Launching doesn’t have to mean scrambling, working until 11 PM, or trying to create your sales page while you’re already promoting your offer.

In this episode of the Deeply Rooted Business Podcast, Rachel and Jessica break down the two timelines every business owner needs to understand when planning a launch: the operations timeline and the marketing timeline.

While most launch strategies focus heavily on marketing, the behind-the-scenes operations work needs to start much earlier. Giving yourself enough runway for strategy, copy, design, tech, and testing allows you to enter your launch in sales mode—not still wearing your creation hat.

In This Episode, We Cover

• The difference between your ops timeline and your marketing timeline, and why both matter
• How to plan your launch 12–16 weeks ahead for a less stressful experience
• What to prioritize during strategy, copy, asset creation, tech, and testing
• Why the marketing ramp-up phase is essential for warming up your audience
• How to structure your launch from open cart through post-launch so you're prepared before launch day

Meet Your Hosts

Jessica Walther is the founder and CEO of The Launch Collaborative and Sustainable Success Systems. As a launch strategist and systems consultant, Jess is dedicated to helping solo business owners and small-but-mighty teams build businesses that deliver both peace and profit. She specializes in creating sustainable growth strategies that align with her clients' values and lifestyles.

Rachel Lopez is the founder and CEO of Gal Marketing Agency, a boutique email marketing and strategy firm. With over a decade of experience, Rachel helps heart-driven entrepreneurs craft intentional marketing strategies that attract, nurture, and convert leads sustainably. Her human-first approach ensures that marketing efforts feel authentic and effective .

Together, Jess and Rachel blend systems, storytelling, and soulful strategy to help you grow a business that's deeply aligned with your life—not just your revenue goals.

Connect With Us:

• Jess Website
• Rachel's Website

Hang Out & Say Hi!

• Deeply Rooted Business Instagram
• Jess Instagram
• Rachel's Instagram

As a certified launch manager, I've been around the block

2

or two with launches, and one of the

things we see all the time is that a

3

business owner has decided to launch,

and their timeline looks like this.

4

Month one, month two, month

three, and all of it is marketing.

5

So we know during launches you

have to get the word out, you

6

gotta build the hype, you gotta run

the ads, you gotta open the cart.

7

But if you don't start pre-planning

before all of that comes up you're

8

gonna be left with an evolved

sequence that is still in your head.

9

You haven't actually built your landing

page, or you're doing your presentation

10

the day before, and that kind of stressed

out look does not help you convert better.

11

Because I really believe that

the person who is pitching, who

12

is actually selling the product,

their energy matters the most.

13

And the problem is that when most

people are planning launches, they're

14

thinking strictly about that marketing

timeline, the ramp up, the open cart,

15

the closed cart, the debrief, the

promo, all of that, and they're not

16

really taking into account the launch.

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So today we're gonna be breaking

down both timelines, where the ops

18

actually should start, and then when

marketing swings in, and why the

19

order matters way more than you think.

20

So let's get into it.

21

Rachel: Welcome back to another episode

of the Deeply Rooted Business podcast.

22

I'm Rachel, your marketing ecosystem

architect, and I'm here with

23

Jess, our systems ops guru genius.

24

So before we get into the episode,

let's do a quick energy check.

25

'Cause I know that there's a

lot of feelings about launching.

26

I harbor a lot of energy and

issue with some types of launches.

27

Some people get excited.

28

Not me.

29

Some people get a little anxious

thinking about all of the

30

moving pieces and all of that.

31

So if you're feeling a little

overwhelmed, I could confidently say

32

that this topic we're talking about

today could be one of the reasons.

33

So we're gonna untangle that today.

34

Stick around towards the end because we're

gonna be breaking down exactly where each

35

timeline starts and what order is not

really an optional go-with-the-flow type.

36

So let's get into the first portion

of this, which is the ops timeline.

37

Jessica: The ops timeline is something

that I know most business owners don't

38

think about or don't like to think

about, because typically they will

39

come to me after they have tried to

run a launch without a launch timeline.

40

What is seen and talked about most in the

online space is that marketing timeline.

41

It is way sexier and easier to

sell the marketing strategies

42

and the marketing timelines.

