138: Boost Your Launch Results: Unleashing the Power of Pre-Launch Content with Stephanie Tilton

Foreign.

Welcome to the Course Creators MBA podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Destiny Kopp, and I help business owners increase the revenue with digital products and evergreen sales funnels. In this podcast, we go deep into product and marketing strategies for digital product creators. We cover everything from digital product creation, how to market and sell your digital products, and just as important, how to find your ideal customer. Let's jump right into our show.

And my special guest today is Stephanie Tilton. Stephanie is a copywriter, launch strategist, and founder of Sarah Stephanie Tilting Copywriting. Her mission is simple, helping her clients write launch copy that comes from the heart so that they can hit their big picture launch goals. And I know, Stephanie, we all want to do that. And I am super excited to jump into this topic with you today. And today we're going to be talking about how to increase your launch results using strategic pre launch content. And I know a lot of us, and I'll put myself in this category too, we don't do as much as we should, right, to kind of warm up of our audience. So I am so excited to chat with you today about this. But before we begin with all the questions I have for you, Stephanie, can you tell the good audience a little bit more about you, how you help people and how you got started in all this?

Yeah, I'm really excited to be here also and to talk about pre launch because like you said, it has something that not everyone understands, like the power that it has and why it's so important. But just to get into, you know, kind of where I got my start, you know, I think a lot of people, a lot of service providers, we always say, you know, we love what we did before we ever turned that into a career. And, you know, that is especially true for me. I've always loved to write. I used to take notebooks, keep them in my car or at work and would write like little stories and things. And so, you know, kind of an unfortunate event, I was working in like a government agency, a local government agency here and had some preterm labor stuff going on while I was out on bed rest. Received a letter in the mail that I no longer was an employee there. So, you know, it, it, it is what it is. I still to this day have no idea what happened with that. But, you know, I just decided to take that as an opportunity to kind of get more into the writing part that I love. And so I started on upwork like a lot of copywriters do, writing blog posts and things like that. And then eventually just got in with the right types of clients, started working more on sales pages and email sequences. And then all of that led me to launches because I like to provide like the full service for my clients. And I mean I will write just a sales page or just email sequence, but I really love to give them like everything they need to really be successful and to really have the results, you know, reach the results that they're going for. And so, you know, I work now with smaller businesses to mid sized businesses who have courses, programs or memberships that they are wanting to launch and you know, continue promoting every year. So it's, it's so much fun and.

You know, in terms of what you said about you love to kind of look at the big picture and I think that's important, right, because if we're only looking at or working on certain aspects of our launch, you know, we might be missing something. And I think that's what we're going to be talking about today because we're going to be talking about something that I think a lot of us either overlook completely or we don't put a lot of emphasis on it, and that is pre launch content. So Stephanie, can you tell us why focusing on pre launch content and making sure that we have a complete strategy around it is so important?

Yeah. So, you know, one of the biggest things when you're launching like a big complaint that I know a lot of my clients have had is, you know, they go and launch and then it's just crickets. Like nobody engages with their emails or their social media content. You know, people aren't really going over to their sales page and buying. And one of the reasons for that is, you know, their audience really had no idea that this launch was even going to happen or the significance of it at this point in time. And so with your pre launch content, it's really your chance to first of all, you know, give your audience a chance in this, you know, time period where they're learning a little bit more about you and how you can specifically help them with whether that's a problem or, you know, just reaching a goal or whatever it is that your audience is really needing at that, at that point in time, you know, it's just your chance to showcase how you can help them through that or how you can help them reach their goals. But then also with prelaunch content, you know, from our point of view, the, you know, the creators who are launching an offer, this is also our chance to kind of validate that idea and to see if this is even something that our audience is interested in if they would be, you know, if it would even be something that they would want to buy. And so a lot goes into that. And you know, having this prelaunch content, you can kind of see what your audience's reaction is going to be if this, you know, topic is something they're interested in. And then that way you don't waste a lot of time creating an offer that, that may not sell because they really don't need it. So it does really save a lot of headache and, and trouble going forward into the launch.

