-up page and they send their people to yours) or if you're just doing the webinar to their audiences to offer an affiliate deal on any offers sold to the host.

  1. Host or Participate in a Summit or Series

I've recently just co-hosted a series (Selling with Generosity) where we had 30 guest experts. I've heard from many of them who were coming into a launch that they were able to leverage the interest and feedback from their content in the series for the launches.

  1. Lend Your Expertise to Another Program

Another great way to get in front of potential customers for your launch? Offer to be a guest expert in another program.

  1. Joint Venture Bundles

Reach out to business owners with complimentary offers to create joint venture bundles. If the offers have a similar price, enhance each other and are for the same potential customers, create a super bundle (and a can't-miss opportunity for your new customers!)

  1. Host Guest Posts (or do a round-up)

This is guest posting, but in reverse. Another way to get in front of other people's audiences is to host them on your website or blog either in a guest blog or in a round-up. Doing this will help you create connections with other business owners and their audiences (when they promote the feature or post). This is an easy way to proactively arrange earned traffic.

  1. Work with Influencers for Sponsored Posts

This is a hybrid earned and paid traffic strategy. Reach out to leaders in your industry (or related industries) with their own audiences and offer them an affiliate partnership.

  1. Attend an Industry Event or Tradeshow

Another great way to earn media is to attend industry events or trade shows where the who's who in your industry is hanging out. This is more of a long-term strategy but if there's an event during or close to your pre-launch period, attend and engage with attendees before, during and after the event.

Shared Traffic Strategies to Promote Your Next Launch

What shared opportunities can you use to promote your launch? Think in terms of how you can use social media and how you can encourage others to share.

  1. Enlist Launch Cheerleaders

Connecting with other business owners and making business friends is a key strategy for your business regardless of when or if you're launching something. But during a launch, reach out to those people and ask them to help you spread the word about your offer or launch freebies. And make it really easy by supplying graphics and swipe copy that they can easily share. Also make sure that you're going out of the way to return the favour!

  1. Social Media Campaign

This one's a given, but show up and engage on the social media channels your ideal customers are hanging out on. For each phase of your launch campaign, have a set of messages to share consistently.

  1. Leverage Your Thank-You Pages

Carefully consider how you use your thank you pages. During the pre-launch, make it really easy to share your content with their friends or others who they know will find it useful.

  1. Update Your Social Media Profile Links

For all of your social media profiles and groups, change your links, pinned posts and cover photos. You can do this multiple times during your pre-launch and launch campaign – when your freebie is released, when the webinar is coming up, when the cart opens, early bird is ending and when the cart is closing.

  1. Run a Contest to Ramp Up User-Generated Content

Can you run a contest for your pre-launch freebie that rewards people for sharing? Increase your reach by providing an incentive for sharing! Consider making it a contest where the more times they share the more entries they get for this giveaway.

  1. Offer a scholarship

Similar to running a contest, you could also run a scholarship for your offer that relies on (a) people sharing stories about why they deserve and want it; and (b) spread their message to their own networks. You'll probably want to assign a method for receiving the applications or monitoring them via hashtag.

  1. Host Q&A lives about your offer 

Use Facebook or Instagram live videos to spread the word about your launch. These will work best if you find a value angle – behind-the-scenes of your offer, a tour of the offer (or a single feature), a Q&A.

  1. Unlock Bonuses for Sharing

For your pre-launch content, make special bonuses available for sharing your content with their network. Different from a giveaway where there are one or two winners selected, this bonus gets unlocked for anyone who shares (just make sure it's a bonus that people actually want).

  1. Sharing with Your Networks

Can you leverage your social-based networks to spread the word? Think Tailwind tribes, Instagram pods, round-up community or even your personal Facebook page profile.

  1. Share in Facebook Groups

Find Facebook groups where you know your dream clients hang out and promote your offer directly (in the promotion threads or your own post if promotion is encouraged) or indirectly (sharing behind-the-scenes updates or posts with valuable tips or tidbits that relate to your offer).

Owned Traffic Strategies to Promote Your Next Launch

What owned methods can you use to promote your launch? Owned refers to anything on your own website and digital properties such as your website or your email list. You will definitely want to use owned traffic strategies pre-launch.

  1. Write Pre-Launch Blog Posts

During the pre-launch period leading up to your launch, you can write weekly blog posts on a theme related to your offer and that lead to your launch freebie or webinar. Once you launch, you can write another blog post about the offer itself.

  1. Website Placements

This one is often overlooked, but update your website so that your offer is highlighted in crucial placements on your site – sidebar, about page, homepage, menu, banner, ribbon, contact page, cover page (first with information about the freebie and then with information about your offer once the launch campaign begins).

  1. Email Signature

Customize your email signature with a line about your offer so any emails being sent include a link to it.

  1. Pre-Launch Email Marketing

In lieu of your regular newsletter, switch things up by sending weekly emails about your pre-launch content. Talk about your latest pre-launch blog posts and your freebies. Anyone who engages or clicks on the links in your emails, have them tagged or added to your launch interest list. The goal of email marketing during the pre-launch period is to grow your interest list as large as you can.

  1. Launch Email Campaign

Once your cart opens, start sending sales emails to your interest list. You may send a couple to your entire list (and if they engage move them to the interest list), but for the most part market your offer to the people who've indicated that they're interested. You'll be sending emails about your offer (announce the cart opening, the features, the benefits), about results (from past participants, your own results, testimonials), announcing special offers (early bird, expiring bonuses, cart closing), and extra opportunities to engage with your about the offer (webinar or Q&A call). The goal of email marketing during the launch period is to convert your interest list.

  1. Add a Pop-Up or Slide-Up

Make the most of your website traffic by directing them to your offer. Think of your launch pop-ups as traffic controllers that get people to the place you want them to go.

  1. Personal Outreach

Create a list of at least 10 people you think would be perfect for your offer and add anyone who sends you messages or questions to that list. Reach out to them during the launch, tell them why you think they'd be a great fit and offer to jump on a call if they have questions and link them to the sales page to learn more. Also reach out at important points during the launch to people you've already connected with – like at the early bird ending or cart closing.

  1. Place an Ad in Your Launch Freebies

At the back of your launch pdf, place a full-page ad about your offer and have it direct to the sales page (or a coming really soon page where they can sign up to be notified when it does open). Or if you're doing a video, have a button at the bottom that links to the sales page.

  1. Build Your Interest List Year-Round

Have an interest page available all the time so that even when you're not launching, you're collecting leads. Plus, if you have freebies or content upgrades related to your launch, have these tagged or add people to your interest list when they download them.

  1. Related Offers and Content

During your launch, have a link (or mini ad) to your offer on the bottom of related blog posts. During your pre-launch campaign, add links to your pre-launch freebie and content at the bottom of related blog posts.

Promote Your Next Launch Successfully

Now you have 40 different ways you can promote your launch, which will help your next launch be successful. You have tons of options, but you don’t have to use them all. Choose the ones you believe are the best fit for your offer. Then all you have to do is put in a little promotional elbow grease and watch your launch take off.

Download the PESO Launch Promo Planner.

Click here to subscribe

 

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