Shock and Awe Launch Content The Easy Way

Recent, maddening conversation I had with a potential launch client (Facts have been changed to protect . . . nobody. But facts are kind of boring for a blog intro so let’s be light and  funny instead. We’ll get to the “meat” in a second) . . .

Me: “Um, what are these videos you emailed to me?”

Him: “Those are our pre-launch content.”

Me: “These are your pre launch content?”

Him: “Yeah.”

Me: “Uhh. .  . but it’s just video of you wearing funny superhero boxer shorts and screaming the lyrics to ‘Thriller’ in Spanish. On a pogo stick.’”

Him: “I know, awesome, right!”

Me: “Not awesome. Bouncy and strange and sexually exciting. But not awesome. Your prelaunch content is supposed to SHOCK AND AWE your market and prime the pump for the sale.”

Him: “This is shocking.”

Me: “Wrong kind of shocking.”

Him: “But you’re in awe.”

Me: “I’ve never seen anyone do that with a pogo stick.  I never WANTED to see anyone do that with a pogo stick. I mean . . . where does the handle go?”

Him: “What handle? Anyway, what do I do instead?”

Me: “Great question. Read after the jump to find out. (Super sneaky launch-content creation trick.)

Big Fact: The quality and “shock and awe” value of your pre-launch content is one of  the single most important factors in the success of your launch.

If your launch content ROCKS you’ll have your prospects hot, ready and eager to pounce on your offer like a Cougar at a frat party . . .

And if you’re launch content SUCKS . . . well, you could always go back to your career as rent-by-the-hour ventriloques dummy (growth industry in this economy, really.)

Unfortunately, a lot of marketers (heck, a lot of product launch managers) totally fall down on the job of coming up with compelling, attention grabbing content.

They sort of jot some random notes down on a napkin, fire up the old flip cam, ramble on inanely for a while and then get REALLY freaked out when their launch crashes and burns (and when the big JVs they seduced into mailing keep talking about “Cousin Tony and his friends” coming to visit.)

Your pre-launch content (especially your first piece) is basically the “Headline” of your launch . . .

And just like a headline on a sales letter it’s got to SEIZE YOUR PROSPECTS BY THE EYEBALLS and infiltrate the conversation already going on in their mind. (Good Marketers are psychic. Really.)

Now, there are a LOT of ways to brainstorm pre-launch content ideas  . . .

• You can survey your list, find out what the biggest questions or problems in your niche are and create a piece of content that solves that problem . . . (HINT: Easy pieces of software, done for you forms, samples of your product and stuff that “does something” makes really good pre-launch content. Great way to give your prospects results in advance too.)
• You can get on the phone with smart marketers and bandy ideas back and forth like a raquette ball (I’ve had the pleasure of doing this with Jeff Walker a couple times and found it to be really fun.)
• Or you can . . I donno, wing it.

But one of my favorite ways to come up with “bullet proof” and really solid pre launch content that ACTUALLY WORKS is what I call the “Copy first, Content last” trick.

To do this trick you’ve basically gotta THINK LIKE A COPYWRITER (which is too bad, because we’re weird folks.)

Here’s the trick:

Instead of slaving away on your pre-launch content, writing a script, shooting 5 different versions of a video (one of which is strangely reminiscent of Madonna doing “Vogue” on MTV) or just kind of winging it . . .

And  THEN writing the JV emails that are going to promote your content, you basically flip the whole process on it’s head.

So before (maybe WAY before) you start working on your pre-launch content, sit down and write the email that’s going to promote it.

What’s cool about this is that it really focuses your mind on the task at hand and makes you ask yourself the question . . .

• What’s going to make my market stand up, take notice and SALIVATE?
• What can I PROMISE my prospect that’s going to make it inevitable that they click my link, opt in and start tumbling down my sales process?
• What sharp, powerful “magic bullets” can I put in here that are going to grab my ideal customer and never let go?

