a single source, nothing corroborates it

Trade one real piece of the product for an address

A sample chapter, a short guide or a free course gives the reader something finished on the spot, which is why it recruits far faster than an invitation to subscribe. Keeping a library of these lets every guest post, page and partnership carry its own incentive while all signups land on the same list.

The method

1. 01

   Collect the pre-launch list by giving away one sample chapter or module, then sell to that list on launch day.

2. 02

   If you want an audience before you have anything to sell, write a short guide or email course and trade it for addresses

3. 03

   Package your launch playbook as a free email course: a how-we-launched lead magnet can out-recruit every other subscriber source.

4. 04

   A free email course will pull in subscribers in bulk, so use it as the front end of a launch rather than as a standalone funnel

5. 05

   Keep a library of distinct incentives, email courses, video courses, PDF guides, templates, so every guest post can offer its own, while all signups land on one list

What it returned

• 2,650

  2,650 people downloaded the Marketing for Developers sample chapter, 615 of them bought at launch, a 23% conversion; the book has sold 2,442 copies in total since.

• 1,300

  His free product-launch email course had passed 1,300 subscribers

• 3,000

  His own launch course, Paul Jarvis's freelancing course and Paula Borowska's design book course each gathered over 3,000 subscribers quickly

• His free email course on launching has recruited more subscribers than any other channel, and the launch posts rank among his most popular

Sources

• How I price productsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · How I price products · undated
• The Audience Building Challenge: 10,000 subscribers in 30 daysNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · How will you do it? · 2013-11-01
• How to cheat at online businessNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Start cheating · 2013-08-06
• Email marketing systems for professional bloggersNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The problem with most automated pitches · 2015-04-16
• Lessons from building a blog to 10,000 subscribers in a year (video course)Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The format · 2013-08-19
• Should you launch more than once? I’ve got $58,332 as evidence.Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · A new course · 2014-02-28