Have you heard of Social Squad Academy?
Nope?
Then you’re like the rest of the world.
It was my big, fat, failed course launch.
And it all started with a dream.
A big, fat, shiny, money-filled, Ducktales vault dream.
That all started with a Facebook Ad.
October 2015
It was the very first time I had ever heard of this magical thing called a “launch”. I vividly remember sitting in my 9-5 (ok – 8-5) day-job and seeing this beautifully designed Facebook Ad in my newsfeed.
“How I made $166,000 in 7 days!”
Wait. WHAT?!
This cannot be real.
My husband and I didn’t even make $166,000 in a year… Not even combined. Not even pretax.
Without a doubt in mind, I clicked through the ad, read her blog, signed up for this thing I’d NEVER heard of called a webinar.
You may be guessing what happens next. The pitch came along, and I was SHOCKED at the price tag this young lady was proposing.
Needless to say, I didn’t purchase her course – but I had an idea… Quite possibly my best one yet!
I was going to launch a course.
I had no list, no following (not even a Facebook group).
But I was going to launch a course.
January 2016- My First Course Launch Starts
Mistake #1 in my “dream” launch was immediate.
I started a Facebook group and began growing it. The group was called Become a Social Media Marketer – and I figured that EVERYONE would want to join.
A lot of people did join – but there was NOT explosive growth by any means…. And conversations were awkward
Mistake #1 – by talking to everybody, I was speaking to NOBODY.
Okay, what would my course be about… Hmm… What do I know and like?
Well – LinkedIn.
This was it! I was going to create a course called Social Squad Academy all about LinkedIn!
Mistake #2 – I didn’t have a CLUE what my market A) wanted B) needed.
I was assuming my market wanted to learn LinkedIn because they had mentioned that they didn’t understand it.
WRONG.
They don’t care about LinkedIn. No one cares about Twitter. No one cares about Facebook.
They care about their PROBLEMS and that you can solve it for them.
I was telling my market all about how I could teach them LinkedIn….
Not sharing with them how it was all about FREE lead generation for high ticket clients – or that it could build their network exponentially faster than manual networking in person could.
So by focusing on the HOW of my course, I missed the WHY of my market.
And just like that I “went all in” on a launch – without taking a course on launching (oh, the audacity!)…
When I say “went all in”, I almost have to laugh.
My definition of a launch was like 2 emails to my teeny tiny list and and posted maybe 3 times in my Facebook group about it.
And just like that, mistake #3 was born.
Mistake #3 – I didn’t really go all in.
At this point in my business, I’ve been through MANY launches. Launches for physical products, online courses, coaching, startups, crowdfunding campaigns, and more.
And I’ve learned what “all in” truly means.
A successful launch of a course (like the ones I had seen where people made $166,000 in 7 days) require many moving parts:
Facebook Ads with a strategy and phases
Multiple emails and segmented emails
MULTIPLE posts in your group, on your social, and possibly even on your personal profile as well
Video content like FB Live and/or professional video
Webinars (more than 1)
& sometimes affiliates
So it’s no wonder I didn’t get the $166,000 launch I was expecting and banking on.
Did I come close to my big goal?
Not even remotely.
But we’ll get there in a minute.
As I was going through the “launch” process, I found myself getting more and more bummed about the results…
I mean… My course was only $25 and shouldn’t everyone want it??? It’s totally affordable for every single person.
Uh-oh. I just revealed mistake number 4.
Mistake #4 – The price was way too low.
I saw everything backwards. If the price was low, everyone could afford it, and no one could say no.
Heck, I even threw in a full LinkedIn audit!
Unfortunately, the complete opposite was true. People thought “It’s WAY too cheap… It must really suck.”
By underpricing the course – I told people “I don’t really value this work… So here is my bargain shop pricing!”
The craziest thing is that today I charge $500-$1000 per hour for social media consults/strategy (including LinkedIn audits!)… I had no idea that I was completely undervaluing every part of what I offered.
A better price point would have been $197 – $497 for the course – but skipping the audit (or throwing it in as a bonus to the first 10 people). When the system I was teaching is implemented, you can literally generate thousands in revenue for free moving forward. I didn’t realize this immense value!
When you undercharge for anything, you get people who don’t appreciate you.
The moment you charge what you’re worth, suddenly your clients/students/customers begin to develop a sense of loyalty, and they hang on your every word/product/teaching.
And then – there was the cart close. I was sooooo bummed from this entire process, that I just let it all go.
Mistake #5 – I gave up in the 9
th inning.
Like completely.
The reality is, the last few days (and final hours) of a course launch are EVERYTHING.
That’s when you need to hit it the hardest, maximizing all results and effort by sending more emails, posting more, messaging people asking if they still want in, and potentially adding in bonuses.
The sad thing about this is that during my NEXT course launch – I saw over 75% of my sales in the last 24 hours.
But this launch I completely gave up when I needed to hammer it home.
So what was the final result of this course launch?
I sold 5 copies of the course for $25 a piece. Due to the low price, I barely covered the cost of software to produce the course.
I was bummed – but I knew I needed to pivot. And so I did.
Since this failed launch of my own, I’ve had the pleasure of supporting MANY launches – offering everything from strategy to FB Ads management, social media support to full launch management.
We’ve had campaigns that did phenomenal:
$243k in 2 weeks
$265k+ in 1 month
$63k in 1 month
$330k in 1 month
$15k in 1 week
If you want support during your launch, set up a time to discuss. But be warned, I’m not cheap, because I get massive results and value my time (hint hint).
Book your call for launch support now.
