Launch Trends for Spring 2024: Strategy, Leadership, and Creativity

In this episode, the host, Chelsea discusses three important trends for successful course and coaching program launches in spring 2024. 

The first trend gets you more revenue before you open doors to your offer, optimizing the opportunity of connecting with potential clients. 

The second trend grows MASSIVE trust with your community. 

Lastly, the third trend creates a launch experience that your people can't wait to show up for! – turning them into enjoyable experiences rather than formulaic strategies. 

For each of these trends, Chelsea includes examples and results from her clients' current launches that you can use to inspire your own results.

At the end of the episode, Chelsea also highlights the required high levels of investment and leadership that a launch demands. While these trending strategies can create a no-brainer 'yes' scenario for potential customers, they require extra capacity and energy to brainstorm, refine, and execute – energy and capacity that not all coaches and course creators may possess. The need to fill the gap between what creates a 'yes' and what business owners can realistically offer is the highlighted point of discussion. 

00:00 The Importance of Launch Trends

02:23 First Trend

06:31 Second Trend

10:32 Third Trend

16:45 The Gap Between Desired and Actual Launch Experience

23:58 Closing Thoughts and Next Steps

TRANSCRIPT

We are back with another episode y'all and today we are talking 2024 launch trends and specifically the ones that you need to start thinking about for your spring launch. Here's what's happening. Now is the time when we all start to think about, what do I need to be doing with my course, with my coaching program, in order to make the most of the coming year. And for those of us who are launching right now, Um, in January, right? I have a few clients who are launching in January. Maybe you are as well, or you know of people who are launching. You are already kind of ahead of the game, but now is the time to start thinking, okay, what about March, April, May? What do I want to be thinking about and doing and paying attention to in order to set my launches up for success at that point?

So I'm going to take today the lessons that I am seeing from my clients, current launches. Along with all of what I'm seeing in the online course creation and coaching industry, and I am going to share that with you so that you can be aware of the trends that you need to pay attention to in order to set yourself up for, for success. How, how to set your spring launch up in particular. So we're thinking like March, April, May. Possibly even june how to set those launches up for success. Okay, so if you are meeting me for the first time Hey there. I am chelsea the launch copy coach and I support coaches and course creators with 360 degree Done for you launch support. So we are talking everything from the strategy The management the implementation and the debrief. All right, we do full stack launch support here And the reason why we do that is so that any single one of my clients who comes to me and works with me Is able to just have one single task On their launch to do the to do list only one and that is to take care of themselves and their people That's all to love on themselves and their community. That's it So that's the only task I want them to focus on, me and my team take care of everything else. And so today, like I said, I want to coalesce some of the lessons that I'm seeing from my current client's launches, in addition to the trends I'm seeing in the industry.

So the first thing that you need to pay attention to, the first trend that you need to be aware of, is this. You do not need to wait until doors are open in order to start selling your program. And that is a really kind of obvious one maybe for us, but not enough of us actually take action to do that. We focus a lot of our energy on whatever launch event we're doing, the webinar, the workshop, the challenge, whatever it is, right? But we don't actually focus our energy on the hot leads. That have been sitting there for weeks, for months, people who've just joined our waitlist or have joined in the past and they are waiting to hear about our program, but we haven't updated them, right? We haven't let them know, hey, I'm opening doors. I don't know if you're still interested, but I have something special for you. It can be that easy. Create a quick bonus, create a quick opportunity, something that is a no brainer yet. For these people who were hot leads, maybe they didn't join last time and they were right on the edge They're on your waitlist right now Even the people who like clicked a ton on your sales page the last time you launched and you didn't actually like reach out to Them this is the prime opportunity to do that and you don't have to wait until doors open to do this.

Okay, so let me tell you from two of my clients who are launching right now One of them, we did a pre launch kind of revenue boost sequence, and I do this for every single one of my clients, where we just tap into whatever hot lead segment of their community there is, and make a really special offer. So, we created a virtual VIP day for these hot leads. Specifically and exclusively, right? And we offered this to them as a bonus for enrolling early. And we got a good chunk of people in based on that particular bonus. And just doing really simple outreach, really simple emails, really simple DM conversations. Nothing crazy, right? But the fact that we did this And we positioned the bonus really well, made it easy for people to actually say yes and get in before we publicly open doors. And who doesn't love a nice little revenue boost before you actually start selling your program, right?

