Today we're talking with the author and the founder of the product launch formula, Jeff Walker. This formula is one of the many ways to launch, but probably one of the most popular ways.
After 25 years of teaching this method, it has become world famous. In fact, everyone I know who is launching is using this formula. So, let's dive in and see what makes this method so popular.
Listen to the complete episode here:
What is Jeff Walker's product Launch Formula?
Jeff Walker started out in the '90s, when the only marketing tool he had was email. Webpages, blogs, and podcasts were still years off. Tools have changed, but the things that have worked since early on, continue to work. It comes down to three (3) things stories, sequences, and triggers. The overriding principle is delivering value ahead of the sale. Product Launch Formula builds real value in people's lives in a way that naturally leads to a sale of whatever you want to sell.
What are the steps for launching a new product?
in your launch, you want to tell the story of that the opportunity for their lives to change and how it's going to change, and how their lives will be transformed. So those are stories.
Jeff Walker teaches that “The opposite of a sequence would be like a Superbowl ad where you spend millions and millions of millions of dollars to produce this ad and millions more to put it on the Superbowl and then boom you've got the 32nd ad on the super bowl and it either does well or else it doesn't. With our kind of businesses, we can't afford to spend that kind of money and we can't afford to bet on one day you know changing our lives.”
Instead a sequence is a series of marketing messages. That's really what a Jeff Walker style launch is. So, there are the pre-launch sequence, an open cart sequence and we a post-launch sequence. It's so much more effective than depending on one single, piece of communication.
Then there are these mental triggers that all of us are walking around trying to make decisions.
“We have endless decisions to make during our lives. So, we have tools our brain uses to short circuit that decision making. Another way to think about it is that these are triggers that will create influence in other people's lives.
Triggers such as authority. When people perceive us as having authority, they pay more attention to us.” according to Jeff.
Other triggers that Jeff teaches are likability and social proof. When we see other people doing something, we'll be more inclined to think about doing that same thing. Within a launch we pull together these stories and using these mental triggers within your sequences. So, it naturally leads into a sale and it works for all kinds of products.
How do you evaluate new product launch?
In business, nothing goes perfectly, or according to plan. Sometimes you have some happy accidents. Other times it feels like a complete disaster in the moment. Mastery comes from nailing those fundamentals. Over time, you get better and better at those.
The formula works best when you go back and evaluate and tweek. Every launch can be improved on, as Jeff demonstrates here:
“This morning I was tweaking a program guide that's going to go out for when we do our masterclass, which is our launch. And I was just literally in there tweaking the copy like the first sentence. I'm like this isn't the right first sentence to put in this program. We just have to nail this first sentence. I think life is about mastery again yeah it’s about getting better.”
So, even the master is still improving! Sign up for Jeff Walker's masterclass on launches below!
