2024 Launch Industry Trends

Jan 2

Having been in the online industry for close to 5 years now there is only one thing that you can be sure of and that’s that this industry changes fast and you have to be adaptable to stay ahead.

People may complain about how the market is saturated and there is everyone and their dog on social selling something and they will blame that for their lack of sales but the truth is that although there was a golden few years of selling online courses, customers are much savvier now and they do have more choice.

THIS IS NOT A BAD THING.

It just means that you have to walk the talk and be aligned with what you’re offering. So what are my tips for making sure that you can continue to have successful live launches in 2024 and beyond?

Nail your marketing message

There is no more getting away with wonky copy that only focuses on what’s included in your offer or is very vague. WE NEED TO BE GETTING SUPER SPECIFIC and as if we’re in our client’s heads. It’s very easy when we are an expert in a certain field to know what people need in order to overcome any issues or problems that they are facing but let’s be real, half the time they won’t really know what the answer is - they just know that they have an issue that they want to resolve.

Make sure that when you’re launching your offer you are speaking about it the way your ideal client would.

So for example …

Your copy currently says something like ‘Join this coaching package that will help you transform your life in 10 weeks’ (vague as fuck!)

Now if you write something like ‘In 10 week learn the steps to go from frazzled and overwhelmed working mum to calm, collected and making time for consistent self-care’ (much more specific)

You have to have really strong clear messaging when it comes to launching - it needs to be super clear, who is this offer for, what specifically does it help them with and what is the transformation for them.

A great way to uplevel your marketing message is through storytelling - people are craving more than the superficial clickbaity claims or glossy photos on line - they are craving and are attracted to

Captivating and inspiring stories…

Funny and relatable anecdotes…

Vulnerable shares…

Practical advice…

And values-based views.

People want a connection with the brands they interact with. They want help solving real problems in their lives.

Build a community

The MOST successful client launches I have seen over the last 12 months have been where clients have spent years really building and nurturing a loyal community that shares their values. They’re not focused on going viral or the latest marketing trends to 10x their growth overnight, instead they are focused on good old fashioned relationship building and providing value to their community.

Yes going viral may look super impressive but it doesn’t actually mean shit for your sales, and it is no reflection on how successful your business will be in the long run.

And that’s what we’re trying to build here! Long term sustainable and successful businesses, not flash in the pan ones.

The size of your audience whilst it can play a factor in sales isn’t more important than the quality of your audience.

Your whole focus should be on taking the time to grow and connect with your true fans because when you do this your marketing becomes so much easier and effective.

I have a client who has a very loyal audience base and she can now create offers whenever she feels like it and they will sell! Guaranteed every time - because she is so tuned in to her messaging, is very open about her values and beliefs and she has spent a lot of time and effort nurturing her audience, providing them with incredible value, replying to comments, emails etc.

Because when you have a community of loyal superfans, who are dedicated to your brand, they will buy from you again and again and again.

This is gold dust especially when the cost of trying to get a stranger to become a first time buyer is becoming more and more expensive to do!

This is not to say that you shouldn’t be focused on audience growth but that it’s even more important to make sure that when people are in your audience you’re focusing on nurturing them and converting them into repeat buyers.

Building your email list can take time and a lot of effort but ultimately how engaged your audience is (no matter the size) is one of the key makers of a successful launch.

Your email list is not at the mercy of the social algorithms or trends or costs, and as long as you continue to nurture your community your launches will continue to work, and you will increase your customer lifetime value.

Be smart with your content

Reality check, no one is going to read one post from you and buy straight away. The days of immediate sales are over.

As I mentioned before, customers are savvier than ever and the sales cycle is now longer than ever. I have heard various stats which say that clients now need 30-40 touch points with you rather than the 7-8 which were once touted about. I know that even big names in the online course /education market are seeing their sales cycles increase to sometimes over 60 days.

So what does this all mean?

It means that you have to play the long game.

