5 mistakes to avoid when you’re launching a course or membership
Are you preparing for your first-ish launch and don’t know where to start? Here are the most common mistakes that I see course creators do when planning out their launch.
1.Wrong messaging
I know, this sounds too broad and for the practical entrepreneur, it is hard to imagine what exactly messaging is and how to fix that.
You’re in the business because you want to help people solve their problems. But when you can’t describe their pain points in a way that they resonate with, they don’t feel compelled to solve them.
So when you promote a weight-loss program for new moms, you shouldn’t be talking about how you can help them lose weight. Because even though many new moms struggle with weight, they are super busy and probably overwhelmed by motherhood that losing weight and eating healthy is the last thing on their minds. However, if you start talking about how to eat to have more energy, stop having cravings and not having to rely on three coffees in the morning to get them going, you might start to see some traction.
2. The wrong lead magnet
I often see people using general lead magnets to start growing their waitlist for the launch. While I’m all about repurposing everything that you’ve already created, if you are launching a specific offer, your lead magnet should be a taster of the solution you provide in your course or membership.
Using the weight-loss program analogy again: you probably have some diet plans lying around in your Google Drive that could be used as a lead magnet. However, with such a general lead magnet, you might see your list growing, however, only with people, who are interested in some general diet advice.
On the other hand, if you created a specific 5-day diet plan for new moms that will help them have more energy, support their nursing and avoid cravings for junk food, you will attract your ideal clients - new moms who are ready to solve their problem.
3. Small audience
Especially when you’re a new business, your audience is very small. And building it in an organic way takes time - months and months.
So, ideally, it would be best if you decided to scale your business with a course or membership after you have built some sort of an audience and mailing list. However, if you decide to create a program without a huge audience, just know that the standard conversion rate is 1-2% - so if you have 100 people on your list, only 1 or two might buy - in case you have been nurturing your list before the launch. That’s why you might want to consider running FB ads.
4. The wrong FB ads strategy (or no strategy at all)
I often come to work with a client that already is in the process of pre-launch and starts running ads and is disappointed by the results (“I’m running this one ad for 3 days already and had only two sign-ups!”).
First of all, if you’re running ads without a plan, just throwing one ad out there and hoping it will work, you’re throwing money away. Been there, done that.
For launch ads to work (without an audience), you should start warming up your new audiences by sending them to a relevant piece of content first. This helps to build a warm audience that will already know you a little before you start hitting them with ads to your product.
Also, the budget must be right - the standard budget for ads to run successfully is 20 USD per day (testing two audiences with 10 USD per day). Taking into account that you should run your ads for at least 2-3 weeks for them to collect relevant data, get ready to set aside at least 300-400 USD for the ads budget.
And: you need time. With all the latest changes in the algorithm and iOS14, Facebook needs more time to find the right people who will buy your offer. So running ads for 7 days won’t bring many results and will just leave you frustrated.
(I will say however that it is possible to run a short launch campaign with lower budgets. In that case though there must be a strategy behind that will attract the right leads.)
Want to know how to use ads in the right way? Book a Facebook Ads training and let me show you how to get in front of the right audience and not spend a fortune.
5. The tech
Choosing the right platform for your course or membership is crucial for your success. While most of the platforms out there are user-friendly (so your clients won’t see a difference whether you’re using Kajabi or LearnDash), choosing the right platform will save you lots of time and pre-launch energy.
If you go with a platform that is difficult to navigate and takes 20 hours just to figure out how to make it look on brand, upload the content, create the sales page and set up the cart, you will end up feeling overwhelmed. Which is the last thing you want to feel 2 days before the launch.
I always advise my clients to take the road of least resistance and choose the platform that they enjoy using. It is highly probable that, in a few months time, after they grow their business they will want to change the platform according to their new requirements. So don’t sweat it with your first (or second) launch!