So that's one example for another one of my clients. Um, we just had her workshop recently and we actually again opened up and this is key with selling before doors are open. You have to have some kind of a special offer for these people. Okay. You can't just say, Hey, doors are opening soon. Do you want it? You have to design a special offer that will make a yes, a no brainer. And so what we did. is at the start of the workshop we just said hey we have these 20 spots if you already know you want in because this is something that she launches every year at around the same time if you already know you want in book in one of those spots right now and literally throughout the entire workshop we had people just buying buying buying buying buying by the time we got to the end of the workshop nearly all of the spots were gone and that was like 20 spots Right just off saying it at the top of the workshop. Hey, we're opening doors as of right now This opportunity is available If you already know you want and if you've been talking with me in the DMS or in my email This is for you simple easy done. You do not have to wait until the doors are open to start selling So that's the first trend I'm seeing that you can take advantage of and plan for in your spring launches. Start to think about how you can do a pre launch revenue boost, how you can get some conversations going with your hot leads, how you can nurture warm leads in between now and then, like on your wait list, people who have clicked through to your sales page, maybe you talk more about your program and how your students are doing between now and then so that when it comes time to relaunch that program in the spring. You are ready and rearing to go and those leads are ready and rearing to go They're just looking for a great offer to say yes to all right So that's the first trend you need to pay attention to.

The second trend that you're gonna want to be paying attention to is this more direct Conversation and connection with your community and we've been saying this I think for a good bit now but especially towards the last half of 2023 coming into this year we've seen many chat and chat bots in general kind of skyrocket in terms of their usage and This is creating an opportunity. That's like Unprecedented in terms of the level of conversation and connection you get to have with your community and a prime example. Again using one of my clients. We had a chatbot for her that was converting like we literally just had people register in the DMS We didn't send them to a page. We didn't send them a link or anything They just gave us their email gave us their name. We registered them immediately for the the workshop and the amazing thing about this is that We were able to not only, like, convert registration rate was at like, 89%, something ridiculous like that, right? Compared to what it looked like on the actual landing page only, if we're doing a landing page only registration situation, that's usually like, 40 50%. But not only was the registration rate amazing, we also asked them, Hey, what's one question that you'd like us to answer? And that information as especially, I mean, as, as the client, as the person who is showing up and loving on their community and for me and my team, as the people kind of supporting with the messaging and then creating all the assets. Man, I'm telling you that was gold, like a literal goldmine. All the questions we got, we integrated some of those into the webinar. We're integrating some of those into our sales emails. If you have ever wondered what you need to say in order to help people to recognize that your offer is the offer for them.

Listen, start having conversations. Create systems like a chatbot, like ManyChat, other systems like simply saying, replying in an email and doing that more often will create an opportunity for you to have more connection and have more conversation with your community. And that's will significantly Skyrocket your results. I mean we literally took some of those questions turn them into a couple different posts and those posts like took off like nobody's business All the comments and registrations like I'm sure about a solid 50 percent of the comments and registrations that came in from that workshop We're from those two posts. Because We were able to get their inputs get their words Right, and so it's really really crucial and important as you think about March April May launches June launches How can you have more conversation and connection with your community in a systematized way that doesn't require you to be like Manually doing this all the time, right, but that creates a process for you to really mine that gold and Position your offers in ways that really reflect exactly where they're at what they're struggling with and what they want to know because that's It's how you set your launch up for success is using their words It's helping them to see with their scenarios how your offer is the best fit for them.

Okay, so we've gone over two trends so far trend number one is Really recognizing that you don't have to wait until doors are open to start selling your program. Trend number two is recognizing an opportunity for more conversations and connections with your community and trend number three is One that I'm seeing pop up a lot more often. We, we were in an era for a while where we had a lot of just like really rote and formulaic launches, like kind of PLF style. This is what you do. Um, you know, like this is the formula do these three webinars or send these types of emails, like do this one plus one plus one equals whatever. Right like formula style launches and I think a lot of what we're seeing now is more creative More exploratory and I think that is coming out of a lot more business owners and coaches and course creators Recognizing that there is more opportunity here to make a launch fun To actually make it An enjoyable experience not just for the community, but also for themselves.

