Episode 103

full
Published on:

25th Feb 2022

3 types of content that will boost sales of your course launch

Most course creators spend Cart Open week chained to their desk surviving on takeaway coffees and pizza 

Despite what the online gurus say about launching from the beach whilst sipping cocktails.

In this tutorial episode of the Courageous Content Podcast, I share 3 types of content you can create - ahead of your Cart Open phase - that will boost your launch revenue

(and save you a ton of time and stress) 

And no… you don’t need fancy email automation to implement these strategies.

Find out more in this tutorial episode of the Courageous Content Podcast.

 

Key Links

Janet Murray’s Courageous Content Planner

Janet Murray’s Courageous Podcasting Content Kit

Janet Murray’s Courageous Planner Launch Content Kit

Janet Murray's Courageous Blog Content Kit

Save £30 on my Courageous Email Lead Magnet Content Kit using the code MAGNET67.

Save £30 on my Business Basics Content Kit using the code PODCAST67.

Save £30 on my Courageous Launch Content Kit using the code PODCAST67.

Janet Murray’s Courators Kit

Janet Murray’s FREE Ultimate Course Launch Checklist

How much content should you create for a launch? (podcast)

5 content styles you need for a course launch (podcast)

Janet Murray’s website

Janet Murray on Instagram

Janet Murray on Facebook

Janet Murray on LinkedIn

Janet Murray on Twitter

Janet Murray on TikTok

Transcript

IMPORTANT: THIS TRANSCRIPT IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED. WE GIVE IT A QUICK CHECK THROUGH BUT WE DON’T CORRECT EVERYTHING AS IT’S INTENDED TO HELP YOU FIND PARTS YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO AGAIN - NOT AS AN EXACT TRANSCRIPT. SO THERE MIGHT BE A FEW QUIRKY WORDS/PHRASES HERE!

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If you're not including look, not booked sequences in your launches, you are almost certainly leaving money on the table. If you have fancy email automation and you can automate all of this brilliant, it will make your life easier. If you don't. This is a strategy you're listening to the courageous content podcast. I'm Janet Murray, and I love helping coaches, creatives and entrepreneurs.

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We are super engaged in content that generates leads and sales for their businesses. No one starts a business and just knows how to create engaging content. It's a skill that has to be learned and practice. And there's always something new to learn, no matter how long you've been in business. And I know running an online business can feel messy, perfectionism, fear,

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self doubt, and other mindset stuff can stop you showing up online in the way that's best for you. So you'll get help with that too. Where did you get courageous with your content? Let's get started Based entrepreneurs and online course creators spend launch weeks change to that S surviving on takeaway coffees and pizza. Despite what the online gurus say about launching from the beach while sipping a cocktail,

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I'm Janet Murray, one of the UKs leading content marketing experts. And I have launched dozens of times. I've launched everything from one of PDF downloads to Martha classes and webinars to full on launch years for online courses, memberships on and offline events and even physical products. So in this tutorial episode of the courageous content podcast, I want to share three types of content.

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You can get created well ahead of your launch week. So you can boost sales and reduce stress during your cart open period. You never know it might help you get the home cooked meals down you during your launch week, while that's and those that takeaway coffees and pizza. So the first type of content you absolutely need to create for any launch. And no,

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you don't need fancy email automation to do this is your looked not port sequence. So this is a series of emails that you send, which are specifically designed for your hottest leads. If you're using email automation. So if you're using software that can tell you who's actually clicked on your sales page, you can send them a very targeted email that makes them aware that,

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you know, they've been looking at your course and gives them the opportunity to simply ask you some questions. And if you're not using fancy email automation, you can still do a look to not bought emails. You can send them to people who have sent questions by email or by social media direct message, not having fancy email automation is no excuse and not today.

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This now typically I would send a series of three emails. And if you have my courageous launch content kit, I've included one of my fill in the gaps. Look, not book sequences in that kit, but typically I would do something like the first email. I would simply say, I noticed that you've been checking out my, whatever the name of the digital product is.

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I just wondered if you had any questions, you would be amazed by how many people come back. And if you think it sounds scammy or thirdly, think about it again. I mean, do you get upset when your hairdresser send you a message and says, I haven't seen you for a while. Are you ready to book in for your next cut or color?

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Or do you get offended when the dentist contacts you and reminds you that you need to book a checkup or the optician? Probably not. So you'll be surprised at how many people respond to this email. They've either just been too busy. They've looked at your course, they are interested, but they've had 1,000,001 things to do. And your email just prompts them to ask that question.

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That's been in their mind. But sometimes what it prompts people to do is to ask the question that shows you something you need to change. So for example, they might say, oh yes, I was interested in that, but I thought it wasn't suitable for whatever. In my case, what often happens is people will say, oh, I did look at that.

