You are listening to the Design You podcast with Tobi Fairley, episode number 164.
Welcome to the Design You podcast. A show where interior designers and creatives learn to say no to busy and say yes to more health, wealth and Tasha, here’s your host, Tobi Fairley.
Hello friends. How is it going? Are you enjoying this year? We are just about what, halfway through the second quarter. It’s flying by. Before we know it we’ll all the way through summer. And will you have hit the goals you have for yourself and your business this year by the end of summer or even by the end of the year? Well, today’s guest might just be the person to help you hit some of those goals.
If you have a product, something that’s scalable, an offer, a course, a program, or as you’ll hear in the episode, even a really cool one-on-one offer that you want to make into the world and really start to create that return that you’re looking for in your business then today’s guest, Tasha Booth, might just be the lady to help you do that.
So over the last three years Tasha has gone from an overworked and underpaid virtual assistant to the owner and proud CEO of The Launch Guild, a thriving and highly sought after OBM and digital marketing implementation agency. What does that mean? It means that she runs a team with over 20 amazing women who help coaches and course creators, if that’s you, launch their products. And so she has a real passion for helping women build profitable sustainable businesses. And she’s really the person to help make it easy for you.
So today’s episode is one that’s really pretty tactical. I kind of like when they’re like this. There’s a lot of the how to. And it’s even going to answer a lot of questions for you, if you’re like I don’t even really know what a launch is Tobi, or what I would do with a launch, or what’s required of me. Well, no problem, Tasha totally has your back and it’s all in this episode.
So I might even get a notepad out for this one. It’s one of those where you’re going to want to jot some stuff down because there’s a lot of great info here. So enjoy this great conversation about launching, and products, and email, and the mindsets you need and all the things to start really making more money in your business. Here we go.
Tobi: Hey Tasha, welcome to the Design You podcast. I’m so glad you’re here today.
Tasha: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Tobi: Yeah, so good. So I love that this is your expertise what we’re going to talk about today which we’ll tell everybody in a minute because I know some about it. But only a few years ago I knew nothing about this concept because I hadn’t built my Design You program. There was so much that was so foreign to me about this concept of launching, which is what we’re going to talk about today. But before we get into it why don’t you tell everybody who you are and why you’re the expert to be teaching us about all these amazing ideas.
Tasha: Absolutely. So I am the CEO and founder of The Launch Guild, so we are a full service launch support agency. We work primarily with established coaches and course creators in all kinds of industries on their launches. So that’s course launches, group programs, podcasts, anything and all things launches. I have a team of over 20 at this point who are all experts in what they do about launches. And then I also coach and mentor virtual assistants, online business managers and project managers on how to start and grow their businesses, so a little busy.
Tobi: That’s all.
Tasha: That’s all.
Tobi: That’s all, 700 things. Amazing. And I love that you said a podcast was also a launch because even though I have a podcast and this is just starting year four recently, I forget. I sometimes forget to think of a podcast as a launch. But it’s definitely something people would want to launch. So that’s so good.
So let’s talk for a minute, in my business I do teach interior designers and creatives why they should consider a scalable product, which like you mentioned, a course, or a training, or a program, or a membership, or something, other ways to make money. Of course kind of that thing is make money while you sleep. You’re really not sleeping; you’re doing a whole lot of hard work. But it’s a way to create something one time and sell it to many people. And so for those listening who are like, “Why would I need a launch?”
Let’s talk about that because that’s exactly what this is. When you create the thing, whether it’s a podcast or something you want to sell like a program then there is a concept called launching it. And so for those who are totally newbies to this can you kind of give us a little bit of a picture of what a launch for say a course or a program includes? What are we talking about?
Tasha: So a launch can be as big or as small as you want it to be. And basically it’s just a time of eyes getting on your product or your program. So you’re being really intentional about talking about that thing and inviting your community to participate and to opt-in, buy the thing or whatever. I think some people when they hear the word ‘launch’ immediately they get overwhelmed and think that has to be this whole big to do.
But I’ve had launches, even some of my clients have had launches that are smaller launches that just go to either their email list, or their Facebook community or something and they do really well still. It’s just an opportunity to be really intentional about just focusing on that one product, that one service, that one offer for a period of time, usually five to ten days.