If you try using this trick you’re going to find out really quickly how LIBERATING it is and how much it simplifies your thinking . . .

Why?

Well, for one thing, if you write the promo email first, you don’t have your half-thought-out, weak and lame piece of pre-launch content putting the breaks on the promises you can make . . .

And for another thing it puts you in a mindset where you’re focused on WHAT YOUR PROSPECTS WANT instead of WHAT YOU’VE GOT to give them.

Once you’re done, you’ll have a promo email that (hopefully) gets right into the mind of your ideal customer and makes a couple of big, ballsy, almost impossible to believe promises.

And then creating the actual content becomes the easy part.  All you’ve got to do is keep the promises and deliver massive value.

That might sound a little flippant, but let me tell you that after being at this “marketing thing” for a while, creating high quality content that gives your prospects what they really want isn’t that hard. (Seriously.)

Need an example?

OK, let’s pull something out of a hat and say we’re working on a launch in the REI (Real Estate Investing) space and that our product is a “How to get Private Money” product.

(Even if you’re not in REI at all you probably know that getting money from banks for real estate these days is REALLY hard. Which means the only way to get deals funded is to go to private individuals and companies who are willing to put cash in the kitty and go for a ride.)

Just for the fun of it, we’ll call our “Guru” in this case “Johnny ‘The Jackal’ Smith” . . .

And we’ll pretend I’m his JV in REI . . .

Subject: “They call him ‘The Jackal’” . . .

(Curiosity based subject line in this case. but there’s lots of other ways we could  go.)

Hi (NAME),

My friend Johnny “The Jackal” Smith just posted a video that shows you EXACTLY how to get an almost endless stream of funding for your real estate deals even in this crappy economy.

Check it out at LINK

(Another side note, generally these days you want to have a link to your squeeze page pretty darned close to the top of your email. There are exceptions where you’ll want to do more of a “story” email and build up to it, but for JV’s I almost always do it this way.)

If you’re salivating over all the hot real estate deals that are on the table and are driving yourself nuts because it seems so “hard” to get money to invest in them then you’re going to want to turn off the crackberry, shut down your email program and watch every second of this 7 minute video . . .

Why?

Because in this video Johnny “The Jackal” Smith reveals . . .

* Why having ready cash in a “down market” makes you “the Prettiest Girl At the Dance” . . . and how to use your “cash heavy position” to drive prices on properties down to the floor, leaving you with instant equity in ANY market.

* The “Bank Buster” technique Johnny used to raise over $30 MILLION in private equity in the last year alone (you know, when the economy was going down the toilet) . . .

* How to get big-money private investors to bend over backwards to fund you even if your credit sucks and if you’ve never worn a suit in your life . . .

PLUS Johnny actually GIVES YOU his personal “Never Get Screwed Private Money Checklist” . . . the exact document he fills out EVERY TIME he goes out to get funding to make sure the T’s are crossed, I’s are dotted and he ALWAYS comes out on top in a deal.

Johnny’s only keeping this up for a couple days so you should grab his stuff while you can.

Best,

Chris

P.S. Wondering why they call him “The Jackal?” Watch the video and it’ll  become REALLY clear.

LINK

P.P.S. My favorite part of this video comes at 4:37 where Johnny says three “magic” words . . . I can’t tell you what they are here but if you’ve been in the real estate game for a while they’ll blow your mind.

LINK

And there you go.

After just a few minutes of writing I’ve got a pretty good “roadmap” for what we need to create in our pre-launch content.

We need a video that lives up to some pretty ambitious bullets.

We need a “Never Get Screwed” checklist (easy to create) . . .

And we generally need to be honest.

Now, am I saying that if this were a “real” launch I’d  be 100% slavish to this process? Not at all. The email would definitely go through some revisions and we’d probably think of some great “other stuff” to pack into the content as well. . .

But this process definitely gets us started on the right foot  . . . and would make sure we never have “the pogo problem.”

Later

c

Comments

About Author