THE EMAIL GROWTH SHOW EPISODE 156
Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of your next launch? You’re not alone.
In this episode, I chatted with pre-launch strategist Brenna McGowan, who is revolutionising the way entrepreneurs approach launching. Brenna believes that the traditional launch model is backwards and often leads to unnecessary stress and burnout.
In this episode she shares her insights on crafting an effective pre-launch strategy that not only reduces stress but also aligns with your personality and business style. If you’ve ever felt like you wanted to “burn everything to the ground” during a launch, this episode is packed with practical tips and fresh perspectives to help you rethink your approach.
Click play to listen to this episode in full:
Today we covered:
- Rethinking Traditional Launch Strategies:
Brenna shared her insights on why the conventional way of launching is often backwards and can lead to unnecessary stress and overwhelm. She emphasised the importance of aligning your launch approach with your personality, business size, and resources, rather than trying to replicate the strategies of industry giants. - The Power of Pre-Launch Planning:
We dove deep into what a pre-launch is and why it’s a critical component of a successful launch. Brenna explained that the pre-launch phase, typically 4-6 weeks before your official launch, is about preparing your audience by selling the process, not just the product. This approach can lead to increased sales, better client fit, and a more enjoyable launch experience.
We also discussed strategies for creating content that resonates, such as sharing personal stories, using audio or video to connect, and being mindful of your audience’s current feelings and objections. Brenna stressed the importance of not over-educating during the pre-launch phase to avoid overwhelming your audience. - Structuring Your Pre-Launch Content:
We explored Brenna’s method for organising pre-launch content using weekly themes:
- Week 1 – Why: Share your reasons for doing what you do to connect with your audience on a deeper level.
- Week 2 – Pain Points: Address the specific challenges and struggles your audience is facing without immediately offering solutions.
- Week 3 – Myths and Objections: Tackle common misconceptions and barriers that prevent your audience from taking action.
- Week 4 – Transformation: Paint a vivid picture of the results and transformation your audience can achieve.
- Building Relationships and Growing Your Email List:
Brenna talked about how to leverage collaborations and relationship-based strategies to grow your email list during the pre-launch. She suggested practical tactics like email swaps, voxer chats for market research, and being intentional about planning collaborations that align with your launch timeline.
Want a practical next step if you’re planning to launch an offer soon?
Start by mapping out your pre-launch strategy.
Outline the next 4-6 weeks leading up to your launch, assigning each week a specific theme as Brenna suggested. By planning your pre-launch intentionally, you’ll set the stage for a more successful and less stressful launch.
Where to learn & connect with Brenna:
- Pre-Launch Plan Program: CLICK HERE
- Free Pre-Launch Plan Cheat Sheet: https://brennamcgowan.co/cheatsheet/
- Brenna’s Website: https://brennamcgowan.co/
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Full Transcript:
Brenna McGowan [00:00:00]:
Going in and having a very specific promotional period around your product or service is always going to yield better results than being in an evergreen funnel. It’s just the way it is. When you when you draw attention to one thing, that is where your audience will shift focus to.
Kylie Kelly [00:00:21]:
Are you a female business owner frustrated with battling the algorithm and looking for growth strategies that don’t involve awkwardly pointing or dancing online or throwing cash at paid ads? Welcome to The Email Growth Show. I’m your host, Kylie Kelly, visibility and email marketing strategist. I grew my email list from 0 to almost 10,000 subscribers in less than two years? And the same is possible for you too. Are you ready to build your email list and start making more money in your online business? Let’s head into today’s episode. Hello. Welcome back to The Email Growth Show. I’m so excited for this interview today with the incredible Greta. Greta, welcome.
Brenna McGowan [00:01:00]:
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
Kylie Kelly [00:01:03]:
So good. Okay. Now, before we dive into all things pre launch that we’re going to be talking about today, I would love you to share with our listeners how you got started with this topic. Just in case they don’t know you.
Brenna McGowan [00:01:14]:
Well, I’ll give you the the short version. It could be very long, but I essentially I started my business on a whim, I say, in 2018. And I started off as a social media manager. Realized very quickly, I hated being a social media manager. But what I did love about it was the writing part of doing social media. And so I very quickly moved over into email copywriting. And then from email copywriting, I started to write all kinds of copy from sales pages to websites, to watches. And in that process, I realized that I I start I started to see a hole in the launch market, which is pre launch, which is essentially how we got here.
Brenna McGowan [00:02:02]:
And how I noticed it, it was kind of twofold. So one was I had worked on a couple of launches that didn’t go as well as we had hoped. And as a copywriter, it’s really hard when you’re writing copy and you feel responsible to some degree, which which you’re not entirely, but you do feel that responsibility. And I started to look at, like, what was the missing piece? And for both of those launches, when I looked back, it was that they were missing the prelaunch phase, the launch runway phase. And I know we’re gonna talk more about what that looks like. And around that same time, our mutual friend, Marissa Corcoran, was having her, wonderful summit, the copy chat, and she was interviewing Jim Carter, and they were having a chat, and they were talking about pre launch. And I was like, oh, yeah. And even as a launch copywriter, I never was like, oh, we need to do a prelaunch to go with this launch copy.
