How To Plan Content For A Digital Product Launch
Congratulations are in order! You’ve got a new offer laid out, and you’re ready to launch it into the world. Launches can bring a significant cash injection into your business, serve up sustainable income, and provide a product that raises brand awareness and builds your authority (if you own iPhone you know the latter to be true, amiright?)
Two years ago, I was nervously planning my first-ever digital product launch. The thought of selling was intimidating, and my pre-launch content was more of a shot in the dark than a targeted strategy. The technical complexities, from the shopping cart to the delivery process, nearly got me while I simultaneously planning and writing launch content ideas. Phew. The first-launch feel is real!
Fast-forward to today, and after several launches and countless lessons, the process has become far easier and more profitable. By reading this guide, you'll gain insights that took me years to acquire, and hopefully, you'll find your launch plan example in my journey.
Digital Product Launch Strategy
The digital landscape is crowded, and to stand out, you can't just rely on your product being "good enough." A digital product launch marketing strategy is your game plan to not only introduce your product to your target audience but also to establish its value proposition convincingly.
The strategy sets the stage for your pre-launch content and gives you a well-oiled machine to execute launch content ideas effectively. Think of it as a well-structured launch plan example you can follow. It's not just about pushing your product out; it's about preparing your audience, warming them up for the sale, and retaining them post-purchase. This planned approach helps in maximizing reach, increasing customer engagement, and ultimately, driving revenue.
Simple Launch Timeline
Early Awareness (3-4 weeks before launch): Start with a content series that identifies the problem your product solves. This could be blog posts, podcasts, social media posts, and emails.
Pre-Launch (2 weeks before launch): Ramp up the excitement with behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, testimonials, and detailed product previews.
Launch Week: Think of a big kick off to the launch. Host webinar or live Q&A to announce and provide real-time engagement.
Post-Launch: Send out thank you emails, gather feedback for improvement, and keep the community engaged through updates and additional value-added content.
4 Step To Plan A Digital Product Launch
Launching a digital product is no small feat. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the complexities that goes into making a launch successful — especially if you’re new to digital products. Allow this marketing strategy outline to help get your digital baby gets all the love and attention it deserves from an eager online community. Here's a simplified four-step guide to elevate your digital product launch.
1. Launch Campaign Message
All successful launches have one thing in common: A strong transformation. Before you start writing anything down, take some time to reflect on what buyers gain from your digital product.
Next you’re going to put your copywriter hat on to outline your offer’s features and benefits clearly.
The features are the tangible components of the offer: What are they getting? Access to a private Facebook group, Voxer support, a Kajabi portal?
Benefits, on the other hand, are clear explanations of why these features matter. For example:
Feature: Private Facebook group
Benefit: Students have access to an intimate and safe setting where they can ask questions without feeling judged and can get support from like-minded people.
2. Market and Audience Research
Audience research isn’t necessarily an entrepreneur’s favorite pastime, but the results are undeniable.
After you outline your messaging, conducting market and audience research is a great way to make sure your message hits the nail on the head – or understand where it’s falling short.
Maybe the transformation you think you provide isn’t necessarily the one people are needing or desiring. And this isn’t always a bad thing! I’ve worked with plenty of clients who designed a program to do one thing, only for students to list all the other amazing transformations they experienced.
But by giving yourself time to speak to your audience and test your offer, you can get inside their minds and make sure your offer speaks to their needs and wants in every way possible.
Some market research methods include speaking with your ideal clients one-on-one and asking for their insight before telling them about your offer and gauging their reactions, expectations, etc.
3. Prime Your Audience
The next step is priming your audience with pre-launch content. This part is where you’re getting them ready for what’s to come. You’re not focused on selling your offer yet, but you’re placing the idea of a need, problem, or desire they have that your offer can eventually solve in their head.
I repeat: YOU’RE NOT SELLING YOUR OFFER YET. Instead, make sure your audience understands that you’re just there to provide value and show up for them. And that means focusing on value-packed content that has the intent of making them aware of the need, problem, or desire and following it up with practical, surface-level ways they can start to address it. Go back to steps one and two to identify pre-launch content ideas based on the problem you’re solving, the transformation, and your audience research. One of the best pieces of pre-launch content is a value-packed lead magnet.
