In case you’re new to the show, ’cause we’ve had an uptick lately in listeners, which welcome, that’s so exciting. And for those of you who are sharing this with your friends and your community, thank you ’cause that’s a big part of the way we’re able to get this show in front of new people.
So if you’re new, I’m The Stacey Harris, I’m a social media strategist and trainer, I also own a digital marketing agency called Uncommonly More. I am super stoked today to be talking about Q1 really, and if you wanna do something in Q1, why that work really starts now.
So I’m gonna talk about that, I also wanna sort of just wrap up a big … Again, thank you for those who are sharing the episode. We’ve seen really crazy growth in October and November of this show, and that’s, again, in large part because you share the show with people who need it. And so I appreciate that.
It also comes from leaving your ratings and reviews on, not just iTunes, but Stitcher, and Google Play, and Spotify, and wherever else you listen and/or rate or review podcasts. So thank you, I genuinely appreciate you helping me get this show in front of people who need it, because way too often we’re seeing entrepreneurs get stuck in the wind tunnel of non-sense around vanity metrics, and get rich quick, and stupid, stupid stuff. And so my job, I feel, and I hope you feel this, is really to add some clarity, some nonsense-free, bullshit-free perspective, and advice, and clarity, and make this really stupid-actionable.
Gearing Up to Launch in Q1
So that’s what we’re gonna do today. We’re gonna walk through three things I want you to do right now for a launch you wanna do in Q1. We’re gonna be launching a ton of stuff, not just for me, but for clients, the agency side.
For me though, we’re gonna be doing a big launch in January of Hit the Mic Backstage. If you’ve listened to the show before two episodes ago, I announced some big changes coming to Backstage, including a price increase and a complete, restructure and revamping of all of our trainings. That’s gonna happen January 8th, that price increase goes up, and that site will be launched January 8th.
I’m nervous just saying that, because so much work. But guess what? To do that, January, to launch something the second week of January, the second Tuesday of January, I got some stuff to do. I got some work to do now, and that includes the things we’re gonna talk about today. So if you’re launching something in January, or even February or March, that work is gonna start now. The success you will have in Q1, is built in Q4. So don’t phone in Q4.
Now, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to work at a break-back pacing, exhaust yourself and skip out on your holiday fun. In fact, I’m a big believer that the opposite is true. I am taking two or three weeks off this year. I think it’s three. I usually take all of December off, but because of the projects we have going, and we’re onboarding some new team members over at Uncommonly More, not so much is gonna happen. But I will take a solid two or three works where I’m not working. And I could do that, because again, all through Q4, I have been working on these projects for Q1, so that in Q1 I’m not buried in all the stuff that I should’ve done in December, but also I’ve already done the work. And so then I can be really present during a launch.
This is also … This is a sure fire way burn yourself out during a launch is when you really kind of systematically set these steps, build these plans, and rock them out like a list, start at the top, and work your way through. And so that’s what I want really encourage you to do with today’s episode.
What are you launching?
Let’s jump into the first thing. And that is figure out exactly what you’re gonna do. I know that seems simple, but creating your plan, figuring out what you’re doing and who you’re talking to, is gonna be a first step in any kind of strategy, or creation, or launch, just anything. It’s just gonna be the first step in anything, what are you doing, who you’re doing it with.
I think this is often the most skipped step, and it’s also the step that we can so often point to, when … I’m not gonna say blame … point to when something doesn’t go as we want it to go. So if right now you’re not seeing the results you wanna see in your business, it’s because in Q3 you didn’t look at what you wanted to do, and who you wanted to it with in Q4, and build a plan to get it there.
I am all about visualization, I’m all about journaling, I do both of those things. But you know what I follow it up with? Butt in the chair work, every single time, butt in the chair work. There’s not another option.
And so I want you with me, as we wrap up … this is the last week of November, as we move into December, butt in the chair work with me. Okay? That starts with sitting down and figuring out what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. So if you want to launch a new product, or maybe like maybe you’re not so much launching something brand new, but you are relaunching a revamp to something, or maybe you’re just sort of celebrating something you’ve had for a while.