Brenna McGowan [00:02:53]:
It was like, okay. Let me write your 17 launch emails and package them up and hand them over and not really concentrate on the most important part of the launch, which is the prelaunch. So that’s that’s how I came up with, I guess, you could say the idea. I didn’t, like, originate prelaunch, but I thought, I wonder if I should really lean into this. And when the more research I did, I realized, gosh, no one’s talking about this subject in its own in its own niche, which it truly is. And I went to a client and I said, hey, who was having a launch, I said, I have this idea. Could we do this? And we did and we saw incredible results with that first launch. She had, almost a 50% increase in sales.
Brenna McGowan [00:03:36]:
But not only that, she started to have like, reduce the time on sales calls. She it wasn’t her sales became easier. She started to call in better fit clients, meaning students who were really prepared and ready to do the work inside of her program and get better results, which on the back end, gives you better testimonials, which helps you sell your product and or your course in the future. And so at that point, once we saw those results, I was like, okay, this is, this is something I’m going to go all in on.
Kylie Kelly [00:04:07]:
Oh my goodness. I love that. And I love that the results, yes, there were more sales and a more successful launch, but it sounds like she even enjoyed it more. Like it was more fun and less pressure. Right?
Brenna McGowan [00:04:16]:
Oh, yeah. It was totally that. And she is, like, self proclaimed super introverted. And so the fact that we were able to do it in a way that that fit her personality and her sales style is also huge. And it’s a huge component of what I teach because I actually talked about this in an email. I think it was yesterday. It’s just like, there’s a lot of shoulds, and we can go to our mentors and find, you know, different different coaches that will tell you, oh, go do this one thing. But we don’t really take into account our personality and how it meshes with that.
Brenna McGowan [00:04:49]:
We feel like we’re doing something wrong if we’re not doing it the way that everyone has taught us to. And if anything, I think the way we’ve been taught to do launches is a little backwards. And so I’m really trying to redefine how you can sell without it feeling like this huge I think when we think of launches, we think of, you know, the queen of launches, Amy Porterfield, and this hue what she does. And we don’t take into account, like, once again, personality, team, how long someone’s been in business, you know, how much you like going live, how much you wanna create freely. There’s so many different components that we can talk about. So I think it’s really, like, it’s not I wanna I truly believe launching. And so what people do now I’m gonna get on my, like, high horse here for a moment. But what people do is they go, oh, I don’t wanna launch anymore.
Brenna McGowan [00:05:38]:
Like, launching is bad, you know, for we’ll just use simplistic terms. And I I always feel like bad for launching. Like, it’s a personality. Like, I feel like launching’s got a bad rep for the way things have been established when it’s not the like, going in and having a very specific promotional period around your product or service is always going to yield better results than being in an evergreen funnel. It’s just the way it is. When you when you draw attention to one thing, that is where your audience will shift focus to. So how can we start having these bigger promotional periods? Not saying that you can’t have an evergreen funnel running in the background, but how can you start having these promotional periods that don’t feel overwhelming, stressful, like you wanna burn everything to the ground?
Kylie Kelly [00:06:24]:
Oh my goodness. And I think that’s why one of the reasons why I was drawn to you in the way that you teach things, because I wholeheartedly agree that there’s no, like, one way. There’s no cookie cutter thing. Like, it doesn’t work. It’s gotta be in a way that feels good. And I think sometimes, especially when we’re maybe new at a business or we do invest in high ticket and I’m not not like dissing high ticket coaches, but, like, I think when we pay a lot of money for something, we think that that’s the answer and that’s the only answer, and we have to do it that way. Whereas that’s absolutely not the case. There’s so much more that comes into play there.
Kylie Kelly [00:06:57]:
So I love that so much. So for anyone listening that’s like, okay, what do you even mean by prelaunch? Let’s give them an overview of what the prelaunch period actually is.
Brenna McGowan [00:07:06]:
Yeah. And I think it’s really important because, interestingly enough, I’m in my own prelaunch, and I think this is the other reason as we as we’re talking, I am. And I think this is the important reason of doing prelaunch because I have people in my audience who think it’s one thing and it’s not. And so now I know, okay, I need to bring attention to this topic. So a prelaunch, the way that I define it is typically the 4 to 6 weeks before you officially launch. So whether it’s you are opening your doors, you are doing a masterclass, like a challenge, something of that sorts. And what people will say, there’s 2 things. People will say, oh my gosh, I’m, I’m extending my launch by 6 weeks.
