The Two Types of Content Your Pre-Launch Needs (most coaches only do ONE)

While I completely understand how your content ends up at the bottom of the launch to-do list, far too many coaches and course creators are getting to open cart, looking at a very quiet inbox and blaming the timing, their pricing, the algorithm or the fact that it was Summer break.

Because here's the truth...

Your pre-launch content has two jobs (but most coaches are only doing one of them).

In this episode of Launch Loud, I'm unpacking the two types of content every pre-launch needs and why doing one of them brilliantly will still leave you chasing your own tail through open cart.

I'm breaking down the two types of coaches I see this happen to over and over (you'll know within about ten seconds which one is you), what demand actually means and why it is not the same as your audience wanting a solution, the lead archetypes you need to be speaking to long before you drop the link and the simple content audit I want you to run today.

Plus why a two week pre-launch was never going to be enough, no matter how good the content in it is.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Launch Loud, where online coaches come to build iconic personal brands, create year-round demand, and fill their offers with their content. Launching loudly and proudly to six figures and beyond. My launch is happening next week. What should I be posting? I have seen some version of that message or question many, many, many times. Either it's coming through into my DMs in a panic, it is in masterminds or other programs that I have been in. Or, you know, it is clients coming to me, ex-clients coming to me and being like, hey, yep, I've really let myself go in the pre-launch area and I'm freaking out. And look, I can understand it. Not because I condone it, but because it happens more than you think. There are a lot of moving parts to launches, and it's not uncommon for your content to kind of end up at the bottom of the to-do list, especially if you're in what I kind of call the like grassroots phases, and you're really only like maybe one or two launches in, and your offer is still kind of somewhat establishing itself. Because at this point, sometimes we're still not in a like very clean rinse and repeat process. Um, and we're still kind of optimizing and changing things. And I wanted to record this episode because we are on the cusp of September and October, and these are two of like the biggest kind of final launch months of the year. And I really love them. I think they're a really great time to launch for many, many reasons. But I wanted to put this episode out there for those who are gearing up for that quarter four launch and are maybe looking at their content plan and thinking, hmm, this is looking really, really empty. Because there are two different types of content that your pre-launch needs. Your content has two separate jobs during that pre-launch and they are completely different jobs. And most people that are running a pre-launch or are panicking trying to catch themselves up and get the momentum that they need are doing maybe one, but maybe not doing the other one at all. So I wanted to speak through what they are and essentially help you and get a head start, especially if you are launching in September or October. Now, the reason I am so passionate about a pre-launch is because a lot of the time if we skip over it or we rush through it, or like I said, we don't hit two of those key jobs that your pre-launch has, you're gonna get to your open cart and a already feel a step and a beat behind. Uh, you're going to not really have any leads in your pipeline, the amount of leads that you actually need, and you're constantly gonna be chasing your own tail during your open cart. And that means that it puts you in more of a reactive state instead of a proactive state where you can really just show up and lead right through your open cart period. And usually then what happens after we close the cart is that we will blame something else. We will blame the timing, we will blame the pricing or the algorithm or the fact that it was school holidays or whatever it is. So that's why I wanted to share this episode because I want to talk about what those two jobs are, which one you are probably speaking, uh skipping, and then what that actually means for you if you've got a launch coming up in the next couple of months. So, a quick note before we get into it, I have actually recently spoken about why I believe Q4 is just such an epic time to be launching and why it's truly like the biggest buying season of the year. Um, so I'm not gonna go into that in great detail all again. Um, but if you haven't listened to that episode and I speak through what I'm doing to, well, what I have done to prepare for this season, definitely go back and reference that episode. The title is The Biggest Launch Season of the Year Starts Now. And I run you through the pre-launch prep I would follow. If I did want my biggest quarter of the year, but I'm gonna get a little bit more granular than that today. Um, and I wanna speak to specifically really the content within that pre-launch. Um, and if you are launching, like doors are opening in September, your pre-launch is hopefully something that, not something that you are starting. It is hopefully already running because everything that you are saying, posting, and sharing right now is determining your results in the next few months. If you're launching in October, you have a little bit of a window, um, which is good, but that means that you should be getting ahead of your pre-launch and again, not leaving it to the end of your to-do list. Now, what is such an important thing to remember about launching is that it's not like a quick fix-sell strategy. There are all different types of ways to sell your offer online, but a live launch is again not something that you just kind of like decide one day and the next