This is how templates are hurting your launches

Today's blog was actually inspired by a friend and a copywriter I've worked with on my own business before she went on maternity leave and broke my heart. Kirsty Fanton. She is an awesome human and she's always posting really thought-provoking content on social media and on her podcast.

I saw a post that she shared about launch copy templates and her opinion on them. And that got me thinking about launch copy templates and launch templates. What I mean by this is, when somebody gives you a template for a framework of a launch.

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This is how templates are hurting your launches now

 

Let's look at launch copy templates first, because I want to talk a little bit about how these templates are hurting your launches. I know they are super tempting because it saves you so much work. But unfortunately, they might not be the best way to go when planning your launch.

 

Launch Copy Templates

In Kirsty's post, she talked a little bit about how copy templates mean that you spend all of your focus on filling out the template. With no focus on the person and the audience you're trying to connect with. I 100% agree with what she wrote. It's almost like your copy or in this case, your launch copy, becomes a box-ticking exercise.

 

“Let me just get this one email over and done with, let me just send it out to my list so I can tick it off and say that I've done that email as part of my launch.”

 

And unfortunately your launch, these parts of your launch aren't box-ticking exercises. The emails that you send out in a launch can be a really effective way of launching to your audience. They should never be a box-ticking exercise. And in some ways, it should actually be that if you're treating your emails in a launch, like a box-ticking exercise, maybe you shouldn't be sending them at all.

In some ways, I actually think that email templates feel a little bit disrespectful to your subscribers. It's as if I'm sending you this because I have to, not because I want to take the time to connect with you and resonate with you and get to know you and offer you the solution to your problems. But instead, I'm just going to send you this template because it's what is easy.

 

I do give email templates to my affiliates for promoting Launch Magic when they are affiliates for that launch. But I always make sure that I leave quite a lot of space for them so that they can share their own experiences. They can tailor the messaging for their audience rather than just simple one-word fill in the blanks.

 

I will admit it is much harder to write launch copy from scratch. And that's why a copywriter like Kirsty used to come in and do all of our Launch Magic launch emails. But going through that process definitely gives you a deeper understanding of who you're talking to and how you're selling to them and what they need from you.

 

And I remember in the days before we hired launch copywriters to write all of the Launch Magic copy, it was such an interesting process for me to go through. From the very first launch where I didn't really know what I was saying to my subscribers. I didn't really know what I was supposed to be writing. So I would look at other people's launch emails and try to follow their structure.

 

And by trying to follow their structure (obviously I wasn't copying and pasting and I wasn't filling in the blanks) but by trying to follow their structure, I had those light bulb moments of, oh, I need to find out what my audience's problems are. I need to find out how they would describe it in their words. I need to find out the things that they're doing to procrastinate in solving this problem.

 

By going through that process, not only did this make me better at writing the emails that I was sending out during my launches, but it also made me better equipped to create content in my launches. It made me better able to deliver my webinars, talk to my audience, and communicate with my audience.

 

Launch Framework Templates

The second thing I want to talk about is launch framework templates. Now, what do I mean by a launch framework template? I'm sure you've probably been targeted with a million ads for these. If you're anything like me, I get at least like three a day. Basically what these are, are templated launches, launches in a box, whatever you want to call them. It might be a Trello board, or it might be a course or a spreadsheet.

 

It will tell you exactly what to post and exactly what to do. It's almost like a checklist for your launch, which definitely has its place. I think having a launch checklist is great for making sure that you are on top of everything. But these templates don't really take into consideration your personal needs in your launch, your goals, how you like to launch and how your energy works.

 

Imagine if you went to a personal trainer and they gave you a templated workout, the same one that they gave to every single one of their clients. With no consideration of your goals, your injuries, your likes, your dislikes, how much energy you have, or what fitness levels you have. All of those things. Imagine if you're just turned up to a personal trainer and they said, here's a plan for getting fit and losing weight.

 

You think, ok I'm going to follow this meal plan and I'm going to do these exact workouts. You might get the results, but you might not have fun during the process. You might feel burnt out. It might take you longer to get the results that you want to get. You might be spending your time on things that don't work for you.

You're not going to stand out with a templated launch because it's exactly what everyone else is doing too.

 

It also might not fit well with your schedule. You might have a lot on your to-do list or you might be able to do more in your launch than what is in that template. It also doesn't allow you to flow with your energy and your creativity and what feels right for you. It doesn't necessarily open you up to those bursts of inspiration. It doesn't have you asking those questions of what does my audience need? What do I want to do? What feels good for me? What feels heavy to me?

 

You're not listening to your intuition when you're launching with a template, you're outsourcing that intuition to somebody who's created that template for you. And you might find that it will actually limit your creativity. I think having a framework, to a point, can help with your creativity because it gives you those constraints you need within which to be creative. But if you're following a template, that's saying you need to post exactly this on this date, then that really limits your creativity because it becomes this chore.

 

Rather than that little burst of inspiration where you think, oh, today I feel like posting about this, or, oh, my audience clearly doesn't know enough about this topic. Let me share what I know about it.

 

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