Brenna McGowan [00:07:49]:
No. A pre launch is completely different than your sales period. It’s the content that you’re creating in support of the upcoming launch. The second thing to point out is people say, does it have to be 4 to 6 weeks? Yes and no. It depends. Like, I’m one of my quotes, if you will, is everything works and nothing works. Right? It’s like thinking through what process, what strategy is right for you and your business. If you are selling a $37 product, you probably and you’re and you’re launching it, you probably don’t need 6 weeks of very concentrated launch time, but it’s or prelaunch time, but it’s not gonna hurt you either.
Brenna McGowan [00:08:24]:
Now if you’re selling something, I think in the in this day and age, 500, the $500 US dollars, a 100 US dollar Earth what am I saying? 500 US dollars, a 1000 US dollars. Right? This is starting to be money that people really think about before spending. And so a lot of times it’s warranted to have an extended pre launch. It’s never going to hurt you to have a longer runway up to your actual launch time.
Kylie Kelly [00:08:50]:
So I love this. And I think you need to get merch that says everything works and nothing works, because I love that quote. So if we’re putting this into, like, practical terms, when you are planning out, do you do it like at the start of the year? You plan out when your launches will be and then pencil out what the prelaunch runway looks like?
Brenna McGowan [00:09:07]:
Yes. I mean, in a perfect world, yeah. That’s what we’re doing. So in a realistic world, sometimes we’re like, maybe I should move this promotion around, or maybe I’m gonna launch something new. So I also think it doesn’t have to be as scripted, but but I do think it needs to be planned. So what a lot of people do is they wait and they’re like, oh, I’m gonna launch this thing in 2 weeks, and then they scurry around and do all of the launch stuff and forget about the launch runway. So I would just say like, can giving yourself, if you are going to launch something, making a conscious effort and decision to say, okay, I know I wanna launch this thing, but I know that it’s not just the 7 day period. I need to back up, you know, 4 weeks at least for to have some prelaunch content around it.
Brenna McGowan [00:09:53]:
And some people I’ve worked on launches with a much shorter runway. Kevin Rogers with Coffee Cheap’s a great example. He was like, I’ll give you 2 weeks. You know? And I was like, okay. We’ll see what we can do in 2 weeks. And we we went way over goal. I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I think he was, like, 40% over goal. But, essentially, we met his goal, and we did it in a very short time frame.
Brenna McGowan [00:10:16]:
So some prelaunch is always going to be better than longer, you know, or I’m sorry. They’re not doing it at all. And that’s what usually happens is that people go, oh, shoot, I don’t have time for it this time. So I’m not going to do anything. That’s like one of the worst decisions you can make going into a launch period.
Kylie Kelly [00:10:32]:
I’m so guilty of that. Like, you know, having a great idea and just getting so excited and just putting it out there and being like, oh, Oh, I got some sales, but I wonder I always think, I wonder what could have happened had I done it properly, had I actually allowed time to almost honor the new offer as well. Like, I think we’re almost doing that new offer or new product or whatever it is like a disservice if we’re not actually warming people up to know about it. Like, there’s gotta be that that time allowed. Right? What about if somebody’s listening to this? So as we’re recording this, it’s September, 2024. I know q4 is like full of launches. So if somebody’s listening to this, and they’re about to enter a launch and they haven’t even thought about prelaunch, what should they do? Like, what would you recommend?
Brenna McGowan [00:11:14]:
Gosh. It’s a great question. I would say the thing that you have to think about when you go into a prelaunch I always say a prelaunch is for selling your process, not your product. So I would say, could you take a step back and think about what is some content that you can create to support that? And I’m going to explain what that is. So when I say, a prelaunch is for selling the process and not your product, I’ll use my own program as an example. So for someone to invest in the prelaunch plan program, which is my program, they have to believe that a prelaunch is the way for them to take the stress and overwhelm out of their launch to call in better fit clients, to presale spots ahead of time, to increase launch revenue without increasing and having more launch stress and pressure. So I am selling the idea before I actually say, open the doors, come join me. And by doing that, it becomes a natural next step.
Brenna McGowan [00:12:14]:
And this is what people either skip this part where they’re not really selling their process. And when I say selling, I don’t mean, obviously, like, exchanging money, but whether you realize it or not and I actually heard this in a book that I’m reading right now, and it confirmed things that I’ve been saying, which is it’s called objections. But, basically, you’re constantly selling. You’re doing these little micro sales, whether you realize it. You’re you’re selling yourself. You’re selling that thing that you sell, the thing that’s under the hood of your offer. And so when you can go in and start creating some content around that so maybe you don’t have a ton of time to go plan a really, you know, strategic, robust prelaunch like I’d show you. But maybe you can go in and do a couple of posts, a a couple of emails.