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And I thought it sounded really good, but I didn't think it was right for product business owners. So that gives me the opportunity, not only to go back to them and reassure them that it is suitable for that type of person, but also to ask them, was there any reason why you thought that this course wasn't for you and asking that follow-up question can give me really useful information about how to improve my sales page,

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how to improve my marketing emails. Sometimes there might be a word or phrase that I've used, or maybe even an image that I've used or a video that I've used that has made somebody think it's not suitable for them. So what you're really doing with your looked not booked sequence is just opening up a conversation. The second email, I would typically ask people to tell me why they haven't bought.

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So I will often preface it by saying something like this is a bit awkward. I might even put that in the email subject header, but just say, look, I noticed you've been checking this out and you haven't invested is really helpful for me to know for my marketing, why certain products or services aren't landing with people. And if there's anything that you can share with me,

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that will be helpful. I'd be really grateful. And again, you'd be amazed how many people come back with information that's really helpful. Sometimes they've misunderstood something. Sometimes they've misinterpreted something. So it's an opportunity for you to handle that objection. And that may well turn into a sale. Sometimes the product really isn't right for them. And I think people respect you telling them.

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So, so again, if you can open up those conversations, then it's always a positive thing. My final email in my series of three will probably be something like final call. So I'll put in this subject header final call or last chance to get whatever the product is. And usually there's some kind of discount or bonus, and it will be quite simple and straightforward.

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Just wanted to remind you that this offer is closing at whatever time, those kinds of sequences, once you've done, if you have them. And I do have a template in my launch content kit, if you haven't invested yet, I will put a link to that in the show notes. But once you've done a few, it starts to become second nature.

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Sometimes I might do an extra look, not bullets, email, where I say something like I noticed you've been checking out whatever product it is. I thought it might be helpful to share with you the most common questions that I get asked, and that can be really helpful for dealing with objections. So if you're not including looked not booked sequences in your launches,

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you are almost certainly leaving money on the table. Like I say, if you have fancy email automation and you can automate all of this brilliant, it will make your life easier. If you don't, this is a strategy. So you can create a sequence of emails, as long as you are compliant with data protection law, which basically means North adding peoples who your less who didn't give you consent and not emailing people about things that they didn't give you consent to email them about.

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Then you can absolutely do this manually. You can make yourself some templates. And even if you are using an email marketing system, but you haven't figured out how to do the automation to do a look, not book sequence, as long as you can see, who's actually clicked on those links or even who's opened the emails. You can do this all manually.

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Otherwise you can follow people up. Who've sent you messages or ask questions in your Facebook group on social media, in the DMS by email, the important bit here is the strategy and not the tech. So the second type of content that will help you make more sales in any launch is the objection handling email templates. Typically when you try to sell anything on line,

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you will come across objections. And usually they are related to time or money. I don't have time. This isn't the right time for me. It's too expensive or I can't afford it. I'm doing another course at the moment. So I don't have time regardless of what industry you're in the objections that often are very, very similar, but when you're busy in launch mode and you're sending out lots of emails and you're sending and posting lots of social media posts,

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the last thing you need is to have to keep writing emails to people who are asking you very similar questions. So what I was ahead of a launch is I make a list of the most common objections that I get. So I'll use my courageous contact planner as an example. It might be things like I bought it last year and I didn't use it.

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Or I've tried to use planners before and didn't get on with them. And then what I do is draft out email responses and they typically say something like, this is something we hear a lot. So acknowledging what somebody is saying, and then handling the objection to take the courageous content planner. As an example, people will say, well, I tried using a planner before,

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but I didn't use it very much. Or maybe even I bought your planet and I didn't use it that much. And what I've learned is that people often feel that if they invest in a paper planner, then it's only valuable if they write in every single page of it. And of course, people use planners in many different ways. I created a content planner.

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I don't want that much impact, but I do use it every day. I do have clients who write in every single page. So I've created an objection, email templates. If somebody says something like that, I say, yeah, that's something we hear a lot. However, you don't have to write in your planner every day to get value in it.

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Sometimes I might even say I created it and I don't. And what can really make an email like this effective is having a testimonial from someone who has had the very same objection and has overcome it. So for my courageous content planner, Josephine Hughes, who's one of my lovely clients who runs a business where she helps counselors to promote their business. She had sent me this lovely testimonial where she basically says that she's bought planners before and hasn't used them.

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She's actually throwing them away. But what she's realized by having my planner is that she doesn't have to write in it all the time. And although she she's quite a spontaneous person, and she's also realized that it's okay to pick it up and use it every day, she doesn't actually have to be weeks ahead with her content. In fact, let's have a listen to what she said.

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Biggest worry. When I was thinking about buying the planner is the fact that I am not very organized and I know that I can buy stuff and it just sits on the desk. I'm used number of planners I've had in the past that I just throw away at the end of the year. But with Janet's planet, what I found is that it's been an absolute lifesaver for me.

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So if you're not a planner, don't get put off by the thought that you don't plan because you can pick it up and you can find something to post on the day. And that's one of the things I really use it for. Although if you are more of a strategic person or you're looking to develop a better planning habit, Jen has been really good at helping me with that as well.