So I loved what you're suggesting there, which is you can also use it not only to warm up your audience, but if it's a new offer, you can use it to validate an idea and see if it's something that they would even, you know, just to see if something that they're going to buy when you actually launch it.

Yeah, and it's not even pre selling. You know, I know a lot of people talk about pre selling, but it's really not an exchange of money before you've ever created something. I know a lot of people have like a dilemma around that, like the ethical piece of that, like, what if I don't create it and someone's paid for it? You know, and I kind of feel the same way about that. Like I want to make sure I deliver something if people are paying. So this is just a way to kind of see if this is even anything that your audience would be interested in before you ever take money or create the thing. And I think people are open, especially now to creators who are just open about the fact that, hey, I'm launching this thing. It's not going to start until X date. I don't have it created yet, but it will be created by the time we start. So, you know, it's okay to do it that way as well when you're launching.

So I'm just curious, why do you think we either overlook pre launch content or we're not using it effectively? What do you think is missing there? What is causing us to kind of skip this step?

Well, there's two main reasons that I see a lot with the clients I work with or just people that I'm talking to in general. One of those is that we run out of time. And you know, and I'm guilty of this as well, but you know, my hand there. Yeah, you know, what can happen is we're creating offers, we're create, you know, worried about the sales page and making sure that's perfect. And worried about the launch emails and everything. And then we realize, you know, we're a week or two out from our car open day and, and we've not put any sort of content out that gets our audience like this pre launch content that I'm talking about that's warming up our audience or just making them aware of this thing that we're going to be promoting and why it's so important. And so, you know, that's one of the biggest things is just not enough time. And then another thing is that we don't really always know what we're supposed to talk about during this pre launch phase or how long we should talk about things or what prelaunch content is supposed to look like. And so when you don't really know what you're supposed to do, you know, we tend to just not do anything at all. And that can be for anything, whether it's launching or whatever it is in business or in life. So, you know, those, those two main things have a big role in why pre launch content just doesn't get created.

And I agree with you, you know, everybody is, you know, we're all busy, we don't have enough time in the day. So that's definitely one of the reasons. But I also think you hit the nail on the head when you said if we don't know what we're supposed to do, then we just don't do it or don't do anything. So let's jump in there and talk about what are some of the things that we should bring up in this pre launch content or talk about with our audience. What exactly is included in this content?

Yeah. So, and I know something that everyone will ask us, you know, how long should we do this for? So, you know, when I'm thinking of creating pre launch content, whether it's for a client or for myself, I'm looking at like a four week time period. And that doesn't necessarily mean that you're putting out one piece of content every day for four weeks. It just means at least once a week you're creating content specific to this like pre launch idea. And so what you want to think about is the buyer's journey basically and where your audience is in this exact moment. You know, whether that's they're facing some sort of struggle they want to overcome or whether that is that they have some deep desire that they're hoping that they can achieve. You want to think about where they are now and where they want to be, what that end goal is. For them. And so your pre launch content is basically going to fill in the gap and help them to get to that place where they feel capable of, you know, jumping in and investing in your offer. They feel like at this moment or you know, when they invest and when they work with you that they're actually going to be able to achieve those results. So some of the things that you want to talk about in your pre launch content are, you know, just helping with any sort of mindset stuff, I'll say just the mindset piece that goes in to, you know, where we have our self doubt, we, you know, doubt ourselves, we doubt what we're capable of. We have maybe been misled by things in the past and so, you know, maybe we want to shift the way people see their, their ability to achieve success and we want to help them work through that mindset piece. Or, you know, you can also help them to see why some of the things that, the misleading things that they've been doing in the past, why those haven't, you know, have kept them stuck or kept them in this place that they're at and then how maybe you do things differently, that's, that's a better option. And you know, some other things that we can talk about too are just sort of foreshadowing what is going to happen in the future or what their future could look like once this problem is gone or they've finally fulfilled that desire that they're, you know, that goal that they want to achieve, you know, what is, what will their life or their business look like after that? And all of these things really you're just kind of helping people feel like that empowered feeling where they say to themselves, like, yes, I can actually do this, I can actually have this in life, in business. And this is the person I feel confident can help me to get there. And so that's kind of like what goes into pre launch content without like, you know, going into like super detailed specifics here. But you know, and I can give specifics if you think that would be, you know, something that the listeners would like to hear. But you know, it's just a really about thinking how you can really support your audience through this process of deciding if an offer like yours is something that would benefit them, you know, because we all, we all have that little bit of doubt, like, is this actually going to help me? And you know, if I'm spending all this money, like I want to make sure that it works, you know, and absolutely.

