Matt: Welcome? No.

[Intro]

Matt: Welcome to another episode of Publish & Prosper. Today we are celebrating... Well.

Lauren: A little bit, yeah.

Matt: Actually, we're not celebrating. We're going to talk about celebrating.

Lauren: Exactly.

Matt: Actually, we're going to talk about building excitement towards a celebration.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Right?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: We're going to talk about how to build excitement with your audience around your product launch communications, your book launch communications. Possibly even something other than a book launch. But how to build that excitement and more importantly, how to hold that excitement. And then let the cat out the bag.

Lauren: And –

Matt: Do cat people like that phrase? Or are you – does that offend you? Let the cat out of the bag?

Lauren: I mean, I use that phrase all the time.

Matt: I mean, that assumes I have a cat in a bag. You don't like that, do you?

Lauren: Which, that I-I don't love.

Matt: Right.

Lauren: I do have a great gif though of, of Rose had climbed into a Trader Joe's, like, paper bag. And I picked it up to see what she would do. And all she did was like, poke her head out the top of it and then duck back down again. So you know some, some cats. She's more of a box cat than a bag cat, but.

Matt: Okay...

Lauren: All cats are box cats.

Matt: Are they?

Lauren: Oh yeah.

Matt: I'm not a cat person, so I wouldn’t know.

Lauren: We're well aware.

[1:36] – Episode Topic Intro

Matt: Alright, so how to build excitement. How to hold that excitement. And then how to release that.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Right?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Like, let the cat out of the bag.

Lauren: Yep.

Matt: Or whatever we’re gonna say.

Lauren: But like, in a good way.

Matt: Of course.

Lauren: Yeah. Yeah.

Matt: It's always good if you let the cat out of the bag.

Lauren: Well, it is –

Matt: Or the box.

Lauren: Yes. Yes.

Matt: So we could be talking about something like... announcing a new book, a product. If you're going to do a big, you know, promotion or sale, like for, you know, Black Friday or Cyber Monday type of thing. If you've landed a really big sort of partnership... Any sort of big piece of news. We don't recommend using this for everything.

Lauren: Yeah, you don't want to over use this.

Matt: Yeah. We don't recommend making a big deal out of everything. But, you know, primarily book or product launches. That's where you really want to draw the most excitement. And a lot of people are already pretty good at creating excitement. Where most people, including us, fall short at times is how to hold that excitement. So that when it does come time to deliver the punch or let the cat out of the bag. Cat out of the box? Everybody's still super excited and they can go oh, great, awesome.

Lauren: Well and not just that, but also maintain that excitement long enough to get them to do something. Because... I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they are trying to announce something big, or trying to generate excitement like this, is that they make it a very passive thing. And there is no immediate next step to take.

Matt: Yes.

Lauren: So that's really the end piece of this too. Is how to get people excited about whatever's coming. Build that anticipation and excitement. How and when to, to finally release that. And then to make sure that you are prepared for the next step after that. So...yeah.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: And we are going to talk through – I mean, I completely agree with Matt. We definitely do not recommend overusing this strategy. This is not something that you should use for everything. But it is something that I think you can take bits and pieces of it and apply it to a lot of different circumstances.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So we're going to talk about this throughout this episode just using the, the example that we know best, which is a book launch or product launch. Something, something that you're, you're getting ready to go out there with this, this great new product. But there are a lot of circumstances under which you can, you can use some of this stuff. Some of the things Matt just said, and I'm sure there are a bunch of other examples too. So.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: You know? Take what you want out of this, but just make sure that you are using it intentionally and sparingly.

[4:25] – The Roller Coaster Formula for Successful Launches

Matt: I'll tell you who does it really well is Justin Moore.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: He does it really well. He did it really well for the launch of his book. But in general, you know, some of the other things he's done, whether it's been announcing a partnership or – he does it pretty well. I can't think, off the top my head, anybody else, but anyways. Okay.

Lauren: I think there are a lot of examples... And I was actually, as I was going through this outline, a lot of the examples that I was thinking of were not book people. And I think that that's actually a very good thing. Because I think that that's like you should be able to take some lessons from people that are, that are doing marketing and pre-launch marketing specifically outside of your own industry.