Tobi: Amazing. So speaking of the product or the offer is it a requirement for an offer to be something that is scalable, that’s one to many? Or could you actually have a launch and sell say a number of strategy sessions with someone, like a one-on-one service? Could there still be a launch around something like that?
Tasha: Absolutely. And there are tons of people who do launches in a lot of different ways, either summits work really well for something going into a one-on-one offer or something that’s not necessarily scalable. Challenges, so a three day challenge where you move people through getting something done, that sort of thing, because it gives people an opportunity to connect with you, to understand how you do things, how you articulate your messaging and that sort of thing and how you teach.
So yeah, it’s a great opportunity whether it’s a scalable offer, something like a course, or whether it’s something that is a one-on-one kind of offer as well.
Tobi: That’s so cool. So I haven’t ever really thought about that. This has my mind racing. But even in something like interior design which is the business I’ve been in for 20 years before I started coaching people probably half of that time as designers. But when I’m thinking about all the interior designers, and event planners, and people that I coach, I’ve never thought about how you could do, like you said, a summit which is sort of like an online, the virtual conference or event.
Or even a challenge, which for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s maybe for five days in a row you teach a little training live online, to teach somebody how to do something. And then that sells into a full service offering. That is amazing because for all the people who are like, “I hear you Tobi, I need a course or a thing to sell.” But they just aren’t into it. This gives them another way to think about how to sell, and show up, and promote even their one-on-one offerings.
Tasha: Yeah. And as we’re talking about this, so we moved from Tucson to Albuquerque last year in August. And I love designing. I’ve always done it myself. But this time I was just like, “No, we’re going to hire a designer.” So we hired a virtual interior designer to do basically all of our rooms. And as you were talking about that I was like, I could see somebody doing a webinar or a challenge about something about color or finding design inspiration.
Tobi: Yes, your style, defining your style or something that’s going to really help you, yeah, it’s so cool. And then at the end of that challenge, or a summit, or event you could say, “If you want to hire me one-on-one this is how we work.” That’s so cool. Okay, so it sounds amazing. It is amazing. But when you’re either – well, you don’t even have to be a small business but so many of the people that I do work with are small, maybe they have a small team or maybe they’re a solopreneur.
And that’s the very moment that when they take something on like this and they think I’ll do all of the things. And then they realize they don’t have time to do ‘all the things’. They don’t even know what all the things are and it requires all of this learning curve, and Googling, and all these things to make a launch happen. Or they could work with someone like you who is an expert in that which is beautiful.
And you take us through this any way you want, but I think you were telling me earlier, you have some steps that you can help people to start to even understand what we’re talking about. Maybe they do want to try some of it on their own or tell them about how you would take them through the launch process.
Tasha: Yeah. So I think first of all getting really clear on what your end goal is, what are you selling, basically. And then once we get clear on that then we kind of backtrack into who is our ideal client for the thing that we’re selling, basically. Once we have kind of the beginning and the end then we start filling in the middle. And that’s kind of our three step process. So that first step in it is to figure out what’s that step zero that you need to teach people or have them understand in order for them to be ready for your service or your product, or something.
So going back to our example about their design style, or color, or something like that. Maybe before people could even think about hiring a designer they need to understand what their design style is. They need to be able to articulate that. So that would be that step zero. So we either can build a webinar around that, we can build kind of some content to get started around what that is, what that thing is. So let’s say an opt-in or, a webinar, or something around design style.
The second thing we want to do is we want to keep everything, especially when we’re first starting, super linear. So what I mean by that is you’re just trying to get your ideal client to the webinar and then to buy your product. We’re not going to make it super fancy dancy. And that’s when people get overwhelmed, when they try to do too much too fast. So really think in terms of, okay, what is the first step when they’re looking to opt into this webinar? You’re going to need a page. You’re going to need a thank you page and a couple of emails and so keeping it very, very simple as you go.
And the last part is really to debrief afterwards. So I like to say that each launch isn’t just about that one specific launch, but it’s about how each launch builds upon each other. So we always learn information, even in launches that aren’t as financially as successful as we would want them to be, we’re always learning information that will help us to kind of fine-tune things for the next time. So it’s not about doing it once, saying, “That didn’t work and throwing it away.” It’s about seeing what the information is that we can glean from that by doing what we call a launch debrief.
And then tweaking your product, your service, your offer, whatever the case may be and then doing it again.
