Are you ready for your next launch? In today’s episode, I’m continuing my series all about branding, and breaking down your next launch strategy with Christi Johnson. Christi is sharing her top tips for the tech, timeline, and checkpoints needed to make your next launch feel like a party.

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Review The Show Notes:

What Is A Launch? (3:57)

When You Need A Launch Plan (4:45)

Business Models That Need Launches (6:42)

Creating Community Around Your Launch (8:28) 

Launch Parties And Post-Launch Celebrations (13:54)

Celebrating Versus Selling (19:02)

Your Launch Timeline (22:15)

Must-Have Tech For Launches (26:49)

Forgotten Pieces Of A Launch (30:22)

Was It A Successful Launch? (35:24)

Live Launching Versus Evergreen Offers (40:33)

Using Your New Brand Shoot For Your Launch (43:38)

Taking Launches To The Next Level (47:03)

Key Tip From Christi (48:55)

Connect With Christi:

Quiz: christijohnsoncreative.com/quiz

Instagram: instagram.com/christijohnsoncreative

Podcast: christijohnsoncreative.com/podcast

Mentioned In This Episode:

Episode 145: Book More Clients Creating Videos with Marvin Flavien

Review the Transcript:

Quianna: Hey, beautiful. And now that we’re moving along with our branding series, we need to get serious about launching our next offer. Maybe you’re gearing up for your next busy season and actually need help filling your calendar with aligned clients. Do you have a new digital product or coaching program ready to drop soon?

Well, now that you have invested in a branding or content session recently, it’s super important to create a launch plan. Having an updated branding gallery paired with a juicy offer isn’t going to drive the sales and results you’re craving in your business without a successful launch plan. Launches don’t have to be scary.

In fact, over here, we’re making it a party. You’re invited to join this party with one of my biz besties, Christy Johnson, to create an epic game plan for your next launch. Oftentimes we spend so much energy and time into creating our products and offers and then just hope and pray with our fingers crossed that the right clients find us.

Christi Johnson Creative helps your business build a strong foundation with your own path to success. You’re a creative force, but if you feel like you’re spinning your wheels without any traction, Christi and her team will help create that roadmap to make your business dreams a reality. When we decide to start a business, we often rush into becoming an expert with our passions.

But most of us aren’t passionate about business or well versed in business strategies, workflows, and the step by step actions needed to becoming profitable as an industry leader. In today’s episode, Christi and I will be breaking down an entire launching timeline to help you not only feel prepared, but actually excited for your next launch.

You know, I love making everything a party or for any eating at any of the slightest inconveniences in life or business, I’m creating an award for myself, right? Like I am getting that prize. I’m creating something that I get to look forward to. We have so much to celebrate in our business. We’ll be making your next launch feel like a breeze with checkpoints, community building opportunities and sharing the mistakes most business owners make during launches.

Christie will be dropping her knowledge to share more about the tech, funnels, and client experience to help make this often dreaded business strategy more fun and engaging. I promise, I promise, just hold on. A successful launch isn’t only about the profits collected. Launches can help teach us a ton of lessons and gain metrics for our business too.

If you currently have a digital product or service based business that you’re looking to scale, or maybe you’re feeling stuck with too many options, sounds like me. This episode is for you. We even cover the pros and cons of live launching versus evergreen launching and everything in between. Christi and her team are eager to help you thrive and build a business you’re proud of.

Okay, okay, let’s get this party started. I’m so excited. So stoked. You’re here to join this conversation. Make sure to grab your notebook. This one’s going to blow your mind. Without further ado, please welcome Christi Johnson. Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen.

Photographers who are excited to celebrate serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast

Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart.

Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the party, Christy. I’m so. So. So freaking excited that you’re here today. Thank you so much.

Christi: I’m literally thrilled to be here and super excited about what we’re going to talk about.

What Is A Launch?

Quianna: Oh my gosh, we have so much to cover and it’s going to go by so fast. So if you are tuning in right now and now is your time to pick up that drink, pick up that notebook because we are going to be talking all about launching and I just want to get this started, Christi, and I would love to ask you, what exactly is the definition of a launch?

Let’s start there.

Christi: A very good place to start for sure. So a launch is going to be a strategic process that you go through to release a new product or a new service or an offer into the world. So basically you’re organizing all of your marketing channels. together into one really big campaign to build anticipation, create buzz, and ultimately drive conversions and sales.

So that’s kind of the gist of what a launch is.

Quianna: I love that so much. Thank you for being so precise because I feel like this can go in 27 different directions about what exactly it is and how to do it. So we’re going to break this down and I would love to know right away. How do you know when you’re ready for a launch plan?

Like, is that, are you creating a launch for every single product you drop? A launch for every single offer? When do you know is the best time to release a new launch?

Christi: Ooh, that’s a really, really great question. So, I love launching. So, I would say, do a launch for every single time that you drop a new service or a new offer.

But I know that that can get really overwhelming. And if you’re launching all the time, then your audience may not pay attention to that. So, I have ADHD, my brain tends to go in multiple different directions all the time, and I have to really know myself and know when something is like an ooh shiny thing, and I have shiny object syndrome, and I’m doing something just for fun, or if something is just Or if something is more serious and it’s something that I really want to put a lot of effort into that.