day it's happening. There is a bit of like an investment that you need to make into it. And that is because on the other side of that, you are hoping to make a high volume of sales. Um, and that is really great for both the cash injection and of course the additional just momentum and visibility that that can bring to your business. And the mistake that I just see so many business owners making when they are launching is that they are trying to um speed through that process or they are not truly giving it enough time. Um, and it is typically more time than you think you need. So, yeah, a two-week pre-launch, um, I believe that that truly isn't sufficient, especially if you are starting from like a a stopping start, um, like starting from zero kilometers an hour. Um, but really for any size of audience, um, for any type of offer, there are some key checkpoints that we are looking for in a launch. So whether it is six weeks long or it's a little bit shorter than that, uh, it's just so important that it is ticking those boxes for your pre-launch in order to have the leads that you need and for those leads to be in the right position to buy. So, first let's go back to that original question that I started the episode with. What should I be posting? And I want to gently say this is the wrong question to be asking. Not because it's a bad question or it's a silly question. It's completely reasonable. What should I be put posting in a pre-launch? Um, but it's because the best possible answer to that um, you know, is usually uh a content idea. What are what are some ideas that I should be posting? And ultimately at the end of the day, ideas are not going to help you to run a launch, are not going to help you to sell your offer. So the question I actually want you to ask, if you are in a position of planning a pre-launch, what job does my content actually need to be doing right now? What am I trying to get my audience to do? Because in a pre-launch, like I said, your content is going to do one of two jobs and they aren't really entertaining interchangeable. And you can't try and make your content do like five different things with just one post, right? It's kind of like, I don't know, asking a toddler to do three different ones, three different things at 3 p.m. when they haven't had a snack, right? It's probably just not going to be likely that they're going to put their shoes on, um, you know, head out the door and get into the car themselves, like without tantrums or without like a fuss, right? It's just, it's too much of an ask. So, same goes with your content. It's really important that we're giving our content a specific job to do, and that job is taking our audience one step closer every single time towards our offer. Now, what I spoke to as well a little bit um in the introduction is that most coaches do one or the other really, really well. So I want to kind of describe to you, and maybe you might be able to identify which one is you, because that way you can also know, okay, this is the part of my pre-launch that needs the most focus, needs the most attention. So let's say that coach number one, she really sees herself as like the ultimate educator, and her content very much demonstrates that as well. It's great content, it's genuinely useful, she puts a lot of thought into it, and it's it's really high, high, high quality. And it's ultimately what got her into this coaching role from the get-go, right? So she has been showing up online for years, but what's been happening kind of since like 2023, 2024, is that her content is just going out to the same wave of people who have been following her since then. Nobody new is arriving. So she is kind of just warming a room of people that are already warm or who have already bought. And this means that she is slowly running out of people to sell to. So her launch results every single time she opens cart, yes, she maybe has some really great engagement. Um, she's creating some really great content, but her launch results are not scaling. They are maybe staying stagnant, or every time she launches, her sales are dropping off every single time. And she can't really work out why, because her content, objectively, is you know better than it was even back then. The second coach, she is the one who is great at visibility. Right now, reach is up, views are doing really, really well, and her follow account is constantly climbing month on month, and that is really great. That is not an easy thing to do. But by the time the cart actually opens, it's really quiet. And she doesn't actually have then visibility on her leads, right? So her leads know who she is, but she doesn't know who they are. And that's because all of the new people in her ecosystem are interested in what she does, but they don't really understand why she's the go-to. They don't understand what she sells or what she stands for or why any of that should really matter to them. Maybe it was just some, you know, very aesthetic reel that they found and they followed her that day and they didn't think much more of it. Now, both of these coaches and these business owners are doing a really great job. They're working really, really hard and their content is great. But unfortunately, this content in a pre-launch would only be doing half the job. So let's talk about what each of those different content types are. The first one is attention content, and that is your first job of your pre-launch. So the first thing that you need to do, really, I mean, this is true year-round, but specifically when you are kickstarting your pre-launch, is to increase your visibility, both to your existing audience and to new audiences, and create a lot of curiosity and get their buy-in. So again, this is getting in front of people who don't know you yet and giving them a reason to stop and pay attention to you, but also people who have maybe been in your orbit for a little while now. So these are maybe older leads who