#263 - How Smart Course Creators Use Black Friday As A Launch Warmup

Most course creators are about to completely waste their Black Friday opportunity by doing what everybody else does. Bundling random stuff together and simply slashing prices. But what if I told you that the smartest course creators use Black Friday as a strategic warmup for their biggest launches of the year? Hi, I'm Kate from hello Funnels. I've made over $6 million in core sales and helped over 4,000amazing course creators to scale scale their businesses. And today, I'm showing you how to turn Black Friday into a taste test that sets you up for a massive success in January and February.

Alrighty, guys, Black Friday is coming. There is no avoiding it. And now you need to decide two things. Number one, will you be partaking? Does it make sense for your business to have a Black Friday offer? And if it does, number two, what are you going to sell? Well, that is what we're going to talk about inside this episode. I am going to walk you through the what not to do, which is what pretty much everyone else is out there doing. So that's exactly why you need to do the opposite and what you should be doing instead, particularly if you want to not just have an amazing end of this year, but actually make sure that your start of next year is the best and most profitable it can be as well. Alrighty, so let's start off with the what not to do when it comes to creating an offer for Black Friday. So, first of all, classic newbie mistake. And this is really, I think, a symptom of someone realizing that Black Friday is just a few weeks away, panicking and just grabbing a bunch of stuff off their hard drive, putting it into a big bundle and whacking like a $97 price tag on it and going like, here's my big bundle of stuff. Buy it. Which is really not that strong of an offer. Just more stuff for small money these days, consumers are smarter than that. Also. A lot of people do that, okay? You're not the only one panicking if that is what you were considering doing. And so the thing with Black Friday is it is loud, it is noisy. So what you create is needs to have some cut through. It needs to be a bit different. So giant bundle of stuff with teeny tiny price, that's just going to put you into the same as everyone else category. And all that means is, is the only way that you can compete, the only way that you can make sure that people buy your giant bundle of stuff rather than someone else's, is either to make it the cheapest, which isn't really Great for your, you know, for your pocket at the end of the day or even for your brand or the biggest, which again, does. It doesn't always make sense. Okay, so let's, let's just move on from that. The giant bundle of stuff, you could do that maybe five or six years ago. It's just not going to cut it today. The next thing, which is a definite no, no is taking your main program like your bread and butter, the thing that you put your heart and soul into, the thing that makes most of your money year round, the thing that you sell to a lot of people in times that aren't Black Friday and just putting a discount on it. One, it's not very exciting, it's not very interesting. Again, won't get cut through people like, oh, you've been talking about that all year. And two, all it does is one, annoy the people who just bought it because now it is cheaper. And two, it tells people who might have been considering buying it another time, hey, I should hang out because I bet they're going to have a sale. So we don't want to be doing that. That's going to mess with your sales. It's going to mess with your brand reputation. It's going to annoy your customers. Do you just. Bad, bad, bad. So next big no is again, when people go, I really want to do something in Black Friday, but I don't really like doing a big discount. So I'm just going to give them 5% off. I'm sorry, but no, no, again, like I said, that people are being yelled at, screamed at. If the only thing that is new, exciting or different about your offer for Black Friday is it has a discount, then it has to be the best discount. Okay? 5% is not going to cut it. No one's going to pay attention to that. So all you do is you spend a lot of time setting this up is you, you know, bombard your email list and therefore, you know, eat away a bit of the goodwill that you've been building up. And not many people are going to buy because it's just, it's a bit of a nothing offer. So again, don't do that. If you are going to discount, if that's the decision you made, make sure you go all in over generous. Okay? This is not the time to be stingy. Maybe just don't put that giant discount on, like I said, on the main thing that you plan on selling at full price later on in the year. All right, final mistake. I see a lot of people Making is that they actually just try and pretend like the thing that they're always promoting with a discount that it always has, is their Black Friday sale. Don't do that either. Again, people, they want novelty, they need cut through. They need to have something that pops up that they're not expecting, so they're going to actually pay attention to it. This is really, really difficult these days, and I realize it's getting harder and harder every year, but you are absolutely guaranteeing that people are going to completely block out whatever you say if all you do is say the same thing that you've been saying all year round. So we want to get cut through. We want to get a bit of wow factor, a little bit of like, oh, what is that? I haven't seen that before. And just promoting the same thing the way you've always promoted it. Again, giant, no, for Black Friday, sure. Other times of the year can absolutely be good strategy. Plus, Black Friday, no. They are being yelled at, screamed at, promoted to, or everywhere. On their