So if you have something where you are doing something really big, like you’re doing a rebrand or you’re doing a totally new service that is going to be like your signature offer, or maybe like. The main lead magnet that you want to create for your business or a course that is that you’re going to be launching Then that’s when you know It’s time to plan a launch or if you’re brand new To business and you’re launching like your services for the first time you can do a launch plan for launching your business as well So anytime you have something Big something strategic that you want to put a lot of energy into then.

That’s when you launch Want to plan your launch and keep in mind, you want to plan a launch about three months in advance. So if you know, like I said, the ooh, shiny syndrome, if you know, yeah, I’m not going to spend that much time on this thing, just go ahead and drop it, you know, to your followers, that’s fine.

But if you want to put three months of priming and prep into it, then you could do a launch plan.

What Business Models Work Best For A Launch?

Quianna: That sounds incredible. And I’m so excited to really break down that timeline and break down all those action lists and all those things. So I know you kind of mentioned this before I move on, what type of business models work best for these launches?

So for example, is it for in person service based businesses? Is it special for online services that work? Cause when I hear launch, I really truly just think of an online service right now. But I know so many in person services or brick and mortar launches, right? Like opening up a new store, a new boutique, it’s something, a coffee shop comes in mind too.

That’s a launch, right? Um, hosting, yes, and like hosting events and stuff. So, uh, I would love to hear your opinion on who’s best for these launches.

Christi: I honestly think that anyone can run a launch and have it be successful if you are doing all the planning that goes into creating your launch plan. So anytime you want to build hype, an event, a new shop opening, anything like that, in person services even, you can do a launch for that too.

I know people don’t tend to do launches for their in person services. But I think, why not? Because you’re going to get so many more people. People interested and you’re going to build so much more buzz and so much anticipation. So it’s true that in general, we think that, okay, it’s just for digital products or I’m creating a course.

I need to do a launch, but you can do a launch for. literally anything. So I think any type of business model will work well doing a launch.

Quianna: That’s so fun. And honestly, it is such a breath of fresh air, because I think launching is fun, right? I mean, we got into business because we are good at something, we have something to offer, we know that we’re making an impact, and why not make life a party?

Like, why not make it more fun? Yes. Oh my gosh. So I would love to know from you, Christy, what are some strategies to help making our next launch more fun?

Christi: Okay. This is my favorite because this is what I love to do with my clients and talk about on socials is turning a launch from something that is stressful and overwhelming and mundane and tedious.

Creating Community For Your Launch

Yes. Instead into something that is going to be inspiring, exciting, and just super duper fun, like a big party. So I have three different strategies that I would love to offer to your audience on how they can make their launch more fun. So the first one is going to be to create community around your launch.

I think it’s super important. So, so important to involve other people and talk about your launch before you even are even getting to your pre launch content. So, some ideas for how you can create community around your launch are to have a little mini mastermind community. This can be with your inner circle or maybe a beta group, a group of beta testers for whatever it is that you’re offering.

So, And this is going to be where you can get their feedback. You can share some specific things or what about what is going to be in your service or your offer. And you can get their ideas. You can share your progress and your wins and really use this as a way to get them excited about it. Kind of like as little brand ambassadors, almost, you can give them a discount on your, on your offer if you want to.

And it’s also going to help you to feel less alone in the journey. Because for me, whenever I was first launching things in my business, I would get so lonely and so overwhelmed and be just discouraged when I would put all this time and effort and energy into something. And then like, nobody cared after.

I know, I know if you can create community around it instead and throughout the whole process be involving other people. I think that is really, really gonna, gonna help. So you can have a mini mastermind community. Another idea is you can just go ahead and share your progress on your stories. Or you can do more unconventional things.

If you’re a millennial like me, you are probably. Not on Tik Tok or you are kind of, but not really. Um, but why not just like get on Tik Tok and share things that you’re working on every single day on Tik Tok or use threads or the broadcast channels on Instagram, if you’re listening to this way in the future, hopefully broadcast channels are still a thing, but they might not be, but though you can get unconventional about it to make it more like.

Exciting for you and fun and challenging instead of being like, Oh, I have to share this. And then another idea that kind of like goes along the lines of involving other people and just kind of kicking yourself into gear is to create a daily challenge menu for yourself. What I mean by this is to have a list of items.

Or it’s tasks that you can pick from every day that are going to drive your launch forward. You don’t have to do all these things every day. But like I mentioned earlier, I have ADHD. Sometimes when I have to do something, I don’t want to do it. And I will procrastinate and procrastinate and procrastinate.

So one of the things that people in the ADHD community have come up with is. Making things like menus for yourself where you can pick so I would have, you know, something like dm 10 people with an invitation on your list or create your launch week graphics on your list. Just do one thing every day for your launch and tell your audience about it.

Tell that community that you have created. So that is. the first strategy. And I would love to hear what you think about that first strategy, making community.

Quianna: Yes. Okay. So first of all, that’s genius. I feel like that is something that I didn’t even really anticipate talking about today as a launch. And now that you’re bringing this up as strategy number one, I believe it’s number one for a reason.

I feel like when we have community, we have accountability. I mean, it’s one thing telling your cat and telling your dog and your mom and your partner about this idea you have. And we know from personal experience, uh, they don’t always have, like, they will encourage us and they love us and support us unconditionally, but they’re not actually giving us real time feedback on how we can improve it.