haven't converted yet, or people who have just been following you for a while, but maybe they just haven't been in the right era or time of their lives or whatever it is to be ready for your offer. So this is really where we're now saying, hey, I have something that's worth your attention, and it's now your time to listen to me. And this type of content can come in a few different forms because we're kind of trying to, again, both um, you know, get the attention of people who don't yet know us, but also get the attention of people who already follow us and kind of get them pointing in the direction of this main mission or this main common enemy that you have, right? So a lot of attention style content is that content that's very top of funnel. So relatable style content, uh, hot takes, shareable themes and messaging that makes people go, oh my god, yes, she gets me, or oh my god, yes, I've gone through this too. Um, and trends are also a really great way to get people on board with again your unique mission and what it is that you are speaking to and speaking about. Um, now, exactly the frameworks, this is all going to depend on things like your niche and your offer itself. And it's really important that all of this attention style content, um, the kind of common route is back to the main themes of your offer as well. Um, but as far as it being just about a reach grab or, you know, top of funnel and visibility for the sake of followers, it's about, like I said, getting your audience's attention to latch on to that thing that your offer is also solving. So if you get a huge amount of reach on a piece of content that, you know, might be a hot take or it might be some something relatable, like a very relatable POV style piece of content. And it did great with views, it did great with followers, but none of it is relevant to the transformation that you provide in your offer. That's not doing the job, right? That's the opposite of what your pre-launch content should be doing. So it's really important to keep in mind, yes, we are going for visibility. Yes, we are trying to create some content that picks up some momentum here, but we really want the right people coming into our orbit, our ecosystem on Instagram and getting them to kind of agree to join more on this mission, right? The mission being, what is our common enemy? Is it the weight that won't budge? Is it the acne that won't clear? Is it, you know, lumpy revenue in your in your business? Whatever it is, whatever that thing that you solve in your offer, how can we get them on board thinking, oh my God, finally, someone gets me, someone's talking about this, and I want to know more? So that ultimately is your attention style content. It's typically content that's speaking your audience's language, making them feel seen and heard, um, and really, like I said, getting them on board, whatever it is that you're talking about. Because if we don't have your audience's attention, it's gonna be really hard to move them along that buying process. Now, the second job that your pre-launch content has to do is creating demand. And demand is something that I just truly believe is like a non-negotiable, really in anything, but specifically in 2026. And when I look at a lot of the launches that I've been dissecting or launches I've been a part of, or just seeing how the true experts are able to grow and scale year on year on year, it's because they are able to generate demand and use their content to do so. So when we move into kind of this second phase of your pre-launch strategy, this is where you're shifting from away from attracting new people and trying to like generate buzz in that way, um, but you're shifting into now preparing those leads, preparing those followers to actually be ready to make an investment. And this is again a typical type of content format that a lot of people kind of understand, but don't give the proper time to because it can feel a little less exciting. Um, and honestly, from a metrics point of view as well, it's not gonna be as fun and sexy as your attention style content. So there are a lot of different formats that you can use to generate demand. And when I speak about demand, I guess what I mean by this, like by my own definition, is the ultimate desire for not just a solution, any solution, but specifically your solution and the way that you do something. So if we go back to my previous example, um, you know, weight loss, stubborn weight that won't move, uh, for women in their 30s. There are, you know, a lot of different ways that you could go about dealing with that, right? But if I, you know, wanted to in the next 30 or 60 days lose that weight and I was looking for a solution, I would be kind of going through and being like, okay, well, I could maybe go and get some medication. I could join a boot camp at my local gym. Um, I could do this, I could do that, I could figure it out myself on YouTube by watching different workout classes that are free, that would save me a lot of money. Or what is this unique process that I follow from someone who has lived the life that I want to live, has gotten the results that I want to get, and has proved to me time and time and time again that her exact process is getting results for people just like me, right? So if you want your audience to think that way and truly see your way as the way, you need to be creating this type of demand content. And this is not to be confused with like big hype and urgency style content during your open cart. This is speaking to your process, your way of doing things, your methodology before your audience even has heard about your offer. And sure, some of them might know it exists in the past, but you are speaking to if you stripped all of it back without the branding, without the sales page, without the fancy curriculum, what is the process in which you take people from point A to point B? Because you want to create demand for that exact thing. So