Brenna McGowan [00:13:00]:
And also just giving people a heads up that your launch is coming, especially right now when, when pockets are tighter than ever, right? People are not spending as much people and even, I don’t, I don’t think as much as that people aren’t spending. I think people are just being more cautious with their spending. So you have to kind of carve out a space in their mind that, like, oh, yeah. This is a problem that I’m having, and this is a problem I wanna solve right now. And that’s what you should be using your prelaunch content to do.
Kylie Kelly [00:13:32]:
When you say I love that. When you say prelaunch content, so you talked a little bit at the start that it can be whatever feels good for you and your personality type and things like that. So can we do just email only? Do we have to do social media? Is there anything that you believe around the type of content that we create?
Brenna McGowan [00:13:48]:
Yeah. I in general, I like people to hear you or see you. I think that we get a a feeling when we hear someone’s voice, their personality, of who they are. We can feel energy around it. So if there’s one of my, like, have to’s, I would like one of those 2 things to happen. Now they can happen in various ways. You know, maybe you have a podcast, like what, you know, what you have. Maybe you’re someone who loves going live on Instagram.
Brenna McGowan [00:14:18]:
Maybe you’re someone who just likes audio. Like, I have one client I’m working with right now, and we’ve been creating a whole list of audios where she’s just using Voxer to record voice memos so people can see her. Right? There’s all or I’m sorry. People can hear her. So they’re all different ways. Yes. I do think that you can do an email only launch. I like it backed up a little bit with, like I said, a little bit of seeing and hearing you.
Kylie Kelly [00:14:44]:
Yeah, that makes sense. I love that. I love as well though, that you can make it so that it feels good. Like the examples that you gave. I think that’s really cool.
Brenna McGowan [00:14:52]:
Yeah. Working with the personality and say, okay, I hate video, but I can do audio. And I had this conversation with my tech person today. We’re doing some actual launch strategy and, you know, she was like, you could send a Bonjoro video. And I was like, no. I’m gonna do audio. Like, I can I could do audio all day long, but, like, stick me in front and have to, like, record a video? It’s like torture for me. So what what can we do that kind of offsets that feeling of, like, okay.
Brenna McGowan [00:15:18]:
I don’t wanna say I think sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone. So I think there’s an a difference between doing stuff we actually hate and it’s just a nonnegotiable or sometimes stuff that pushes us a little bit out of our comfort zone. I do think you need to push yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone around prelaunch and launch. But I don’t think it has to be like, okay. Now I gotta go do 42 reels. Like, if anything, I think for most businesses, I think social is probably the least important, you know, sales happen in the inbox. So I will, I will always say like email over social if you only have so much energy, But then again, how can we get creative and use the emails that we are already creating and reuse them into social media posts? So that’s the other thing. Let’s be smart about what we are putting out.
Brenna McGowan [00:16:08]:
And can we take take what we’re doing and repurpose it in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming?
Kylie Kelly [00:16:14]:
Yeah. I love that. And even, you know, the example you gave them about email, like, can we not embed a bit of audio in there or get creative, like you said, and and think about those other ways that they can hear your voice or see you? That feel good for you. So I love that so much. I’m also married to a YouTube coach, and he’s been pushing me for the longest time to start a YouTube channel. So, yes, I I agree with the comfort zone thing. So I would love to know as well, you mentioned before that, buyers at the moment are just a little bit more careful with their money. I think it’s safe to say, which I actually think is a really good thing because then when they are investing in something, they really want it.
Kylie Kelly [00:16:52]:
They’re not just flippantly buying something. So I think it’s a really good thing. Are you seeing from your end then that it takes, you know, is pre launch a little bit longer? Or are you having different conversations? Or what are you seeing from your end that has been different this year?
Brenna McGowan [00:17:05]:
Yeah. I definitely hear I did a bunch of market research for myself, going into my own pre launch, and what I’m definitely hearing from my clients’ clients and from potential clients for me is that, yes, they’re, like, they’re not investing. They’re they’ve been burned before is essentially. And so but with that, I don’t think necessarily and it dip once again, it depends on strategy. So I don’t know if a prelaunch necessarily has to be longer per se, but you have to be doing the research and finding out where your potential clients, what they’re feeling, what they’re what the temperature is so that you can address the elephant in the room. So for example, this prelaunch that I have, I wrote an email specifically around the the being burned and around that topic because I knew it was important. So if I got all the way to my launch and started to try, and that’s what I see sometimes. People are trying to squish so much into, like, a 7 day period of they’re trying to, like, educate their people.
Brenna McGowan [00:18:10]:
They’re trying to move them up on the awareness journey. They’re trying to deal with objections that are not only for the program before what they’re even selling. Right. There’s so many different things, components going on that that’s it usually tries to get lumped in. So I think spreading things out, but I definitely have seen a a shift in the market, like you said, where it’s I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing in the respect that people are making better buying choices. But the ones like you and me who are out doing good in the world, we also the the problem that we’re kind of running into is that we’re having to walk through this part where people are more hesitant. So we have to make our content like you can’t be lazy in your marketing messaging anymore. It’s just not going to work.