How, you know, maybe any loopholes that we have seen that maybe need a little bit more direction or need more assistance with, like, we’ve kind of blown right past that because we’re the experts. So I think that’s genius, Christi.

I truly believe when we invest in our community. Whether it is a brand new little mini mastermind community for that new launch or for that new offer, or just tapping into the community of our base, our business space that we’ve had for years, there’s just.

It’s just, it’s so much more fun. It literally is a party. So I love that you are truly blending the importance of community for business growth and brand awareness, but also at the basics and bare bones of it. It’s more fun. So I think that’s a genius tip. Oh my God, I can’t wait to hear more.

Christi: Exactly. Yeah.

And really it’s all about making it more fun and accountability. So that’s why I believe that is strategy number one. Okay, so I’ll share strategies two and three together because they do kind of flow together. So the second strategy is to host a launch party and I’ll talk about that in a second. And then the third one is to plan a post launch celebration that’s just for you.

So we’re going to plan a party that’s going to be for your audience. And that is essentially, you know, your launch today, your webinar or your challenge or whatever it is that you’re working on. But we’re going to. Make this even more fun. I see Webinar invitations all the time showing up in my facebook ads on my instagram page But I just thought why don’t we turn this into a party people love parties I don’t know about you, but when I get a webinar invitation I don’t usually show up unless I really really like the person that I am You know, listening to I don’t always go to webinar invitations because I know that.

Oh, they’re probably going to tell me something at the end that I’m going to probably think that I need and then I’m going to spend hundreds of dollars and then I’m never going to do the thing. And so I thought, well, why don’t we make webinars a lot more fun and think of it as a launch party. If musicians can host album parties for themselves, let’s make it a launch party for yourself.

And instead of thinking, oh, I’m going to sell this. Offer to my audience. We’re going to celebrate the release of this incredible offer into the world. So I’m talking like send personal invitations. Why don’t you create a beautiful invite on, on Canva or wherever and send invitations that are like beautiful.

When I was in graduate school, I studied piano and I did piano performance and we would always send. Actual physical invitations to our friends and it was so much fun for me because I didn’t, I’d never experienced that before other than like birthday parties when I was a kid. But that was so fun for me.

So create invitations. You don’t have to mail them to your friends, but hey, maybe you can mail them to your little mastermind community that you created. And then they’ll be, wow, I got an invitation in the mail. And then. I think you can also do, like, party favors. Give them something for showing up. This could be, in a traditional launch, something like your fast action bonus.

But why not give everyone who attends A party favor. I don’t know what this could be for you, but it could be something that’s related to your offer. That would be maybe another free thing that they can do. Or, you know, you and I went to Lailia Mahdi’s creative educator conference together and she made us all friendship bracelets.

So maybe there’s some type of virtual thing that you can do, or if you’re planning a in person event, maybe there’s something that you can do like that. And then send thank you notes as well. That way you can keep the hype going, keep the buzz going. And. The people who show up are going to be like, wow, I felt so cared for and so loved.

And wow, Christi took time to send me a personalized thank you note. That is so nice. And so I just think that we can flip the script on, oh my gosh, another webinar and said, no, it’s a fantastic party. So that’s the second strategy. And then along those lines of celebrating yourself, the third strategy is to plan a post launch celebration.

That’s just for you. I have been there before where I have gone through a launch and it’s exhausting doing a launch because there’s so many things And then I just kind of stop right there at the end. Maybe I I’m discouraged because I didn’t get as many people to sign up for my program as I wanted to or something like that.

I don’t want us to do that. I want us to instead Create a win list and write down the things that are wins for you that you can be grateful for that You’re so excited about that happened and then Go out with your friends. I did this recently where, um, someone pulled an oracle card for me for my, it was a business related oracle card and they said to celebrate yourself.

And I was like, Oh, that’s, that’s interesting. So I took my friends out for drinks and I treated them to drinks and they said, why, what are we doing? I said, we’re celebrating me and I’m buying your drink because I’m celebrating me and you’re all celebrating me too. So you do something fun like that. Treat yourself to a night with your friends or to something special just for you, like a massage or conduct a ritual for yourself to celebrate everything that you did to kind of reframe in your brain.

You’re focusing on the positives here on the winds, on the celebrations, because we all know that business is hard at times and the key to continuing on in business and a launch is to focus on the winds and the positives. So those are my three strategies to number one, create a. community around your launch to host a launch party and then to plan a post launch celebration just for you so that you can have fun throughout the entire time of your launch.

Quianna: Oh my gosh, Christy. These are seriously incredible. And I have to mention, I have to dig a little bit deeper into this because I had an aha moment. I feel like I had a couple during this little conversation here, this little segment, but it’s so true. My biggest takeaway from your strategies was in number two, Explaining celebrating versus selling and oh my gosh, I just like that needs to be bold.

That needs to be a whole headline. I’m going to make a graphic for this entire episode about that because it literally shifted something in my brain. It shifted something in my body. Like I had a visceral reaction to the fact that, you know, we put so much stress. on selling on, you know, Oh gosh, I’m doing all this work.