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So if you're on the fence, what I'd say is it, isn't a very big investment, but it's a brilliant investment in your business, in your social media presence. It will get you a bigger audience. It will get you clients. So I was able to craft a objection, handling email template, where if someone said, well, I don't really get on with,

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or I bought one before and I didn't use it, or I didn't write in, it could acknowledge it reassure that's usually the next stage, actually. It's okay not to write in every page of a planner. And here's somebody who bought one and is just like you and is actually getting really great results from it, which leads me nicely into the third type of content you need to create to increase sales and a launch and it's testimonials,

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which are specifically related to objection handling. You can use them on their own. So for my courageous content live event, last year, I had a fantastic testimonial from Mel Bridger, a fitness expert, where she talked about the fact that before she came to my online event, creators content live. She thought online events were rubbish and not worth attending, but actually she realized she was wrong.

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And she ended up getting so much done at the event A little bit dubious about attending a live online events because I didn't think it would be as good. I have the same kind of atmosphere or the same kind of energy usefulness at the sessions as live conferences go. I was wrong. So Janet put together an incredible event was able to chill out at home,

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was able to make notes, probably spoke to a lot more people than I would have if I'd have been at the live event. And I was able to come up with some really, really good ideas, content planning session helped me to document the kind of content that I wanted to put together over the next couple of quarters. And it made it a lot less overwhelming for me.

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So if you're thinking about whether or not it's worth attending a live event, so an online event, there are so many benefits. It's cheaper for starters because you don't have to worry about travel costs. You don't have to worry about staying in hotels and you can surround yourself with all of your favorite things and do what I did. And to me, it's only in typing in slippers.

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So what are you waiting for? Go and book your courageous content live event ticket. Now Those types of testimonials can be used in your email marketing. So in any email marketing campaign, I would really recommend that at least two out of the seven or the minimum of seven, that you send it to them in your cart, open period, ask specifically handling common objections fee.

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You can use those videos in those emails. You can also use them in your objection, handling emails, but also you can turn them into social media posts and you can put them together and create a montage of objection, video testimonials. And that can be a new piece of content in itself. So I hope I've opened your eyes to different types of content that you can create or well ahead of your car open week that will help you to make more sales.

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And these are particularly effective for people who are on the fence. If you like, say they're interested, they've put their hand up, they've asked the question, but they've got some reservations. I have templates for all of these types of content in my courageous content launch kit. So we've got templates for the looked not bought sequence for the objection, handling emails and all these testimonials.

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I've actually got fill in the gaps templates that you can send to your clients that will get them to produce really amazing testimonials for your course, that focus on the transformation rather than just say, oh, Janet is very nice to work with, which is typically the kind of thing that people will send you, but aren't actually that effective when it comes to boosting your sales.

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So I will add a link to my Courageous Content Launch Kit in the show notes for this episode, but as ever, I do love hearing from you. So if you found this useful, then do connect with me on social media. I'm at Jan Murray UK on most social media platforms. Would you like to create super engaging content about your business and do it consistently?

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If so you need my courageous content planner in your life. It's a gorgeous, A4 desk diary. That's so simple to use because it's based on my four-by-four strategy, which involves posting four styles of content four days a week. Yes, content planning really can't be that easy there's templates for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual planning. So,

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you know exactly what to post and when plus hundreds of ready-to-go content ideas and prompts. So you'll never run out of ideas for social media posts again, and accountability trackers to keep you consistent with your posting. The courageous content planner is both practical and pretty with four gorgeous cover designs to choose from. So if you want to ditch the content overwhelm and you want a simple content plan,

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you can actually stick to head over to courageouscontentplanner.com to order your copy today. Thanks for listening to the courageous content podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on apple podcast or share the episode on social media. That way more people can benefit from the free tips and strategies I share and be sure to tag me in when you do I'm at Jan Murray on Instagram,

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Twitter, and TikTok.

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About the Podcast

Courageous
Business strategy to generate predictable revenue and scale your business. Hosted by Janet Murray. For coaches, consultant, freelancers, contractors and/or business owners (of any age or stage) who want to build a sustainable business.
The 'Courageous' podcast is for entrepreneurs and business owners who want inspiration/ideas to help grow their business.

This podcast is hosted Janet Murray - a business strategist and former journalist - with more than a decade's experience in building online businesses.

Series 1 is solo season - and is packed with practical business advice and strategies to grow your business.
Series 2 - which is due to land in October 2024 - will feature indepth interviews with entrepreneurs and business leaders. They'll be sharing the challenges and obstacles they've had to overcome in their business - along with their biggest mistakes (and what they learned from getting things 'wrong').

So make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out when Season 2 lands in October.



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About your host

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Janet Murray

I’m Janet Murray - I’m a business strategist and copywriter who helps consultants, coaches, freelancers and small business owners generate consistent income and/or recurring revenue.

I’m also the creator of the Courageous CEO Business Strategy Planner - which contains tried and tested strategy & resources to grow your business.