It’s no secret there are about 1,000 moving parts to think about when you go to launch your first or next course.
- There’s the tech stuff - setting up all the carts, pricing packages, upsells, and autoresponders.
- There’s the course site - setting up the modules and lessons, uploading the content and videos, and organizing everything in a logical way.
- There’s the sales pages, graphic design, branding, and everything “visual” you need to create.
And probably about 300 other things I’m forgetting at this moment :)
(Which is why we have an entire Course Launch Template and Process in Asana for my company, which is included for you to use and replicate in Launch Your Signature Course®).
But the thing I’m going to be focusing on today is what I call my “Course Launch Collateral”, and it’s all the content that I have to create and identify/name for our launches.
This is my “essential” launch content - things like the launch emails, the webinar content, the blog posts and more.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Creating and launching a course is essentially creating two courses worth of content.
The first is the launch content (I end up writing just as much free content during a launch!) and the second is the actual course you’re going to sell!
When I start to wrap my head around the next launch of a new program or course, I have to just write down these key essential elements on a poster in order to start visualizing and understanding what it is I need to do.
Maybe you can relate!
As I’m the main content creator in my business (where as I now outsource design and tech set-up), these are the things that I am most focused on.
Yes there’s a lot of other things going on BESIDES what this blog post details, and you can find more of that in the 90 Day Launch Checklist.
(I also want to point out that you definitely do NOT need a team or to outsource for your first launch! I created and launched courses successfully for 2 full years in my business with NO outside help. I made my own simple graphics, I did all the tech stuff myself (I like using simple, user-friendly tools like we teach in LYSC), and I did all the content and customer service too. Just want to say that you don’t need a team to do this, that’s something you’ll work up to over the years!).
STEP 1: Set Up Your Documents
The first thing I do when I’m starting a new launch is create a fresh folder, sub-folders, and titled documents (even if they are blank!) in my google Drive.
Here are the Folders and Documents that I set up so that I have the framework for actually creating the content and it’s all organized AHEAD OF TIME (this is really key).
- Folder: Lead Magnet
- Document: Lead Magnet Content
-
Folder: Launch Blog Posts
- Documents:
- Launch Blog Post #1
- Launch Blog Post #2
- Launch Blog Post #3
- Documents:
(We go through what the actual content of all of these blog posts needs to be in Launch Your Signature Course®, because YES it matters!).
Folder: Launch Emails
- Document: Launch Emails
(I write all of my launch emails in one continuous document and I recommend you do the same. These emails need to flow into each other and have a thread of connectivity, so this really helps me create a “story” in my emails).
Folder: Signature Webinar
-
Document: Signature Webinar Content and Outline (to be made into slides)
-
Document: Fast Action Bonus
-
(We also have a set of separate emails for this webinar that are in here).
Folder: Pre-Launch Hype
- Document: Instagram Series Outline
Folder: Bonuses
- Documents:
- FAB
- Action Takers
- Flash
Now there’s a whole other set of folders and documents we have for the actual COURSE CONTENT, which is separate from the launch content. We have the systems for that in Launch Your Signature Course®
Step 2: Your Launch Collateral Content
So let’s go into detail about what each of these entails now that you have your folders and documents set up and your cheatsheet printed out. I want you to fill in the cheatsheet printable as we go.
Lead Magnet:
Your course lead magnet is different from your regular website lead magnet or opt-in freebie. It’s directly related to your course and branded as your course, not your main site. This can be a checklist, tools and resources guide, video guide, etc - but it has to directly relate to your course and course topic.
For example, we have detailed checklists for each of our courses.
- Launch Your Signature Course® has the 90-Day Course Checklist.
- Webinar Rockstar has the Ultimate Webinar Checklist.
- Your First 1K® has the List-Building Tools and Resources Guide.
What will your course specific lead magnet be? Write it down in your cheatsheet!
Launch Blog Posts:
For the 6 weeks leading up to your launch, you’re only blogging about your course topic. I’m really specific about this, not everyone is.
I feel that in order to get everyone educated about and excited for your upcoming launch, you need to 100% focus on your course topic in your blog posts.
These course-topic specific blog posts are also where you can promote the course lead magnet AS a content upgrade within the blog posts.
So basically you’ll have 3-4 blog posts over 4-6 weeks (depending on your blog schedule) with your course-specific lead magnet as the content upgrade or mentioned in each post.
This helps you build up your pre-launch list and VIP list.
(Hint: SOME of the email content from your launch can be repurposed as these blog posts, but certain ones are more effective than others as blog posts).
So, in your worksheet, write down the 4 launch blog post titles so you know what content you’ll need to create (I then batch write these all at once).