Is it going to be worth it? And Oh, am I qualified to do this? Right? There’s all this doubt. There’s all these insecurities that creep up. And when we can take that energy and literally just push it into a different mindset that actually this can be fun. And we’re just here to have a party because what you have to offer and what you’re selling people want, right?

We have to make it right. We’re not trying to like scheme anybody. We’re not trying to, you know, steal their money or make them pay for something they don’t want. But we’ve, we’ve taken the time to craft a product, a service, or an offer that we know will change their lives. So let’s make it a party. And I just, I love that so much.

Christi: Thank you so much. Yeah, I agree. Going from selling to celebrating is going to be so pivotal. I mean, we all get together to listen to Taylor Swift’s album and we have launch listening parties and things like that. So let’s have a launch party.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh, this is so incredible. So I feel like, oh, P. S.

before we move on, I would want to know what is the one thing you mentioned taking your friends out and toasting and kind of treating for them. But if you had to do something personally for yourself that was just a Christy thing, what would be your way to celebrate your launch? I want to know.

Christi: Oh, definitely get a massage.

I love massages so much and I would probably book the 90 minute one instead of the one hour one.

Quianna: I love that. I would totally do. So there’s these new massage places and I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s like a national thing yet or I just seen them pop up here in Arizona and some pop up in the Bay Area in California too, but there are these hair washing places.

Have you seen those?

Christi: I have not.

Quianna: Oh my gosh, Christy. Okay, so you basically lay down on the bed, just like you would get a massage, but you’re on your back, and you have this little bowl, and it has this little, like, I don’t know. It’s like this. It looks like a, like a, the size of your head version of like a water park that like goes on your head and it just like massages your head and they, and they just wash your hair and give you the best scalp massage.

So that would be my thing. I’m going to try that. That sounds

Christi: amazing. That sounds so good. I probably would also take a bath, get a glass of wine, get a special bath bomb, turn on the music and Have a, have an evening to myself.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, well, I’m busy over here planning how I’m going to celebrate my next launch.

Let’s dive into a timeline. So I want to get into the nitty gritty here. I feel like you’ve totally painted the picture about what’s possible and how we’re going to have so much fun celebrating and being really intentional with our launches, but I want to know, like you mentioned briefly earlier, this is a three month prepping and priming season before we even launch.

So. If you could please break down a quick timeline for us and maybe some checkpoints for us to consider when we are planning our launch, what, what does this look like?

Christi: Definitely. I absolutely can do that. So I think of launches. I love the number three. So I always think of launches in terms of the number three, and we’re going to do three things twice.

So the launch timeline is three months typically, and. There are six milestones that people typically pass through in a launch So the first three milestones are going to be the bulk of your three month period That is planning for your launch and then the next milestones are going to be after your launch So the first one is planning.

This is where you’re doing all of your Brainstorming, figuring out what exactly your offer is going to be, how you want to have your launch party, what you want to do, all that type of stuff. The next phase is going to be execution. That’s where you are building out your registration pages, writing your emails, connecting your carts to your email and all of those nerdy things.

And then the third phase is pre launch. That’s where you start to talk about your offer to your audience. So for the whole three months, uh, before your launch, those are the things that you’re going to be working on. Then, after that, the launch phase, I like to spend about two weeks on a launch. Some people just do one, and some people do more than that, a whole month maybe.

However long the launch takes. It you need to take to get your desired number of sales. That’s how long I would do your launch. I would keep promoting it until you get those sales that you have committed to yourself to getting in the beginning. And then five and six is going to be follow up and data collection.

And these are going to happen. Probably a month after your launch, you’re going to be, you know, celebrating yourself and then you’re going to say, okay, it’s time to go ahead and start seeing how did my launch actually go? And how can I follow up with people who are now in my new service or who, the people who attended my event or the people who signed up for my course, let me follow up with him and then let me collect data.

So I’ll go through those again. That’s planning execution, pre launch. Then there’s launch, follow up, and data collection. And those are the main six milestones of your launch that you’ll pass through.

Quianna: Wow. Okay, so you just make it sound so simple. You’re like, there’s these three simple steps times two. You got this.

This is so simple. I love that. Because I feel like people need a game plan, right? We just want to be told what to do. And sometimes I think A lot of us are kind of even stuck in the messy middle of, I’m not even sure what offer to create first, right? So I love that we’re kind of zooming past that. We already have an offer in mind.

It’s been tested. We know it’s worked for us or we know that it can absolutely help other people. And then now we’re just going through these checkpoints. I love this so much.

Christi: Yeah, and it’s definitely not easy. It’s not, oh, you just set this up and boom, you’re done. It is a lot of steps involved in, in each part.

Each milestone, but I do think that having a game plan and knowing, okay, let’s break this down into chunks. It’s kind of like the syllabus for your course when you are starting a course or something that is really long or your outline for a research paper. I don’t know why I keep going back to college.

I guess I just like learning, but, um, you know, you can break it down for yourself and then make it easier. So from there, if you need to break it down, even further, Can and that’s one of the things that I do for clients when I work with them. I say, okay, during our planning phase, this is exactly what we’re going to get done during our execution phase.

This is exactly what we are going to get done. We need these graphics, these sales pages, this copy, these tech integrations, and then the pre launch is pretty much once you get through through the, the. Execution phase, the pre launch and the launch, you can really just be like celebrating and having fun and enjoying yourself.