Brenna McGowan [00:18:57]:
People are not just throwing money at courses, anything. They’re almost a little anti course, anti program, right? They’re, they’re trying to, they’ve done things that have been, that they’ve been promised results and have not seen results. I think, specifically, 2 people from the last round of the my prelaunch plan program, this was like a huge when they got through the program, they’re like, I was super scared to invest. Like, I did my research. I asked a ton of both of these people asked a ton of questions before they even came into the program. And they it turned out to be a wonderful experience, but it was definitely a component that I had to think about going into my launch. And this is the other reason why a pre launch is so important is because you have to have time to to hear not only to, I guess, deal with these things for lack of better words in your content, but it also gives you a moment to also get real time feedback of what’s working and not working in some of your messaging so that you can make appropriate tweaks before you get to your lot.
Kylie Kelly [00:19:57]:
No. That’s a great point. Yeah. Do you find that there’s I don’t wanna say a a secret or, like, when you’re gonna do market research, what is, like, your number one go to? Are you just looking for conversations to start in your emails? Do you jump on calls? Like, how do you do market research to to find that out?
Brenna McGowan [00:20:13]:
Yeah. It’s definitely having calls and conversations. Now I also I don’t do just calls. I also have, like, Voxer chats because what I can do with those Voxer chats, and this is, like, for the audio right now, it’s like, does anyone want to get on another Zoom call? No. Some people do. And then some people are like, no. Like, I don’t I don’t wanna get on another Zoom call. So I had a nice little handful of people who I did Voxer chats back and forth.
Brenna McGowan [00:20:40]:
And with Voxer, you can have a conversation. What I like about a Voxer conversation for market research is that someone’s not staring at them. Right? You have time to, like, hear a question, process that question, come back, and have a very quality answer. And then what you can do when the conversation is centered, what I do is I just forward all those little clips to my assistant. She combines them all, transcribes it, and then I have an audio file. So I I think that what I wouldn’t do right now is rely on AI. So, coincidentally, I’m creating custom GPTs for my program. So we’re gonna have, like, tools that are AI tools that you can use inside the program to expedite the processes.
Brenna McGowan [00:21:27]:
But what I like to do with AI is I like to have my own data set and say, okay, this is what I’m hearing from people. Now can you can you based on this information, can you then give me additional angles additional things I haven’t thought of? It wouldn’t be an that wouldn’t be a prompt, by the way. But that’s what so right now, don’t go and just type into AI, like, this is my what is this person struggling with? Because you’re pulling collectively for from all over the world. So many pieces. Like, you don’t know what’s a good output or a bad output unless you’re having conversations and have a true feel for what your person and your ideal client is going through.
Kylie Kelly [00:22:10]:
Well, that’s great advice. And because especially when you’re thinking about, you know, depending on how big somebody’s audience is, if it is on a smaller side, email list or whatnot, you’re right. You don’t know what exactly those people are feeling if it lines up with what A has pulled from this global massive audience. So I love that. I love that. And I love the Voxel. We’ve done that. That’s how we started chatting.
Kylie Kelly [00:22:31]:
Right? And Yes. It was so good because it was like, I’m on the other side of the world. I could wake up, I could think about the question, and I could actually intentionally respond, and it worked beautifully. It worked really well.
Brenna McGowan [00:22:42]:
Yeah. I love doing the Voxer Chats for market research. And you don’t have to even I did a little bit formally this last time, and, you know, Kylie was gracious enough to have this conversation with me. But I would have also done it with, you know, colleagues, people who I think could be a good fit for my program. And I you know, we’ll we’ll be having a conversation and they’ll say something, and I’m like, hey. This is, like, market research only. Like, I’m not trying to get you to sign up for my program, but tell me how you’re feeling. Like, is this you know, and what and the other beautiful part is I have people, like, message me now out of the blue and go, hey, I think this would be real I thought about this today.
Brenna McGowan [00:23:18]:
I think this would be a really good voice of customer for you. And I’m like, okay, perfect. Let me know and I’ll I’ll take note.
Kylie Kelly [00:23:23]:
Yeah. Thanks for that. Yeah. That’s so good. So you talked a little bit Brenna about, how in the, in the pre launch period, you’re selling the process and not the product. So if somebody’s listening to this and thinking like, okay, so I’m going to start brainstorming what kind of pre launch content I can send, where would they start with thinking about that, do you think?
Brenna McGowan [00:23:44]:
Right. So I have, like, a little outline I’ll give you that you can start thinking through. So I like to break up the weeks into themes. No. You do not have to do themes in this order. It’s just the way my brain works. And I think when you can structure something, it makes it a lot easier. So the 1st week, I like to talk about why, why you do what you do.
