4 builders who never spoke to each other
Run a drumbeat of posts in the weeks before opening
Sequence a run of posts ahead of the open rather than relying on one announcement: a daily post for a week each showing a single feature or problem removed, a dozen or more mentions before the thing can be bought, a free session or giveaway timed just before. An unhyped launch is both smaller and less predictable than a sequenced one.
The method
- 01
Post about a new course a dozen or more times before it is available to buy, so demand exists on day one.
- 02
Promote a pre-launch with one post a day for a week, each one showing a single feature or a single problem the product removes.
- 03
Run a week of posts and questions on X ahead of opening, because an unhyped launch is both smaller and less predictable than a sequenced one.
- 04
Put the paid launch in the first month of the new year and run a free masterclass in the weeks just before it, so the same reset moment collects applications first and converts them second.
- 05
Run a giveaway of your own paid products in the weeks before a relaunch, with extra entries granted for sharing it publicly.
What it returned
- 12
Welsh runs 12 to 15 promotions ahead of any course launch.
- 879,709
Eric Partaker, a CEO coach whose clients have included McKinsey and Skype, spent early and mid December pushing his 879,709 plus LinkedIn followers into a free masterclass that previewed the course, and his paid programme, CEO Accelerator, then went on sale as Q1 opened.
- 31
Ahead of the 31 August relaunch of Marketing for Developers, Justin gave away two $299 courses, five $99 courses, eight $39 books and ten $14.99 books via a digital scratch-card app, with three free tickets each plus more for tweeting.
A few scattered tweets with no launch sequence, which he judged left the response smaller than it could have been.
Sources
- Fresh Start Effect - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · Online courses Strategically pick a launch date · undated
- I've never done this beforeJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Giveaway contest · undated
- 4 Lessons From $1.228M in Online Course SalesJustin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · Lesson 1: Improve Revenue by Building a Course Marketing Plan · 2022-07-30
- From 0 to €4k MRR and an unexpected exit.Luca Restagno · solopreneurtofreedom.com · ✨ The Pre-launch · 2023-10-29
- $0 to $15,000/mo in 36 hoursTibo Louis-Lucas · tmaker.io · 1 - Communicate early and build hype · 2026-07-16
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in social
- Concentrate on one platform until it works11 unconnected · contested
- Gather the audience before there is a product6 unconnected · contested
- Fire the launch into the audience you already have6 unconnected · contested
- Post the numbers, not the commentary5 unconnected · contested
- Republish the winners with a new hook5 unconnected
- Cut one long piece into weeks of social posts5 unconnected