43

But the ops timeline is what's going to

make your launch not only convert better

44

the more times you do it, but also help it

be less stressful for you in the long run.

45

So the first thing that we

always kind of start with is goal

46

setting and launch vision setting.

47

So clarity on what you're

actually developing.

48

How are you going to sell your offer?

49

What is the goal based on those

very realistic numbers that

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we talked about last episode?

51

What does success look like for you?

52

Really kind of getting the groundwork

and the foundation for your launch.

53

Because everything else is going to

depend on this part kind of being

54

locked, and it's gonna act as a

filter for your decision-making

55

process throughout the launch.

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Rachel: And I don't think

this is a one-hour decision.

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This really is one of those where

you let it sit and marinate.

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I would say put the most time

into this because it's gonna

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set that foundation forward.

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This really establishes if you are still

in the product development side of things.

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It helps you flush a lot of

those decisions out as well.

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I'm going through this with a client

right now, where we're not necessarily

63

talking launch specifics, but

we're talking about, launch energy.

64

We're still really in that post-launch

from launch one and moving into launch

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two, where we're saying what didn't we

like, and what do we wanna bring forward?

66

Those are the key

elements of goal setting.

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Setting a goal for what your energy

should feel like too is just as

68

important as setting a goal for revenue

and all of those components as well.

69

Jessica: I totally agree.

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This and this next part that we're gonna

talk about is your strategy, figuring out

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what the actual launch is gonna look like.

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We did a whole episode on launch

styles and how to pick which

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launch style is best for you.

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But even deeper than that, once your

style is established, what is your plan

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for getting people to that launch event?

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What is your plan for following up

with them after that launch event?

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Really going through the customer

awareness journey, which I love when

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Rachel talks about that, and figuring

out what needs to be true at each stage

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to help you maximize for conversions.

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And I feel like this is another one

that you need to give space to breathe,

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space to marinate, space to kind of

set it aside and come back and look

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at it from a fresh lens and eyes.

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Because changing things down road is

only gonna complicate more, so you

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wanna make sure that your strategy

is locked even before you say go.

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As a launch manager or someone supports

launches, this is one of the key elements

86

that I kind of hold my clients accountable

to is, we are going to lock this strategy,

87

and after we're gonna have very few

availability for pivots because there's a

88

domino effect when you change something.

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If you change the fast action bonus, for

example, then you've gotta go change the

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sales page, and the follow-up emails,

and the pitch deck, and all of this.

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So making sure that you kinda have

all the strategic levers mapped out

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and where you wanna pull them ahead

of time will really help from having

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to do a lot of rework or creating a

lot of launch chaos down the road.

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Rachel: Yeah, and if you plan

accordingly, you have that time to really

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validate a lot of the uncertainties.

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So If this is launch one, and you're

like, "Well, I don't know where

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people are in the awareness cycle,"

validating through content on social

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or through your email list before

ramp-up happens really is this time.

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In this launch that I'm currently planning

for launch two of, we have a lot of gaps

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that we weren't completely aware of, and

so we've done surveys, audience polls

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on social and really kind of filled a lot

of those gaps to bring us closer to what

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we want in our strategy for launch two.

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And that's where this getting ahead of it

is and not acting on a whim where you're

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like, "Oh, I wanna launch next month."

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When you're planning your annual calendar,

really being intentional about that time

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is gonna set you up for more success.

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If you give yourself that runway for

this discovery and for all of these

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different opportunities of whatever

questions came up in strategy discovery,

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you can say, "Oh, well, I don't actually

know, but I have two weeks here that I

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could, play around with the audience,

maybe go live a few times, maybe drop

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some polls, put some stories out there,

and see how people are interacting."

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Those are the things that you give

yourself when you do act with the

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intention of a longer timeline versus

just being like, "Let's launch.

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Chaos."

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Jessica: Yeah, yeah.

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And I mean, typically what the minimum

timeline from an ops perspective, what I'm

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looking at is probably 12 weeks to give

us two weeks for goal setting, getting

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clear on vision, two weeks for strategy,

two weeks for planning, two weeks for

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copy, and then two weeks to build and

then, optimize before live launch.