Tobi: Yeah, that’s so interesting. So I think about one of our clients, and members in particular in Design You, and this has happened many times, but one’s just top of mind because she recently did a launch and she did it on her own. And so I don’t know all the specifics about it. But I do know that she didn’t get the sales that she wanted. And she may not have made a single sale which is interesting.
Because in design, it’s interesting to think about how long it would take someone to convert, because if you’re trying to sell someone on say a course for doing a whole kitchen remodel. And someone’s not yet ready to rip out their whole kitchen, they’re just thinking about it. There’s a length of time between when they come into your world and when they might actually buy.
And so when you’re talking about that debrief and you’re like, “I didn’t get the sales I wanted. I think I just want to quit.” I think that’s something that happens so often for people and they don’t know where to go next. They feel disheartened, they feel deflated. So what is that process? How can you help people stick with the process? And really what do they need to think when they don’t get the numbers they want? Because I always remind them, I’ve had things that flopped.
We hear other big name businesses that tell us early on they had webinars and no one came. Or they had a sale and no one bought. But when it’s you it feels like a totally different, “Yeah, that’s alright for them but for me I wanted some sales and I’m really, really upset.”
Tasha: Yeah, I totally understand, it totally feels different. And I’ve had those experiences even in my own business when things haven’t gone as I’ve wanted them to. I think that going back to what you were saying about basically the length of nurture that that potential client may need or potential client is going to need in order for them to be ready to say yes. So, what we’re doing in the in between, in nurturing our community, and showing up for our community, and being on social media, and continuing that conversation and engagement.
That’s going to be probably the key especially when you have kind of those longer windows or longer runways that are needed in order for the person to buy. So I think that when you have a failed launch, it’s an opportunity for you to connect even more in a deeper way with your community, to learn what it is they really need. And sometimes the answer is they do really need your product, they just need more warming up before they’re ready to say yes to that.
Tobi: Okay. Yeah. So what are some of the ways that you would help people? So do you play a role in that or is that separate, of like them going online, or them doing the in between launches and all of those things, is that part of how you help people?
Tasha: Right. So we have some clients now that we’ve done launch after launch with. And they launch quarterly and so in the in between we’re doing Facebook ads. We’re doing some suggestions on social media for them and that sort of thing. But I would say the majority of our clients in the in between of their launches, they’re kind of responsible or they and their team are responsible for that nurturing that’s going on.
And my suggestion in that nurturing is wherever you’re already comfortable showing up. So if you’re consistent on Instagram, or you’re consistent on LinkedIn or wherever, you continue to do that. And you invite people to take that next step. So making sure that you have some kind of an opt-in that is taking them to your email list, and then that can continue and deepen the conversation as well.
Tobi: Awesome. I want to talk about email lists in a minute. But first, you mentioned people who have a set schedule for launches. And I think this is really good and important because so often we have the first launch. And all we can think about is getting the launch out. And then we get to the debrief and we’re unhappy with our results and we want to quit.
But I think what’s interesting is if you had already envisioned that we’re going to launch, this is a one and done thing. It’s not just a keep going if it works, but more getting in the mindset of this is something we’re going to be doing regularly and let’s expect the first wins to maybe not be as successful potentially. We’re going to pretend they’re going to be successful but if they’re not we’re going to not be disheartened.
But then so what is that perfect time? Do you have a suggestion on how often people should already kind of be thinking more across a year or a certain time period for how often they should be showing up and launching?
Tasha: Yeah. I would say when you’re first starting, probably twice a year is going to be enough because then you have plenty of time in between those launches to really refine things, to nurture your audience, to do all of those things. If you’re doing quarterly when you’re first starting, by the time you finish one launch it’s time to kind of ramp up for the next one. And that can get really exhausting really fast especially if you don’t have a team or a large team kind of supporting you.
So doing it twice a year gives you the opportunity to make, and to modify, and adjust as my mom likes to say, to make some modifications and adjustments in between without having to wait an entire another year to do that.
Tobi: Yeah, that’s really good. And I love what you’re saying because I talk to people all the time. We help people dial in their schedule and really get good at estimating how long things take. But it’s something that we inherently are bad at, especially if we’ve never done it before. And I love that you mention that because in our head we’re like, yeah, a launch, that’ll take a couple of weeks. And then you realize, no, it can take weeks, months. It could take a year depending on what you’re trying to pull off.