Matt: Yeah, I think you should be able to, to take lessons, of course. I mean, you know, there's so much marketing-specific and sales-specific stuff that it, it's great, regardless of what industry or, you know, whatever you're in. So talking about people who have done it successfully –

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: – whether, you know, it's in books or clothing or... amusement parks, I won't say which ones. Movies, whatever it is, like. There's a formula to this, right?

Lauren: Yes. Yes. There, there very much is. And I think that the very first step of that formula, the first, the first piece of that formula is one of the things that is the most often overlooked, and that is teasing the announcement before actually making it. And I think that is something that, that a lot of people just that alone is a, is a big element that could be a game changer.

Matt: So what do you mean, teasing the announcement?

Lauren: Like, you don't have to go... So we're going to use book launch as, as the –

Matt: Right.

Lauren: – the example throughout this whole thing. So a lot of people, they will approach that as the, the first step of their pre-launch marketing strategy. Is to say hey everyone, I have a new book coming out. I'm so excited about it.

Matt: So the announcement of the book itself, as a precursor to the actual launch?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: I got you. Okay.

Lauren: But I think that you need to start before that. You need to start teasing I've got some news –

Matt: So you're saying –

Lauren: – I’ve got some news to share.

Matt: – you want to tease the announcement –

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: – of your book launch, which is the, the precursor to your book launch?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: So you want to tease the precursor to the precursor?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: That's actually – I think that you need to start and –

Matt: I can't argue it, I – yeah.

Lauren: – and treat it like that.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: And I think that we're seeing – I mean, you know.

Matt: So what's an example of teasing the teaser, or teasing the announcement? I mean, all I could think of would be like, hey, I've got some big news coming up.

Lauren: I mean, that, yeah.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Or that, you know, or there's something...

Matt: Which I've fallen victim to that, by the way. So I know it works.

Lauren: Absolutely.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Absolutely we see that, we see people – I talked about this on an episode recently. The author Lauren Asher, who was an independently published author. She was an, she was an indie romance author. She recently signed a deal with Avon, she has a new book coming out with Avon. And for the like, four days leading up to the – like, she had the announcement planned. That she was going to say hey I've... I, like, I have a new book coming out with Avon, and here is the, the title and the cover copy so that you can get excited about it. That was not step one. That was step two. The first thing that she did before posting that announcement was posted four days of content leading up to that announcement. Teasing I've got something big coming, I can't wait to share it with you guys. Here are some little hints throughout each of the posts. Let's see, we'll make it a guessing game. Blah blah blah. And so she had already kind of built some like, oh hey, what's going on?

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: What's, what's happening here? What's going on?

Matt: So in this formula we’re, we're teasing an upcoming announcement. Then next is the actual announcement, and asking them to do something like sign up for an email list.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Right? Or get on the... whatever you might wanna – the wait list to find out, or whatever it might be, right?

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: Some sort of call to action. At this point, we're not really talking about a purchase, though, right? We're just saying hey, you know, take this action. Which is probably, most likely going to be some sort of a sign up.

Lauren: Yep.

Matt: Right. And then... Then what?

Lauren: Then it's maintenance. Then it's maintaining – Because if there's a lull between... most people are not announcing something and then releasing it 24 hours later, right? Regardless of what the announcement is, most people are not saying hey –

Matt: Unless they started late.

Lauren: Unless they started very late.

Matt: On their marketing, yeah.

Lauren: And I'm not – you know, I'm, I can think of some examples where people have had really successful surprise launches. But, you know, let's be honest, we're not all that level of fame and success that a surprise launch will work for us. But. So, you know, we're going to talk about building that excitement before you, you start announcing whatever it is. Making sure that you have the immediate call to action that follows that. And then maintaining... not peak level of excitement and enthusiasm, but at least maintaining enough interest that people don't forget about it between that initial peak of the announcement and then the actual launch date.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And then what?

Lauren: And then it's launch.

Matt: So it's teasing the announcement of the product launch.

Lauren: Yep.