phones, on you, on their computers as they're driving down the street, just coming up going, hey, me again. Saying the same old thing is not going to work. Okay, so now you know what not to do. What should you do? Like, what is the right type of offer? What kind of offer is going to help you to get that cut through? That's going to help you to actually get people to spend their dollars with you and not with your competitors or not with Amazon or not with Target. Okay. Because that's like this. Some of you, you're competing with everybody. Okay, so there's a specific way that we've been creating our Black Friday offers these last few years that has not just been meaning that we've made some great sales over this really busy, you know, Black Friday period, but has also meant, and I only kind of put the two and two together like after it happened. But it also meant that our January and February was even better than years before that. And the reason why that is so important is for a of niches, a lot of you guys listening, January, February, like that is our super bowl, right? Like that is the time of year, particularly if you are helping people to make any kind of big and meaningful transformation in their life, whether it's, you know, their business, their career, their love life, their health, their family, anything, anything that they've probably just made a New Year's resolution about and just had enough of a brain break over these coming weeks from their day to day to go, oh, man, I'm going to really do something about that this year. It means that you've got all of these people coming out with really strong intentions. They're like, yes, they've just gone to spend a whole ton of money over Christmas, but they're like, you know what, if I don't do it now, I'm not going to do it. And so they are ready to buy January. February is one of the usually most profitable, most successful, most exciting months to be sharing your products if you are in that transformational space as, as we are. So the strategy that we are now using with Black Friday is we're actually using Black Friday to kind of like tee us up ready so that we've got people who are pre warmed, who've had almost like a taste test and who are going to be even more excited to hear about our bigger office, you know, once the holiday craziness is over. So how do you do that? Well, what I want you, first of all is I want you to, you know, while you're sitting down and planning out your Black Friday, if you haven't already, I want you to stop for a second and think, what is the program? What is my most transformational offer? And I want you to go and stick that in your January calendar. Okay? That's a. If you haven't, if you're not like a way ahead kind of planner, if you were planning on planning out your new year over the new year period, just don't block out January or February right now. Go put in like, you know, two, three, four weeks, however long you normally make your offers over and make sure that is dedicated to whatever your juiciest, most impactful offer is. Now once you know what that offer is and it is in the calendar, I want you to now take that step back and think, what could I give to people? What offer could I make? What small bite size easy. Yes offer could I create and share during Black Friday that is going to help to be that, that taste test for people ready to come into what is the cent essentially like the main course of your offer next year. Like you think about it like you when you're in the supermarket and you know you've got these people at the end of the aisle going, you want to try this? And they do and they try. And that was delicious. And maybe they don't buy it now, but next time they're coming back around when they don't have the kids yelling and screaming at them and they don't have such a big long list, they'll see it on the aisle and Go. I remember that. That was great. And you know what? Now I need that. And so they'll take it. So this is what you were doing. Okay? So I want you to think about like, what is something that is going to set them up for it? And not just set them up for it, not them kind of get them excited for it and I'll give you some examples in a second. But also get them excited about working with you. Give them a taste test of what it's like to work with you. And you know, all of this is going to basically mean you now have a pool of people who are that much more likely to buy your main offer rather than just spending that time either promoting, like I said, a big bundle of stuff which people may buy. And now they're like, oh, I've got all this stuff to get through. So I'm not going to buy this next thing because I haven't done all this stuff. So we want to make sure you're not doing that. You're going to give them something that is bite sized, that is very manageable, that is, you know, strategic given the fact that when they're buying it is a crazy busy time of year. But that is also going to help you to get that cut through, be an easy yes and set them up. So asking a lot of one offer maybe or maybe not. But I'm going to walk you through the criteria you need to look for. So first of all is you need to think about with the offer that you help to solve for people, what is the step that they have to take beforehand? Like usually with each offer we create, people will go in, they'll go through that offer, they'll get that result, and then that result normally reveals the next step problem. So for example, if I was to do a little offer around and, and this, this isn't it, but I'm just trying to use an easy example. It, you know, my main offer is about helping people build funnels, right? And what do they need to be able to build a funnel? Like, what is the problem before building a funnel? The problem before building a funnel is creating an online