Looking for ways to promote a product or service online?
There are two powerful strategies you will learn about in today’s video. They both have pros and cons — and you’ll also get a pro tip on how to get the best of both worlds.
In this episode of Ask the Online Business Coach, Dr. Will Falconer from VitalAnimal.com has a question. It’s based on his experience of promoting his business online.
He’s gone through the live launch process, and he’s found a strategy that might work better for him and his business.
Dr. Falconer has done his research. That brings him to a question about live launches vs evergreen promotions.
When you’re looking for the best ways to promote a product or service, you might not consider this.
Evergreen promotions are a GREAT alternative to live launching.
Evergreen promotions do have some drawbacks, but I have a pro tip about that.
Ways to promote a product or service #1: Live launch
You’ve likely seen a live launch, even if you’re not on a someone’s mailing list.
You’ll see a couple of weeks of social posts promoting the launch, an invitation to attend a live presentation, urgency close to the date, and then it’s back to regular programming.
There are entire courses that teach you how to launch. They make big promises, and they sound pretty exciting.
But the launch process is also exhausting.
Why is that?
- You have to write ALL the emails — and there are SO MANY EMAILS.
- You have to sell your offer live — usually with a webinar or live video presentation. It takes time and energy to create a quality presentation, and presenting live can be a little more “exciting” than you’d like.
- You have to create dozens of social media posts or run ads.
- But the main thing you have to do? You have to WORRY and WONDER … will this ONE promotion make enough revenue?
All those tasks put together? It’s a lot of time and effort — and brain space.
If you want to try a live launch, here’s a pro tip: to reduce stress before you start your launch process, create a solid plan.
Related: The 3 Stages of a Stress-Free First-Time Product Launch Plan
Live launch vs evergreen launch
Here’s an easy way to think about the difference between a live launch and an evergreen promotion.
A live launch is a little like taking a fishing boat out into a stormy sea. The stormy sea is the internet!
It’s rough out there — you’re trying to catch fish one-by-one in a tough, distracting environment.
You can take a longer view and create a promotion that allows you to work on your business while your “launch” hums along in the background.
Instead of a live launch, you can create an evergreen promotion instead.
Ways to promote a product or service #2: Evergreen promotion
What if you could throw a net out that was available for your customers to swim into any time they needed your help?
Evergreen launches are always-available promotions. You set them up on your website and promote them in your ongoing emails and on social media.
They usually involve valuable, on-demand educational materials.
This could be a series of lessons delivered by email, or a short, downloadable ebook.
For more expensive offers, it’s often an on-demand webinar.
The content is so valuable people will opt-in with their email address in order to access them.
Related: The Best Lead Magnet Ideas to Build an Email List of People Who Can’t Wait to Work with You
Related: How to Make an Irresistible Online Offer
Pro tip #1: Create a deadline
Evergreen promotions work best when you create a limited-time discount for your offer that expires in just a few days. This will motivate people who are on the fence about buying your offer.
You need to associate the discount with a deadline that is targeted to when the person signs up.
I use Deadline Funnel for this and it works great! (That’s my affiliate link, btw).
Say, for example, you give someone 5 days of access to your webinar AND 5 days of access to a discounted price for your program.
That’s pretty tempting.
When you use software like Deadline Funnel, it will begin an individual countdown for each person who signs up.
You can follow up with emails that are synced to their deadline and remind them of the expiring discount.
The downside of evergreen promotions
Here’s the thing about evergreen promotions …
You won’t get a flood of buyers the way you will in a live launch.
But once you optimize your evergreen promotion, you WILL get a steady stream of income — and you WON’T get run down by the intensity of the live launch process.
For many online business owners, evergreen promotions are the better option.
Not convinced that evergreen is the way to go? Here’s a way to test that theory.
Pro tip #2: How to have your cake and eat it, too
I’ve got one more pro tip for you.
Did you know you can get the best of BOTH worlds?
It’s true. You can make the most of these 2 powerful ways to promote a product or service.
You can create an evergreen promotion that’s always available on your site. Then, once or twice a year, or as often as you feel like it, you can take your evergreen promotion offline and drive people to a live launch.
That’s a great way to get the flood of new buyers who’ll come in during a launch, but still have that wonderful consistent income that happens with an evergreen promotion.