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But that marketing, it's probably

maybe a six-week timeline, half of

121

that, because you're doing ramp up

and then promotion and then open cart.

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So you really need to be thinking

about your launches, almost a

123

quarter ahead of time if you want

them to be grounded in strategy and

124

intention like we're recommending.

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Step four is once you've got your strategy

locked, then it's time to have an honest

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capacity conversation with yourself.

127

And if you have a launch date in mind

that you need to either hit because you

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need the money at that point, or you

need to hit because you have other things

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going around, you wanna make sure that

you're gonna have the capacity to execute

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all of the elements in your strategy.

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We like to talk a lot about a 1.0

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version of a launch, and then being

able to build and add components each

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time, especially if you're a business

owner who's bootstrapping their

134

way up through this launch process.

135

But if you do have more funds

available, then it's about looking at

136

your current team that's supporting

you and finding, who are the gaps?

137

Do I need to bring in an

email marketing copywriter?

138

Do I need to bring in someone

to help me design my pitch deck?

139

Do I need marketing assets created?

140

And identifying who or if it's you

on your team and what items you need

141

to outsource, 'cause from there,

you've gotta go find these people

142

if you don't already have them.

143

It's going to take you about

one to two weeks to kind of

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assemble your launch team.

145

You'll probably have an idea at step one

when you first start who you might wanna

146

bring in, but this is just solidifying

that RACI chart, who's responsible

147

for completing each piece of the work,

and then mapping out, when all of

148

the work is actually going to happen.

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Rachel: Yeah, so the step is basically

who's on the team, and then what's the

150

sequence, what are the dependencies?

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I always tell myself this, I'm like,

"Then you put it in the planner.

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Then you have it out of your brain and

into something that you can slowly,

153

review on your calls and check, check,

check, and go through the list."

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Because the components are gonna

start all happening at the same time.

155

Once you're out of the initial, op

setup and you're in the main portion

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of the marketing, then it's important

to stay on track with things.

157

But you can easily get

lost in that setup stuff.

158

So once you're done, have it out

of your brain and you're into that

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action step, then you can move

into this next step, which is that

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copywriting asset design, like prep.

161

I would say this is definitely where, a

lot of creativity happens, and I've seen

162

a lot of people fail in this stage when

they're like, "Well, I just wanna, I wanna

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have the inspiration to talk to people

on stories or on my posts, the day of."

164

And I think however you can get

ahead, whether that's scripting

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your stories, scripting your emails,

all of those components, there's

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a lot of copy and development

that needs to happen in launches.

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You have the sales page.

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You have the email sequence.

169

You have checkout page, post-checkout,

client onboarding, all full picture of

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things that you really, really wanna

get ahead of this as much as possible

171

because this is the step that really

does take the longest to put together.

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You don't want this to be rushed.

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If your launch doesn't do well, you don't

want the feeling to be like, "Ugh, well,

174

I should have given this more time."

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Jessica: Yeah, and you want it to

all feel intentional and cohesive.

176

So going back, and this kind of works

hand-in-hand with the planning stage,

177

is that one of the things before I

start project planning the launch is

178

creating that launch funnel map or even

outlining the customer journey on Google

179

Doc of, what are all of the touchpoints

that we're going to have with the

180

customer, and then going through what

is the goal of each of these assets?

181

Getting it all on a Google Doc, and

then I can just kinda start working

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down the Google Doc to make sure

that copy is developed for that.

183

But typically, I like to

start from the pitch deck.

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I almost like to start backwards

from that when I'm doing the copy

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because I feel like that informs it.

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So it's like I will almost write

onboarding email first, and then

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checkout page, then the sales page,

then deck, then emails And then social

188

media because I feel like all the bigger

decisions need to be made on those

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last assets, and that's kind of gonna

inform everything backwards from there.

190

So that's kind of how

I approach and plan it.

191

From there, it kind of allows the

tech team to come in and start getting

192

work earlier since their setup takes

more time than just loading an email.

193

So if I'm starting on pages first, then

I can hand that off to design and tech

194

while the email copy is still getting

written and starts to flow through a

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nice little, chart of assembly line.