So the bulk of the work happens in the first two months and then you are celebrating and following up with people and inviting people during the last month. And then following up afterwards.

Quianna: Amazing. And I would love to know more about the tech because you mentioned so many times that you and your team truly take the stress away from the tech and you just get rid of all that overwhelm and just all the hiccups and the nervousness that goes into creating these launches.

So what are some either non negotiables or some of the programs and the services that you use? To actually create a streamlined launch. Let’s talk about the tech.

Christi: For sure. Well, you definitely need an email software because you are gonna be selling a lot in your email list to your audience. So that is a non negotiable is having a solid email platform.

From there. You can start to have some more flexibility. So you’re definitely going to need a project management tool. And honestly, it can even be Excel. My team and I can create project plans in Excel. You can create a project plan in Excel. If you want to DIY your launch, it’s totally fine. You don’t have to have all the bells and whistles.

Then the other thing that you probably are going to need to have is a Zapier account. So Zapier is about as nerdy as as you need to get. So Zapier is a tool that you can use to connect your email platform to your checkout page. You’re also going to need a checkout page, but your email software might have that for you.

I recommend using something like Thrivecart or if you’re selling a course you can You can have a checkout page on Kajabi or Thinkific or whatever it is that you’re using. But the non negotiables are email software and project management and then obviously a way to collect money. On top of that, Zapier is going to be the tool that you can use to connect your email account to your checkout pages.

There may be some things where you don’t have to do that. If you are just selling a digital download or something like that, your email platform might just be enough because a lot of email platforms do have checkout pages these days where you can just do everything right in your email platform. You’re also going to need to have a place to set up a website, but I’m assuming that most people in your audience already have that, so we don’t really need to spend a lot of time talking about that, but you just need a place to list out your offer, a landing page, you need a place where they can go through the checkout, Portal and then you need a place where you can send them emails to entice them to Buy your offer to invite them to your launch party to talk about all the details So those are the main things and we work with people to Keep all everything in order so that you don’t have to stress about it If Zapier makes your brain hurt, don’t worry, we got you covered.

So those are what I would recommend to get started.

Quianna: Thank you so much for sharing those because honestly I can, back to like my energy shifting again, like when we were talking about partying, when we were talking about celebrating, I was all in. And then as soon as you start mentioning all of these, these zaps and these connections and all these things, I literally am like, okay, and that’s why you have your business.

So you can help us with this launch because this is already kind of giving me a headache.

Christi: Yeah, I totally understand that, but listen, we have been through our fair share of launches, and we would love to help you out. And again, if you can just, I always want to equip people to do things themselves, because I Have been there and I know that it takes a lot to invest in your business.

So I just utilize things like getting my community involved when I have to do the tasks that I don’t want to do that make my brain hurt. So having a coworking session where you tell your community, Hey, I gotta get this thing done. Can you guys hop on a cowork with me and, and crank it out, do those things.

And then, you know, treat yourself to something afterwards to celebrate getting it done.

Quianna: Yes. I love that. Oh my goodness. Well, I would love to know. Are there any things that you notice, either your clients or maybe just the majority of us business owners that are launching, and I know you see them online and you’re watching them.

What are some things that often get forgotten when it comes to a launch? I would love to kind of chat about that.

Christi: Yeah, that is a great question. So most people spend a lot of time focusing on their offer and they don’t spend as much time priming their audience to be ready for the offer. So they don’t spend as much time talking about it before they’re just like, Hey, here’s this thing that I have that I’m selling.

That is probably the biggest mistake that I see people make. And that is what is going to lead to the most disappointment in launching is if you aren’t. Just talking about your, your offer over and over and over again and getting your audience ready for you to, to release your offer. So that’s why I really think that creating community around your launch and involving your audience is really going to help with that.

From the beginning, when you start planning it three months before your launch, talk about them. Tell them something to Coming, tell them that you’re so excited about this thing that you’re working on. People know that artists are launching albums, you know, years before they come out or movies years before they come out.

So go ahead and talk about it and talk about it often and all the time so that there’s no way anyone will miss that you are launching an offer. The other things that tend to get forgotten about is the follow up and then the data collection. So once you do your launch party, that is not where the experience should end.

You are going to have new people coming into your business and it’s really important to make sure that they follow up. Feel like a million bucks if you have just gone out and had this incredible launch party they’re going to expect the same level of excitement as they start to get into your offer or Or after the event they want to know when’s the next one or whatever it is that you are launching so you want to make sure that you are paying really close attention to the follow up and I like to automate a lot of this so that Once I’m done with the launch party, then I can just chill and celebrate and then my automations take over.

So that’s going to be course onboarding. That’s going to be making sure that you are staying in touch with those people who attended your launch party and didn’t sign up for your offer. Tell them, thank you. Go ahead and schedule out some thank you emails or make it really easy for you to send those things.

And then you can even have a followup sequence afterwards. So those things kind of get forgotten because number one, again, we don’t want to sell ourselves, so we don’t talk about our offer as much during the prelaunch phase as we think we should. And then for the follow up phase, we’re usually tired and overwhelmed.

