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5 Essential Steps to Avoid a Flopped Launch
Episode 8 • 15th August 2024 • Growing a Deeply Rooted Business • Jessica Walther & Rachel Lopez | Rooted Business
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Ready to crush your upcoming launch? 🚀 In this episode of the Deeply Rooted Business Podcast, Rachel, your marketing ecosystem architect, and Jess, the operations guru, dive deep into the 5 critical steps you need to ramp up your launch strategy for Q3 and Q4. From debriefing past launches to setting realistic goals, market research, social proof, and list building, we cover everything you need to ensure a successful launch.

Don’t miss out on these expert tips that will help you avoid common pitfalls and set your business up for major success. Perfect for entrepreneurs and business owners gearing up for big launches. Tune in and take your launch to the next level!

Timestamp:

00:53 The importance of a strategic launch ramp up plan

02:37 Why you should debrief your last launch

05:41 Establishing launch goals and milestones

11:02 The role of market research in your launch ramp up plan

13:15 How and why you should gather social proof and testimonials

16:02 What list building can do for your launch ramp up plan


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Rachel's Services

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Get Jess's Sustainable Success Systems Starter Kit, a Notion Business Management Systems that takes your business from overwhelmed to organized with 4 foundational workflows. <<Learn More Here>>


Diagnose Common Launch Problems and Fix Them Fast! Get the Launch Cure Guide : https://www.thelaunchcollaborative.com/launch-cure

Get Rachel's Guide to a High-Converting Email list to learn 4 shifts to elevate your emails & embrace sustainability in your marketing. <<Get it Here>>

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Transcripts

Speaker:

jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: Okay.

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: of

the Deeply Rooted Business Podcast.

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I'm Rachel, your marketing ecosystem

architect, and we are here,

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well, we are here, like Jess is

a guest, and I'm here with Jess.

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My, the second part of

my brain are options.

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Guru fanatic and today we have such

a fun topic like we definitely needed

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to Give this one like its own time

to shine, because as people build

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into Q4 planning, there's going

to be a lot of launches happening.

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And Jess and I, I can't even count

the number of launches combined that

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you and I both have experience in.

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And so this is one of the most important

parts of a launch that I would say

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70 percent of the time gets skipped.

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And so we're going to be breaking

down the strategic ramp up plan.

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That really is going to be covering some

key milestones in your launch planning

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process and really make sure you're

setting your launch up for success.

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Because if you don't do this step, you

can have the best copy in the world.

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You could have the most

refined and validated offer.

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And you can still hear cricket.

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So the ramp up is so incredibly important.

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Jess and I are actually working

tag teaming a client right now with

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launch ramp up and launch support.

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And this is one of the things

that we have spent 30 plus days

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strategizing, building out, really

getting into the analytics of it all.

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So it's going to be a great episode.

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: Yes.

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And I think it's something that

people underestimate when you're

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launching, like how far in advance

you need to start these preparations.

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I know I do a lot of discovery

calls where people are like, I want

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to launch next month or like even

sometimes into as little as two weeks.

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And I don't know why people

have a perception of why.

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You couldn't be able to pull off

this giant, like, campaign in a short

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amount of time, but I think, this

step, like you said, I often get

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skipped or, like, lost over really

quickly because people are trying,

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are waiting too late in the game to,

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launch.

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I know, like, I recommend people start

working with me, at least 12 weeks before,

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I think you're, like, the same, so that

we can really start to get Eyeballs on the

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launch and doing all the things that you

need to both prepare the back end of your

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business, but also your potential clients.

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To get ready have a

successful enrollment period.

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So, let's talk about kind of like where

did we have like five key things outline

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that we've just completed for this client.

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So it's nice and fresh on our head.

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So we'll start with number one,

which is debriefing your last launch.

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And as.

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Numbers, nerds, girls.

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We love this step.

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And I think it's really critical,

especially as like a new

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subcontractor coming into a business.

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I really can't give any like advice

or specific advice until I dig into

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The back end of these numbers.

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So some of the things that we're

looking at, when we're debriefing is

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pretty much every aspect of launch.

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So starting with overall conversions

and like conversion points.

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So like looking at sales page conversions,

checkout page conversions looking

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at email performance, looking at the

different offers and the different

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payment plans that you had and how

those broke out looking at social

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media post performance, looking at

like your overall launch timeline.

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All the things, anything,

did I miss anything?

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Or do you want to go deeper into

like what we're looking at with

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a

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launch debrief,

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: even

the areas where you may have a

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completely different audience

that you're like relaunching to

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or launching in a different area.

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If you've done a few launches,

even just pulling out.

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When the sales happened to plan for

your upcoming launch is something

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that's so incredibly valuable.