Matt: I want to say product instead of book.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: So teasing the announcement of the product launch. Then it's the announcement of the product launch, with a call to action. Which, again, is probably going to be like an email sign up. And then you're going to sort of prolong or sort of, you know, continue hedging that excitement... for how long?

Lauren: However long that makes sense for you in the timeline that you're working in.

Matt: So how am I prolonging that? What am I doing?

Lauren: I think that, you know, it can be –

Matt: I'm just trying to understand this formula. Because I feel like I've been victim to it many a time, I've just never thought to break it down. So I'm very curious and interested in it.

Lauren: We have all been victim to it.

Matt: So yes, of course I like to jump ahead. And –

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: – cause I'm feeling like I'm learning something here, which is rare.

Lauren: Okay. I'm gonna... I'm gonna make an analogy.

Matt: Alright.

Lauren: And I want you to go with me on this one. You should be treating your, your, any kind of long term campaign like this like it's a roller coaster. In some cases, there are some roller coasters that have a launch as the start. And they launch you right into it.

Matt: The best ones.

Lauren: I mean, I would agree, I do love –

Matt: Incredicoaster.

Lauren: I do love Incredicoaster, and I do love Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. I love a good launch. But, you know, then it's, then it's still, it's launching you right in and then it's very often kind of peters out after that. Like that is the big, the big climax. And that can be really fun. And be really effective sometimes. But there's also something to be said... The first roller coaster that I ever went on was Apollo's Chariot at the Busch Gardens in Virginia Beach.

Matt: Williamsburg.

Lauren: And it’s – Yes. It's famously the one that Fabio got hit in the face with a... with a goose, or a bird, or something.

Matt: I think it was a regular-sized bird. I think a goose would have killed him.

Lauren: Probably. Probably. But it was, it was that roller coaster. And there is also a dupe of it at the Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. And that is one of those roller coasters that is – It doesn't go upside down at all. It starts with a really slow and steady climb up an incredibly steep slope, and then you kind of linger at the top for a little bit, and then it's a drop. And then there's a lot of, like, it's one of those, like, long just straight up and down drops. And that is a strategy for something like this too. Because that – if, if the announcement of hey, I've got a new book coming out –

Matt: Like Tiana’s Bayou.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Up up up up up up up up, little dip –

Lauren: Little dip.

Matt: Up.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Big dip.

Lauren: Yes. Yeah.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Pick your, insert your, your thrill ride of choice here. But it’s –

Matt: I’m trying to stay on brand and stick with Disney.

Lauren: I appreciate it. I understand that.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: But it is something that I think that you have to build up to the announcement point and then you can't just leave people at the top, push them over the edge and be like, okay bye. See you, see you... see you when you come back in six months. So we got to maintain... Does that make sense?

Matt: Yes.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Alright.

Matt: I think where I was trying to make sense of this was like, what am I possibly going to do during that time to keep them?

Lauren: Oh, I have so many ideas.

Matt: Okay. Please.

Lauren: Alright. Well, let's start at the beginning.

Matt: Okay.

[13:26] – Building Anticipation Before the Big Announcement

Lauren: So first we gotta talk about actually building that anticipation. Because I think that that is something that is kind of the best part. And I think that's where the actual excitement comes from. Because realistically, most major announcements of any kind of book launch, product launch, anything like that, they're going to be exciting for you as the creator, and they're going to be exciting for your most, like, loyal, diehard fans and friends and family that support you. And everybody else is just kind of like...

Matt: It's more white noise.

Lauren: Cool.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Yay. Especially in, in a world that is a 2/7 news cycle where there's so many, like – there are so often times that even me, myself, I see something and I'm like ooh, that looks really interesting. I'm going to forget about it between now and when it comes out, so I'm not going to think about it now, and I'm sure it'll find me again in the future. So, you know, you gotta, you gotta actually, like, give people a reason to get excited with you.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: And I think that that anticipation is a great way to do that. Whether you want to build that by doing something like just a simple countdown.

Matt: I hate a countdown. I'm just gonna tell you.

Lauren: I mean, I don't –

Matt: But.

Lauren: I think, I think it gets –

Matt: I know other people like it.