And I think a lot of people out there are Questioning, you know, their purchasing decisions, especially in this economy. So helping them feel like it is truly achievable and that you're the person to help them get there, I think is very important. So let's dig into that a little bit. So let's say that that is the type of content that you want to put out there or you want to, you know, to kind of help them see. Yes, at the end of this journey, I want to go on, I can actually do this. What would you suggest that a course creator or somebody who has a membership, what kind of content specifically would they be doing there?

Yeah, so I can give an example. It kind of helps me to, to feel like I'm less generic. And then also, you know, you can kind of take this and spin it into your own business. But you know, for example, I've worked with a watercolor artist and she, it was for a watercolor course and then she also had some other smaller like digital offers and things. But some of the pre launch content that we would try to focus on and this is just her style as well. So you have to kind of think about how you approach kind of sharing and teaching your specific audience. But you know, for her, she's very like inspirational and uplifting. And so we wanted to kind of talk about some, some like the mindset piece which would be like perfectionism. So for her audience, they kind of struggle with this idea that everything has to be perfect when they sit down to paint. And so it kind of hinders them getting started. It, you know, goes into a whole lot of what they do and how they feel while they're painting. And so, you know, that's that right there, just that perfectionism. We created one email just focused on that aspect of it just to kind of walk them and help them to overcome like everything doesn't need to be perfect. And here's why. And even, you know, thinking about like in nature, no two trees are the same, so it's okay if your painting doesn't look like someone else's. You know, that type of thing.

I love that. And I think that's a great example of helping people understand what the end that they can do it, that's the end result. And I can actually do it because it doesn't have to be perfect. I love that.

Yeah, exactly. And so it's just really thinking about how can you support your audience and almost like help them through these things, you know, because every opportunity that you have to write an email or to just communicate with your audience is an opportunity for you to show them the type of, you know, I want to call it say teacher. But you know, when we get into courses, you know, obviously we're learning and so it's someone's teaching us. But the type of teacher that you are, the type of coach that you are, you know how you are going to be when they're in that offer, when they're in that course or that program or that membership, you know, you're giving them that kind of sneak peek of what they can expect when they're working with you and when they're learning from you. And so any chance that you have to showcase that part of yourself is always going to be a benefit when you're launching and when you're writing this pre launch content.

Thank you for giving us that and going into a specific example of how we can actually implement this in our business. And I'm going to switch gears with you a little bit here. And can you tell us about when somebody's thinking about pre launch content? What is one misconception that they may have about what pre launch content actually is?

Yeah, so I know we've probably all seen a lot of this these days. You know, I think a lot of people have this idea that the pre launch content, it needs to be something like a trendy reel or maybe a DIY piece of content where you're teaching them how to do something. But the reason that that is not necessarily like pre launch content, it does have a place when we're, you know, as we're marketing ourselves as business owners and that type of thing. But you know, with a trendy reel, you have to think about what is that doing, that's really just growing your audience. And so that isn't necessarily getting an audience that's ready to buy. It's bringing in a new audience that may still be really cold to you and to your offers. And so the trendy reels would be great to do you a few months before you decide to launch as you're building and growing your audience. But the pre launch content you want to really have that be content that's, you know, warming people up to the idea of you and to your offer and to how you help and then also getting into things like the DIY type of content. You know, depending on what your offer is, you may not necessarily be teaching people something or they may not really need to know how to do something themselves. They may just want to get a feeling from you and you know, just to see like they don't necessarily like, for example if you were trying to teach someone how to set up Facebook ads, you know, they may not want to necessarily learn how to do that. It may, you may actually be overwhelming them even more, you know, because things like Facebook ads are very stressful anyways. And so if, if it's just causing even more overwhelm or confusion in your DIY content, even though it's helpful, we can actually be doing the opposite. And so if people are feeling really overwhelmed and stressed out, then, you know, they're probably not going to want to buy from us or to want to work with us if they're getting that feeling when we are putting out content. So, you know, just kind of thinking of it that way. You know, really the type of content you want to focus on for pre launch is more of that, I would say, you know, kind of motivational, empowering type of thing and, you know, just inspiring. So maybe even sharing stories from your past clients or past students who have experienced, you know, your offers and how they have grown from that and what they've been able to accomplish after that, or even just sharing your own story can also have a really powerful impact during the pre launch phase.