So what is kind of a typical expectation of how long it does take to not only plan a launch but then do the launch?
Tasha: Yeah. So all of our clients are usually on an eight week launch schedule, and we actually don’t take clients for less than that for full launches. Because those eight weeks really allow it to feel good for the client and not feel rushed and stressed and everything, and also for the team. If somebody’s brand new to launching I would suggest you start 12, even 16 weeks out to just give yourself the space and time to do all of the things that you need to do. I know that our launch project plan now has over 200 tasks that are on it.
Tobi: Wow.
Tasha: Yeah. And so thinking in terms of every single email and then testing every email and all of those little pieces that we don’t think about until we’re in the thick of it and then we’re already overwhelmed. So yeah, I would say at least eight weeks, preferably 12 to 16.
Tobi: Yeah, which makes perfect sense when you say that about quarterly, you can’t even do 16 weeks, that’s more than a quarter, which is so interesting. So I love that you mentioned 200 tasks because as an interior designer, I know exactly how people underestimate and can’t imagine that there are literally probably 200 decisions in a room, like the walls, and the wallpaper, and the things you don’t think of like the baseboards, and the windows, and the switch click covers, and the texture on the sheetrock.
And there are literally hundreds of decisions even in one room. But then we go into something we’re not familiar with like a launch and we kind of don’t even know what it is. How in the world could there be 200 different steps? So what are some of those kind of overarching, can you help us kind of know what are the categories of a launch? You mentioned email. You mentioned maybe a webinar. What are the types of things we’re going to be doing in that 12 to 16 week period to take on a launch?
Tasha: Yeah. So the big, big one is writing a lot of copy, there is so much more copy than people realize. So you have the copy for your webinar page, thank you page, your sales page, your sales thank you page. You have the reminders for the webinar, or the challenge, or whatever. You also have all the sales emails. You have the email after people buy confirming. So you’ve got all of those. So the copy is a really huge one.
It’s also the one that most of our clients need the longest time on because especially if you’re writing your own copy and it’s your first time, or even second or third time doing it. You’re not a copywriter and so of course it’s going to take longer. And then we have all the design elements. So those are kind of the next layer on to them. After that we’ve got tech, so that’s another layer on top of design and copy. And then we have testing of everything so that’s another layer on top of all of those things. So those are kind of the basic layers.
And actually I will link to, or I’ll give you the link for the show notes, but I have a six pillars of our project plan. And it’s basically what we think about in terms of our project planning and how we start at kind of the zoomed out high level and then the questions that we start asking as we’re building the project plan to make sure we drill down and get all of those pieces.
Tobi: Yeah, that’s so good. And just to clarify what you mean by design elements, you mean the design of a Facebook ad, or the design of the layout for the sales page, all that kind of stuff. There’s a lot of graphic design and programming that goes into creating all those assets, right?
Tasha: Exactly, yeah.
Tobi: Awesome. So I suspect because I find it true for every single thing, no matter what we do, that a huge piece of a successful launch is, besides those 200 tasks, which are sort of the action pieces. But probably one of the most important pieces is the mindset of the launcher. So what are some of the things we should be thinking about if we’re like, “I either have a product, or I want to create a product but I really want to know more about this launch thing?”
A lot of times we get in the weeds of the actions and that’s not even the biggest problem. It’s how we’re thinking globally about the whole idea, what’s in then our mindset. So is that true? Do you find that to be true? And then what kind of things do you see coming up for people around that mindset?
Tasha: Yeah, it’s a 100% true. It’s so true that we actually now have a mindset coach on our team. They work with our clients. They have two sessions of our clients throughout their full launches, when we do full launches for clients. And the reason for that is that it’s different when you’re first starting out and you’re like, “I’ll be okay no matter what.” And then you get into the thick of it and the launch becomes your baby because you’ve worked so hard at it. Then of course it starts feeling like if this doesn’t work, or if people say no to your product they’re saying no to you.
And so if your launch is ‘a failure’ you are a failure. So separating those two things from maybe this isn’t the ideal time, or this isn’t the right product for people. And I am still worthy no matter what. I am still wonderful, and important, and I do great work in the world. So I think that that’s kind of the main thing that comes up. I like to remind people that we need to be unattached from the outcomes. And it’s so much easier to say than to do.