Lead magnets are free products or teachings you’ve created that attracts your ideal audience (aka leads). Examples of lead magnets include free workbooks, webinars, workshops, or other offers that are pertinent to your industry but just scratch the surface of the problem. In exchange for the lead magnet (aka freebie), they subscribe to your email list, where they’ll subscribe to an email sequence where you’ll pitch them the paid offer.
4. Plan Launch Content
We’ve reached the crux of content planning: launch content. This is the phase where you plan out how you’ll sell or market your new offer. And the best way to approach this is by reverse engineering your launch content.
First thing is first: Pick your launch date before you start writing and then outline the content you need leading up to that date.
Launch FAQ
Weekend vs. Weekday Launch
Launching early in the week gives you time to address any issues that might come up, and it’s when business professionals are more likely to be checking their emails and social feeds.
Pro Tip: Avoiding clashes. Try not to launch your product at the same time as a major event or holiday, unless your product is specifically related to it.
5 Must Have Piece Of Launch Content
Now, while you’re free to choose what kind of content you want to create, you’re reading this blog to get professional advice from a long-time copywriter, so I wouldn’t be doing my part if I didn’t share the four must-have pieces of content for your launch.
Sales Page
A sales page (or landing page) should be the first thing you create during your launch content planning phase. It’s where your audience learns all the details about what makes your offer as brilliant as it is, and, of course, it’s where the sales happen. Please don’t neglect this!
Need a hand? Here’s my copywriting formula for a sales page that converts. Make this page the one-stop shop for everything about your offer.
2. An Email Funnel
The ROI on email marketing is a whopping 4,000%. An email funnel that carries your audience through a series of launch specific planned content from the beginning of your launch to the end.
When done correctly, these emails should tell a story before you get into the “here’s why you should buy.” Remember that people buy on emotion before logic!
Swipe my five-figure launch emails inside the Content Crafters Membership.
3. Big Announcement
For your launch day — cart open day — you'll want to do something that really grabs attention. This is where a high-impact piece of content comes into play. Host a webinar, go live on social media, or release a meticulously crafted 'ultimate guide' related to your product.
Whatever you choose, make it big, make it splashy, and make sure it can't be ignored. This is your moment to make people care about what you've created, and a webinar or live event can create that sense of urgency and community that static content can't match.
4. Promotional Content
Your gonna want to get and keep the buzz going with captivating pre-launch and live week content.
From teaser videos to insightful blog posts, your goal is to spark curiosity and build anticipation for your digital product launch. Problem awareness, solution awareness, and aspirational content work well.
Effective content planning is essential for a successful digital product launch, and it doesn't have to be cumbersome. Repurpose material from your sales page, email funnel, and blogs to craft focused messages for different buyer personas.
Mix up showcasing transformations for emotional buyers or revealing testimonials for those seeking proof, tailor your content to appeal to varied audiences.
Don't overlook the power of social media; behind-the-scenes Stories or Reels can strengthen audience engagement and make your launch unmissable.
Post-Launch
After the cart closes, you’re not quite done with the launch. in your content planning phase is doing your due diligence: following up and retargeting. Following up should be focused on the ideal clients you’ve already pushed into your offer. Make sure you have some way to collect testimonials from them – whether it's a Google form or a Typeform.
By getting testimonials and feedback, you can fix any problems or opportunities in your offer – and you can show off new testimonials or talk about the experience some of your clients are already having. This, in turn, sets you up for retargeting. Retargeting is essentially the process of identifying audiences that were interested in your offer but didn’t convert. These people might have clicked on ads you were running, interacted with you on social media, or clicked links in your sales emails.
For these people, create some content that focuses on giving them the courage to take the next step. Try to get into their minds and figure out what might be holding them back. This is a great place to use any new testimonials. You can even try a new angle in your messaging that you haven’t used before.
Happy Creating!
Cyndi
I'm Cyndi, the owner of content marketing agency Ascent StoryCraft and the founder of content calendar subscription, Content Crafters, I’m here to help service based entrepreneurs distill their big ideas into easy to consume content that builds the brand you love and the community that loves it back.
Not sure where to start with your content marketing? Connect with me on free consultation call or send me an email at cyndi@cyndizaweski.com.
