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Win With Paid Ads
#62: Launch Pain: What You Have to Know to do Launches or Sales with Ads
00:25:19
During this episode of the Marketing Matters™ Podcast, Ashley talks about the eight aspects of human behavior that come into play when you decide to launch something or host a big sale in your business… it’s called “Launch Pain". But running...
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Ashley Brock
Welcome to the Marketing Matters podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and really anyone who has anything that you want more people to find. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one, right? And that's because you can be so great at what you do. But if you aren't great at advertising what you do, then no one can find you, right? That's why in every single episode, I'm going to show you how you can use paid ads to hit your goals 10 times sooner. It's time you finally learn how to win with paid ads. I'll show you how to score and be known by more. Let's get started. Today we're going to talk about the pain that can come with launching ads. Maybe it's a big launch or a big push, but you have something and you're going all in on it and you're finally launching your ads and there is absolutely pain that comes with the preparation, the takeoff, the liftoff, and also the safe landing too. So before we jump in for today, I want to remind you that if you, if you have not joined the Win with Paid Ads challenge, you can click the link below this video or on this podcast or you can go to ashleybrock.com challenge so that you can be challenged to think, act and behave differently when it comes to your paid advertising. And so one of the things that happens with a launch when you are winning with paid ads is you have to figure out how do you spend, how do you handle it honestly, how do you handle it inside as you're going through, investing the money and just hoping that people will come. You know that movie, I think it's filled of dreams and they say build it and they will come. That is not always the case when it comes to ads. If you are someone who has been doing ads for a while, so how can you have a successful launch? That's exactly what we're gonna talk about. And in the Win with Paid Ads challenge, one of the things that we talk about each of the five days, it is messaging, which is what you say, setting where you say it, targeting who you say it to, testing how you make it better. And then number five is scaling and profiting. And so when I really think about scaling and profiting, it is on the other side of launch after launch after launch. So join the win with PayDads challenge so you can get some live feedback and coaching and be in a room with hundreds of other business owners just like you. It is so special. You'll learn so much not only from the content that I Teach each of those five days. But you will also learn from the other business owners and the questions that they're asking too. So click the link below. We'd love to see you in the challenge. Let's talk about launching. Okay, so there's a few things I want to talk about. And one of them is, or actually there's eight different types of human behavior that comes into play when we think about launching and especially when we think about why people wait last minute to sign up. Because I'll tell you, when it comes to a launch that is one of the most challenging things is how can you handle when you've done this launch and people aren't buying and like, how do you mentally handle that? And what do you do? What actions do you take? What actions do you not take? And I've done some research for you. So I've. Cause I've tried to understand why do some people have a terrible failed launch and then they end up having a really successful launch later? And then why do some people have a couple failed launches and then why do they crash and burn? The plane's done, it's over, and they're pivoting to the next thing. I'm gonna share with you. And there are eight different human behavior kind of aspects coming into play here. All right, the first one is the procrastination effect. Because we are human beings and humans are going to wait until the last minute to take action. And so why is that? It's one of the reasons is because of the procrastination effect. People delay the tasks because they want to prioritize the short term comfort over the long time benefits. That is literally anything. It is food, it is going to the gym, it is learning, it is investing. We are like, how can we like focus on the short term right now, even though the long term is like exponentially better? And so we procrastinate. And I'm gonna give you a perfect example. I procrastinated with my speech at summit. I think I said that in my summit recap. It was one of the things that I. It's like I wish I hadn't done it. And I'm also glad that I did because I will never not prepare for like a speech or content like I did there. So, you know, sometimes those challenging things that happen that don't work out in your favor are the very things that build you to become the person that you know you're capable of becoming if you can actually push through those hard things. So the procrastination effect Says that we're going to prioritize what, what is in the short term. And here's a good example of this. And I don't know if this happened with you, but it's definitely happened to me. And it's when I see my task list, I prioritize the tasks that I want to