Brenna McGowan [00:24:03]:
The famous Simon Sinek quote is people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And so keeping that in mind when you are thinking about your the over your different categories is really taking a moment to stop and think about what is your why. And this doesn’t have to be, like, super serious. Like, I joke around that I part of the reason I started my business is that I wanted to get Botox and make an extra $500 a month and not have to have my family work, you know, take it out of the family budget. Right? It does not have to be something super serious, but why do you do what you do? Okay. So the second theme, if you will, is pain points. And this isn’t twisting the knife type of pain points. This is just bringing attention to the pain people are in.
Brenna McGowan [00:24:49]:
Because a lot of times we like to ignore the pain that we’re in. Right? That’s why we haven’t taken action already. I talk about I recently I hurt my foot like a year ago and I’ve been limping around for a year. Right? I have not gone to the doctor. Right? It’s like, okay, what now if I would have been researching, and finally I did, and started to see the problem. Like, okay. I’m really gonna, like, cause major damage if I don’t get my foot taken care of. And so, but it’s like the you have to, like, bring up that pain to some people sometimes so they can recognize it.
Brenna McGowan [00:25:22]:
And the thing here, and this is something really important that I talk about, and something I go over a lot inside my program, is that you are not solving people’s pain, you’re bringing attention So the tendency for most of us in the online world is to overeducate or feel like we get to a part of an email where we’re like, okay. Now this is the part where I’m gonna tell them what to do. But what telling someone what to do to solve their pain does 1 of 2 things. It either overwhelms them because they haven’t solved it already, and it feels overwhelming to solve, or 2, they think, oh, I got the answer. I’m gonna go do x, y, and z, and I’m not going I think my problem is solved. So really keeping in mind, when we’re talking about the pain, it’s not solving the pain. The next theme, and these 2 we can kind of combine in some respect, is talking about myths that someone believes and the objections that they have. So we have a series, whether whether you recognize it or not, before someone invests, we have ways that we think about things that are not right, for lack of better words.
Brenna McGowan [00:26:29]:
We have hidden objections that we talked earlier, about when I tell people a prelaunch needs to be 4 to 6 weeks. Well, the first thing they think is, and this would be a myth that I would bust during my prelaunch is, oh, like, if now I’m extending my launch by 6 weeks. Oh, this seems way harder. Right? So these are it’s my myths, I think, are the way or not that I think I know are how people think about their problem, and the objections is what stops them from taking action. So thinking about in your content, how you can be handling some of that. And then the last theme is the transformation. Like, what is the thing that your person really wants and how do you help them get that? So when when I start future pacing my audience and you start future pacing your audience, they can see their way out of the pain. They can see their way into getting something they want or something they need.
Brenna McGowan [00:27:22]:
So you we use the content during those weeks to kind of hit those objectives.
Kylie Kelly [00:27:27]:
When we’re when we’re talking about the transformation, are we talking about the program then or the offer, or is it just what their life will be like if they do something different?
Brenna McGowan [00:27:37]:
Yeah. It’s what their life will be like when when this thing happens. What is that thing that they want? And they might not even be verbalizing it all those time. Right? So that’s why doing this market research ahead of time is is so important. So for instance, I’m in what I would consider the transformation part of my prelaunch. And I just did I just did a post just right before we got on this call where I was future pacing and looking. I went back to my market research and look, okay, what do people really want? And some of them said they really wanted, a launch, that felt easeful that didn’t have any hiccups. So I was able to go take that core idea and turn it into a piece of content.
Brenna McGowan [00:28:22]:
So it’s really just thinking about, like, what is it’s not the transformation. It’s what the transformation of what a prelaunch will do for them, not the transformation of what the prelaunch plan. Because once I can get someone future paced in where they think, okay. Now, yes, this is what I want. I wanna launch where it I re I reach my revenue goals and I don’t have any hiccups. Well, once I had once someone is in that mind frame, I can go, okay. If this is what you want, here is the solution to help you get what you want. So that during prelaunch, you are essentially selling the outcome that they want, and then you are presenting the solution, which is your course program membership, 1 on 1 service, whatever it is.
Kylie Kelly [00:29:06]:
One follow-up question as well. When you are pointing out the pain I like to solve problems, Brenna. I would struggle with that. So when you’re pointing out the the painful thing that they’re dealing with, like, how do you then end that email? Like, that sucks? Like, what do you do at the end of that email then? Is it just, I’m with you? Like, I understand? Like, how do you end that?
Brenna McGowan [00:29:27]:
Well, it depends on what type of email that you’re writing. So yeah, this is, this is really hard for a lot of people. And I’m not saying you never ever educate for lack of better words. I’m just saying during the pre launch, we’re, we’re going light on the education. So there’s a couple of different ways. Is there, first of all, if you have recorded a video or a piece of content, maybe you’re pushing them to that, to listen for further information. Maybe that is the next step that they are getting. The other thing, it could be a just a simple takeaway, an moment.
