Day 14-15: What happened?

Hah! If you have been following this blog, you are probably wondering what, exactly, happened to me. It's like I began skipping days and dropping off the planet or something.  The truth is I've been working behind the scenes on putting into place all of the things I've been learning. It's no good working to learn something if you're not going to apply it.

One thing I did is revisit the graphics for our Creative Technology Services business. I'll post them here so you can see them.  A cousin of mine has told me she's not entirely sold on the tagline as it is, but that can be changed. This is the logo. Nice, clean, and - I think, anyway, impactful.

The graphic actually was born out of a fabric design I had done for outdated technology. I revisited it and combined two pieces into one for a better effect. I like this logo. It really captures what we do very nicely, and it's simple enough that it wouldn't be lost if we monogrammed it on a shirt.

The next step was to redesign our Facebook header. I must say this took a bit of playing around to get right, but I'm actually very happy with where it ended up.  It should speak to the intended audience about who we are and what we do at a glance, which was the goal.

The part about the tagline that my cousin wasn't entirely sold on was the fact that she couldn't figure out whether we were marketing our training and technology services for creative entrepreneurs or whether our focus was teaching them how to market. I think perhaps a change to business training and technology for creative entrepreneurs might clear up some of the confusion there. Fortunately, with Facebook it is possible to easily and quickly get the feedback you need to make those kinds of adjustments without having to spend a fortune on market research.

Creative Technology Services will be the parent company, with two divisions beneath it: 40 Day Writer and Infinite Possibility Games. I have yet to sit down with my husband and help him figure out his target audience and marketing scheme, but for 40 Day Writer I have already spent a lot of time thinking about this.

40 Day Writer is about helping writers "write the world a better place" with books, classes, and events that help them clarify their message, find the time they need to write it, get from chapter one to done, polish their manuscript, put together a perfect book cover, and get their book on the market so it can reach its intended audience.

We now have our hosting in place and are working on getting the websites up and running.  I'll continue sharing what I'm learning and you can continue to view the works in progress.

Day 13: Launch Day Dynamics

Travel can wreak havoc on the best plans in the world. It has certainly done a job on my efforts to plan out my business. That doesn't mean I haven't done work on it over the past 3 days, but it does mean I haven't had a chance to post the work that I've done.  I will tell you that we have secured our hosting. It is being set up as we speak, and it should be live by tomorrow. That means I can begin to work on implementing all the fabulous things I am learning ASAP.

Launch Day

You are how you market: Consider what matters to you and how you want to be known.  The success of your launch depends largely on the structure of your offer: how you make it, what it includes, and how long it lasts.

Goal: Create a reasoned, sensible, appropriate launch based on integrity

Keys to Launching

1. Announce product launch via email, social network, blog & other relevant platforms

2. Remember that things are unlikely to unfold as planned. Plan what-if actions ahead of time.

3. Your live period of the launch lasts 3-7 days

4. Share new & exciting testimonials as they come

Launch Day Anticipation

Hopefully having expended the energy to generate awareness of your product or service, you have a long line of people eager to get the product you're about to offer them, so that email you sent is going to be eagerly anticipated. That doesn't mean that every person on the email list will buy the day you send. Have a system for keeping track of those that do and a plan in place for following up with those that don't.

 Hooking the Fence Sitters

48 hours after launch, send a special follow-up offer for those that haven't bought yet that gives something extra if they buy now. Those that have already bought will get a bonus they weren't expecting, which will make them happy, and those that were on the fence may become buyers.

Day 12: Preparing to Launch

The one thing I know for a fact I have got to nail down before I can make any real progress forward in my business is to secure our hosting. I cannot have this monthly uncertainty of whether or not my clients are going to be able to reach me.  It's not good for business. It speaks volumes - and what it says is that I am unreliable and unlikely to be there if they need me. That has to change.  There are many things in my life that will have to change, but this is one key element of that.

Having said that, here is how he breaks down the launch sequence:
1. Pre-Launch: Lasts between 7-21 days, depending on your plan
2. Launch: Lasts 1-7 days, depending on what you do
3. Post-Launch: Indefinite

Pre-Launch

Early

During early stage pre-launch, your goal is to get people talking about the problems your product is intended to solve. You want to put out content tidbits that warm them up. Audio, video, pdf's, easy-to-consume materials that "give so much value you think you've gone too far, then give more". You do not mention the product itself at this point.  The point of this phase is to see how the audience responds to your content so that you can make any necessary changes before release day.

Late

Late in the pre-launch, a few days before you launch, you mention your product, what problems it solves, and where your audience can find it. You encourage them to sign up for launch-day notice and give them a reason to share the information with people they know it will help. You may host a contest or give-away around your product.