So one of my clients who is launching right now, we had a challenge right before a, um, workshop for her, right? So one after the other. And, uh, what we did for her is, in her challenge, we had these epic prizes. And then you got a prize just for showing up to the masterclass. And then we didn't even announce when we were going to say the prize in the masterclass. We kind of just let people know, hey, you gotta stay on. Because we're gonna just toss this in whenever we want and that's exactly what she did and the comments were just Hilarious like people going off about that because one of the prizes was an air fryer If you can believe it people going off about the air fryer people going off about like we had so many awesome prizes And they had so much fun And so did she. And that's just one example of getting creative with a launch. Making it an enjoyable experience for yourself and your community, right? You could do prizes and giveaways like she did. You could test different features. Like I spoke to another coach recently and she was telling me how in past launches. She got the opportunity to test, like, okay, if we send you something in the mail, after you enroll in this program, and then we launch this program, how likely are you to enroll? Right? Or if we send just, uh, not like a gift gift, just like a small handwritten note, is there a difference between sending a gift versus a handwritten note? Right? Again, just fun little things that make an experience. for yourself and your community, not just, okay, we're going to do the masterclass and then we're going to do this. And then we're going to do that, but more of an experience.

I have another client who's adding in affiliates to her current launch and getting other people involved, getting people who are already in the program involved again, Creating that experience, right? So really think about as you go into a spring launch, especially because January launches in a lot of ways are much easier than March, April, May, June launches. Because There is the energy of a new year. There is the energy of you know, like I've got to turn things around This is gonna be my year. I'm gonna take action like New Year's resolutions, intentions, words of the year, all these things Right and because of that It's much easier for, like, the barrier for people to say yes to a change that they're trying to make is lower. The barrier to entry is lower, which means that more people will easily say yes to your offers, if it aligns with the transformation that they're looking for. Right? So, it can be a lot easier sometimes to launch in January than it is to launch in March, April, May, June, because by the time March rolls around, people have failed on their New Year's resolution. They're over it. They're tired. It feels like we're already halfway through the year, even though it's March and They are In the struggle, but also kind of feeling a little demotivated And so if you can get creative with your launch if you can add in something fun something experiential prizes giveaways testing affiliates Like behind the scenes Post it walls, like, I don't know, but if you can create an experience for your community and yourself that keeps the energy like high vibe, right, that, that motivates you to show up and motivates them to show up and then you create this synergy of connection and you build that trust And it's just, uh, uh, a community that they want to stay in and you want to continue to love on. The energy of those kinds of launches is Mwah! I'm telling you, y'all. The energy of those kinds of launches is Chef's Kiss. Amazing. That is what you want. That's what you want. So, think about that.

For your launches coming up in March, April, and May. And I'm telling you now because you need to start to think about this now. Because you want to be like, list building from now through February. So that when your launch comes up in March, when you're starting to promote your, your workshop or whatever it is, you actually have people to talk to. Okay? So, start to think about from now, where's an opportunity for me to get super creative with this? Where's an opportunity for me to have fun? And get, create an experience for my community and myself that will create this energy and synergy and, and connection and trust that makes a live launch just something that people actually want to show up for and buy from.

Okay, so recapping these three trends. The first one is you do not have to wait until your doors are open to start selling. The second one is creating connections and conversations with your launches and the third trend is Really thinking about where you can get creative in your launches where you can create an experience Where you can create fun in your launches that make it easy for you and for your people to show up now.

You'll notice That with all of these trends that I'm highlighting for you, they will require a little bit more than the typical formulaic launch. Right? Because let's say you start to sell before your doors are open. You have to now think, okay, if I'm going to write this pre launch revenue boost sequence like Chelsea's talking about, what, what should it say? If I'm going to create a bonus. What should I create? What's going to make this a no brainer offer for people and for the conversations piece thinking about, okay, if I'm going to do a many chat automation, how do I set that up? And if I do know how to set it up, when do I find the time? Right. And how do I make sure that all of the messages are responded to and all the tech is working? And if the tech is not working, how do I troubleshoot the tech? Right. With the creativity piece. Do I even have the bandwidth in my brain to think about adding extra fun things to this launch? Chelsea, why you giving me more work? That's what you might be wondering, right? You might be thinking to yourself, okay, this stuff sounds amazing, but this is just extra stuff that I don't necessarily need in my launch. And you're right. You don't need to have them you might be thinking okay Chelsea. This sounds great. But do I actually need this? You don't need it Okay, but the kind of question that you have to now ask yourself is how do I want to show up for my people? And how do I want to show up for myself in this launch and as the ceo of your business you get to ask that question You get to assess Is this something that will make my community build their trust with me, grow their connection with me, feel heard, seen, and understood, to the point where my offer is a no brainer, yes.

