It’s exciting, right?

• You have a fab new product idea that will take the world by storm
• A sparkly new website that took months of toil and hair pulling (and loadsa money)
• You’re about to start up a new business – the day you’ve dreamed of for years is finally here
• The book you’ve longed to write forever is finally down on paper and ready for publishing

…and you’re all set to let it loose

• You’ve bought more domain names than you can remember
• You’ve got fancy business cards and the perfect product title (Ooo yes! It’s that good it gives you goosebumps)
• You’ve spent a large chunk of your budget on fancy must-have equipment
• You’ve even created the product, finessing and perfecting it into something you’re crazy proud of that the world will love

This journey – from the dream of an idea to the now looming launch – has taken months of effort, a learning curve like Kilimanjaro, tears, fears and a not inconsiderable amount of money.

You want it to be a MASSIVE success.

You daydream about launch day…

Everyone will love it. You’ll watch it go viral with millions of hits on YouTube. It will trend on Twitter and be among the most shared topics on Facebook.

Actually, it’s SO good, breakfast TV are bound to want to invite you in for an interview. You’ll be on the front cover of your favourite mags. You’ll win awards and everyone will know your name.

FINALLY you’ll have made it. Yippee!!

Hold your horses though – here’s the hitch

It’s a week until launch day and you’ve only just started to think about your marketing.

Your, ahem, “plan” looks something like this…

• A scrap of paper with scrawled notes lying on your desk it includes:
  Some names you can approach who might help you figure out how to get your thing ‘out there’
• A to-do list: set up Facebook page, Instagram, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest, Write 5 blog posts before launch day
• An email of a friend of a friend who has a niece who’s a whiz on social media – maybe she could run your social media for you?

If you’re wondering ‘What’s wrong with that?’ or ‘What are my chances of getting that niece’s email?’ get to the back of the class.

Marketing = shouting from the rooftops about your new thing

Marketing is what creates interest, what gets people talking and excited about it, what gets people ready to buy. Even better, asking: WHEN CAN I BUY THIS?

And that creates the sales. Big ones. Big, fat, profit making sales.

Marketing and sales aren’t some icky bi-product of your business. It’s what makes your expertise – your blood, sweat n tears – a business.

Without sales and marketing you have no business, just a very expensive hobby and a mounting pile of bills.

So, marketing and sales are THE 2 parts of your launch that will determine its success.

If no one knows about your fabulous new big thing, no one will buy it.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve called it, that the creative branding is super-swishy, what the price is, what your website looks like, what payment processor you’re using.*

Because no one will see it or need to use your payment processor -sniff-.

*of course, these things do matter, a lot. But loads of business owners spend sleepless nights worrying over these bits, spending hours deliberating and perfecting them before they give marketing a single thought. It’s totally backwards, my friend. Wrong.Way.Round.

Don’t make me cry….

So, by not considering your marketing plan a priority from day one you’ve missed out a huge opportunity to get people talking. The unique, behind-the-scenes, humbling, real journey from start to launch.

The experiments, challenges, frustrations, huge wins and heartbreaking fails that take place in the daydream, start up and set up phases are the stuff of Oscar winning blockbuster movies.

This is a golden opportunity that will get peeps behind you, spreading the word, creating that priceless buzz so that come launch day your hard work is rewarded in sales. Ker-ching!

Without it you’ve lost months worth of community building, cheerleading and excitement in your big thing. ALL GAWN. What a waste. I could cry!

“But I don’t know HOW!” I hear you. First things first, check how realistic your launch goals are. Then think about what you need to do to achieve them.

Crowdfunding could be a cool solution if budget is tight. Check out this about successful Kickstarter campaigns. They say entrepreneurs should start working six months prior to a campaign’s launch.

And, if the thought of putting yourself out there is way too scary to go it alone, invest in the right help to guide you through the process. If you want someone to hold your hand and kick your butt in equal measures, let’s talk!

Otherwise, come your big launch day you won’t be inundated with orders, your website won’t crash under the weight of interest from visitors. Your customers won’t get pissed at you because you can’t keep up with the surge of enquiries. Pretty scary thought, eh?

What you’ll get is a deafening silence. Now THAT’S scary.