So just to kind of recap some of the things that you said there, because I think you gave us some really powerful points, pre launch content could be, you know, sharing stories from previous, you know, students in our courses or customers, even your story and your journey and kind of showing that aspiration, you know, here's where you can do and, you know, just making them feel like it's achievable, it's doable, you know, more aspirational type content. So I love that. That's great. Stephanie, any last minute tips here for the audience before we wrap it up?

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, everyone, like, we especially when it comes down to like, I don't know what to say or, you know, not really sure what to do. I think the first tip would be to focus on pre launch content before you start getting into creating sales pages and launch emails. Because like I said before, you know, pre launch is your time to really gauge the interest in your offer. And so if you're not really getting a lot of engagement or interest from your pre launch content, then you know, you'll know that you need to tweak a few things before you actually go into launch. But then also with the pre launch content, it's really just about putting things out there, trying different things. If, you know, like, like I said earlier, if you're not really an inspirational type of person and you're more just like, you know, tough love type of thing. That's perfectly fine. To create pre launch content like that, it's just trying different things to see what really resonates with your audience and what they really don't care about and then doing more of what gets the engagement and creating more of that type of content for your pre launch. So, you know, just try different things. If it doesn't work out, there's always next time. You know, just like with everything, don't be afraid of like the failures and I hate even to use that word because I think there's so much we can learn from the bad things that happen. Especially with launches. You learn way more from things going wrong than you do when things go right. So I think just my number one tip would be just to put content out there and see what your audience really relates to and then do more of that each time you launch.

And I think that's an important point because, you know, with marketing in general, everything you're doing, you're just testing and tweaking and testing and tweaking. You know, we run summits almost every month in two different brands and every single time we run a summit we tweak just something little just to improve it every single time. And you know, there you go, we're learning. Yeah. Stephanie, before we hang up here today, can you let the audience know where they can find you and also about your free gift?

Yeah, so you can find me. My website is stephanie-tilton.com I'm also on Instagram stcopywriting. So that's my social media platform of choice. I share a lot of stories behind the scenes and, and things like that. And my inbox is always open if you have questions or just want to chat about launches or anything else for that. And then also for my free gift, it is a, it's called the Profitable Course Launch Guide. And inside you'll find a lot of resources that help with audience growth, with planning out the, you know, a five day launch, what that's going to look like, what content you want to create for that and then also some of the, the pre launch content ideas and things are in there as well. So if you would like to download that, you can find that stephanie-tilton.com forward/guide. And I'm sure that the link will be in the show notes. But yes, there's plenty, so many resources inside of the guide just to kind of help you with, you know, getting your offers out there and again, learning from the launches as you go, and.

We'Ll definitely make sure that those links.

Are in the show notes.

And Stephanie, thank you so much for joining me and sharing your knowledge with us about pre launch content.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. It was really fun. I love talking about this and you know, I could have talked all day about it, so I just thank you so much for having me.

Thank you.

Thanks for listening all the way to the end. If you found value in this episode, I'd love a quick review on whatever podcast platform you're listening on.

If you don't know what to say.

In the review, just say Destiny. I loved your episode on whatever topic you're listening to. This will help us get our content out to more people just like you. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.