TOC #196: Will you come to my Pivot Party?
(September 24, 2024) What I Did “Wrong” In My Most Recent Course Launch
Today's subject line might say “pivot party” but what I really feel like lately is a pity party.
I've been feeling discouraged and disenchanted and down in the dumps and I think the people can SMELL IT.
(Either that, or they saw me posting about my sad girl era on my Instagram story.)
(But what was I supposed to do? Exist in my Eeyore bubble while pretending I'm Tigger all over social media? I'm physically incapable of lying like that.)
Personal life = ouch!
…and when your personal life and your business life are so closely connected — aka when you own the business, write content about your life, work from your house, and clients / followers / readers feel more like friends — it's hard to separate the two.
Enter: the people smelling my sour ass mood.
Who launches something when they're in a sour ass mood?
People who can't put their whole ass into it, that's who.
(Also people who have capital P Plan that they refuse to forego, even if it would've been the better choice, bc they have a Capricorn sun, Capricorn moon, and Virgo rising ruling their tiny little squirrel brain.)
(Actually, that squirrel brain is quite large. But still.)
SO! While I may have been feeling like a pity party was in order for my personal life last week, that's not what my business needs.
My business needs a pivot party.
& that party begins with me explaining WHAT and WHY we're pivoting.
What I Did “Wrong” In My Most Recent Course Launch
[Disclaimer: I am not being hard on myself about these “mistakes” - so no need to hit me with the “you're doing amazing sweetie!” in the replies; I simply want to share what I could improve, so you can do the same for your next launch!]
Not sure if you caught this, but I was low-effort launching my live email marketing course for the last week and a half.
(Enrollment closed on Friday, but we're not kicking off til next week, so technicallyyyy you could still slide in, if you wanted.)
Here's what I did “wrong” — aka the factors I'd change next time if I were whole-assing it.
#1 — Launching during my sad girl era.
That was dumb. I was very much bringing “the show must go on!” energy when the show did not, in fact, have to go anywhere, because no one really even knew the show had to be happening.
#2 — Switching up the “plan” my audience expected
Most people who consider buying from me are aware of the things that I teach. They're also aware that I usually sell Site Series® in the fall, and teach my live email marketing course in January.
I don't feel like I did a very good job explaining why I made that switch. I let the waitlist in on the reason, but I didn't share it with everyone.
#3 — Creating minimal hype
I could have put a lot more effort into growing the waitlist and sharing about the course prior to launching. I posted about it a few times on my story, and mentioned it a few times in my newsletter, but in past years I've been a bit more active about it.
I could have also mentioned it a lot more on my stories - because even though I do believe it's possible to sell mainly via email (it's what I usually do & that works for me!) it's still nice to have reminders on social for people who don't check their email as often / forgot to go back to the email they were saving / needed the refresher etc.
#4 — Didn't include as much social proof as I should have
I've taught this course several times, and I have 50+ positive reviews I could have used to show off how bomb it is.
I didn't share them early enough, or often enough.
I have no excuse for this one lmao the luteal phase + brain fog combo really just skipped the whole “how to be good at this for your own self despite being amazing at it for clients on the regular” part and… yeah. Catch me solely using case studies and testimonials next time around.
#5 — Used a minimal sales page
TBH, I wanted to try out a more minimal sales page this time around to see if long-form really was the best way to go (a personal experiment I was willing to be the guinea pig for) — and, yes, it's confirmed: a long-form sales page still IS necessary.
When I write them for clients, I analyze ALL of the angles, objections, pain points, proof points, benefits, and more, which usually turns into a long ass sales page.
Speaking of which: stay tuned for the sales page project I'm gonna share with you in October - I'm super proud of how this KILLER long-form sales page turned out for my client Amber, who is launching a sick new legal magazine.
#6 — Reusing similar themes from old emails
This is not normally something I would categorize as a mistake, but I do think the interests / pain points of my audience have changed since the last time i launched this course (January 2024) and I should have updated the content to reflect that.
& that's it for my mistakes…… hopefully you'll learn from 'em! I know I will. 😇
The biggest objections I received to the launch of my live email marketing course were cost, and lack of time.
So, I took my readers' feedback into account, and I created a PIVOT PARTY version of the course I just launched.
Introducing: THE EMAIL CHAPTER LITE 💅🏼 When you sign up for this version of the course, you'll get:
Immediate access to the recorded versions of ALL of the core lessons
Lead Magnets
Opt-In Copy
Welcome Sequences
Newsletter Strategy
Newsletter Copywriting + Storytelling
In-depth newsletter storytelling prompts
Newsletter content planner (the same one I use for myself!)
How to video: setting up your website's Subscribe page
Flodesk workflow video tutorials
Email marketing setup checklist
Target Audience Development Workbook & Offer Development Workbook (to help you understand your ideal client & reader better!)
Lead magnet examples
& it's the best solution for you if you wanted to learn email marketing from me, but didn't want 7 weeks of live lessons (or to spend mad $$).
This version of the course is $350 flat, unless you add on the 8 weeks of 1:1 support from me on Slack (to answer questions, brainstorm content ideas, and review your email copy) which is only $250. 👀
(And if you choose to add on the live support, you can activate it any time between now and October 2025, with the exception of July, bc y'all know that's when I'm off the grid and on the Cape.)
EMAIL COURSE: PIVOT PARTY VERSION
NOW, TELL ME:
What do you want from me?
While we're on the subject of pivoting — it feels like a good time to ask:
What do you want to learn from me?
You can always expect tips about things like copywriting basics, website copy, email marketing, newsletters, managing ADHD as a biz owner (#squirrel4life), and so on…
But, is there something specific you want to learn?
Something you wish I'd talk about more?
A topic no one has created enough content about?
Perhaps a convo you want me to start?
TELL ME 🫠
& if you do…
THIS WEEK'S BEAN WATER COULD BE ON ME, BABY. Fill out the below survey for a chance to be one of FIVE precious baby subscribers to win a week's worth of nasty bean water coffee on me. xo
If we haven’t had the chance to *virtually* meet yet, hi! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:
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