Lauren: I think it gets overused, for sure. And I think that there's... But it doesn't have to be a countdown in the traditional way that you're thinking of it. It can be a countdown just for you in your head. Like, I'm gonna post and the people don't know it’s a countdown until they get to the end of it. But just like, you know. It's a little something. There's a little, there's a little intrigue, there's a little... You're posting something out of the ordinary for you. Or all of a sudden, you know, you've been, you've been posting in pinks and golds on your Instagram for the last two years, and now all of a sudden you started posting content that is slowly going from pink to purple. And it's like, okay, why? What's, what's going on here? What's...

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: You know? People might not notice right away, but you're building that, that question. You're building that, like, what's going on? What's, what's happening over here? Or maybe you want to do something that is, you know, more overt. Maybe you wanna just start posting like... three days in a row I'm gonna post three rejected cover designs. And I'm not really going to elaborate on what we're leading up to here. There might be some speculation. Which is not a bad thing. It's not – if you're leading up to an announcement –

Matt: If you're, if you're showing cover designs, then there's no speculation. It's a book you're about to announce, right?

Lauren: Maybe. But you don't have to say that it's for your new book. You can be, if, if you already –

Matt: I like the idea of rejected covers.

Lauren: I mean, I love, I love that idea.

Matt: But I think the cat's out of the bag at that point.

Lauren: But that's not a bad thing, because that is still generating speculation and hype –

Matt: That’s true.

Lauren: – at this point.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Until you confirm it, it is still just rumor and intrigue and what's going on over there? Which is what you want.

Matt: I like the idea that you have here next, which is revealing pieces.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: You know? I'm assuming what you meant was pieces of the cover or something, right? Like, pull away another puzzle piece, and behind it is more cover. I like that.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: I've seen people do that and I like it.

Lauren: Yeah. I think there could be –

Matt: Although I've seen it for like, t-shirt designs and stuff, but.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah, I think there can be some really cool ways to do that. Fun ways to do that. And that gets you – That is something that is inherently all of these ideas together.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So, you know, you put six post-it notes over a book cover, and every day you pull one post-it note off of it. That's six days worth of content. That's a countdown. That's giving people a reason to pay attention. It's giving people a reason to come back and say... Even if they say ugh, I'm not sitting through six days of this, I'll come back on day seven and see the final cover. They're still going to come back. And, and also, realistically, you're doing all of this on a social media channel, if not multiple. So this content is going to stay on your page.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So it will continue to show up in other people's feeds even after the fact. So it's, it's giving you a lot of different things in just that, that one little detail. But I also think that a lot of hype and anticipation building for a big product launch or something is assuming that you are going to be speaking to your existing audience. Which, yes, they are going to be your primary recipient –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – of this, this kind of content. But sometimes the, the way that you get in front of new audiences with stuff like this is by doing something interesting that makes... not necessarily people that are interested in your product, but people that are peers or contemporaries or interested in what you’re doing itself. Like, I see all the time – I work in marketing. This is, this is something that I have a vested personal and professional interest. If I see somebody doing a cool marketing campaign, even if I'm not the target audience for it, even if it's not necessarily something that I, I'm going to buy the product in the end, I'm still going to pay attention to it sometimes and see what they're doing, what's going on over there. And that engagement alone, even if they're not selling a product to me, if I'm interacting with this content and then it's showing up on my friends’ feeds because I've interacted with it... They might be the target audience for it, and they might be interested in it.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So there's a lot of ways that, that doing something like behind the scenes content, or rejected covers, or these are why I wanted to do X, Y, Z for this cover, or something like that. There's multiple reasons to, to kind of share a little behind the scenes look.

[19:28] – Getting Your Audience Involved and Invested

Lauren: But I think another thing that is a really valuable thing that you can do there, is get your audience involved in it.

Matt: So where does this fall in the, the, the teaser, the announcement, is this the call to action part?