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Rachel: Yeah, and if you're

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a solopreneur or a small team, and

you're tech team, a little design

198

team, these are all more of a reason

why you should 100% give yourself more

199

time, because it is essentially just

going to be you putting on a different

200

hat, and then you giving yourself

the time to switch into a different

201

role, and then put on another hat.

202

It's a well-oiled machine when

you do have the components of

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a launch team to support you.

204

But the reality is that so many of us

are also launching independently and by

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ourselves, so it's even more important

then to have the time to make sure you're

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not burning yourself out or working

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trying to do everything at the same time.

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Just want a put a little note on

that if you're laughing at us because

209

we're talking about all these…

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Jessica: Yeah Well, and I think, too, it's

one of the things that really frustrated

211

me when I first started planning launches

is that the timelines for all these

212

launch programs that we're buying were

very unrealistic for solopreneurs.

213

But they weren't disclosing that this was

a timeline built for a team to execute.

214

If you gotta think like, "I've gotta write

my sales page around serving my clients,"

215

then probably one week is you writing

your sales page, and the next week is

216

writing your sales emails, and the next

week is writing your sales social posts.

217

That's how you have to do it if

you're doing it by yourself, so

218

it's way more important to give

yourself maybe even longer than

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12 weeks if it's your first time.

220

Now, if it's your second time,

we can start to speed things up

221

because we've got things we can pull

from, and we work and all of that.

222

But yes, give yourself way more time

than you think you're going to do.

223

So then moving into after design, we

usually move into tech, setting up

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all the tech, testing all the tech.

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Tech will give you the most

headache during a launch, so

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you wanna make sure that you've

got plenty of time to test that.

227

And then I always like to have,

what I call an optimization

228

week or an optimization period

where everything is done.

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My goal as a launch manager is for pretty

much everything to be done related to

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that launch before the day of, like, if

we're doing a webinar, a live webinar.

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We'll still be doing some final stuff

while we're promoting the webinar,

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but that live webinar, I want them to

be able to take creation hat off and

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move fully into sales mode, so that

they're not trying to have to write

234

a sales email and show up on social

media and have all the stress of is

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anyone gonna buy and all of that.

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It's just better to try to

get it done all beforehand.

237

And then, of course, we wanna do

a whole debrief, which we did a

238

whole episode on that, so I'm gonna

skip through that for time's sake.

239

I'm gonna pass it off to Rachel so

she can do our marketing timeline.

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Rachel: With the ops timeline, you're

probably like, " Whoa, what is happening?"

241

The marketing timeline really comes

in to about when she was talking

242

about tech, copywriting and website,

they're almost parallel entities.

243

But moving into the phase that I would

consider the start of the marketing

244

timeline is that ramp-up phase.

245

This is traditionally two to

three weeks prior to, let's say

246

if you're running a live event,

prior to the promotion of that.

247

If you're running a live event, that's

two to three weeks before open cart.

248

So you're really about six weeks out

from launch where you're really warming

249

up your audience, whether you've

created a new lead magnet or not,

250

you're really trying to get the people

who are most primed for this product

251

to pay more attention in this space.

252

So let's say a course creator or a

business coach trying to help teach

253

people about social media, you would

start talking about this specific

254

audience's pain points that you're

getting them from problem aware to time

255

of promo is solution aware, and then

time of open cart is product aware.

256

What What we don't want to happen is

when people usually skip the ramp-up,

257

they use either the live event or the

first couple of emails to do a lot

258

of that problem awareness messaging,

where it's really validating that this

259

person understands their problem to the

fullest extent, which at the point of

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open cart they should have their credit

card ready and be saying, "Are you the

261

right person for me or are you not?"

262

Or even beyond that point.

263

If you're looking at buying behavior,

the ramp-up serves the purpose

264

to get the most primed people

ready to start paying attention.

265

After ramp up is that live promo.

266

If you're doing a live event or a

challenge or trying to get people just

267

alert to the fact that a promotion

or a launch is about to happen,

268

this is where you shift into it.

269

And the problem of skipping ramp

up before you get to this part is

270

that people typically start to tune

out after you start talking about

271

a sale or a promotion or a launch.

272

And so what you want to do is make

sure that they're paying so much

273

attention and being like, "Dang,

they really know my pain points.