But when you walk into it saying, “You know what? I really want to sell a 100 of these. But if I sell to one person I know that that’s that perfect person. And if I sell to zero people I still have more information about what my community wanted, and needed, and didn’t want and need than I did when I first started.
Tobi: Yeah. I think that’s one of the biggest ones because we talk about that a lot in my program too. And talk about that very thing of being unattached. But I think that again it is easier said than done. And so what other things might people focus on besides just sales, especially in some of the early launch days when they might have a webinar or even a sales launch that nobody comes to or nobody buys? Because I’m with you, I agree with you totally.
But I’m sure there’s some key things that they can say, “My goal for this is not necessarily to sell 10 of these or a 100 of these.” It might be, what, to learn how to do a webinar really well or to something else. What are some of those parts they can focus on?
Tasha: Yeah. So definitely to just the experience of learning how to do all of the pieces is super huge and key. The other pieces are things like connection and building their community. We just had a client who just had her first launch with us, didn’t do as well as she wanted to in numbers, but at the same time she went from 97 people on her email list to almost 2,000 people on her email list. And so now what an opportunity to continue nurturing them, to continue communication so that the next time we launch with her, I can’t even imagines what the difference is going to be.
So really looking at not just that one metric of did I make what I wanted to make in terms of revenue or not. But what are all the little other pieces in terms of how you grew your reach, your outcomes, your network.
Tobi: Yeah. And when you’re spending money, because you have to spend money on a launch and you don’t make the money back. How can they think about that as more of an investment? Because you and I both know, if you’ve built 2,000 people on your list, that is future money, that’s an asset. So are there other parts of what they’re building that they can use again? Are they investing in something and it’s not just money down the drain, but it’s an investment towards all the future launches as well?
Tasha: Absolutely. There’s so many pieces of launch that you can repurpose and re-use if you’re going to do that same launch again, so most of the emails you can re-use. We like to look at which emails did well in terms of open rate, in terms of click through rate, those sorts of things. And then repurpose them, change up the subject line a little bit, use it again, nobody’s going to notice.
The same thing with things like your social media, if they’re connected with people find slightly different stories but use the same social media graphics. So there’s tons of opportunities to repurpose. And I never think of it as money down the drain. I always think of it as you’re building on top of thing, after thing, after thing, for what you want in the future.
Tobi: Amazing. So another thing that I notice happens and it’s not just true for me, it’s true for other people. You can have one launch, maybe even your first, but it might not be, but you build up to this, you know, we sold 300, or we sold 1,000, or we sold whatever. And in your brain you’re like, now, every other launch after this one is going to be equally big or bigger. And then we have the next launch and we’re like, “We only sold 200 and last time we sold 1,000.” We’re back to defeated and want to quit again.
So do you see that happen often? And why is that? Is it just things outside of our control? And how can we prepare ourselves to know that this process is kind of an up and down one?
Tasha: Yeah. It does happen, thankfully it doesn’t happen a ton, but it does happen. And so sometimes it’s things that are out of our control. All of last year was out of our control. And so launches were all over the place last year. But at the same time the other thing that I see that is in our control that often happens is people rely on the email list that they already have.
And they’re not taking the time to build because when you think about it, if you have let’s say a 100 people on your email list that first time, and you get a 20% conversion rate, so 20 people out of that 100, buy. If you only have a 100 people the next time, 20 people have already bought.
Tobi: Yeah, so you’ve got 80 people.
Tasha: Yeah. So you’ve got 80 people and those 80 people have already told you they’re not interested. So maybe a few more are now ready but not all of them are going to be. Whereas if you go from a 100 and then in the in between, take the time to then build the list to 500. Now you have 400 new people, and if you get another 20%, so it’s really a matter of, I love thinking about launches, about the most important pieces of them being what you do in the in between, not even what you’re doing during your launch. The in between is how you sell, yeah.
Tobi: Yeah, that’s so good. And I watch a lot of people who are growing their list by Facebook Ads to a great lead magnet or something, which is a great way to do that. But what I watch them do is get sort of spending fatigue in the middle. And they’re like, “We’re not even having a launch now and I feel like I’m just spending money.” And so I love what you’re saying, because they’re not thinking about it in a way of realizing, no, this is really kind of the prelaunch part of the next launch, right?
Tasha: Yes, absolutely.
