The Marketing phase of your project is when A LOT of moving pieces will all start coming together.
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The Marketing Phase
But by “start coming together” I really mean: they’ll all be happening at once!
During our Marketing phase for The Freedom Journal there were a lot of things happening simultaneously, including the actual creation of The Freedom Journal in China, plus a lot of preparation to make sure the five key marketing tactics we wanted to use would actually work.
Here’s a look at The Freedom Journal being printed, bound and shipped from China!
This is an important phase in the process. Be sure to take a step back and think ahead.
What type of production or preparation should be happening right now in order for you to hit your launch date?
Are there moving pieces that should be in motion, but that aren’t yet?
Sit down with a team member, an accountability partner, or a friend and talk through some of the things you have going on at this stage. Then ask: “Are there obvious things I might be missing at this stage in the game?”
Our 5 Key Marketing Tactics
Marketing Tactic 1: The Ask
If you’ve been practicing Gary V’s “Jab, jab, jab – right hook” gig, then now is the time to throw the right hook.
Tune in this episode to hear me dive deep on this topic with our launch team.
The Ask was probably the most impactful of all of our marketing tactics, and it’s important to understand how to do it right – especially the follow up piece.
Here are a few stats to show you how much went into this single marketing tactic:
And here’s the email Tom and his team sent out to all of our previous Entrepreneurs On Fire guests to ask if they’d help support The Freedom Journal launch:
And here are the swipe files I mentioned in this episode so you can check those out.
Marketing Tactic 2: 33 Days of Content Marketing
Our 33 days of content marketing was HUGE.
It included:
- 33 days on Entrepreneurs On Fire
- 33 days on The Freedom Journal podcast
- 33 days on Kate’s Take
- 33 days on Kickstarter
And this is not to mention any of the promotional content we had scheduled to go live throughout these 33 days, like guest posts, guest podcasts, and emails and support from “The Ask”.
Our 33 days of Content Marketing made sure we were top of mind and expanding our reach as wide as possible.
Marketing Tactic 3: Involving Fire Nation
Not only did we have an interest campaign we’d been running for months, we also took the month or so before our launch to really get Fire Nation involved.
Remember, we weren’t just asking Fire Nation to sign up to hear when we went live; we were offering an experience – for them to come along with us on this journey.
So every step of the way – from hiring Richie, Brandon, Brandy, Tom… all the way to printing, receiving our first copy of the journal, and prepping for our launch on Kickstarter – Fire Nation was a part of it.
Marketing Tactic 4: A Partnership with Pencils of Promise
Our partnership with Pencils of Promise allowed us to not only continue to support a cause we believe in, but it also allowed those who were supporting The Freedom Journal campaign to do the same.
Through our partnership we were able to fund the creation of 2 schools in developing countries, and for backers to have a hand in that not only made it really special for us and for Pencils of Promise, but for each individual backer as well.
Not only were those supporting The Freedom Journal campaign giving themselves the gift of freedom, they were also giving the gift of education to those less fortunate.
For every funding goal we hit on Kickstarter, John and I personally donated $25,000 to Pencils of Promise.
Marketing Tactic 5: Social Media and Paid Advertising
Social media and paid advertising was also a huge contributor to the success of our campaign. Our Facebook ads far outperformed our YouTube ads, but every post – paid or not – made a difference.
I’ll be diving into the stats and ROI in our next post: The Launch Phase!