274

They understand me."

275

Maybe intuitively they should know

something is coming, but it really should

276

be this moment of awareness shift that

feels very intentional and unnoticing.

277

I think everybody who has been part

of a launch where you're just…

278

i'll say the YAP Challenge,

where I was like, "Oh my God,

279

this person is everywhere.

280

I am seeing her content.

281

I want whatever she's doing."

282

And this was before I even knew

the YAP Challenge was a thing.

283

It should have that energy to it,

which is hard to put into words, but

284

the purpose of a ramp up is coming

into step two, where you're like,

285

"Okay, here's what I'm talking about.

286

Here's what I'm selling."

287

You don't immediately isolate

people that don't wanna be sold to.

288

And then you move into open cart,

and the open cart is where The sales

289

window is actually starting, and it

typically happens after your live

290

event or after that pivotal moment

at the very beginning of a launch.

291

You can typically have your

launch from five to seven days.

292

My clients that are very, very much

life-first businesses will probably

293

not run a launch through the weekend

where they have to be actively on.

294

We sometimes try to plan the middle of

the launch, which is always a mid-launch

295

lull in the weekends just because we know

that that's already gonna be dead time.

296

You can typically just put some of

your stuff that you know is just gonna

297

pass that awareness from solution aware

to product aware and use that there.

298

So five to seven days, and then,

move whenever that cart closes, you

299

can either move into a downsell or

into a post-launch survey like we've

300

talked about in previous times.

301

But I think that including the

ramp-up, it should be two to three

302

weeks promotion of an event, and then

your actual launch itself, one week,

303

downsell and surveys, another week.

304

I lost track of how many weeks that is.

305

But that's typically the breakdown of

how the marketing element of it works.

306

Jessica: I would say ops would

probably be 12 to 16 weeks, and then

307

your marketing is probably six weeks.

308

But it's kind of coming into

the end of that 12-week period.

309

I think the number one thing that people

miss is that they skip the ops portion

310

of that timeline because nobody talks

about that, and they start trying to

311

ramp up while they're creating the assets

still, which is very confusing because

312

if you don't know what you're selling,

it's hard to actually try to sell it.

313

So it's really important to have

that strategy nailed down as you move

314

into your ramp up and your promotion.

315

Rachel: Yeah, and I mean, just try to

imagine doing all of that discovery and

316

the goal setting while you're also trying

to ramp up and it really is so chaotic

317

if you plan without that ops portion.

318

Jessica: For sure, for sure.

319

All right, so let's give them a

quick rundown of both the timelines.

320

So ops, you wanna make sure goal

setting, strategy, planning,

321

copywriting, assets, tech, build live.

322

And then marketing - don't skip the

ramp-up, it's the most important part.

323

About two weeks to invite to promo,

open your cart five to seven days,

324

whatever your preference is, and then

always make sure that you're doing

325

some sort of post-launch survey.

326

And if you wanna do a downsell,

make sure you're including

327

that in your ops plan as well.

328

And like I said, the number one

mistake that everyone makes, is

329

skipping that ops portion or not

giving them enough time for that

330

strategy, vision, goal-setting portion.

331

Because then when you're getting to

asset creations, you're getting stalled,

332

because then you're gonna have to go back

and make a decision that you should've

333

made two weeks ago, and then realize

that that decision is gonna domino down

334

to the other things that you already

created, and it's just gonna be a mess.

335

We don't want that to happen,

so make sure you are doing your

336

due diligence and getting this

all planned out ahead of time.

337

Rachel: Awesome.

338

So I hope that was helpful.

339

What we wanna know, if anybody is

planning launches, are you in the ops

340

phase right now or the marketing phase?

341

We wanna pay attention.

342

Drop it in the comments, send

us a DM, or even just email us.

343

We wanna follow along, and

we hope that you're following

344

along through this series.

345

We have two more episodes

for launch coming through.

346

If you enjoyed this episode,

share it with a biz bestie who's

347

also in launch mode right now.

348

Leave us a review.

349

Follow us if you haven't already.

350

And until next week,

351

Jessica: We are rooting for you

352

Rachel: you.