Tobi: Yeah, that’s so good. So is there a certain number, if people don’t have a list and there are plenty of people who I encounter who are like, “I still don’t even really know what you mean by email list. You mean that group of people I invited to that party that one time at my shop, for my interior design shop?” And I’m like, “No. It’s a group of people you can reach online and send emails to for selling.”
But is there a number that, like do you need a big list? Can you have a really successful launch with a small list? And if people are working towards kind of the first kind of hurdle, where would you like them to have their list before they launch, is there a number?
Tasha: Yeah. So there’s not any specific number. I’ve seen great launches that have done well with a small list. I think it’s a matter of the combination of your list size and your list engagement. So what I mean by engagement is the number of people who are actually opening and reading your emails. So if you have a list of a 100 but 50% of those people are opening your emails you have 50 people that are opening your emails. If you have a list of a 1,000, but only 10% are opening your emails, only a 100 people. Do you know what I mean?
Tobi: Right, yes, it’s not that different.
Tasha: It’s really not that different. So it’s really about the combination of those things. And at the same time if you do have a smaller list you just have to make sure that your goals make sense for your list size. So maybe in that smaller list your goal is to only make those first few sales that first time. And really kind of get traction and get your feet wet. And then your goal should be to build your list and in terms of that you can have more people to tune your style to the next time.
Tobi: So what’s an appropriate percentage on a first launch if you have a small list? If you have a 100 people, if they’re setting those goals, is it 10%, is it 20%?
Tasha: Yeah. I would say any time we do a beta, most of the time that’s going to be the highest percentage you ever get. So that’s usually anywhere between 5 and 20%, which I know is a huge, huge difference, but anywhere between that. And then the next times we launch we’re looking at anywhere between 1 to 5% of your overall list.
Tobi: Interesting, that’s so interesting, because I think people are probably thinking more like the 50%, like you mentioned. And we’re literally talking 1 to 5%. That’s so fascinating. So that can also feel heavy. You’re like, “I’m doing all of this work and only 1 to 5% of these people are going to purchase each time that I do a launch.”
Tasha: Right. And that’s why the first time out and even the second or third time out are really getting to know your audience. And it really differs between industries, that sort of thing as well. So you really have to look at what your audience is going to actually do, which is why we do the launch debrief, to see kind of the data. And to be able to track the data from launch to launch so that we know what’s a good percentage for you, which could totally be a different thing than somebody else.
Tobi: And does price of product have anything to do with purchasing? Because I’m sure people think well, if it’s cheaper I’ll sell more. And I don’t know that that’s necessarily true. But you also, if it’s cheap and you’re only getting 1%, you’re not going to get a lot of money back, a lot of return, so where does price play into this?
Tasha: It really depends on how warm your audience is. So if you have a really great email list who have known you for a while and who is basically asking you to make something for them to buy you can go with a higher price for that first thing. But what we like to say is, we talk about know, like, trust factor a lot of times. People really need to know, like and trust you in order to be able to buy from you.
And so if your audience doesn’t know you very well, they’re probably not going to buy something that’s a $5,000 thing from you that first time online. But they would buy a $197 thing or even a $597 thing from you.
Tobi: Yeah. And when you say low price, you consider anything under a couple of 100 or even 500 a lower price? What do you consider a low versus high price?
Tasha: Anywhere, so I see what’s called self-liquidating offers or tiny offers at the start of $27 all the way up. So 27 to anything like 197 I would say is a low price. 197 to 997 I say is medium. And anything over that, you probably are going to need to do some more nurturing before people are actually going to take action.
Tobi: Interesting, okay. So here’s another question I have for you. And jump in any time, if there’s other stuff you want to…
Tasha: Yeah. No, I love this.
Tobi: This is like rapid fire questions. One of the other things that was just coming to my mind, when you do think of something like say interior design or something that might have a fairly high cost of implementation. Because it’s not like we’re just buying the class or the strategy day. I’ve got to have tables, and chairs, and pillows, and draperies, and all the things. Or I’m going to rip out my whole kitchen like we said, or I’m going to build a whole new house. Those are pretty big investments.
And so my suspicion is that it’s got to be the right timing for clients to be ready. Not everybody’s going to just watch a class and be like, “Okay honey, let’s build a new house.” You’ve got a spare half a million dollars to be around in the pot. So when you have something that is maybe a little bit of a higher end endeavor, even if it’s a lower price course you’re selling, how do we think about that? Do we just need more people because it’s a numbers game?