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This is something that we have seen in so

many launches where there's a mid launch

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lull or there's kind of like your audience

doesn't necessarily buy on weekends.

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So we really don't want to like put.

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one of the peak sales periods

of the launch on a weekend and

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really have them like contradict

and work against each other.

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And so there's so many things that

the data can tell us, and it's

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really just getting visuals on it.

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And if you're not like an analytics

person or like, you're not sitting

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there and thinking, Ooh, what

is this data going to tell me?

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Like.

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If you get so overwhelmed by numbers,

even just having a baseline of

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understanding, like don't go into it

like nerds, like Jess and I, where

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we're like really combing through, which

click did the, which messaging piece

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did the most conversions or anything

like that, but having just visibility

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on it is the most impactful because

it really is going to tell you what

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didn't work and what worked for your.

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Past launches that you can take that

and not start from scratch with this

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existing launch or the upcoming launch.

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: Yeah.

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I love that you pulled out like an exact

change we were able to make, we were able

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to like see in this client that their

launch open cart was really long and

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we were able to like condense that down

because we did see the lull, some other

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things we saw were like, they had multiple

payment plans and one payment plan didn't.

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And then there was coupon

codes and like stuff confusing.

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So based on like those numbers, we

were able to pull out and then take

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action to change little bitty things.

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And again, looking at your emails

and posts that perform the best

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last time and reusing some of

that messaging going forward.

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It's not about just pulling

the numbers just to have them.

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It's like, what can the

numbers actually tell you?

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: Exactly.

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Yeah.

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All right, let's go through the

next one because I think this is

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more like your bread and butter.

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In the project management ops.

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section is really, really getting clear

on establishing the goals and establishing

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like the milestones of it all.

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And this really does go back to when

you're annual planning, quarterly

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planning, it's not just setting up a

plan and then Never coming back to it.

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I think this is why we work so well

together because she has such a way

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to make these goals and milestones

so consumable at like a layered level

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versus setting up this big plan and

like launch and be like, I want to hit.

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100k for my launch revenue and then

not actually having how to reach it,

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the steps we need to do to reach it.

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So I think this is truly

just where your genius lives.

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I like absorb every chance I get.

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: I'm a

big proponent of ambitious goals

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that are grounded in reality.

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I think that is something that

is lacking in other people's

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messaging that talks about launches.

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I know this because I'll get on

discovery calls with people and they

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will have these, like, I don't know

if they're pulling the numbers out of

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thin air, but they'll have these really

ambitious, truly ambitious goals.

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And the first thing that I like to

do is ground them back into reality.

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Like I'm not bursting anyone's bubble and

like, yes, you can manifest things in your

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business, but also numbers are numbers.

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And we know based on industry

benchmarks and like what we see managing

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launches, like the conversion rates.

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That are going to come like, so

if you have this many people in

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your email list, this is how many

people are going to probably buy.

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If you have this much reach in

your, Instagram, this is how

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much people are going to buy.

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If you get this many eyeballs

on your sales page, this is how

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many people are going to buy.

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So like using those established benchmarks

that we have based on our own knowledge.

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And then once you've launched a couple

of times, like you'll know your own

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conversion rate because you might be

performing better within the industry.

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But first establishing like, if

you want to make this much revenue,

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this is how many people that

we need to see the sales page.

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And is that even possible

with your current email list

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and social media strategy?

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And if it's not, then you may need to

extend out the ramp up period where

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you're audience building for your

offer before you actually launch it.

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So that all the effort

that you make beforehand.

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there's a lot of work that goes in between

the launch, so you want to make sure that

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you're at least going to cover the time

and money that you're investing in your

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launch when you do it and establishing

like these goals beforehands and reverse

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engineering to see all of the different

numbers that you need to hit leading up

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to that ultimate goal is what's going to

like inform you if this is even possible.

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Or is it even worth pursuing right now?

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to be honest, I have an offer that I want

to launch, like I have a group idea I

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want to launch, but I know that I don't

have the audience like established yet

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to where that is going to be successful.

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So instead of focusing my energy

and efforts on creating a giant

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launch plan and executing the giant

launch plan for myself, I'm focusing

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on audience building right now.

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: Yeah.

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And Jess and I always talk about

how, When it comes to launching

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energetics are so incredibly important.

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And when you are kind of setting

yourself up without that, previous

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data, without these kinds of

milestones and goals broken out, and

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you say, these are my lofty goals.

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And then.

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You open cart and nothing crickets, it's

just crickets and crickets, crickets, your

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immediate energy just, just like depletes.

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And so it really is a long game of

setting yourself up for these little like

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energetic lifts in your launch plan and

making sure that you're not winging it.

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And so that you're, you know,

have a successful launch.

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That's not going to just

leave you completely drained

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by day two of open cart.

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like Jess said, you can do all of the

things like both Jess and I are very woo.