do, the ones I like doing. I look at the other ones and I make my list and it's like I put it in order of like which ones I want. And so a few things, I know I've said this before, but put the worst first and also reframe why the worst is the worst. You could say, listen, this is not the worst task. This is the one that's challenging me the most, right? So know that when you're launching ads, when you have a big launch and there's a date for something for people to sign up for, know that you don't need to procrastinate. And they're going, the human beings are likely going to procrastinate and wait till the last minute. Okay? So procrastination effect is number one, people delay the tasks because we prioritize short term comfort over long term benefits. And so the people that win, that don't procrastinate, what they do is they care more and they see more and they're envisioning more for the long term. And they're actually kind of like not really caring about the results right now. They're like, I'm so there. I do not care about the here. I don't care how painful it is. I don't care how many times I have to do it. I know I will eventually get there. And the only way to get there is to be here right now in this short term. Pain, right? So that's number one is the procrastination effect. Number two is when there's no immediate consequences. So it's lack of immediate consequences. So if there's not an immediate negative effect, people underestimate why they should do it today, right? It's like the only reason we don't do something is if it's painful today, not if like delaying what we're doing is painful later. So when you have a launch, one of the things that's going to come into play is procrastination effect and people saying, you know what, it's okay if I sign up in three days because there's no negative if I wait three days. Right? That's why with a sale or with a launch so often I see not only in My business, but in so many of my clients businesses, it's like, ugh, they're waiting to the last minute to sign up. Because there is no negative to not right. Number three is the pressure of deadlines. So some people believe they actually do perform under pressure. And it's not like just a belief, it's fact. That is the Yerkes Dodson principle where it says that peak performance actually requires a certain level of pressure. And so sometimes people just perform better on deadlines. And I'm gonna be honest, in every test I've ever done where it's like, are you deadline driven? I'm like, yeah. And my team knows that. They're like, Ashley, you are so deadline driven that you get in right at the end of the deadline. And it's something I'm working on. We all have something that we can work on every single day. And for me it is, I am so deadline driven. It's like it always happens. It's just sometimes right on the hair of my chinny chin chin and I've got to work on that. But other people do that too when they're signing up for your thing. It's that last minute deadline. Okay. It's finally time to take action and that's finally when they do. Okay, so that's number three. Pressure of deadlines. Number four is sometimes there's just overwhelm and decision fatigue. Sometimes you are so wrapped up in your launch and you wanting people to join that you're not taking into consideration the legitimate fact that they could be indecision, overwhelmed. They could be having three kids staying at home because they're all sick and daycare's closed and the nanny wasn't able to be there and dad's out of town. There's all this stuff happening and it's just hard. And like making one more decision is hard. So that's often why in a launch it can feel challenging for the person. So my clients who are launching the ads or you, because you're like, why are they not buying? They don't want it. Let me make sure that you, like have this thought, okay? 100% of people definitely aren't signing up. In fact, like a decent conversion rate from someone who's never known you is like a couple percent, like maybe 1%, 2%, 3%. And even then, I've definitely had 100 people go to my website or go to my email list or go to something and not sign up before. Like, it's not abnormal. It's just a volume thing. You can't you slowing down over why did 37 people go to the website and no one buy yet? Nothing's broken. You just need volume. You just need time. And sometimes there's no reason for them to do it now. And it is on you to communicate the value and what's in it for them and control your messaging in a way that they see, oh, I should take action today. And so you are in control of that. But, yeah, just don't get too hung up on the small volume. On the short term, let's look at the long term. But as far as why people aren't signing up for your big launch, just really reminding yourself that there are other thoughts and other reasons beyond anything that you're doing wrong on why people aren't signing up yet. All right, so we've got the procrastination effect. Lack of immediate consequences is number two. Pressure of deadlines for number three. Overwhelming decision for number four. Number five is the optimism bias. And I'm gonna be honest, I feel like personally victimized with this one. This is me again. I'm praying about it. I'm working on it, and I'm gonna get better. Okay. We all have our weaknesses. I'm just coming out here and telling you, this is something I struggle with. It's called the optimism bias. The optimism bias. I'm just laughing because I know Laura Beth is gonna listen to