How do you start playing with that type of product? Because it’s definitely different than I’m just going to take a class and learn how to needlepoint or play a guitar or something. It’s not a huge investment on the front end, or learn how to do marketing or a webinar. It’s different when you really get into the industry, maybe the home industry, or a wedding or something. Those are pretty big deals so yeah, what do you think about that?
Tasha: Yeah. So I definitely think that it is a numbers game and you just are going to have to reach and have more people in order to be able to have the success in it that you want to have. The great thing about it is that Facebook Ads exist.
And so one of the things that’s great about Facebook Ads is that you can actually target people who are at Home Depot a lot, or looking at on Zillow or something like that, so that you’re more likely to be targeting the people who are actually looking for the thing that you offer at that specific time instead of it just being anybody over 30. And that’s a wide net, so you can target it down too so that you’re really reaching those ideal clients.
Tobi: That’s such an interesting approach. And yes, I’ve thought about it with Facebook Ads but I haven’t really thought about like you said of whose looking on Zillow right now? Or what are some of the other ways and are there other things we can do organically to start to know if people are ready for the product that we’re selling? Because I do think even in the same way that it’s kind of hard to find your own one-on-one clients, I think when people first start getting into the digital space or scalable products, it’s like where are my people?
And they feel like if they’re just going on their own Instagram and maybe they only have 300 followers and they’re like, “I’m just saying the same thing with the same people and nobody’s biting, where are my people?” What advice do you have for them to start finding, besides, the ones you’ve given on Facebook Ads, what can we do to find the people?
Tasha: Yeah. So organically I would say, going back to your example about Instagram, Instagram, and really being strategic about the hashtags you’re using is a great place to start. So making sure that you’re using hashtags that are relevant to the types of clients that you’re looking for. So hashtag real estate may be one, or design, or interior design, those sorts of things. What is your ideal client or potential client looking at? And how are they finding the things on Instagram that they’re interested in? And how can you find those people basically based off of that?
Tobi: So kitchen renovation, laundry room renovation, bathroom renovation, new home, new construction, any of the things that would fit into your particular area.
Tasha: Yeah. And the same goes for Pinterest. Pinterest would be a goldmine for your industry in terms of just being able to target via keywords the exact things that you want your ideal client to be looking for to make sure that they’re ready for what you offer.
Tobi: That’s so good. I love the idea. I think Pinterest is such an – I mean even though we use it for searching as a design industry, or we’ll send our clients over to pull their own inspiration. I think it’s very untapped as far as the launch piece of it. So can you speak to that a little bit more? I mean there’s keywords, how should we be thinking about something like a Pinterest if we’re wanting people to connect with us? Is it putting that lead magnet over there that’s about home building? Or is it designing your dining room or is there another piece of it?
Tasha: So yes, it’s definitely the lead magnet and having some clickable pins and everything that takes them to your content. And once they get over to your content really thinking in terms of okay, what’s the next step you want them to take? So are they then registered for the webinar that you have? Are you sending them a newsletter about introducing yourself or whatever the case may be? So Pinterest is a search engine basically. So it’s a lot about the keywords.
Also you can also do ads and Pinterest ads tend to be much cheaper than Facebook ads. So you can even target on Pinterest to even find your ideal people too. And you’re really always thinking in terms of on Pinterest what are the things that your ideal client wants to see and how can you create boards and pins that are part of that? So I used to do a lot of Pinterest strategy for clients before I even got into launching. I haven’t done it much more in a while. But at the same time it stays tried and true on the same, just keep it simple and really use those keywords.
Tobi: Yeah. Well, and it makes so much sense like you said for creative industries because at any given moment the wedding industry, and the home industry, are some of the top two or three categories over, and over, and over on Pinterest. That’s where people go to look for that stuff, so, so good. Okay, well, anything else that you think people really need to be thinking about if they are wanting to do a launch?
Tasha: Yeah. I would just say dive in and do it and give yourself plenty of time. So dive in and do it, don’t be scared of launching. It can be fun and it can be easy. And keep everything linear and just have fun.
Tobi: The two things that always come to our brain is time and money. And I love that you said, “Give yourself plenty of time.” Which I do think getting clear on what that even means for them because it’s not you’re going to just squeeze your launch in on nights and weekends when you’re completely packed with four home projects that are happening right now and you’re exhausted. You need some real time. You need, what, how many hours in a week are they going to be thinking about their launch, 10 or more than that?