So if you can get ahead of that and automate some of those things, then that’s going to really, really help you out. And then lastly, the data collection phase, I think gets overlooked a lot because we don’t really want to look at the numbers and we don’t want to have those honest conversations with ourselves to see if our launch was successful.

But it’s so important to learn from. And measure the results that you have so that you can have a starting place for your next launch to say, Oh, well, did I actually achieve success here? Did I actually do what I wanted to do and how can I improve next time? So, the things that I think people tend to forget about the most are the pre launch, the follow up, and the data collection.

Quianna: These are also helpful and I’m even thinking about this too in not just a launch, but in my business in general, right? Like these are checkpoints that I should be nurturing my audience for. I mean, and you know, and that’s so funny because it does bring up coming with a background in weddings and wedding photography, right?

Both of us are totally relate to that. And I just remember thinking, well, you contact me when you get engaged, right? Like you either love my work, you’ve worked with me before, you were a bridesmaid in a past wedding. You’re a little sister of a. Bride that I’ve already worked with. And so you’re just waiting on that ring.

Right. And then now in the branding and business world, there, there’s no reason not to come out, like they’re not waiting on a ring to contact me, right? Like they can book me at any time. And so I love that you’re bringing this up. We’re not just launches, but just business practice in general. These are all so, so helpful, Chrissy.

Thank you.

Christi: Yeah. You’re so welcome. And you can run these types of checkpoints and milestones for your one on one services as well. Definitely.

Quianna: Oh my gosh. So I love how towards the end when you were chatting about the follow up and you have some automations in place to truly measure the success of your business.

of a launch. And honestly, when I think of a successful launch, I think, okay, how much money did you make? Like, I think, well, is it really just a financial measurement of success? So I would love to hear from you. What are some things that you are measuring to decide, wait, was this a successful launch? Was this a complete waste of my time?

Did I boost email subscribers? I mean, what are some metrics that we can truly study and take note of to make sure it’s a successful launch?

Christi: That is such a great question. And I was literally talking with my therapist last week about how I tend to connect my self worth to how much money I’m making. And that is a surefire way to be depressed all the time.

Because we are so much more than our productivity and our monetary value, but our culture really doesn’t do that. Tell us that. And of course we’re business owners, so we have to pay attention to the bottom line. But I really do think that there are more ways to measure the success of your launch. So one just key thing that is important for me is taking a look at how many people am I going to welcome into my offer?

So instead of thinking, okay, I’m going to make this much money. I think about the people that I’m bringing in to my new offer. And I like to set for myself a good, a better, and a best goal so that way I feel good, even if I have five people come into my program. Maybe I was hoping for 30, but I can set a goal that I can feel good about.

And maybe it’s five people and then a better goal could be, you know, 15 people and then best could be 30. Wow, I really want to get 30. So that just helps me to reframe that in my mind. Another thing that you can focus on is the engagement on your social media. You know every month or every time you log into to instagram, it tells you how many accounts you’ve reached.

That’s a metric that you can use to see how things are performing because maybe you don’t have a ton of sales coming in necessarily, but maybe your engagement is skyrocketing. That is a metric of success that you can look at. You can also look at open rates for your emails, click through rates for your emails, and then you can kind of dive in and see, okay, are people opening these more than they’re opening my regular newsletter emails?

And which emails are they opening more than the other ones? And you can use those to see. Say, Oh, Hey, I wrote this really good email. Five people have signed up in one day from this one email. That’s so awesome. You know, you can also think about comments from your circle. Back when I was launching my photography business, I challenged myself to blog.

Five days a week. I know that is ridiculous, but I did that for a few months because I was launching and I really need to get some content out there for SEO. Now I didn’t get too many emails back from my audience. I didn’t get a lot of comments on my blog posts actually. And I didn’t get a bunch of stuff from social media.

But what I did have is people would come up to me and say, Oh, Christy, I read your blog. Like, that’s so cool. And so I had more people telling me that. And that was really, really important to me. You can also think about what are the success stories from the people that are in your program. Or the success stories from the people who went to your launch party.

What are they saying? are they saying about the event? How are they saying that it helped them? And what are the people who are coming into your new program saying about how you are helping them? All of these things you can use to have this pool of ways that you can say, I had a really amazing, successful launch beyond making a monetary goal.

Quianna: Oh my gosh, I love those so much. And I feel like you explained those beautifully because we do tie so much of our self worth and our value into what’s in our bank account, like legit. And I feel like that is something important because we do, this is a business. We do need a cashflow to stay in business, but there are so many other valuable ways to measure our success.

And I love to, I really want to highlight and mention how you, uh, I’ve made it a priority to not focus on the actual money you’re bringing in, but the amount of people you’re helping. And you know, it’s so funny because I’ve worked with coaches in the past and it was all about the numbers and it was all about the metrics and all about these things.

And it wasn’t until I started working with some new coaches where it was a little bit more on the woo woo side and a little bit more on the, no, you’re a human and it’s okay to have feelings. And you’re right. We’re kind of a little more. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like system regulating, right? More like, um, in that line of coaching.

And I just remember them saying, like, Stop stressing about the amount of money that you could make and focus on the amount of people you can help. And I, I, literally, as soon as I switched that mindset, My income grew because I wasn’t focused on that dollar amount. I was focused on the impact I was making with these people I got to work with.