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And when it comes to, planning and

all of this, like you can re Reverse

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engineer the woo into your business so

that you can maintain Good energies.

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You can keep the space around you,

like receiving of all the prosperity

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without actually just winging it.

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So

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: Yeah, and then

once you have your goals established,

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like, that'll inform your launch

calendar and your launch milestones.

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Like I said before, you'll know,

like, how long your ramp up period

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needs to be based on the audit.

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We'll know how long, like, open cart

is so you can establish, like, that

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launch Calendar and then basically

like figure out what assets need to

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be done by when and reverse engineer

a project plan to get it done.

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I have like a very specific flow of

what gets created, like first, if I'm

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doing like a brand new launch, sales

page come first, then emails and social.

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Cause we're taking that message and

creating more and more little like

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bite sized pieces from each of it.

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And laying that out over a couple of

weeks so that you're giving yourself

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the proper time and space and you're

not like fried by the time you get to

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open cart because that's whole like

energetic draw that you're going to need.

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I have.

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A little like optimization tweak week when

I'm like usually a little laying out that

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comes right before like if we're doing

a webinar or challenge and that's kind

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of like the week to like, do like, like,

we've done all the work, everything's

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scheduled and loaded and ready to go.

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Like, now let's like, reset the energy and

just give everything a final look to see

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if there's any like tweets we can make.

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And I think when we're able

to actually honor that week.

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My clients go into their launches,

more refreshed All right, let's

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talk about market research.

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I'm going to toss back over

to Rachel because this is her.

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I feel like she really enjoys this.

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: Yeah.

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Market research is one of those things

that is really about validating what

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your ideal client thinks, wants, feels.

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Because all of your copy, all of your

efforts, all of your energy, Really is

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going to make it like going to speak to

your ideal clients to make sure they feel

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seen in your messaging and your offer.

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They feel, heard in what you're

giving them so that they can then

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make the decision with confidence.

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It's all about building trust.

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And that doesn't come from just,

saying, Oh, My ideal client

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drinks coffee and shops at Target

and does this and does that.

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It's getting into the emotional factors

as to why they're having pain, the

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financial factors, the analytical

factors and really understanding your

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ideal client from a way deeper level.

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And it's just one of those things

that I think it's skipped a lot.

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You can, Do this to an extent, but

there's always some action and some

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steps that you can place low key in

front of your audience from a social

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perspective or from an email list

and see how they respond in that ramp

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up phase and before your ramp up.

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So like when you get the initial idea

there, whether it's a new offer or

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You're making tweaks to your actual

product that you're about to launch.

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You can take certain, learnings

from your audience and slowly build

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them into what you're doing so that

everything is an echo chamber of.

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The exact thing they need to hear the

exact thing they need to see on that,

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you know, like features and benefits and

making sure that everything is speaking to

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them in a very cohesive manner to get that

conversion is really, really important.

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So nine times out of 10, when I've

seen this skipped, that's where you're

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hearing a lot of those crickets.

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It's where you're seeing so

many people be like, Hmm, I just

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don't know if this is for me.

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And when they're having that, Rather

than that, like initial reaction

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of like, Oh my God, I need this.

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That's where the market research comes

in is where we're like really emphasizing

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them coming through and being like,

this is the exact product that I need.

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So market research is so,

so incredibly important.

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: All right.

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Number four which is gathering

social proof for customer

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feedback, customer testimonials.

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case studies, and if you can do them

interviewing, if you can do them, I think

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all of this is super important because

it helps to establish trust that your

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offer actually is going to get results.

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I think there's a lot of like, noise in

the online space, especially with people

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of like, Oh, I've done this for myself and

now I'm going to teach you how to do it.

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And I really don't like,

that's like a no for me.

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Like I want to know like that you've

not only done it for yourself, but that

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you've taught someone else how to do it.

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And they have gotten

those results as well.

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So that's where that social

proof comes really important.

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And it can be a little.

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Time consuming on the like operational

side of things to gather all of these

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things So I think if you're not doing

it if you don't have like a system

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automatically implemented into your

offer where you're getting this

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information that you're making an

effort in the beginning of your ramp

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up period to Start to kind of like mine

out all of those good nuggets from your

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customers

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: I think

that's one of the biggest things

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we see in the online space that

really just irks is that when you.

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Even if it's like, you know,

you, your new offer and whatever.

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And like, you're like, Oh,

I've done this for myself.

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People still want to see that you can

replicate it outside of your own business.

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And whether that means you are

bringing in beta clients, pre, pre,

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pre launch you're giving it out

for free to people who, need it.

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And that you can then capture all of that.

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It's so incredibly important to build.

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Out that social proof because

it's going to increase authority.

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It's really going to increase trust.

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And I'm the same way as Jess.