It means that customers are no longer falling for fake pressures to buy now but are instead watching and waiting to see if you’re messaging is consistent, that you walk the talk and are aligned with what you’re selling (not just pretending - yes we see you fake I made a million overnight and you can too coaches)

Customers are taking their time to interact with brands across multiple channels before deciding that they’re going to buy from that brand so this means that you need to start getting much much smarter with your content and have a system to repurpose it across multiple channels.

Now this can seem overwhelming because so often I tell clients to not spread themselves too thin trying to be everywhere but there are smart ways to seemingly be everywhere whilst still only having one main platform where you focus on nurturing until you can expand.

Let me break this down…

Instead of sitting down over the weekend and creating a newsletter, a blog, a long form video, a podcast, several social posts DO THIS..

Create one long form piece of content (whatever you are most comfortable with)

A blog
A video (not a reel, I’m talking longer form content)
A podcast episode
A LinkedIn article

Then from there either create or get your team to create..

Reel clips for social
Your newsletter content
A blog from your video
Pull social posts out of the points you touched on in the longer form content

I know a block for a lot of entrepreneurs here is that they think they’re going to sound too repetitive but THAT’S WHAT WE WANT - we want people to start connecting you with your message, with certain values and beliefs. Just because you spoke about the same thing across all your different marketing channels doesn’t mean that someone saw them all and was turned off.

In fact the reality is that the majority of your followers probably don’t even see your stuff. It takes time (and repeated exposure) in order to build the like, know & trust factor and so you have to give your audience multiple ways to engage with you…

This is even more important when launching because people will not be reading and seeing every single post or email and so you really need to be out there making sure that people know what you help them with and when they have the opportunity to work with you.

This is not pushy sales, this is giving your customer control over HOW they interact with your brand, rather than being forced down a funnel and pressured to buy on day 1.

Marketers using three or more channels in any one campaign earned a 287% higher purchase rate than those using a single-channel campaign.

Create a launch event that works for your ideal audience

Time and time again I have spoken with a lot of course creators and coaches that have ideas for launch events that are more focused on either copying a big name in the industry (because that set-up works for them) or is all about what works for them.

What do I mean by this?

A coach for busy working mothers running a 5 day event because X big name did that type of event and it worked great for them. Completely forgetting that busy working mothers probably won’t show up over the 5 days and therefore engagement will be low and therefore potentially not lead to the expected sales of their course.

OR being a coach for people wanting to transition from their 9-5 to running their own business but hosting your webinar during a weekday because that works for your work setup.

When it comes to creating launch events and building up anticipation for your launch you need to really stop copying what others are doing (sure take inspiration and use similar ideas) and instead build something that WORKS FOR YOUR AUDIENCE.

That doesn’t mean being lazy or not having a launch event but just thinking outside of the box and practically. How can you create incredible value and impact and show people the possible transformation that’s available to them and make it easy for them to show up and take part?

Hopefully your launch event is not the only part of your launch (don’t forget email marketing and social) but if you’re going to put time and effort into having one (and they do take a lot of time, effort and energy) you want to make sure that you’re making it as impactful and easy as possible for people to join in. Because if they can see how easy it is to join this one thing (and get results) then they are more likely to be sold on joining your offer/ program and really working on longer term results.

Live launching and launching is still very much alive and here to stay when it comes to putting out new offers - you can tell because the big names in the industry are still selling their offers in this way. However it’s much more about being aligned with your marketing, being smarter with your content and also really thinking deeply about what it is that your audience needs in order to make the best next step for them.

The online education market is continuing to grow and will continue to grow - people are still selling and having massive success with selling but it’s not a quick buck game and like an industry if you treat it like that you will not last long. So if your launches are struggling at the moment take this as an invitation to look deeper at your business - what might be missing, what do you need to work on, where can you improve and show up better? And if you’re new to selling online courses don’t give up, just keep focused on what you do and polishing it to perfection!

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