Brenna McGowan [00:30:01]:
So I was reading a book recently, Talk With Ted, and it talks about how new information that we get is like a hit of dopamine. So maybe you’re just giving someone a different perspective than they’ve had before. Maybe you’re ending the email with giving someone permission to feel a certain way. Maybe they’ve been told that the way they’ve been feeling the pain that they’re in is wrong. So it depends on the strategy of what it is, what we’re selling, but it is thinking of it more like I’m trying to give people permission, moments, clarity on a situation versus solving, or possibly maybe there’s one simple thing they can do. One simple step that they could do that would make a difference. That wouldn’t get them bogged down. That would feel like a win to them.
Brenna McGowan [00:30:48]:
But what we don’t want to get into is that like how to, these are like the 3 steps of everything that you need to do to take action. Okay.
Kylie Kelly [00:30:56]:
No, that makes sense. I love that. Cause I was just like, I don’t know how I would finish that. How would I close that loop and then move on? So that makes a lot of sense. Okay. I have one other question around the pre launch, and then this has been so valuable. I can’t wait to go and brainstorm some of this stuff myself. When we’re talking about the pre launch period, you you do mention that you can grow your email list and grow your audience during this time.
Kylie Kelly [00:31:19]:
What does that look like? How does that actually work?
Brenna McGowan [00:31:22]:
Right. Well, for example, maybe you we just talked about how would you end a pain point. Like, what would you do? Maybe you’re just pushing people towards your free resource at that point. Maybe you’re on social and that’s how you’re pushing. Thinking about, you know, during a prelaunch is being proactive as well. So this is the advantage to planning, is that when you know your prelaunch is happening, you can start scheduling out certain, you know, maybe you’re going and speaking in groups. Maybe it’s a podcast interview. You know, I’ve asked podcast host, hey, like, I know we’re doing this.
Brenna McGowan [00:31:56]:
Is there any chance, like, it’s totally fine if not, but could you publish this during the time during this particular time, so you’re growing your email list? I had one student, Susan React. I think this is, like, one of the most genius things I’ve seen in prelaunch. Not my idea. But she created a freebie that was that answered the problems that her people were having. And she pushed them to this freebie in her social media, and the freebie was essentially an outline of her course. You wouldn’t know it by looking at it, but, like, how do you solve this problem? You solve it by doing step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4, and not going into the details of how those steps were how you actually every step that became a component of it. And so people essentially had the outline of her program as a freebie, and it was valuable information. And then you could go back to those people and say, hey.
Brenna McGowan [00:32:55]:
You know, like, are you are you wanting to solve this problem? I can show you in-depth the steps that you take inside of my program. So, you know, there’s all different ways. I think the traditional way it has been in the past, which is totally can totally happen, is doing a webinar, a challenge, some type of other launch or conversion event can also be a way to, grow your email list. But also thinking about it simplistic ways. Like, is there maybe a quick workshop that you can do to have people, you know, grow your email list? I know for me, like, creating, like, a slide deck is a form of torture. So it could be like, okay. Maybe you do a simple, like, prelaunch event where you are spreading out, and maybe it’s just a q and a time where people can come and ask you questions and you don’t have to prepare a bunch of content. So there’s so many different ideas.
Brenna McGowan [00:33:43]:
I I personally I consider it like my pre pre launch. I do a summit, but there are so many different ways that you can be out there growing your email list in the meantime. So it you can use your pre launch, your pre launch activities as part of a way as, like you said, as a call to action to be pushing people to to start growing your email list.
Kylie Kelly [00:34:05]:
No. So good. So good. I can see how yeah. I think the the keyword here is intention. Right? Planning and intention. Knowing that there’s no rules, you can do it your own way. You can change the plan, but having the intention behind every action that you take with that launch in mind, so that you are adding more people to the to your email list, to your audience, pre you know, doing the pre launch so that they are ready before you launch.
Kylie Kelly [00:34:29]:
I think intention is, like, the keyword I’m taking away from this as well.
Brenna McGowan [00:34:32]:
Yeah. And so another thing that I’ve done in the past, and this is the simplest, is a simple email swap. So if you and this is, once again, the advantage to planning. If you if you do an email swap, essentially, I would be like, hey, Kylie, I’ll email my list about your freebie and you email my list, or your list about my freebie. We kinda we do a switch, but I could say, could you do it during this month? Like, when are you launching? Okay, great. Like, maybe I’ll promote you during your prelaunch and you promote me during the prelaunch. So the those are other things where you can do, like, an email exchange because also the best way to grow your email list is always gonna be collaboration. So really thinking through what are different collaborative ways that you can do this.
Brenna McGowan [00:35:15]:
So I know I had someone this was for my pre pre launch that was like, hey. Can you help me do this? And then I will email people about behind the launch, which is my sub in. And I was like, yeah. Totally. That’s no problem. So there there’s a lot of opportunities out there. You just have to slow down a little bit and plan for them.