this, and she's gonna die. She's like, this is you, Ashley. So it says people assume that they will have more time or more energy later, which leads to postponement. I'm like, oh, it is one hour until my zoom call. I'm like, okay, I have time to eat my breakfast. I have time to shower. I have time to respond to these messages. I can do so much in an hour, and I underestimate what I can truly accomplish in an hour. And so sometimes that bites me in the fanny, and I'm like, dang it, Ashley. Could you just not over commit to this timeframe and just be realistic? The optimism bias. And so when it comes to your launch, number one, if you have the optimism bias and you're like, everybody's gonna show up immediately. That is gonna be challenging for you. And I want you to think about how the reason that we get disappointed is because of the expectations that we create. If we expect something to happen and it doesn't, we are disappointed because we have that expectation. If you kind of lower your expectations a little bit and say, listen, I'm just gonna get these two things done, and you're like, I could get seven, but let's just do two. You will not be disappointed because you'll probably actually get the two things done, and you'll probably be proud of yourself, feeling accomplished. So accomplished, you do the next thing. Okay, and I am preaching to the choir with this one. But the optimism bias is not only you being aware of that for yourself, but also for the people who are considering signing up or buying during your sale or your launch. They're like, oh, I can totally just do this later, right? Like, I'll have enough time to do that tonight once the kids are in bed. Let's see. That was number five. One, two, three, four, five. Okay, so number six is fear of failure or imperfection. So they want to do something, right? And so they're hesitating. They're like, you know, I want to sit down. I want to, like, look at this all the way through. I want to make sure I understand everything before I buy. They are, like, fear of, like, making it, you know, taking action of something that isn't right, and they really just want to do it the right way so that imperfectionism can kind of get in the way from people taking action, too. For your launch, Number six is adrenaline motivation. And honestly, this is probably an issue, but it's also a fact that some people thrive. Like, what we. You know, I read this. I heard it on a podcast. It was like, sometimes we get addicted to adrenaline, right? That. Like, a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. We get addicted to that. And that. That can be good sometimes. It can also be really bad sometimes and lead to burnout. And so when you think about your launch and why people are or are not taking action, some people thrive on this, like, that deadline. Yep. I did it. I did it. I did it. I got it right in at the right time. And maybe you have found yourself doing that, too. It's that adrenaline motivation. And so it says some people thrive on thrill of urgency, which forces focus and productivity. And it's true. Like, when you. When you have that adrenaline, like, you are. You're like, okay, I've got to. I've got to get this done. It's like, it's coming. The deadline is approaching. Must knock this out so it can be in your favor. It's just. It can't be a 24 7, like, constantly living on adrenaline or you'll pass out. All right, so the. That was number seven. Number eight is task aversion. And this is. I don't know if you listened to the previous episode about My story about my coffee maker, this nice coffee coffee maker that I bought that I didn't use. Like, it took me a while to use it. And it is because if a task, it's called task aversion. And it's where we are not wanting to do a task because it feels boring, difficult, or unpleasant. And so we say, oh, well, we avoid it because we don't have any other option. Like, it's too challenging, it's too hard. I don't know. I can't do this right now. And so sometimes, depending on where people are at with their life and balance and everything else going on in the business, that can be a reason why you don't set up your campaigns for your launch. You're like, you know what? I don't, I don't fully understand it, or I've not done it before, so it's uncomfortable. That is the very reason to read it, to lean into it. It's also why sometimes when someone gets to your website or get, you know, to sign up for your launch or buy, buy whatever it is, they may feel like, okay, there's a lot here. It can be overwhelming. And so I just, I. I say all this to say with human behavior, with a launch, it is not for the faint of heart. Like, if you've ever launched anything and gone all in on a book launch or a course launch or a program launch or live event launch, it is so much physical effort. And so it reminds me of the launch of a rocket. So I was doing some research and I want to pull this up for you. When you think about a rocket ship. So a rocket ship has like three main pieces. There is before takeoff, during takeoff, and then after takeoff. That's why in the last episode, I talked about a launch versus or in the book launch episode where I talked about how we became a number one Amazon bestseller, I talked about how the launch is a story. There's a before, a middle, and an after. And it's the same thing here, even with rocket ships. So before takeoff, so much energy, a massive amount of energy is required for everything to feel ready. There's system checks, there's