Lauren: This is, this is covering kind of all three of them. The announcement’s going to happen in the middle of this section.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: I was trying to originally be like, okay, how do I separate out the give your audience something to do? And I actually think that you can't, because it has to be in the before, during and after part. And that's where I think a lot of people go wrong. And that's where I think a lot of big launch announcements fall flat, is that they forget to involve the audience as more than just a passive observer.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: In one, two, or all three of these spots. Before you make that announcement, when you are still in that building anticipation stage, a great way to do that is to get your audience involved in the teasing in general. Give them something, like, give them hints, give them, you know, challenge them to solve the riddle that you are leaving out clues for them. The author that I referenced earlier, Lauren Asher, she did that in her post. It was a four day countdown that in each post there was like, you know, content that was hinting to the book, the book title, the different, like, tropes and elements of the book and everything. But she also had something in each thing that spelled out the word Avon, which was the publisher, the publishing imprint that she was signing on with. So there was, there were like, multiple things happening.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: It’s encouraging, not just like a hey, I'm over here doing something, pay attention. But like, I'm over here doing something, come do it with me. Come be involved in it. Participate in it. So. You know? It's not fun watching other – like the, the lift hill on a roller coaster is really boring to watch from the ground.

Matt: Yeah, that's a good point.

Lauren: You know? Being on it is fun though.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Being a part of it. So that's, that's the, you know, audience participation in the early teasing that content kind of thing. Your actual announcement part, when you're actually at the point where you're like, hey, this is it. I've, I'm done teasing it. Here's what's happening now. Get your audience involved there too. Go live, do a live stream and announce it that way. Have, have pre-recorded content or pre-planned photos, graphics, whatever, that you can send out, but invite people ahead of time and say, hey, I'm doing... I'm going to be making a big announcement at 8 p.m. on Friday. I'm going live for it. That's unusual, I don't go live all that often. Come join me, if you've got nothing else going on. I will do a little Q&A. If you can't make it, don't worry. I'll share the news as soon as it's over. But if you want to be the first to hear my big news... come, come sign up. Come join in.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: I... you know? I've been suckered in by, by a lot less than that.

Matt: I've been suckered in –

Lauren: Honestly.

Matt: – to a lot of things, too. I don't know if I've ever actually watched a live stream or release of anything. I'm not saying I wouldn't, I just, I haven't, to date. But I don't, I don't follow a lot of people that do live releases, or like, live streams. So maybe that's part of it too. Maybe if they did, maybe I would. I don't know.

Lauren: I'm, I'm being slowly persuaded on the value of them. Largely through the – I actually put a 100% of the fault, not even largely, it's, it's Jeff Sieh and Katie Fawkes’s fault.

Matt: I think there’s no –

Lauren: Cause they both do live podcasts.

Matt: Well –

Lauren: And they're really selling me on it.

Matt: That's a whole ‘nother thing, but.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: There's no denying, you know, the effectiveness of live streams. Live selling.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Like, live selling is huge. For whatever reason people love to to buy things live. It's like the old Home Shopping Network –

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: – now on –

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: – TikTok or social media. So yeah, I could see where, you know, live stream would be the way to do something like this.

Lauren: Well, I think it's just, it's, it's removing the one way street of it. Because again, this is about audience participation. It's removing the barrier of there's no way for people to share in my excitement with me.

Matt: Well I think it also pulls on that, that whole community thing that we talk about –

Lauren: Absolutely.

Matt: – all the time. It's a great way to help continue building community, make people feel like they're part of something.

Lauren: Yes. Which is a huge part of this –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – is the community element of it. And, and making people feel like they're a part of this thing, they're part of this community. They're not just... it's not just about being excited that they're getting a new product. It's about helping somebody else celebrate their success.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Or celebrate their big news, or celebrate whatever it is. And that is something that, that is very community-focused. So absolutely, this is how you get your audience involved and give them a reason to be involved. And then we teased this already a little bit, but the, the after and the most important part of getting your audience to do something, or give them something to do, is that there has to be an immediate call to action. There has to be. You have to be prepared right away. You know, book launches, I always – it always makes me crazy when I see someone announce that they have a new book coming out and it's not available for preorder yet, it's not available, it's not listed on Goodreads yet so that you can add it to your to be read list. It's not, the metadata doesn't exist yet, so you can't go in your library and request it – like, there's no next step. In that case, there is literally nothing I can do except like your post, maybe comment on it, and then move on with my day. Even your biggest fans, there's nothing you can – if you don't have something for them to do next.

