Messaging, Launching & partnerships
$5,000 → $10,000
At this stage in your business, it may feel like you’re in constant juggling-mode ๐คนโ๏ธ๐คนโ๏ธ๐คน .
Our hope for this lesson is to share three tips that absolutely changed the game for us, but it’s important to remember these next tips came AFTER we did all of the things in the previous lessons. Notice we’re going from $5k to $10k here, NOT $1k to $10k (that’s important!)
โก๏ธ Tip #1: Hone your product messaging. What problem are you solving for people?
You probably read that tip and were thinking, “um, hey Zooks, how does honing my messaging help put dollar-dollar-billz in my bank account?” And to that, we would answer, “keep reading, ya silly goose! ๐”
Very quickly, let’s jump into the WAIM Time Machine™ and take you back to the summer of 2019. Our WAIM business had been chugging along for almost two years, but we didn’t quite feel like we had our messaging locked in.
Here's our exact monthly revenue back in 2019, sitting right between the $5k and $10k mark where it seemed to have stalled out:
The problem we were solving for our customers was a bit vague and our product itself wasn’t selling like proverbial hotcakes ๐ฅ. We knew we could help transform the businesses of our customers, but that clearly wasn't coming through in our marketing.
It was at that moment we decided to get laser-focused on what our core product should be, who it should be for, and how someone would know it was absolutely right for them.
Fast forward a few months and we did our first launch (more on this in Tip #2!) of our Un-Boring Group Coaching Program. This was the first launch of WAIM that really exceeded our sales goals, and we finally saw the traction we’d been searching for!
So, what specifically did we change?
Those three items, together, are what helped us springboard to the next level in our business revenue. It’s soooo easy to continue to use the same messaging and copy you always have, but we believe you should be auditing these things often.
โก๏ธTip #2: Do an open and closed launch of your digital product ๐.
Open and closed launches are one of our favorite ways to generate our business revenue (especially to create a jump in ๐ฐ๐ฐ).
If you aren’t familiar with them, an open and closed launch is simply a set period of time when you “open the cart” and allow people to purchase your product. This creates the urgency to purchase but more importantly, puts YOU in control of when you have to be in sales mode.
We shifted our WAIM biz model to bi-annual open and closed launches back in 2019, and we’ve been loving the flexibility, freedom, and predictable injections of revenue ever since!
โ ๏ธ IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re doing your first-ever launch, think of it less about just getting sales and more about learning and testing your assumptions...
If you get a launch or two under your belt and your customers aren’t buying at quite the pace you expected, consider offering a lower-priced “entry” version of your product. This is exactly what we did with that 6-Month Group Coaching package we mentioned. We still had our larger ($2,000) offer, but the coaching package was $100 per month for six months ($600 total, obvs). We found the “entry” product became a solid source of immediate revenue but then also led to those happy customers upgrading to our larger product when the six months finished up.
Hey….. Guess what, chicken butt? You're a WAIMer so you have access to our full coaching session about this! ๐๐ฅณ๐
โก๏ธโก๏ธ Click here to watch our Sales Launch Start to Finish ๐coaching session.
โก๏ธ Tip #3: It’s time to utilize effective partnerships.
โ You’ve nailed your messaging.
โ You’ve done your first launch or two.
โ You feel like you have all your business-ducks ๐ฆ๐ in a row, it’s now time to find more ducks! (We know, we’re mixing metaphors in this lesson, it’s FINE.)
This is the tactic too many online biz owners jump to way too early in the game. They pour effort and energy into marketing, except the thing they are marketing (their offer) isn’t working that well yet so it’s (somewhat) wasted effort.
Sure, we always want you amazing humans to be doing more marketing than you currently are, but we don’t want you to expend all that effort without having all the foundational stuff in place.
That said, once you DO have your offer locked in, one of the MOST effective marketing tactics to get a bump in revenue is to partner up with someone who has a highly engaged audience in your product arena.