it doesn't matter what the price point is. It doesn't matter what bonuses there are, it doesn't matter if the calls are live or if it's self-paced. People are so bought into your process that none of that matters and all of those objections fall away. So it's really important that you speak to some of the different um things that buyers are looking for. And I recently posted a carousel over on Instagram about some of the lead archetypes. And I just I think it's such a funny exercise because, of course, not only is it an interesting thing to talk about from a, you know, sales point of view and thinking about your leads and thinking about your, you know, your launches, but it's always a really great exercise in reflecting on who you are as a buyer. Um, and a lot of the time I'm reflecting, I I I like to reflect on the decisions I make um as a business owner. Um and I'm always careful of am I making this decision just because this is how I would like to buy or what I need to see in order to feel confident about an investment? And it's really important that you are speaking to all of those different kind of lead archetypes. So just to quickly cover what they are, and uh, these are not a limited, you know, this is not the only list, right? These are not the only lead types. Um, but let's say that there is someone who is very, very like analytical. They are very thorough and skeptical and their decision process is typically very research heavy. That person to, you know, have demand and want and desire your process, they're gonna wanna understand how that process works, right? They're not just gonna want to sign up to something blindly. They wanna understand in detail how you get the results that you get for your clients versus someone who is maybe more, a little bit more like a vibe checker, right? They are very much driven by values and uh that connection and making sure that they, there's like kind of like a culture fit between you and them. They're gonna be, you know, more like a little bit maybe slower off the get-go, but they're really gonna want to make sure that they feel seen by you and they are gonna wanna get a sense for your character, your leadership, your coaching and your delivery style. And they kind of just want to know, is this person gonna show up for me? So it's really important that when you are generating demand for, again, your offer, it's not just about the offer itself, but who you are as a facilitator and also why this is the right time for them to do this at all, right? So again, let's go back to my weight loss example. I might be quite motivated to maybe, yeah, lose some weight, sure, do what's necessary. And let's say I don't care how it has to happen. I'm I'm committed to losing weight. I might be more motivated, um, you know, in the lead up to summer versus in the lead up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. And that's not to say that those are the only times that I would buy something, but if you wanted to get me on board, you wanted to generate demand from me, you would need to convince me why, you know, the months, you know, in fall or if the seasons are changing, why that's the time that's worth, you know, committing to this program and actually losing weight. So again, it's not just speaking to, okay, why my process or why I'm the best coach for you, but why now? Why should I care about this? Why should I pay attention to this? Why is this something that I should invest in? So that's really where the demand piece plays a part in your pre-launch. And it's really where you start to dismantle a lot of potential objections that could be coming up, maybe in your DMs or things that you might get asked on a webinar or that you might have in your FAQs on your website. Because the more that we can kind of handle those, you know, before the time comes for you to sell your offer, the more easy yeses are gonna land in your inbox and the more easy, um, you know, easeful sales are gonna come through straight off your webinar or, you know, directly from your Instagram stories, however you prefer to announce your offer. So, in terms of demand content, what does that actually look like? That is like your typical, you know, social proof, uh results focused content. Um, but there are also a lot of other ways that you can generate demand for what you do, for your offer. And that can look like future pacing and actually speaking to the transformation beyond just the result itself. So let's say I um am told in this program or working with this coach that I'm going to lose a set amount of pounds at a minimum in a certain amount of period. That's great. But what if I care about how I'm gonna feel? What if I have to give up everything? What if I have to? Sacrifice things. So it's not just speaking to okay, what's the result that you're gonna get, but what else am I getting? Um, so not always focusing on so much what I have to take away, but am I gonna feel more clear in the head? I'm not gonna have those 2 p.m. brain crashes. Am I gonna feel more confident? Am I not gonna spend hours getting ready because I'm changing my outfit three times? So there's so many ways that you can install demand for your process, speaking to that future identity of your ideal client. Um, and whether that is because you have gone through that lived experience yourself or you know that to be true for your clients, but really making sure that that is clear and apparent many, many weeks before you open cart and not just when it's time to, you know, have that urgency and scarcity in your open cart content. I don't remember who it was, but I saw someone say the other day every post you don't create in your pre-launch becomes a um a stressful email that you're writing at 11 p.m. during launch week. And that's very, very true. Um, so really it's putting the foundation in place now for your pre-launch, installing that demand, um, handling those objections, things like, you know, I've tried something