Kylie Kelly [00:35:35]:
Yes. I love that. And for anyone listening, so in the email growth club, in my membership, this is exactly what we do. Right? It is all about growing your email list through relationship based strategies, collaborations, freebie swaps, all that kind of stuff that we’re talking about. But I think the bit of magic that comes in and probably something that people aren’t aren’t actually thinking about is the timing of it. So like you said, we’re doing that email swap in the pre launch or leading up to the pre launch period. So if you get that timing right, it just means that you’re adding people at the right time to then be there for the rest of it. So once you can get those two things together, then I can imagine the launch will be so much more successful eventually.
Brenna McGowan [00:36:13]:
Yeah. And the good thing is, is like you if you know when your pre launch is and your launches and you know, okay, I have like these 2 months. Like for me, I’m doing certain things with some people. I’m like, okay, Pretty much August, September, beginning of October is completely out. Like, I can’t do any other promotional activities. But, you know, November my November December are fairly open. So this would be a great time for me to help promote you. Would that work for your schedule? And they say, yeah.
Brenna McGowan [00:36:38]:
That would be be great. So that’s the other advantage about being intentional about this. And if you have specific periods of times where you’re growing your email list, and then other times when you can reciprocate. And I think that’s really important. I know you mentioned relation relationship based strategies, and I was actually just coaching a client on this today. It’s like, there’s so many opportunities that have come just from being, like, a nice human. So just keeping in mind, like, even when someone’s not doing something for you, it’s like, okay. Can I shout someone out? If I see someone I know and they’re having an event, and I’m like, hey.
Brenna McGowan [00:37:13]:
I can, like, just do a simple share on my Instagram stories and being very, just being kind and thinking about, okay, how can I help shout out others? You just don’t know when that’s gonna come back. It’s been the basis of how I’ve been able to grow this business.
Kylie Kelly [00:37:29]:
Yeah. I love that. It’s how I make friends actually. It’s just that being on
Brenna McGowan [00:37:32]:
the phone. Yeah. That too. And you get friends.
Kylie Kelly [00:37:34]:
Yes. I love that. Brenna, this has been so, so good. Thank you so much for sharing so much with us so freely. So anybody listening, this is timed up perfectly for your launch of your The doors, I believe, have just opened. So can you tell us a little bit about the program that you’ve just opened the doors for?
Brenna McGowan [00:37:50]:
Yeah. So the Pre Launch Plan program is where I show you, I walk you in-depth all of these things that we just talked about, step by step on how to create a pre launch that gets people excited about your offer, that, you know, sells your process, that your product, shows you exactly everything that needs to go into that prelaunch for the 6 weeks, where we really go into messaging and how to what people need to hear before they’re ready to throw money at you. And that’s what we all want. Right? We want people throwing money at us and also how to pre sell your program so that you can start getting buyers before you actually, before you actually open the doors. And I I don’t think people do this enough. There’s this huge confidence boost that comes when you’re able to presale seats. When you know that you already have seats sold and you’re going into a launch, a, it creates a little bit of FOMO, and b, it boosts your confidence, and it creates this beautiful cyclical effect that helps you throughout your whole launch. So if this is something that you’re interested in, it’s an 11 week program.
Brenna McGowan [00:38:51]:
We get started, October 7th officially, and I would love for you to come. You can check out all the details at brennamggowandot co, forward slash ppp, pre launch plan program. So 3 p’s in a row.
Kylie Kelly [00:39:05]:
I love that. I did know the name of that program, but I was just scared I get tongue tied, which is why I didn’t
Brenna McGowan [00:39:09]:
say it at the start. It’s a lot of alliteration. It’s very on the nose as to what it is. So.
Kylie Kelly [00:39:16]:
I love it. I love it. So I’ll put the link in the show notes for anyone that wants to check that out. And imagine that just for anyone listening, imagine if you were to go through something like this, how much that sets you up for 2025. Right? I think the timing of this is perfect.
Brenna McGowan [00:39:28]:
Yeah. That’s exactly like you will have if you have an early, 2025 launch, we will be done from research to having the content written and ready to go by the end of the program.
Kylie Kelly [00:39:42]:
Amazing. Amazing. Okay. I’ll put the link in the show notes. Please go and click that link and check it out if that sounds like it would be good for you. And Brenna, thank you. Thank you so much for everything today. It’s been so much fun chatting with you.
Brenna McGowan [00:39:54]:
Thank you for having me.
Kylie Kelly [00:39:55]:
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of The Email Growth Show. I hope you found valuable insights into the next steps you can take to grow your email list and boost your business without relying on social media or paid ads. If you enjoy this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show and share it with others. Your feedback helps me reach more female entrepreneurs just like you, who are ready to say goodbye to social media and leverage email marketing to grow their business and make a bigger impact. Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you in the next episode.
