How to Promote Your Next Big Thing Before It’s Ready: No Trickery Involved

Almost. Your book is almost ready to buy. Your event’s tickets are almost ready for purchase. Your course is almost ready to sell. But not. What to do?

Don’t give up and don’t jump ship! All is well. You need a marketing strategy that’s easy for you to create and easy for your audience to understand.

Here’s one in 3 steps: before, during, and after your promotional period.

Before:

Create a Wait List landing page on your website. It should be a published, public page, but don’t add it to your website’s menu bar (sometimes called the navigation bar). The words you use to promote your Next Big Thing will draw the “right” audience for your product……those interested in your not-yet-ready-to-be-purchased-product.

Google “landing page examples” and then choose “image” to see tons of possible layouts. I like the two-column layout best. One column for a visual (your photo or a graphic of your product, or its cover image) and the other column for your text and call-to-action button.

The text column should have a benefit-driven headline, one-to-two short paragraphs of (interesting!) explanation, and the call-to-action button (often called a CTA). There’s very little text on a landing page, so every word must be excellent.

Everything on this page should be “above the scroll,” often called, “above the fold.” You want readers to see ALL the information without needing to scroll down the page.

That means there’s no room for your logo, your navigation bar, or your footer…nothing but the items mentioned above.

During:

Promote the product, book, or event, linking readers to your Wait List page. Invite them to add their name and email to be notified when your product is ready. Use those actual words–or something like them–on both your promotions and your Wait List page.

That phrase allows you to begin talking about your Next Big Thing even though it’s not available yet. It’s very important to be clear that it’s “coming soon,” versus “for sale” today.

Be cautious when sharing the proposed release date. Some promise the product / book / event tickets will be ready for purchase by a specific date, but it’s better not to quote specifics yet. Why? Because (say it with me) your product’s not ready yet. There may be delays. If you’ve promised availability by X date but now cannot deliver, you’ll need to work 24/7 to get it ready or your audience will feel you’ve broken your promise to them. Neither result helps you sleep at night.

“Soon,” or “this fall,” are two promised delivery dates that give readers some idea when they can expect access while leaving you wiggle room.

After:

Your promotional period is over and you’re ready for customers. Hooray!

If your Next Big Thing is evergreen (a book, an online course that’s available at any time with no set Start or End date) and you still want to promote it (wise!), bypass your Wait List page and send readers directly to your Sales page.

Note that you’ll want to delete your Wait List page (duplicate it–but don’t use the same URL–for future needs) so readers don’t stumble upon it. Since the information won’t be valid, it will confuse them, and rightly so. Best to delete it and promote the new URL.   

If it’s only available during a specific season (spring, Christmas, summer solstice) keep your Wait List “open” and include additional text so that readers who find it in between seasons can sign up to be notified when it’s available again.  

There you have it! Three easy steps to promote your Next Big Thing before it’s ready! All without trickery and without promising an unrealistic delivery date.

Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.

Website: marketersonamission.com
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