You want to find someone who is willing to share the spotlight with you and promote your product to their audience so they can make a sweet % of revenue without having to create your offer themselves. Your pitch to someone in this position is that you’ll give them as much as 50% of product revenue sold during the partner event and they’ll promote the initial signup of the event to their audience.
Example: Our friends at Oodles of Poodles ๐จ๐ฉ (our example biz that does Squarespace design work for yoga instructors and also teaches a Squarespace design course) are going to partner up with a prominent Squarespace template company: Temptation Templates ๐๐ฅ.
The great news about partnerships? There are MANY ducks in the sea! (We had to bring the ducks back and mix just one more metaphor in here).
If your first partnership doesn’t work out, figure out why. Just like one lackluster product launch doesn’t mean all launches won’t work, a partnership effort that falls flat doesn’t mean all partnerships won’t work!
And remember, especially with Tip #3, you’re NOT trying to do everything at one time. You can space these tactics out and you can tackle them on a schedule that works for your life and biz. We're all about that slow ๐ and steady ๐ข pace around here.
As with all of the tips we’ve been sharing these past few lessons, these come from our very personal experiences.
These aren’t just theories we’re conjuring up from our business crystal ball ๐ฎ, these are well-worn strategies we’ve implemented to help us make real jumps in our biz revenue.
We know these can work for you, it’s just about carving out the time to make them happen while having an experimenter’s mindset.
Our hope for this lesson is to share three tips that absolutely changed the game for us, but it’s important to remember these next tips came AFTER we did all of the things in the previous lessons. Notice we’re going from $5k to $10k here, NOT $1k to $10k (that’s important!)
You probably read that tip and were thinking, “um, hey Zooks, how does honing my messaging help put dollar-dollar-billz in my bank account?” And to that, we would answer, “keep reading, ya silly goose! ๐”
Very quickly, let’s jump into the WAIM Time Machine™ and take you back to the summer of 2019. Our WAIM business had been chugging along for almost two years, but we didn’t quite feel like we had our messaging locked in.
Here's our exact monthly revenue back in 2019, sitting right between the $5k and $10k mark where it seemed to have stalled out:
The problem we were solving for our customers was a bit vague and our product itself wasn’t selling like proverbial hotcakes ๐ฅ. We knew we could help transform the businesses of our customers, but that clearly wasn't coming through in our marketing.
It was at that moment we decided to get laser-focused on what our core product should be, who it should be for, and how someone would know it was absolutely right for them.
Fast forward a few months and we did our first launch (more on this in Tip #2!) of our Un-Boring Group Coaching Program. This was the first launch of WAIM that really exceeded our sales goals, and we finally saw the traction we’d been searching for!
So, what specifically did we change?
- We dialed in exactly who we wanted to help: Burned out online biz owners who were tired of feeling overwhelmed and pulled in a million different directions, without any revenue results to show for it.
- We created a specific product that someone could easily understand: 6 months of live business coaching, with one topic to focus on every month to grow their biz with intention.
- We drastically adjusted our messaging to be less about the “features”(you get course lessons, videos, PDFs, etc)to the BENEFITS (you will grow your revenue, you will feel less stressed out, you will have a plan of action, you will feel in control of your biz!)
Those three items, together, are what helped us springboard to the next level in our business revenue. It’s soooo easy to continue to use the same messaging and copy you always have, but we believe you should be auditing these things often.
๐ก PRO-TIP: If honing your messaging isn’t in your wheelhouse, we highly recommend finding someone who can help you do this. Investing in this part of your business is crucial at this juncture and is worth every penny to learn who you are talking to and what benefits you are providing them!
Open and closed launches are one of our favorite ways to generate our business revenue (especially to create a jump in ๐ฐ๐ฐ).
If you aren’t familiar with them, an open and closed launch is simply a set period of time when you “open the cart” and allow people to purchase your product. This creates the urgency to purchase but more importantly, puts YOU in control of when you have to be in sales mode.