like this before and it doesn't work, or um, I maybe don't have enough audience for this, or this would take me so much time. I don't know how that would ever fit into my schedule. All of those things in subtle ways can be addressed in your pre-launch so that you're not constantly having to do more and more and more and more when the stakes are at their highest. And that ultimately is really the role of your demand content. And how do you know that your demand content is working? You it doesn't always have to be that like you're getting people saying, Hey, I think I want to work with you. That's always not the only clue. Um, sure, it's a great sign, but it can be things like getting questions, your content getting saved or you know, shared on to someone else, um, getting DMs or follow-up questions and just more conversation started. And as well, on the other side of that, when you are in your open cart flow, um, a really great, again, proof of a great pre-launch is oh my god, I've been, you know, watching your content for so long and it's just all finally clicked and making sense. This is just feeling like the right next step for me, or even getting some of your terminology or unique verbiage or process um regurgitated back to you by leads or clients. Um, that's a really another great sign of when you've got the demand installed into your audience. So the next obvious question is, okay, well, how much of each? How much, you know, visibility, attention content do I need? How long do I need to spend um generating demand? And the truth is that I can't give you one answer on this podcast. But probably the rule that we could all apply is putting a little bit more time into both. I always love to start with attention content first because the focus is again filling up your audience, activating your audience, your existing audience as well. And then as you get closer to opening your cart, really focusing on demand style content because those people in your world need to be ready for your offer. They need to sense that something's coming as well, and they need to be ready to move on that opportunity. Um, so that's kind of the important bit is that it's not about like more of one or more of the other, and there's no exact perfect amount. It really comes down to timing. And that's why I'm so kind of uh passionate about making sure that people don't rush their pre-launch because usually it takes a little more time than you think, especially, especially if you have big sales goals. So $100,000 launches, $500,000 launches, those don't come out of just having a very small lead list and a little bit of luck. That comes from really good lead gen and having the focus and the volume that you actually need to hit those targets. So here's what I want you to do today. Not later this month, today, or tomorrow the latest. I want you to go through your own content, right? Maybe you just open up your Instagram account and you look through your own content and you're like, okay, is this an attention style post or is this a demand style post? Maybe you give yourself an A or a D. And maybe some of them are gonna be kind of neither. That's useful information too, or maybe some of them are kind of gonna be trying to do both at the same time. But I want you to really think about, okay, where am I leaning more towards? Which one do I feel more comfortable creating? Which one am I not so great at and could be doing better at? Because that's really useful information for you moving into your next launch, but even just for, you know, general marketing and sales, you know, strategy in general. So if you're like, yep, I think I already know I'm really, really bad at talking about my process or sharing social proof or speaking about my unique way of doing things or speaking about who I am as a coach, as a thought leader, and you're like, yep, that's where my attention is needed, then make sure that's included in your pre-launch next time. And then same for the reverse. If you know that you kind of don't put a lot of effort into top of funnel content or you feel stuck about what that top of funnel content really should be when it comes to actually connecting that back to your offer and it's not just random, relatable content for the sake of it, that's really where your focus should be for your next pre-launch. Now, lucky for you, especially if you're thinking they're thinking, okay, great, I know which one I'm bad at. I know that I need to really get serious about my pre-launch, but I'm not still really sure what that looks like. You are in luck because I'm running a free live workshop. It is called Make More in Q4, and I've built it exactly for this. I'm gonna walk you through how to map out a quarterly marketing and sales plan that's actually going to fill your group offer as well as your lead pipeline, not just for the rest of this year, but actually help to accelerate you into 2027, even if you want to take a lovely, juicy break over the holidays, like I will be. So I'm gonna be giving you the real post frameworks for both types of content, attention and demand that we talked about today. And I'm also covering what I recommend you do around Black Friday, specifically as a coach or a course creator, because it can be a lot of different opinions here on Black Friday, and it's a really, really important time if you use it wisely. Now, this training is free, it's live, and especially if you are launching in September or October, honestly, this is gonna be the most useful thing to you, and I really don't think you could afford to skip it. So the link to register and save your spot is gonna be inside the show notes. Check it out. I would love to see you there. We do have a very special bonus as well if you're able to attend live. So once you've put your details in, you've got your confirmation email, hit reply, let me know you'll be there. And I look forward to seeing you in the workshop and in next week's episode. Bye for now.