Launch

Jeff Walker is a product launch specialist. He is the developer and teacher of his own "Product Launch Formula" which has now been used by his students to generate more than $500 million in online sales. He started his first online business in 1996 by sending out an email newsletter to 19 people and achieved fame by engineering a launch which generated more than $1 million in sales in a single day. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.

The best way to build a successful online business is to learn how to do product launches. Master the art of turning your marketing into an event and you have access to a playing field with unprecedented opportunities — the world of online business.

Hollywood has been doing this for years. Months before a movie comes out, Hollywood builds the buzz. When a movie finally gets released, people rush to see it and that momentum carries it forward. A great product launch does the same.

So how do you do it? A great launch will have four distinct yet important phases, each of which is designed to appeal to the nine mental triggers:

The essence and methodology of a successful product launch is you give first and ask for the sale later. You build a relationship (either as a friend or as a trusted advisor) before the transaction. You then deliver so much value you make the sale even before you ask for the order. And then you follow through and make sure the customer is happy.

In many ways, online product launches are what successful sales people have been doing for ages. It's just the Internet provides a scale never before seen. It's like marketing on steroids.

1. Sequences. The whole object of a product launch is to engage your potential market so well they almost beg you to sell o them before you've even released the product. You achieve that by turning your marketing into an event in and of itself and building buzz to get people to pay attention.

2. Triggers. Everyone likes to think they make decisions rationally and logically but the reality is most decisions are made emotionally and then justified rationally. To get people to lust after your upcoming product, you have to appeal to the nine mental triggers which lurk just below the surface. Activate those triggers through your product launch and people will buy automatically without even realizing what they are doing.

3. Tools. A good product launch will layer and sequence memorable stories which appeal to those mental triggers. You never do this in one hit but in a series of bite-sized parcels — which together make up your sideways sales letter. You cut through the noise and fog of the marketplace by delivering your stories in a tight sequence which in effect turns your launch into a very big event in the minds of prospective customers.

4. Variants. Once you learn how to do product launches well, you can then figure out whether you should be doing seed launches from scratch or joining up with joint venture partners to expand your reach. Business launches have other elements which can be added in as well. All of these variants are feasible once you learn how to launch.