And if the answer to that question is a yes, then you need to ask yourself, okay damn, if this is what it takes. To create a higher level of trust and connection if this is what it takes to create a no brainer Yes in my community. Why am I not doing it? And if the answer to that second question is I don't got the time. I don't have the energy I don't have the capacity then you need to start to really think About what needs to change in your business and the way you do launching because I get it It's listen, I do this for my clients every day. It is a lot on your to do list My to do list is Forever alone when I support my clients in this way, but the thing is this is how I Enjoy launching. This is how I get to do launching my clients get to love on themselves and their people period They don't have to do anything else, right? Because there are so many levels of investment and so many levels of leadership that's required when you show up for a launch Outside of a launch you're leading a team if you have a small team, even if it's just contractors, you're leading a team You're leading yourself, right? Because you have to make sure that you're showing up and doing the things that you need to do in the business. Yes, you might be a leader outside of your business. Maybe you're leading in your family. Maybe you're leading in your community, right? So there's levels of leadership outside the launch. And now you come into a launch and you're leading your community. And if you hire on extra contractors for the launch, you're leading those people as well. And all of that leadership takes a, takes like puts demands on your own leadership for yourself because now you have to elevate the leadership of yourself to make sure that you continue to show up with the same kind of high vibe energy, the same kind of life, the same kind of investment, and your community can feel that.

So obviously there's a really high level of investment that's required when you launch, right? And we haven't even talked about actually doing the things like preparing the slide deck, writing all the social media posts, writing the emails, designing the landing pages, like writing the copy. Or if you have people doing those things, approving everything or making edits to things. It's a lot. So you now have to ask yourself, okay, if I know that what is required to create a no brainer yes in my community, I actually can't give it because I'm capped out with the levels of investment and the levels of leadership that are required in order to show up for a launch. Just minimal show up. Then there's a gap here. There's a gap between these two things that I need to fill, right? I want to help my community see that this is a no brainer. Yes. I want to support them on their journey I want them to have The tools that they need to create the results that they want to create in their lives or their business And the best way to do that is through my program. I know this right like yeah That's what you're saying to yourself And if you're listening to this, I know that you believe in your offers you believe in your coaching program You believe in your course.

So if there is a gap Between these two things between what you know will create a no brainer Yes in your community and what you actually have the energy and capacity to show up for Because of the high levels of leadership and investment that are required Then you need to figure out how to fill that this is what I do for my clients all the time every day 24 7 Okay I step in and I make sure that the oh, like I said at the beginning I make sure that the only task On their to do list, it's to show up for themselves and love on themselves and their people. That's it. Everything else, I take care of. So that they actually have the energy and time to be creative. They have the energy and time to sell before they open their doors. Cause they can actually talk to people in the DMs and they're not busy preparing their slide deck. Right? They can actually have conversations with their people. Because they have the capacity and time to do that the level of demand that they have on them Before the launch and during the launch stays the same because I step in and fill that gap for them So whether you work with me whether you work with someone else I encourage you to really think about is that gap present for you? And how do you want to fill it? Okay, I do have spots What is it March April and May launches if you are interested in talking to me and hearing how I can support you So DM me if you want to learn more about that, but these are the trends y'all This is what I want you to know. This is what I'm seeing in terms of 2024 launches. This is what I've And that's been kind of unfolding in the last half of 2023 and coming into 2024. These are the strategies and the tactics that you can start to implement and think about. And these are just three of them. There are tons more. Obviously. I could go, I could talk about this forever. But these three you can start to think about how you want to implement if you can implement. And if there's a gap in doing that implementation, because you know, that implementation is important want to get a no brainer yes from your people. Then what do you need to do to fill that gap? Like I said dm me if you've got questions about how I support my clients. i'll see you all in the next one.