We shifted our WAIM biz model to bi-annual open and closed launches back in 2019, and we’ve been loving the flexibility, freedom, and predictable injections of revenue ever since!
โ ๏ธ IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re doing your first-ever launch, think of it less about just getting sales and more about learning and testing your assumptions...
- Is your messaging from Tip #1 resonating with people during your launch, or are they asking a lot of questions about your product/who it's for?
- Have you had a bad launch before? That’s okay! Don’t compare a previous launch of a completely different product to what you’re selling now.
- Prove to yourself that selling doesn’t have to be sleazy and that people on your email list/social don’t mind being sold to (when what you are selling can actually benefit their livelihood!)
If you get a launch or two under your belt and your customers aren’t buying at quite the pace you expected, consider offering a lower-priced “entry” version of your product. This is exactly what we did with that 6-Month Group Coaching package we mentioned. We still had our larger ($2,000) offer, but the coaching package was $100 per month for six months ($600 total, obvs). We found the “entry” product became a solid source of immediate revenue but then also led to those happy customers upgrading to our larger product when the six months finished up.
Hey….. Guess what, chicken butt? You're a WAIMer so you have access to our full coaching session about this! ๐๐ฅณ๐
โก๏ธโก๏ธ Click here to watch our Sales Launch Start to Finish ๐coaching session.
โ You’ve nailed your messaging.
โ You’ve done your first launch or two.
โ You feel like you have all your business-ducks ๐ฆ๐ in a row, it’s now time to find more ducks! (We know, we’re mixing metaphors in this lesson, it’s FINE.)
This is the tactic too many online biz owners jump to way too early in the game. They pour effort and energy into marketing, except the thing they are marketing (their offer) isn’t working that well yet so it’s (somewhat) wasted effort.
Sure, we always want you amazing humans to be doing more marketing than you currently are, but we don’t want you to expend all that effort without having all the foundational stuff in place.
That said, once you DO have your offer locked in, one of the MOST effective marketing tactics to get a bump in revenue is to partner up with someone who has a highly engaged audience in your product arena.
You want to find someone who is willing to share the spotlight with you and promote your product to their audience so they can make a sweet % of revenue without having to create your offer themselves. Your pitch to someone in this position is that you’ll give them as much as 50% of product revenue sold during the partner event and they’ll promote the initial signup of the event to their audience.
Example: Our friends at Oodles of Poodles ๐จ๐ฉ (our example biz that does Squarespace design work for yoga instructors and also teaches a Squarespace design course) are going to partner up with a prominent Squarespace template company: Temptation Templates ๐๐ฅ.
- They’re going to co-host an action-packed free webinar that teaches Five Foundational Tips for Great Performing Squarespace Sites.
- Temptation Templates ๐๐ฅ is going to promote the webinar signup to their audience for a few weeks leading up to the live event.
- During the live event, Oodles of Poodles ๐จ๐ฉ is going to lay down the gauntlet of helpful Squarespace advice and then both parties will promote Poodles’ Squarespace Design Course. Temptation Templates ๐๐ฅ may even throw in a free template to sweeten the deal and boost those sales.
- They’ll split the revenue 50/50 and give the webinar attendees the option (not automatic!) to opt-in to both email newsletters for both businesses!
The great news about partnerships? There are MANY ducks in the sea! (We had to bring the ducks back and mix just one more metaphor in here).
If your first partnership doesn’t work out, figure out why. Just like one lackluster product launch doesn’t mean all launches won’t work, a partnership effort that falls flat doesn’t mean all partnerships won’t work!
And remember, especially with Tip #3, you’re NOT trying to do everything at one time. You can space these tactics out and you can tackle them on a schedule that works for your life and biz. We're all about that slow ๐ and steady ๐ข pace around here.
As with all of the tips we’ve been sharing these past few lessons, these come from our very personal experiences.
We know these can work for you, it’s just about carving out the time to make them happen while having an experimenter’s mindset.