trajectory planning, there's countdown sequences. There's all these different things. And the rocket is just full of all this energy and all this potential. And maybe you feel like you're the rocket with all this energy and all this potential, and you're just right there and you're figuring out, how can I quickly get to the next level? And paid ads can be that for you. However, you cannot Have a rocket without all of the forethought and preparation that goes into it to build up that energy and momentum. And so when you think about how this ties to ads, it's all the getting the ads ready, it's the setup, it's the learning, it's setting the budgets, it's getting the tracking, it's refining your messaging. It's all that work that feels like you're doing all this and there's no progress yet. Well, yet it's a requirement for the rocket to have the energy it needs to take off, right? So it is so, so worth it. And it is absolutely impossible to get to the moon without this preparation phase and all of this energy creation. And then during the launch, once you turn your ads live, once you're, you're going all in on getting the right people to find what you have to offer. The most energy intensive moment of a rocket is during liftoff. And it says, I was doing some research and rockets burned tons of fuel in order to break free from Earth's gravity. Have you ever felt like you were using every bit of energy in you to get this to launch, to get this to work? You're so close and you're like, it feels like you're burning tons of energy, time and money and resources, and you're telling everybody in your world around you to just hold on tight, hold on tight. And they're just holding. But the rocket hasn't taken off yet. All of this energy and momentum, it is required in order for you to get where you want to go. You're not wasting energy, you're not doing it wrong. You're figuring it out. And it says the first stage of a rocket boosting is the most critical. Because if they fail there, the mission fails. Hear me when I say this. If you fail in the first launch, if you fail at the beginning, if you give up when it's hard, if you give up after you've prepared and prepared and prepared and it's not going like you hope it to. If you give up now, you will never make it to the moon. You will never get to tell your story. And there are people waiting on you to do it. There are people waiting on you to go first and for you to do it only the way that you can. All right, so that first stage is critical. And the mission fails if you can't separate yourself from gravity. And so this is like the launch of an ad campaign. The money, the effort, the attention to be fully set up and primed to be able to launch Successfully. Okay, so then that's during takeoff. Then there is after and having a safe place to land. So after you. And also, let's talk about this. Once they actually. Once a rocket actually breaks through the atmosphere and you're scaling and scaling altitude, some of you listening, you actually have broken through that. You actually have broken through the atmosphere. You actually are making, you know, six figures a month or even close to a million dollars a month. Like, some of you, that is where you are. And if you stop too soon, gravity will pull you back down. If you stop too soon, gravity will pull you back down. An object in motion stays in motion. Do not stop. Like, I know the rocket's gonna get rocky. In fact, did you know that 99% of the time it is actually going in the wrong direction? It has to be course corrected to get to its destination. What you can actually be successful and still be having to pivot or like, adjust. Adjust, Adjust. Now I just said pivoting versus adjusting. And I actually wanna lean into that for just a second. So I had a client, and I love her. I am so proud of her. She has made big strides in the past couple of months, and it is, like an honor to work with her. And today in voice memo, she sent me something and she said, I can't afford to keep having XYZ happen. Like a launch, maybe not go as well. And it's a newer launch. It's something brand new. She's been very successful in her business, but she's doing something different. And it is super uncomfortable. And she was like, so I think I'm gonna do something different. I think I'm gonna make it this. I think I'm gonna do that instead. And. And what was rolling in my brain, because I just see it so clearly for her from, like, having this outside perspective is refine, don't realign. Don't say, let me. I'm not aligned with this approach. Let me just, like, get aligned with this other idea. This other idea. Don't realign. Refine. And I was journaling and I was thinking, what are other ways that we can, like, really think about this? And it was. Cause I was. I was thinking, what can I say that rhymes has to do with rockets? And it says adjust, don't combust. And I'm just thinking about how it's these small adjusting adjustments that you can make for the rocket ship to, like, stay on track. And you can't make too many wide adjustments or the rocket ship could blow up. How can you adjust and not combust? How can you say, this is uncomfortable, it's not working. And I'm going to just make a little tweak and keep going and going and going. And the last one I, you know, someone keeps. Cause someone called me in the win with pay dad's challenge, Dr. Seuss of marketing. So I'm just gonna lean into that for now. I might get a hat if needed. But I wrote quit the switch, refine to get