So thank you for mentioning that. I feel like a lot of us can relate to that. I love that. Thank you for sharing. Yes. Oh my goodness. So I would love to know, and this could literally be an entirely different podcast episode, so we can kind of keep it short. But I would love to know in your opinion, what is the difference between live launching versus evergreen offers?

And is this something that you teach your clients to start with a live launch and then eventually package it up into an evergreen? What are your thoughts on this? And I know even some products are just, they’re just destined to just be evergreen from the get go, but let’s unpack these ideas.

Christi: I am going to keep it pretty short because my take is that you should do what works for you.

I have worked with clients who the thought of doing a live launch terrifies them, and I would never force them into doing a live launch. It’s statistically speaking, you’re going to have a little bit more success with a live launch. If you’re thinking about it in a monetary standpoint with that one launch, but an evergreen offer has the opportunity for you to make money throughout the year, rather than just at one time throughout the year.

So the strategies are a little bit different. Obviously you are going to have a lot more that you’re posting on your social media when you’re doing a live launch. Then an evergreen launch, you’re going to be a little bit more throughout the year. I would still have some type of concerted effort at least once a year, maybe twice a year, if your offer is evergreen, I would still have, you know, something that you’re promoting on your marketing channels altogether at once.

But really and truly, I just think it’s important to do whatever works for you. For most of my clients who are doing live launches, we do turn it into an evergreen offer after their live launch, but that’s not always the case. It just depends on the specific person and their goals and what works for them.

Quianna: Amazing. I am so grateful that you shared that because at the end of the day, right, we can have these vanity metrics, we can have these financial goals, but if it stresses you out, maybe, right, like it’s, it’s one thing to kind of push you out of your comfort zone and to try new things, which we are always big fans of.

But if that just sounds like a complete nightmare and is actually going to just make that launch never happen, then there are ways to work around that. So I love the way you answered that. Thank you. Yeah.

Christi: And I’m a big, big believer in, there are so many ways to do business. There is always going to be someone who has a strategy and who says, this worked for me and you should do this, but they are not the same person as you.

And you have very different goals and very different things that are important to you. So it’s always, always going to come back to what do you want to create? Because if you’re forcing yourself to do something that you don’t want to do, I don’t think you’re ever going to have success. It’s always important to be true to yourself and stay aligned with what is going to work for you.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. 100%. Well, I’m so, so grateful that you get to be a part of this series of this branding series. We are totally wrapping up at the end of this. And I just would love to know, Christy, when you are booking a brand shoot, right? So you are investing in a photographer. I know that you just recently had got to do a video, um, branding session with Marvin and that was so beautiful.

Beautiful. Your video was. Epic. So I had to mention that he was just recently, I guess on the podcast too. So you have to go listen to his episode as well, but I would love to know in your experience with having your branding session and even your branding video, how are we sprinkling these photos into our launch?

How can we make a launch more personal and just more intentional with these photos?

Christi: Ooh, that is such a great question. Anytime you share something online, it’s gonna usually come with a visual. And for me, it’s really important that my visuals match the style and the feel of the offer that I’m creating, and that they match me.

So, I just went through a rebrand. It’s not, when we’re recording this, it’s not live, but it probably will be by the time this is up. This episode comes out where I just did a complete rebrand of my entire logo, my website and everything, my photos and everything. And it feels so much more like me. And when you have photos that feel in a video like Marvin did for me, which I love so much, when you have photos and video content that feels like you, you’re going to be so much more excited to share that content.

So again, it’s going to. It’s going to up that fun factor, that excitement factor. And I really like the visuals to go together. So that way people kind of know, Oh, this is the thing that Christy is launching, or this is the thing that Kiana is launching. I can tell just from the way that that looks. So a lot of times when you launch, let’s take a course, for example, you might design a logo for that course.

So your photos can go along with the colors of that logo. You can be wearing those brain colors or whatever it is, or the feel for the, the launch can go along with the feel for the photos. And then you can use those to go along with your content, to pull people in, not just with the words that you’re saying, but also with the visuals that you’re sharing to, to get that feeling of excitement.

So you’re going to be sharing it. all the way throughout the launch. I like to have at least something visual in every piece of content that I’m sending out. Even if it’s an email, I like there to be something where they can connect to me beyond just text on their phone. So you’re going to be using them all throughout your launch.

Quianna: Yes. I’m so happy that you mentioned this because it’s true. It, it truly creates another level of excitement and fun when you feel aligned with your photos, with your offer. It’s just, it’s almost like, I don’t even want to call it a trifecta effect, but it kind of is right. Like it’s just this combustion of so many things that feel in alignment and having good, solid branding images, as well as a branding video can absolutely step it up.

And I love that.

Christi: Yeah, absolutely. And you can even use some of these strategies to launch your new brand videos, you know, tell people the behind the scenes. I just, I’m getting ready for my brand shoot. Follow along with me and you can use all these types of things to release them and build that excitement about your photos too.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. This is like my heart and soul. I can talk about this for days and days and days. Oh my goodness. So Christy, you are an absolute expert when it comes to launching as well as business strategy and all the fun stuff. And that goes on. A lot of it’s behind the scenes, right? Like you and your team really take care of a lot.

