The Top 4 Reasons You Need To Look Good Launching

The last few weeks we’ve been talking about incorporating visuals into your launch, but I’ve yet to actually cover with you the difference between a launch with and without any attention to visual elements. Of course, as a designer, I think you should feature as much aesthetically pleasing and purposeful visuals as you can in your business – but what does it really bring to your launch?

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STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

Everyone is launching something – a new course, a new challenge in their Facebook groups, a new product line, etc. Us online business owners are constantly chasing ‘the next big thing’ and want to launch something that can benefit our audience and our pocket books as quickly and as often as possible. Maybe it’s shiny object syndrome or maybe it’s the ‘throw it at the wall’ mentality, but either way – there is nearly always some sort of launch related email in my inbox and I hardly subscribe to anyone’s list.

So, how do you combat that? There are many answers here – but a huge way to stand out is visually. In the same way that you probably prefer Target to Walmart since it’s just nicer looking/feeling, you can push people to prefer your course/challenge/program to someone else’s.

Things like fantastic sales page graphics, a beautiful or easy to digest opt-in/freebie, or fantastic ads on whatever social media channel you prefer are all ways to really draw people in and stand out from the crowd.

"Here's how to stand out from the crowd in your next launch!" (tweet that!)

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SHOWCASE AUTHORITY + PROFESSIONALISM

Similar to the last point, having a cohesive and stand out visual approach to your launch will also help seal the deal in promoting your authority and professionalism. This can be key for first time/new to you buyers that aren’t exactly sure you’re the one to teach them. Showcasing that you are legitimate, committed, take your business seriously, and high end can push them in a positive direction (towards the check-out-now button).

This comes up day in and day out in your ‘real’ life – think about the landscaper who stops by with a random t-shirt on and seems to pull a price out of thin air versus the landscaper with a shirt with his/her business name on it, a professional quote that details his/her contact info, and a business card? You end up going with the one that says, “I take this seriously and am a professional” every time.

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ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS + IDEAS

Something that has come up a few times with clients is that seeing their ideas/content laid out visually helps them to brainstorm better, gather more ideas, and plan out content in new, more helpful ways. This stood out as a huge compliment to me and also made me realize that in the same way you might be a visual learner, you could benefit from visually seeing your work.

When a designer comes in and interprets your goals, mission, value, idea, etc. you get exposed to it as someone else may see or understand whatever it is you’re launching. Now this might all seem a little ‘woo woo’ and weird, but it’s good to let outside eyes see things and even better to let them ‘play it back to you’ and give you a chance to see it fresh.

You might find that your content is great, but you could focus on certain areas more. You might find that you are shoving too much content into one day/section/module and need to break it up more. You may find that you have enough information for multiple worksheets or programs, instead of one giant one. Who knows!

"Having someone interpret your content visually can open up tons of doors!" (tweet that!)

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EASIER TO SHARE + PROMOTE

Perhaps the biggest asset to looking good while launching is that you’ll actually have things to share with people on social media, within emails, on a thank you page, etc. People respond to visuals far more than just text on social media – so incorporate some call-to-action graphics that get people excited.

In my line of work I’ve created more social media graphics than anything – first you need things like ads to promote (if you’re going that route), but you also need ‘teaser’ graphics to get people excited, mockups of what’s included, call to actions to buy now, count down graphics, etc. Without those things you’re missing out on a key part of marketing whatever it is you’re launching!

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4 Benefits to Including A Workbook in Your Next Launch

Being a graphic design assistant includes many tasks – things like social media graphics, content upgrades, course materials, and so on. But my favorite thing, by far, to design are workbooks.

Workbooks can be used for content upgrades, within your course or challenge, as a paid product, and more. They open up a lot of opportunities for you to connect with your audience on another level, monetize more, and have a more authoritative and professional impact.

If you’re planning on launching something in Q3 or Q4 of this year, I highly, highly, highly recommend including a workbook component. It actually doesn’t take a lot more effort on your part and can really take your offering to the next level for a handful of reasons including the 4 I’ll cover today.

"Launching soon? You need a workbook - here's why!" (tweet that!)

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MORE AUTHORITY

Including a workbook in your next launch is a fantastic way to demand more authority and showcase yourself in a way that emphasizes your legitimacy as an expert. You can in turn charge a higher price point, because you are offering more for your consumer (and alternative ways to digest information, so you are pleasing more consumers).

Something that people forget, especially online, is that we (as customers) crave a real, tangible take away from something we purchase. Yes, we want to learn whatever skill or idea you are teaching, but we want to be able to take that and create or make or grow in some way because of it. A workbook is already something tangible that a consumer can take away from point of purchase, so you’re already moving in the right direction. With that, you are giving a tool to your consumer that allows that to move even closer to implementing whatever it is that you are teaching or showcasing, because now they have the opportunity to answer questions, take notes, brainstorm, etc. (versus just listening to a course and not actually implementing, trying, or doing anything with the information).

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MORE ORGANIC SOCIAL SHARES

Something really awesome that can (and should) happen when you bring a workbook into your next launch is organic social sharing. What I mean by that is, say I’m taking your challenge or course and I printed off the workbook to go along with it. If it’s something that I enjoy doing, is well designed, fun, or pertinent to my overall business (which it would obviously be, or I wouldn’t be wasting my time!), then chances are I will take a fun photo of me filling out some of the information to share on social media.

If you want to get serious about this idea, you can have a prompt within your workbook or some sort of small incentive to share (maybe one random winner or something from everyone who shares using #WhateverYourHashtag is). This gets people talking about your offering, sharing it with their audience, and driving traffic and excitement back to you/your offering. Fo’ free!

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MORE OPPORTUNITY TO DELIGHT

I touched on this earlier, but along with giving you more authority, workbooks within launches can also give you more of a chance to delight your customers. There can be added bonuses, opportunities for follow-up purchases/products (with coupons or discount codes), and more within a workbook. You want to think of it as an extension of the course or challenge that takes whatever you’re teaching and showcases it in a tweaked way, prompting people to answer questions about whatever it is you’re teaching about.

A really important point to acknowledge is that we are all not the same types of learners. So while you are offering a video course, maybe I need to be able to read key points and write things down to really digest and comprehend. A workbook helps cater to all types of students so that no matter how you are giving the information, everyone can learn.

Another fun element is to include a really beautiful quote or inspirational page so that people can take that and put it on their inspiration board, or put it somewhere to keep them motivated. I love including pages like these, or even ones with areas for people to fill in their goals from the course or challenge, so that they can constantly see it. This is especially helpful if you have a longer course, because it will help keep people motivated to actually finish the course.

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MORE TO SHARE (FOR FREE TOO)

Within any launch you end up sharing a good bit of your content for free, through blog posts or webinars, etc. Creating a workbook opens up more opportunities to share for free, which in turn can help turn more people into paying customers (or at least into your funnel).

Your workbook might end up being 30 pages long when all is said and done, but you can pull a worksheet or section from it that feels relevant to whatever you are speaking about on a webinar or in a blog post and have that be an opt-in. Or, if you create the workbook with enough information that it can stand alone, you could always sell the workbook for a discounted price down the road.

If you’re planning a launch later this year, I urge you to consider how a workbook can help that launch be even more successful and beneficial for your customers.

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