Any online business owner considering adding a passive income stream to their business almost certainly has come across digital product launch expert, Steph Taylor. She’s a force to be reckoned with and shares invaluable digital product launch tips in her popular podcast Imperfect Action.
I caught up with Steph recently to talk all things online launches and find out how she ended up where she is today. Running a successful business that’s taken more than one detour along the way.
Let’s get straight into it.
Who is launch expert Steph Taylor and how can your digital product launch tips help online creators to their slice of success?
I’m an ex-corporate square peg, launch strategist, Launch Magic (affiliate link) Course Creator (sidenote: I’m a proud graduate) and host of the Imperfect Action podcast. I help brands launch and relaunch to reach more people, grow their audience and become the go-to in their industry through my signature Firecracker Framework that makes launching simple and fun. I do what I do so that brands can achieve more impact, create more profit and have more freedom.
That’s a pretty specific niche. How did your business journey take you where you are today?
I’m now 4 years into business, but my rollercoaster ride began in the stark white cubicle of my “dream” corporate finance job. Only, the dream I was pursuing? It wasn’t mine. I craved a creative outlet, so I began blogging on the side and managing social media for local businesses.
I saw the results I was getting for my clients (and my blog!) and believed I could replicate this in a business of my own. Passionate about nutrition, I decided to launch a health food ecommerce business. But, after months of pulling 16-hour days, my body screamed “please, no more!” and I spent a week in hospital with a serious infection. I’d barely been discharged when my boss called to ask when he could drop my laptop off. I knew I had to resign.
Unsurprisingly, my bank account promptly hit rock bottom and I started as a digital marketing coordinator for a start up. My new boss quickly became a mentor and encouraged me to start another business – this time as a marketing consultant.
I soon noticed a gap in the market: Small business owners needed marketing support but couldn’t afford to outsource it. So, I started launching online courses teaching them how to DIY.
After repeated successful course launches, I knew I’d finally found my groove. Many business owners are terrified of launching (thus limiting their potential growth), so I decided to niche into launch marketing and strategy. These days? I help brands launch and relaunch their offerings so they can achieve more impact, create more profit and foster more freedom in their business.
What makes your services so tempting for startups?
I help entrepreneurs launch and relaunch their online courses, memberships, digital products and podcasts to reach more people, grow their audience and become the go-to geniuses in their industry – the simple way.
That means they can spend less time on client work, while still scaling their business, income and impact.
How can launching a digital product or membership fast-track your startup phase?
When you’re just starting out, it can be tricky to build credibility – especially if you’re in a crowded space. Launching something (whether it’s a course, a podcast, a membership or another digital product) can start to position you as an authority in your space.
It means you become the go-to in your industry a whole lot quicker.
Plus, it adds another income stream to your business. If you have a bad month or you want to take a break from client work, you still have cash coming into your business.
What are your top 5 tips digital product launch tips?
People – WHO are you launching to? What do they want and need from you? The best way to find out is to simply ask them.
Position – How are you positioning the offer that you’re launching? The wrong messaging can completely sabotage your launch.
Plan – Your launch is more about what happens in the 90 days leading up to it, than the actual launch day. Your marketing calendar should reflect this.
Promote – What are you doing to kick off your launch? Whether this is a webinar, a 5-day challenge or a video series, you need to promote the heck out of it.
Post-launch – This is the bit most people skip, but it’s also super important because it’s what will inform everything in your next launch and help make it even better.
There are so many myths out there surrounding online launches. Can you share some that simply aren’t true?
SO many.
The most common ones I hear:
“I’m not confident enough to launch anything.”
“I’m not ready to launch just yet.”
“My audience isn’t big enough yet”
“Someone else has already launched something similar so I can’t launch it anymore.”
“Launching is expensive.”
As a launch expert, what is one standout success story where your advice truly transformed someone’s business journey?
I started working with Bec Miller (a nutritionist who runs Health With Bec) in 2019, when she was thinking of adding a membership to her business so that she could cut back on the one-to-one client consults, while helping more people at the same time.
I helped her with the launch of her membership as well as with the questions she had relating to the tech side of it all. She launched within 3 months of working together and within less than 6 months her membership reached ~100 members. All that with minimal paid advertising and she’s feeling excited about her business and her vision.