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When I see somebody that's only been

able to replicate something just

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for themselves, I'm like, I'm okay.

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So it's one of those things it's going to

make the most impact in your launch and

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you can do this, in your space, I'm saying

this for a new offer, do this pre ramp up

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so that you can make sure that you have

those testimonials ready and set to go.

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If you are launching something, maybe one

or maybe like three times, four times.

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And this is like a previous

launch that's just being repeated.

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I would say you need systems

to start capturing these client

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testimonials from the get go.

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Or even just like as a reflection back

to kind of capture those before you.

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Launch the next time, especially

if your launch goal is like, Oh,

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I want to double my enrollments or

I want to, you know, X my revenue.

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It's really important that

you take these crucial steps.

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And like, this is the

lowest hanging fruit.

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If you are delivering results,

capture your testimonials with

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some type of system in place.

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So that it's just the easiest thing that

you can build that social proof off of.

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: Yes.

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All right.

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And number five, Rachel's going

to love this one is list building.

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And I cannot stress how important this is.

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can you have a successful

launch on social media?

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Maybe.

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But last week, no one

was getting any reach.

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Like all my clients were freaking

out because they're like, what

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is going on with Instagram?

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And I'm like, well, there's a lot

going on in the world right now.

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There's, you know, this election

that's coming that I think is pulling

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everybody's like, attention away.

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There's the Olympics going on.

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like my TikTok algorithm, I

don't know what I did to it,

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but it's like broken right now.

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And I'm seeing the weirdest

things that like, aren't even

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relevant to me on TikTok.

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So I'm like, how did I get down

this, rabbit hole and like,

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get me back to my algorithm.

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But that's why list building becomes

very, very important for your watch.

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533: Even from

the flip side of not building your list

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and just launching to your existing list.

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if you've done multiple launches

to your list and try to sell them X

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amount of things, it's really hard

to reinvigorate a list that's been

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sold to multiple, multiple times.

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And so when you kind of like just hit them

with the exact same message over and over

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and over and like kind of expect different

results without like bringing in.

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More new people.

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That's really where the struggle

of the conversion happens.

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Email lists are powerful.

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One, if you keep them engaged, you

keep them segmented and you know

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exactly who's on your list, but

list building is crucial to get new

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eyeballs in whether that's through a

pre launch challenge, a pre launch lead

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magnet, or something that is really

specific to your launch ideal client.

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So that you know exactly who is supposed

to be coming in during this time.

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And you're getting those brand new fresh

eyeballs on your list prior to the launch.

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I know that's kind of one of

those controversial things where

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people expect the conversion in

that lead magnet nurture sequence.

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But there's also when you're building

out to be a bigger launch, whether it's

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5, 000 or middle ticket to high ticket,

you don't want To initially sell to them.

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You want to focus on that nurture.

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You want to get them into the funnel.

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That's going to like engage them, build

authority, build trust, and really

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making sure that, you know, it's solid

there from an engagement perspective.

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And you can always bring your existing

list into your new lead magnet as well.

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guiding them towards that new lead magnet.

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So list building, I could do a hundred

different episodes about you can

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really dictate The behavior changes.

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Like if someone clicks on

something, you can retarget to them.

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If someone does this, you can do that.

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And it's just a powerful tool.

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So without an email list in your

launch, like you're working at like

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25 percent when you could really be

working closer to like 90 to a hundred.

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Love it.

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jess_1_07-29-2024_130533: Okay.

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So recapping the episode, So we talked

about making sure that you go back and

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debrief your last launch so you can

pull out all of that great information

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to inform your actions for this launch.

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Establishing ambitious goals that

are rooted in reality and using those

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goals to reverse engineer your launch

calendar and then your task lists.

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Making sure that you're doing your market

research to understand exactly who your

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offer is for and how to speak to them.

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And then making sure that you're gathering

customer feedback, testimonials for

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social proof, cause that's going to

help with your conversions and then

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making sure that you are putting in a

concerted effort to build your email

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list specifically for this launch.

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Give yourself, a couple of weeks.

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To make sure that you're bringing

some new, fresh energy into your life.

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We're

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rachel-_1_07-29-2024_130533:

Well, we hope that you found

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this episode to be super helpful.

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Tune in.

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Next week, I think, Jess, you

might have to correct me on this.

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We're talking about Black Friday planning

and end of Okay, we'll be kind of breaking

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down some, key Black Friday strategies

and how to prepare your marketing and

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operations for the end of the year,

second half of the year kind of thing.

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But yeah, if you found this

episode helpful, make sure to

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share it with your business bestie.

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Always leave us a review, tag us

if you listen, please share the

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word because Jess and I love this

podcast so much and we want it to

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reach so many more other people.

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So until next time, we

are rooting for you.

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