We did this several times in 2018, we’ll do it several times in 2019 where we’re not relaunching Backstage, we’re only gonna be making major changes, we’re just sort of gonna high-promo period. Maybe that’s what you’re gonna do. But if you’re going to have something where you’re putting some real energy, real focused energy into some marketing around a specific offering, let’s prepare for it. What’s that offering, who is that offering for?
The reason we wanna touch on that who, especially when you’re talking about a relaunch, or just a peak promo time, you think I know who my ideal client for this is, we’ve been selling it for a while. Like with Backstage, we’ve been selling this for almost three and a half years, a little more than three years. August was three years, so do we get? I don’t know three years and three months or something. Anyhow, I know who the ideal client for that is. Like I’m good. No, revisit, because looking at it again, looking at it with fresh eyes will always give you more clarity. And you may see, and quite frankly, this is a big part of the revamp of Backstage that who you were talking to before is disconnected from where you want this offering to go.
This is especially true for my membership site owners. You may see that as you’ve matured, as your membership has matured, as your community has matured, it’s time to change things up, it’s time to shift some things. That’s what caused this massive evolution of backstage is after three years, we’re ready to up-level, we’re ready to talk to a new audience.
I’m also seeing that as my business has evolved and my price points have evolved, Backstage was really disconnected from the rest of my business. And so a $40 offering all the way to our $500 a month coaching package with BAM, again disconnects, a real big disconnect. And so we’re making sure we make that shift, and that came from even though we didn’t think we needed to, sitting down and go, “So who is Backstage for?” Okay?
So look at your what and look at your who. Then we can start talking about what you wanna do marketing-wise. And so this is where sort of part B of step one comes in, build your plan.
Actually, write out your content, your social, your email. But also what you need to do to deliver this thing. Often times when it comes to launches, we get so excited about launching it that we forget about delivering it.
So the first step for me in building the plan was what am I doing, who am I doing it for? Who am I doing it with? However you wanna phrase that.
How I Build My Launch Task List
The second step was what do I need to do to deliver that to those people. And so that meant doing a full audit of my membership site. That meant doing a mind map of what I wanted the site to look for. It meant making a big ass project in a sauna, that was this video needs to be created, this video needs to be created, this landing page needs to be updated, sales copy needs to be updated, blabby, blabby, blabby, all the way through each one of those things. So we actually have a project in a sauna that breaks down the entire process of revamping Backstage, because that stuff has got to get done.
Then I shifted into okay, now how do I market this? And that’s what we’re gonna start getting in step three when we talk about doing that all. I’ll share more of those steps, but I actually mapped all of that stuff out in step one, that was my plan. I had to map out from start to finish what everything was, who was I talking to, what was I doing them, what did I need to put together to deliver this to them, and how do I show this to them and sell this to them, so that they know this is their solution, that this will help get them where they want to go. Okay?
Step two, I start with delivery. So if you wanna launch something in January, or February, or March, and you wanna be able to be present and not burned out during that launch, do not wait until then to build the thing you’re going to sell them, build it now, revamp it now, edit it now, whatever it is. I wanna make sure that during that launch, you’re present to your marketing, you are present to that group as you bring them in. It’s really hard to be present if you’re still putting the piece together.
The great thing for me is my business, because of how I’ve built it over the last seven years, intentionally slows a little bit in November and December. It just does. Part of the reason for that, I’ve learned, is because I don’t make myself available in those periods of time for client-facing work. Now, our team still handles our management client stuff. Our team is still working on things, I still am sort of around on social, except for the days where I completely unplug, but I like to be around, ’cause I like to be in it. But I have a ton of space that I’ve built in, so that I can do this work. I’m not waiting until January when this price officially goes up, to say, “Oh, hey, I better completely refilm literally dozens of videos and trainings.” No, no, first, I needed to research what changes have happened from the videos that we’ve done, what is the current data that we’re working with, what are the current best practices we need to show them.
And then I went into outlining and creation of that content. And that’s kind of where we’re at right now at the end of November/early December is in that creation work, doing that filming, doing those pieces. All right?
Step three then goes into executing our marketing, writing the emails, sending the social posts, but also making sure we’re getting visible now to start warming our audience. So part of what I will be doing in December when I’m technically off, is showing up a bit more ahead of a really tight promo window that we’re running in that first week of January. So our price goes up January 8th, our launch window starts January 1st. So that’s when we’re really getting our promo in.