rich. Like, truly stop quitting. Stop quitting the switching. Right. Quit the switch, refine to get rich. You're refining is the silver lining to your income climbing. So I want you to be okay saying, you know what? This launch didn't go as well. Let me, like, sit back and reflect. What are five things that you could have done differently? If you really look at it, what could you actually say? I could have done better here. I could have done better here. And the next time I'm going to do this, because if you switch too many times, like just three 60s, you're going to be dizzy because you're just going and changing direction, changing. You're going to. Your head's going to literally be like, I'm off my caliber. I want you to say, I'm going to do this, but I'm going to make a small change here, a small change here, a small change here. Because the more and more I get in the rooms with business owners who are making multiple seven figures or even eight figures, and I'm learning from them, I'm finding they have done the same thing over and over and over again, literally just until it worked. And so that's what I'm working on. It's like, how can I just stay in this lane and lean into this and do the same thing on repeat, but make a small tweak over and over and over again? And that's what people had to do to be able to build a rocket, too. Let's see. I hope that was helpful as you think about, like, the pain that comes with a launch. And I just want to remind you, as I wrap up this episode, I don't want you to look at the scoreboard before the game is over. And I may have given this example in the past, but I just can't stop thinking about how with a football game, I have totally watched Georgia. I went to the University of Georgia, and I have totally watched this team go into halftime down and come back and win. You can fail and come back again and win. You can, but just not if you quit. Right? Like, how fun would it be if we all tuned in and had millions of people watching any game, whether it's golf, whether it's football, and when the team got down or they got beat, they literally gave up and quit it and never came back again. That is not what life is about. Life is about you getting in the game and being okay, losing so you can get better, so you can watch the replay, make a tweak, and win. That is possible for you when you launch. And so I just want you to hold tight, know that you're in the right place. Refine. Don't whine. Cause you're doing one or the other. Pick one. And pick your heart as you think about this launch game, because it's not for the faint of heart. And yet it's super worth it when you can figure out how to launch successfully over and over and over and over again. And listen, every launch is gonna be different. I have two boys. They are very different. And it's crazy. It's wild how I'm like, this is the same two people. We came together and we've got these two kids that are just different personalities, different mannerisms, different different appearance. They're just so different. And yet some things are so similar. And they have the same. The similar genes, right? So be okay saying, this launch didn't go well. This launch is different. And just going again and again and again. I have so many stories and so many people who, like, I know I've. Gosh, I. Christina comes to mind because she just saw different results for different launches with her speech language pathology business. I need to start thinking of a few. Oh, gosh. Kalina. She's one of my photographers. She launched her very first thing and got some people from her ads, which was really, really cool. And it was profitable. And she's like, planning the next one and the next one and the next one. And I just know that it's gonna continue to look different for her because she's getting better in between. Like, she could be freezing. She could be not thinking about it, but she's like, hey, this went well. It could go better. How can I be better? How can I be better? And your attitude around it on how you can refine is what'll have you be so immensely successful compared to other people. So there is a difference between the people that launch successfully. There is a difference between the people that don't. And it is really how you're thinking about this launch process. And I wrote down. It's not. Let's see, I wrote, don't change the action. You're taking, change your reaction you're making. So don't change. Don't change the action you're taking. Change the reaction that you're making. How are you reacting to a failed launch? How are you reacting to a launch that actually went well? Are you rewarding yourself? Are you figuring out what worked and what didn't so that you can have a more successful one later? It's so important. So I hope that was helpful as you think about how you can prepare for your launch. And just know people are waiting to buy from you. They're waiting to pay you for what you have to offer. And launches will be painful, they'll be so worth it and you will continue to refine and that is when the magic will happen. So I hope that was helpful. And don't forget, if you really want some feedback on your launch and maybe your strategy on your messaging or your setting, that is exactly what we talk about in the five day Win with Paid Ads Challenge. So below this video you can go to. You can click on the link or go to ashleybrock.com challenge and I cannot wait to see you in the Win with Pay Dad's Challenge and otherwise I will see you on the next episode.