product. So if someone was going to didn't have an online product yet, they're not going to be ready for a funnel. If I can help them to create an online product really quickly and easily, once that product is done, then that next problem is like, oh well, how do I sell it? How do I sell more of it, how do I sell it more easily? And then that's where the funnel comes in, right? So every offer that is out there, there is a problem before the offer. Or maybe if you had, you know, you were selling a Facebook ads course, then what do people need before they can run Facebook ads? Maybe they need a really good sales page or maybe they need have their social media content nailed first and they can start getting used to creating content and then can be turned into ads. So I want you to think about that first question to ask yourself or ask ChatGPT. We don't have to do much of our own thinking anymore. I'm joking, but I'm kind of not. So what is the problem that people need to solve first before your problem becomes a problem they're looking to solve? And is there something that you either have already or can quickly and easily and simply create that is going to solve that problem in a really, really simple and easy and effective way? Next kind of way to look at it, if that doesn't instantly, you know, make it obvious is one of the other examples that I love when people do, and we've done this a few times, is actually creating something that helps them to plan out their year where part of that you know they are going to obviously planning out, doing, creating, achieving or something that your offer helps them to actually do. Like the practical side of it. So for example, we have done it before when we have done like a planning, planning bundle where we help people to sit down and go like let's sit down and work out the numbers and like what are your goals for your course? Sales. Okay, great. Those are your goals. All right, well how many sales do you need to hit those goals? Great. How are you going to make those sales? Well, this is where funnels comes along, right? So it's again, there's lots of different ways you can do this for all kinds of different topics and niches. And not every one of these examples is going to be right for you. But I want you to use them as like thought starters, idea starters. And hopefully something pops up or again pop it into chat GPT, see what they have to say. Another one. And this is really good, particularly if you've got more of a longer running product and that product isn't available all the time. So you know, maybe you only open the doors to the program that you're going to launch in January once or twice a year. And so you kind of almost have like this like FOMO exclusivity already sort of like mystique around the product. Well, maybe you, you can take something from inside that product and sell it like something particularly at the start, if that's like about the first step that people need to take, or again, helping them to plan out, see the bigger picture, or just get a taste test of what it's like to work with you and to see, like if it's step one of 10 that you're giving them and they do it and they love it, and then next year you're like, hey, would you like steps nine through ten now what do you think are the chances that they're going to say yes? So those are just some things to think about when you're trying to come up. Like, what is the promise? Like, what is, what are you actually going to create and use for your Black Friday offer? And hopefully, again, little caveat, hopefully, whatever that is, is something that you already have. Or again, you can create really easily. I don't want you going and spending weeks and weeks and weeks creating your Black Friday offer because something you're only going to be using once, we want something that is going to be a quick win for you and for your audience. Now once you've kind of got that idea, that's usually not enough. There's usually needs to be a little bit more massaging just to make sure that this offer sells really well, that it becomes what I call a easy yes offer. And there's a few rules that it needs to follow. So first of all, when it comes to the price, now, again, I know with Black Friday a lot of people think you just want to go the cheapest, that you can do it, and sometimes that makes sense and sometimes it doesn't. Again, check in with your brand and what makes sense for your brand. But really what's important here is that the offer, what the value in that offer to your client, what that is, is so clearly so far above what the price point is. Like, it's not just a match because people are looking for a bargain here. Like Black Friday is bargain time, right? We're not looking for a one to one match, which is what you might do with other offers here. We want people to go, this is a freaking steal, okay? So you need to think about that when it comes to your pricing. What do they, I know it's a bit esoteric, it's hard to put a number on it. But think about how much they value this problem you're solving or this outcome you're helping them to get. And just make sure your price makes it a freaking steal, okay? Next is the promise. Now this is really, really important. Promise and delivery, the last two pieces, but really important we want something that is specific. So nothing here is like, I'm going to make it better, I'm going to make things bigger. I'm going to help you to grow this. I'm going to give you more ease. No, really super specific. I'm going to show you how to do your next 10 social media posts and get your first customer like that kind of specificity. Okay. Because again, that is what it's going to get the cut through. All right, so you want something that's specific and something that feels like they haven't heard it before. So you need to make sure that