Tasha: Yeah. I would give yourself at least half a day once a week, and especially the longer you start or the further out you start the easier it’s going to be just to have some dedicated, like four hours a week to work on your launch.
Tobi: Yeah. And when you’re in the launch you literally need to clear your schedule because you’re going live and you’re doing all kinds of things too. And then kind of what’s the minimum cost, if people are going to invest in, especially if they are going to maybe pay a copywriter, pay you, or do some Facebook ads, kind of what’s the minimum expense we should think about for a launch?
Tasha: Yeah. So when people are first starting to launch, when they have their first launch my suggestion is always to have a VA that understands launches. You want to start there. And then that will kind of minimize your expense for your first launch, just to make sure that it’s viable, that it’s something that people want to buy, all those things. Once you’re ready for a team like ours or something else like that, usually anywhere between 5,000 all the way up is what you’re looking at.
Tobi: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I thought you’d maybe say around 5,000. So it’s not something that’s totally free, even with a VA, you have to pay for that person’s time, because there’s a lot of time. But paying a good virtual assistant $25-40 an hour or something is way less money than you trying to go out and teach yourself how to do all the things with a launch, right?
Tasha: Yeah, I’ve seen too many people that have amazing products but they created the product and then stopped there because they weren’t great with the tech or they weren’t great with copy or whatever. And so when you get to that point where you’re just like, “This is the thing that’s holding me up”, that’s when you know you should hire somebody to do that thing.
Tobi: And last question that comes to mind, how do you do that? I think that’s one of the things that I get asked all the time. “Where do I find a good VA?” Or, “How do I know if they’re going to be good and know what to do?”
Tasha: Oh gosh, that’s a whole bag of worms. But the good news is I train VAs.
Tobi: So they’d sooner come to you and hire one of the ones that you train?
Tasha: So yeah, I will also give you that link so you can put it in the show notes too. But we actually have a free referral form that any time people are looking for a VA, an OBM, a copywriter; they can fill up that form. And my VA, Denny sends them over recommendations.
Tobi: Amazing. So it’s kind of like your own little co-op of people that they can tap into. It’s so good, okay. Well, this was super fun, very informative. And yeah, tell everybody where they can find you and then if there’s any – you said, “Just have fun, give plenty of room.” That’s kind of the parting words, give yourself space and enjoy it?
Tasha: Absolutely, yeah. And you can find me and connect with me at thelaunchguild.com is our website. And then we’re on social, the same handle at The Launch Guild.
Tobi: So, so good. Well, gosh, you’re full of information that is so helpful. And I love that you are willing to connect people with really qualified people because I think that you’re only as good as your team. You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with. So that’s so helpful. Thank you so much. Well, I loved talking to you. I learned so much myself. Thank you so much for being here.
Tasha: Thank you.
Tobi: Yeah. And I look forward to seeing you soon, and everybody reach out to us. Let Tasha know on Instagram DM, is that a good thing?
Tasha: Yes, that would be great.
Tobi: I love the show or I have a question or whatever, they can reach out to you there?
Tasha: Yes, I’m on Instagram way too much, so yes.
Tobi: Well, I’ll see you on Instagram. Thank you so much for being here.
Tasha: Thank you.
Okay. Well, I hope that was as informative for you as it was for me. Gosh, I’ve been doing launches for a little while and I still learned so much from Tasha. And I just can tell that she knows what she’s talking about, can’t you? And when I do something like launch I want somebody like Tasha who’s an expert in my corner. So I hope you’ll check her out. I hope you’ll find her on Instagram, or go check out her website because even if you’re not ready for her yet, it sounds like there’s so much that she can help you do.
And as she promised in the episode we’re going to link some things in our show notes that she has for you to make this process easier. So head over to my website, go into the podcast tab and get the show notes for this episode, number 164 and in that you’ll be able to find those downloads that Tasha has for you. And I’ll see you back right here next week with another great episode of the Design You podcast. Bye for now.
Thank you so much for listening to the Design You podcast, and if you are ready to dig deep and do the important work we talk about here on the podcast of transforming your mindset and creating a scalable online business model, there has never been a more important time than right now. So join me and the incredible creative entrepreneurs in my Design You coaching program today. You can get all the details at TobiFairley.com.