So can you share a little bit more about your business and how you can take launches to the next level and make them more fun?

Christi: Definitely, for sure. So there’s a couple of things that we offer. First of all, people can work with me one on one if they’re launching their business. So I have an eight week course called the Dream Biz Kickstart.

You’ve been working at nine to five and you’re have a dream of leaving that nine to five and making your passion and turning your dream biz into a reality. You can take my course, the Dream Biz Kickstart. There’s also one on one coaching to help you stop feeling overwhelmed and instead feel excited about what you get to.

To offer to the world and kickstart your business. So that is one side of the business. Then the other side of the business is where if you are launching an offer, we have full service launch integration services. So we have an accountability package. We can work with you just to be that accountability partner to help you pass through those six milestones of your life that can feel overwhelming.

If you’re doing it by yourself, we have an execution package where we can do all the steps for you. You plan it out and we make it happen. And then we also work with, um, marketing strategists to have a strategy and copywriting package. So if you’re like, I don’t want to do anything at all, then we can do everything for you.

So, um, those are the two main ways that, that I work with people through Christy Johnson Creative is through one on one, the DreamBus Kickstart, and then the launch integration services if you’re launching an offer.

Quianna: Incredible. And you have a podcast too, right?

Christi: Yeah, yes, I do. It’s the dream biz podcast. So you can get that wherever you, wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Quianna: Amazing. Oh my gosh. Well, one question that I love to ask every single guest, Christy, is I would love to know your key tip. What is something that you wish you knew sooner or something you’d love to share with an entrepreneur today?

KEY TIP FROM CHRISTI

Christi: Okay, I’m going to cheat and I’m going to say two things. I believe so much in the importance of community.

And I wish that I had gotten involved in a community sooner and had actually like paid money to be in a community, um, a mastermind community or a membership community or something like that. I would never. Want to anyone to feel alone in their business journey. So that is a key tip is to find a community where you can show up.

You can ask your questions. You can learn from other people in the room. If there’s not a community around you create one. And then the second key tip for me is I wish that I had been more consistent in some of the things that I had started because a lot of the things that I’m promoting in my business today are things where I had the idea five years ago and started to work on it a little bit, but then thought, you know what, this isn’t going to work.

And maybe I worked on it for a month or two, and then no one paid attention. But it really does sometimes take years to see. results in the way that is going to bring you to your vision coming to fruition. So just the importance of consistency and not giving up and that little by little progress adds it up.

So consistency and community would be my key tips.

Quianna: Those are both incredible. And I’m so happy you slid that in there because both are equally important. And you’re right. I find that a lot of us, we crave that community. We need it not just in our neighborhood and our family friends and you know, our friends from high school that we’ve had forever and new friends that we’ve met recently, but also in the business community.

We need that community of people to lean on and, and I love it. And you’re so right. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone on to the next product or I’ve gone on to the next product. Course and I’m thinking, Oh my gosh, I, if I had only been doing this for the last, for the last couple of years, I’d maybe seen some profits here.

So this is your sign to stay consistent.

Christi: Love it.

Quianna: Amazing. So how can we connect with you, Christy?

Christi: Okay. Well, first of all, I would love for you to take my quiz. I have a brand new quiz. It is called what type of launch personality are you? You can find out if you are a Royal launch host or a low key launch host.

And there’s some others in there too. You can get that by going to christijohnsoncreative. com. Slash quiz. Otherwise, you can follow me on the Dream Biz podcast and you can follow me on Instagram just at ChristyJohnsonCreative. And I would love to hang out with you over there.

Quianna: Oh my goodness. Thank you so much, Christy.

I love this conversation. I feel like I need to go back and listen to it and then take notes because there are there are so many steps that it goes into launching. And I think Really, the most important part is making it fun. This is your job. This is your career. It doesn’t have to be stressful. It doesn’t have to be a headache.

And if it is, there are some key players and some incredible businesses that can help. So thank you so much for being that light. And I already took the quiz. I’m so excited.

Christi: I think you’re the first one. Thank you so much.

Quianna: Yay. Oh my gosh. Well, I hope you have a beautiful day and I cannot wait to chat soon.

Oh, my goodness. That was a good one. I’m literally revamping my launch plan and absolutely keeping this episode in mind to reference for future launches. Sometimes just having a game plan makes the world of a difference for our sanity and business success. Christi and her team have incredible resources and opportunities to work with them.

Make sure to head over to @christijohnsoncreative on Instagram and check out her podcast, The Dream Biz Podcast! If all of this sounds fun, but still a little overwhelming, Christi and her team have programs ranging from Kickstarter online courses to business coaching, and even an accelerator program to help you ignite your business goals with an entire team by your side.

Christi and I connected through the Rising Tide Society years ago and have supported each other’s businesses through social media since then. Recently, we reconnected at a PODCASTING RETREAT hosted by Haylee Gaffin, my podcast producer. This is your sign, babe. This is your sign to get yourself in rooms with ambitious business owners and invest in your business.

You never know who you’re going to meet and how they can help you thrive. Thanks so much for joining this branding series. I hope you’re loving it as much as I am. Can’t wait to connect next week. Cheers to a productive week! Let’s go kill it. Keep shining. Keep on dancing, baby. K love you. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly.

Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app until next time, keep on dancing.