6 Strategies For A Wildly Successful Launch
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Whether you’ve got plenty of launches under your belt or you’re about to launch for your very first time, launching can feel like a monumental task. It’s a process that can be both exhilarating and overwhelming, and I’m sure you know the feeling all too well! We’ve seen it all - from wildly successful launches, to complete flops, and just about everything you could imagine in between - but launching is one of our absolute favorite parts of business to support creative CEOs with.
Why do we love helping clients launch so much? Because there’s nothing more rewarding than helping women business owners achieve unimaginable success. I know firsthand from experience the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that go into launching, and I also understand the unique complexities involved with having a successful launch. No matter where you are at on your journey or what you are launching, the one thing you MUST learn to do during your launch phase is track your numbers correctly.
In this week’s blog, we cover:
The importance of strategically planning your launches
What setting clear launch goals looks like
Implementing systems to ensure your success
Budgeting & tracking your launch data
Separating your income streams in your books
Why Proper Launch Planning Matters
A well-executed launch is critical to your business's success. It sets the stage for how your offer is received in the market and can significantly impact your bottom line. By meticulously planning your launch, you ensure that all aspects are covered, from financial tracking to team motivation and customer engagement. This not only helps you meet your revenue goals but also enhances your brand's reputation and customer satisfaction. Planning is critical to a successful launch, and you can’t afford to not strategically plan for your launches with the amount of time, energy, and even money you are investing into your launches.
Set Clear Financial Goals
One of the first steps in planning your launch is to set clear financial goals. This means not just aiming for a revenue target, but breaking it down into manageable parts. For example, if your goal is to make $100,000, you need to determine how many leads and conversions you need to reach that number. What does that goal break down to? Work backwards from your end goal to create a detailed plan on exactly what it is going to take to get you to those goals that would define a successful launch for you.
Setting clear goals means breaking them down into small, detailed steps which is also going to help you stay on track during your launch. This means asking questions like - what is the number of leads that you need to get with the average conversion rate that will then get you the number of students that will hit your goal? Work backwards and you can even align your goals based on each day.
For example, during a launch with my other company Workflow Queen, we had specific targets for each day of private presale. We ran the presale for three days and had a goal of $30,000. On the first day, we aimed for $15,000 but ended up making $20,000. From here, we could then see that we only needed the remaining $10,000 to reach our goal, and broken up into the two days we had left that is $5,000 each day. This allowed us to adjust our goals for the remaining days and track the data for future launches.
Create a Bonus Structure for Your Team
If you have the support of a team behind you, they are also putting in A LOT of work to support a smooth, successful launch for your company. Motivating your team is crucial and one way that we have found to be effective in doing this is by creating a bonus structure. Allocate a certain percentage of the income from the launch to your team, with a minimum threshold that must be met for bonuses to be paid out.
For example, if you have that $100,000 goal and you don't reach that amount, no bonuses are given. This approach incentivizes your team to come up with innovative ideas to help you meet your goals and reach your target audience to get those numbers. Then, when you do meet that launch goal, everyone wins! It might seem like you are spending a lot of money and giving it back to your team, but overall this is going to help you bring in a lot more money and have bigger launches. Another way that you could structure this bonus is by taking a percentage of what is brought in for the launch, minus the expenses, and divvy that up for your team.
Implement a Payment Recovery System
This is one of the biggest mistakes that we see people making with their launches and you could really be missing out on a lot of money if you don’t have a failed payment system in place. Having this in place can significantly impact your revenue. If you offer payment plans for your clients it is crucial to set up a robust payment recovery system. You have to be on top of making sure that you are getting paid!
We use Airtable to track daily payment statuses and trigger automated recovery emails. This system ensures a high recovery rate, helping you maintain a steady cash flow. This is one way that we can support you in your launches and set up a payment recovery system for you to ensure you are getting paid and not missing out on any precious revenue from your launches. We offer this setup as a one-off project or as part of our monthly service package as a Magnetic Bookkeeping client. We can even maintain this recovery system for you with any of your launches!
Create a Spending Budget
Budgeting is essential for a successful launch. This all comes back to strategically planning your launch and having clearly set goals to determine your launch budget. tracking your data also comes into play here because oftentimes people will just go in and say, I'm going to run Facebook ads and that is great, but you have to know your budget. You need to know at what point to cut off your ad spend so you don’t go over your budget especially if things aren’t converting or you are not bringing in as much revenue as you hoped for. Determine how much you are willing to spend on your marketing efforts like Facebook ads, email campaigns, landing pages, etc., and make sure you are tracking your data so that you can reassess your performance and make necessary adjustments to ensure you're staying on top of your launch budget.
Track Your Metrics
Daily tracking of your launch metrics is vital. Use a simple Google Sheet to monitor key performance indicators such as lead generation, conversion rates, and revenue. This data will help you make informed decisions and adjustments throughout the launch period. It is also going to come in handy for your budget to see where you might need to cut spending or make adjustments. If you are launching something that you plan to launch again in the future all of this data is going to be highly valuable to help you set goals, plan, and budget for your next launch too. Helping you set up a system and effectively track your data is also something that we can do as a one-off project or as part of your monthly package with us.
Separate Income Streams
One thing that sets us apart from other bookkeepers is that we will separate your different types of income in your books which gives your more detailed, accurate data. Most people just clump all the income coming in from all programs and all services, into one lump sum when really you need to be breaking that out into each separate stream of income. This allows you to analyze the profitability of each launch or program individually and understand what works best for your business and where improvements are needed. When you don’t separate your incomes streams in your books, you don’t know what is really generating the revenue and what is the most profitable for your business, and that is valuable information that will drive your decision-making for the future of your company.
Launching is a complex process, but with the right strategies, systems, and tools, you can achieve success greater than you ever dreamed of. The truth is that we can’t launch for you, but we can help you with all things finance when it comes to your launches. We specialize in helping businesses manage the financial side of their launches, ensuring you stay on track, meet your goals, and have launches that are actually profitable. Whether you need help setting up a bonus structure, creating a payment recovery system, or tracking your launch data, we’re here to support you through it all and see your business thrive from a wildly successful launch
If you're ready to launch to the next level, you can grab a free consultation with us here and get ready to have your smoothest, most successful launch yet!
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