Back in 2019, I launched my first product: my photo presets and some e-books. On that day, I made absolutely no sales, $0, on launch day. So, I know how it feels to have a product launch and see no sales. Now when I have launches, I’m making thousands of dollars. In fact, with my last course, I had a $40K launch. So, today I want to talk about the specific strategies I’ve implemented to see profitable launch days with new courses, products, and offerings. 

CREATE WHAT THEY WANT

The first thing that made the biggest difference when it came to having a profitable launch is to create what our audience wants. At the end of the day, of course, it’s important to create something you’re passionate about, too. But starting where your audience needs you can be a great stepping stone to get you into products that you’re excited to create. For example, when I launched my first set of products, no one asked about those. I don’t think I made much money on them at all. However, what I did right was the photography presets. I’d been asked so much about my editing style so creating presets that photographers could grab was huge. I wound up making nearly $10K that year from the presets, even though I started with $0 on launch day. Just because you don’t have a successful launch, doesn’t mean that your product won’t be successful in the long run. You just need to be sure that the product you create is something your audience is excited to get and pay for. 

What I like to think about when creating resources is what people are asking me about often. I think about the questions I’m asked because that’s what people want from you. Those questions tell you what will help you monetize your digital products. Another thing that I like to think about is: what is easy for you to create and share right now? What could you talk about or what templates have you created that you could then share with your audience? My presets were something I’d already made for myself, so I just had to package them and be able to have them downloaded for other photographers. 

PRIMING YOUR AUDIENCE

The next key step that helped us create a more profitable launch was priming our audience. I’m a huge fan of organic marketing (we don’t use paid marketing on a monthly basis). Organic marketing is really about showing your value and giving away information for free to build a connection with your audience – so that they will eventually become paid customers. I just think it’s such a great way to build credibility and show you know what you’re talking about in your niche. I began to really implement priming my audience with organic marketing after that initial failed launch. Our marketing focuses on whatever topic we’ve got products around. So, the year after my failed launch, I knew I was going to launch a course about photographing wedding details. For about 4-6 weeks leading up to that launch, my YouTube videos, email list, and Instagram posts talked about photography tips for details. That way when I launched the course, it made sense that I was selling a course about photographing details. People saw how much free value I’d given and knew there had to be something great in the course. It resulted in a $5K launch week for us – and that was with a pretty small audience. 

When you put valuable content out there for free – and lead with serving your audience – people will learn to trust you and will ultimately pay you for more education on that topic. Remember to prime for at least 4-6 weeks before a launch. 

EMAIL MARKETING 

The next thing we’ve really focused on to help improve our launches is our email marketing. It’s been important to drive the right people to our email list and that was part of our strategy for how I showed up online. We created freebies that people wanted so that we could get them onto our email list and they become the primed audience we can sell to. People join email lists and expect to be sold something via email. Social media is great to connect with your audience, but your email is where you’ll monetize that audience. 

I’m so excited to be sharing our free email marketing class – sign up for it here! The class is live September 28 and 29th, but you can sign up and get an on demand replay after those dates, too.  

SERVE YOUR AUDIENCE

The next thing that I think has been impactful for our launches is simply serving our audience. Look back, before that 4-6 week period, and determine how you’re actually serving them. I’ve seen students who are consistent during that period and then ghost their audience until they’ve got something else to launch. That’s not going to work. Instead, stay consistent and show up so you can build that trust with your audience. You can share things that are valuable, things that will create connection, and are meaningful for your audience. I truly believe that showing up and serving can be one of the best tools to build trust in your community before any launch. 

GROW YOUR AUDIENCE

The last thing that’s helped us create more profitable launches is growing our audience. I’m sure that seems pretty obvious: the bigger your audience, the more conversions. But, that’s actually not always the case. If you’re doing a good job of serving your audience and pitching your products well, you’ll see a better conversion. There’s a lot of ways to grow your audience. Again, I don’t like to focus on paid marketing – I tend to focus on organic content marketing. I focus on my blog, our YouTube channel, podcast, and social media. My marketing revolves around evergreen marketing with long-form content that can be shared across platforms and converted into short-form content, too. I want to continue growing my audience and providing value to them. I’m truly about showing up consistently and sustainably in a way that works for you and your business so that you’re attracting the right people so that when you go to sell, you’ve attracted the right people who will want your products. 

Other Resources 

Want to follow along with us? Check us out on Instagram: Stephanie Kase Education! 

We’ve started a podcast! If you haven’t checked it out yet, now is the time!  If you’re listening and you have ideas about what to talk about next, please send in your requests! I really do want to know what you want to hear about in future episodes. Email me at [email protected] with your questions!! I can’t wait to hear from you!

If you’re interested in my strategy around YouTube videos – more information about picking topics, filming and more – make sure to check out My Formula to Making Money on YouTube. This freebie will help you understand how I’m turning these videos into money in the bank! 

Don’t forget to sign up for our email marketing class so you can learn how to gain the right subscribers with ease, create an email marketing schedule and more – all in just ONE HOUR. Sign up here!