it has your special twist that is based on your own experience and doesn't just feel like some crap that they could generate out of AI on their own. So specific, something unexpected or unusual. And then the final piece, when it comes to that promise or the outcome that it is that the problem you're solving, the outcome you're promising is that you need to make sure it is currently in their top three problems list. So if you think about your ideal clients at any given time, they have a mental list of all of the things they're trying to figure out, things that they want to do, problems they're trying to solve, right? And that is probably a really, really long list if you got something to sit down and brainstorm it out. They've got hundreds of things on here and they're probably, you know, not consciously ranked in order of priority. And I believe can I would put money, in fact, you know, I do put money on that's my business is based around on the fact that the ones that are at the top of that list are the ones that people have the capacity and have the intention and have, you know, enough motivation to actually act on even at something that is that like bite size, snackable price point. So, you know, I want you to make sure that again, if you're looking at like, oh, I could kind of help them with this or I could give them this template or I could give them this thing. No, what? They are busy right now, Very busy, coming into a very busy season. They don't have time for bullshit, right? They are going to want stuff that is precise, something that's it. That is going to help them to fix, to solve, to deliver one of those top three problems like take something off their mental load rather than ones that are like way down the bottom. Nice to haves. It is not nice to haves time of year. Nice to haves they're buying for friends and family, but not for themselves. Okay? Last thing. And again, really important. Get this wrong and your sales are just going to be like getting blood out of a stone. So delivery, that is like how they're actually going to consume this. What the amount of work and effort on their part that is, you know, that they foresee having to do to get the outcome that you are promising. And again, we have to think about where are they right now when it is this time of year when work is getting busier, they're planning for holidays, they've realized they've got all this stuff they're going to organize. Everyone's wanting to catch up before the end of the year. Their calendar is full. Like they don't have a lot of time. Yes, they definitely still have things they want to achieve before the end of the year. And that is why they will buy something that has promise of a transformation, but not if that promise of a transformation requires them having to watch hours and hours of videos, having to read pages and pages of a document. Like right now, we want to give them the snacks. Okay, we want to give them the, oh, I can grab that. And it's going to take me like 20 minutes and I'm going to see an outcome from it. So that isn't always instantly available as an idea. And you know, yes, sometimes you do need to explain things to people. They are going to have to watch some videos. So don't go, oh God, Kate said it can't be super long. So, you know, I've had this thing that sold really well before. I'm not going to do it. That's not what I'm saying. But I just want you, when you're planning out your offer, when you're presenting it to them, to just be aware that they are probably more time conscious now than ever before. So make allowances for that, include that, make sure that you've adapted it to be something that is for whatever it is is going to be the easier, faster option than maybe, you know, something that's bigger, more full on, more in depth, that might be sold at another time of year. So those are my thought starters and then these are my requirements. And if you go through and find something that ticks, you know, pick one of the thought starters and then ticks all three of these easy yes boxes, then you are going to smash it this Black Friday. And when you do, I want you to come back and send me a comment and let me know so I can celebrate with you. Now, hopefully, as I said, hopefully from this, the offer ideas are always already bubbling away. You Want to run off, grab a pen and paper, start writing them down, planning it out. And of course, once you do that, you're probably like, oh, okay, how do I promote it? Well, good news, we are going to talk about that a bit more in next week's episode. But if you can't wait, I have a little freebie for you. Just grab the link below this video and you can actually grab my Black Friday promo calendar. So it's going to show you exactly what I do every day leading up to Black Friday and over the Black Friday period to make epic sales, like one of our best sales months ever. And so you can then go through and do it, too. And now for my lovely Empire members, because I know you all listen to this as well. Don't forget we've got coming up a live get shit Done session where we're going to plan this out together. We'll plan out your offer and we'll plan out the promotions to go alongside that, too. So thank you so much, guys, as always, for listening. If you've got even one little snippet of value out of this, it would mean the world to me if you could give us a like or even better, share this with someone in your world who you think could get some value out of it as well. It is so, so helpful to small businesses when you help us to spread the word. And I really, really appreciate each and every one of you who has that for us. So thank you again. Have an amazing week. I'll see you back same time, same place next week with more Black Friday goodness. And until then, keep doing what you do and I'll see you online. Bye.