Now, I will be seeding that promo with stuff like this, you know I’m transparent if you listen to the show, I’m never trying to trick you, I will show you exactly what I’m doing while I’m doing it.
This is strategically part of that work, because I’m telling you right now that January 8th, that price is going up. On Black Friday, instead of sending you an email that says, “I’ve got a special offer for you, here’s Backstage for half off,” I’m gonna say, “I’ve got a special offer for you, this price is going up January 8th. If you want to save for the lifetime, join us now.” So it’s a Black Friday sales email, without an actual long-term discount, or without an actual immediate discount, but with a incredible long-term discount, because the price is going from $40 a month to $97 a month.
So the launch is kind of happening, we’re slowly building it up, because those emails are written. That work is done. I have it all scheduled now. But that’s done so that during that same time period, on Black Friday, on Small Business Saturday, on Cyber Monday, when you guys are getting all of these crazy emails and sales messages from everybody, I’m able to actually hop on Instagram stories and be like, “Hey guys, I’m super excited, if you’re on the email list, you got this email,” and I’m showing up and I’m talking to you. I’m responding to your DMs, I’m engaging, having conversations. I’m welcoming me you in as you join.
‘Cause one of the things we do is every time somebody joins, I send them a video. Not our system automates a video that we send to everybody, I send you a video, filmed on my phone, right then, live. Hey, welcome, I’m really excited you’re here, here’s what’s up, here is what’s next, here’s what I suggest you to do right now. If have questions, hit reply, email me. I wanna make myself available to you, so that we can set you on a path where you’re gonna see success. I can do that, because I’ve preempted that work in step two of creating what needs to be delivered, and I’ve done that work in step three of creating that foundation of marketing content that has to happen. And I will be able to do those steps because in step one I created the plan.
So that’s what I wanna see you doing now. Now, I’m gonna end this episode here because I want to keep this short and consumable, so that you can go do this work. This is one of those episodes that comes with homework. Don’t just listen, now go do the thing.
And even if there is not something brand new you’re launching, even if there’s not something brand new you’re releasing to the world, and like you have to create top to bottom. Maybe you just wanna really hit January hard with like this is the year we film my coaching practice for the year, by July. Maybe I wanna film a mastermind I already have, it’s just opening time for that. It’s called open cycle or whatever.
Maybe it’s I want to deliver this service and I’ve got two clients [inaudible 00:16:10] I wanna film in January. Great, then that’s the thing you’re doing, what do you need to do to get there? Build your plan, create your deliverables, maybe that’s your onboarding package, your welcome package, whatever it is, that’s on the side, on Commonly More, that’s one of the things we’re doing. Where is our onboarding system need to be a more lux, quite frankly, experience for our clients, a better branded experience for our clients.
Figure that out, build your marketing plan, run your launch. Launch does not have to be a course. Launch does not have to be a membership or a book, or any of those things. It can be anything. It can be a new opt-in. It could be a new podcast, it can be a new live show. All right? So do this, go through these steps, do that work in January.
If you want help with this stuff, email, and we’ll see what my availability is. I know, as of recording this, we have one spot in BAM available. We can do this work in January for you to do a launch in March. So if you wanna do something closer to the end of Q1, maybe you wanna get away from that sort of January insanity with everybody and their brother come out of the gates trying to sell everybody things, which I’m totally jumping in on, so woohoo. Maybe that’s what you wanna do.
Maybe you wanna do something this summer because that’s where your ideal clients are gonna be most open to it, that we can do that work together in January or February. So reach out, and we will get you on my calendar, and we will get you set up, all right?
Thank you for listening to the show. Again, thank you for sharing the show with your friends. Leave your reviews, leave your ratings, share this. Take a screenshot and share it on Instagram stories and tag me, and say, “Hey, I will absolutely see it and send you a message.” I love getting to connect with you guys that way. Share it on Facebook and tag us, and let me know. Again, I will see it, and I will respond. I love, love, love when you guys share this. All right?
Thank you, I hope you’re having a great week. Remember, next week we’ll do three things you need to do in December, because it’ll be the beginning of the month, so make sure you are subscribed to the podcast, so you get a notification of that episode, those three things you need to know episodes are always our most popular ones. Okay? I’ll see you very soon, bye.
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