Matt: But so, if you're not doing a preorder, what's the suggested action?

Lauren: I mean, I would say if not a preorder, then the next best thing is make sure that you're signed up for my mailing list, so that you can be the first to know when the book is available. And you can even create that. that, again, that sense of community, that sense of exclusivity, where you tell people, everyone on my mailing list is going to get 24 hour early access to it. So if you really, really want this new product that I'm launching.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: My mailing list is going to get first dibs on it. So if you sign up for my mailing list now, you're guaranteed early access to it.

Matt: Yeah, I would do something cooler. Like –

Lauren: Like what?

Matt: They get a different cover variation.

Lauren: Ooh.

Matt: Something like that.

Lauren: Yeah. I mean, we see –

Matt: Because I would be selling direct.

Lauren: Well, of course you would.

Matt: So I could do whatever I want with my audience.

Lauren: You, you absolutely could do that. But I think that we see examples like that all the time, you know? There are artists all the time that I get pop ups on Spotify that is so-and-so artist has a new album coming out, and as a fan of them on Spotify, you get exclusive access to –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – like, Spotify-exclusive pressing of the vinyl.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: That has absolutely worked on me before.

Matt: It works on me.

Lauren: That has absolutely worked for me before, where I've been like, ooh, I wasn't planning on buying this vinyl, but it looks really cool. And if I don't get it now I'm never going to, because it's gonna sell out real fast.

Matt: We've both bought Target exclusives or –

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: – other exclusives, because that's the only place you could get that version.

Lauren:Yup.

Matt: You know? Maybe it was pink vinyl, green vinyl, clear vinyl, whatever, or a different jacket, you know, for the record, or whatever that might be, sleeve, whatever you want to call it. Yeah.

Lauren: I am a sucker for a different colored vinyl. I go out of my way now to try to find –

Matt: I'm a sucker for exclusivity.

Lauren: Well that too.

Matt: Yeah

Lauren: That too. Anything that is like if this is the only way that I can get it?

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Or there's a limited availability of this? Absolutely works on me. And we've talked about in, in other episodes, we've talked about how to create exclusivity with your book, if you're selling direct. But this is another way to do that too, in that community space. Is, you know, I, I'm giving exclusive access to this content to people that are on my mailing list, or I'm giving exclusive first looks to anybody that's in my Discord community, or I'm giving an exclusive promo code to anybody that has commented on this post or shared it to their story, or something like that. Like there, there is absolutely ways to, to leverage anticipation and excitement with exclusivity at the same time.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: And it gets people talking. Genuinely, I just do not think that anybody should undervalue the power of FOMO. Which is what this is. That’s what this whole episode’s about.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: It's about making people feel like something cool is happening. They want to be a part of it. And if they don't get on the train right now, they're going to miss it.

Matt: Yeah. I mean, everybody has something that, that will drive them based on FOMO. Like, I might not experience the same FOMO as you for a particular thing, based on what they're using as the, the motivator. But there may be something else that motivates me where I'm like, oh, I don't want to miss out on that.

Lauren: Right.

Matt: Because of this thing. Like. But yeah, in general, FOMO is a very big thing. Obviously. It's what the entire, sort of, career base of marketers hinges on.

Lauren: Absolutely. Yeah, it's – it is because it's effective. So. Just saying. Don't... you know, wield that power responsibly. Don't overuse it. Because if everything is exclusive –

Matt: Okay Uncle Ben. In Spider-Man.

Lauren: Yeah? And?

Matt: With great power comes great responsibility.

Lauren: Comes great responsibility. Don't remind me.

[30:31] – Maintaining Momentum After the Announcement

Lauren: Obviously if we're going back to the analogy of the roller coaster, if that announced mean of this big new book that you have coming out, this big new product, whatever it is, if that's the peak of the lift hill, that's still just the beginning, right? What happens next? What happens after the announcement? What happens after you've – You've made a big deal about something. You've teased it. You've promoted it. This is another place where so many people fall flat. It's like you, you made you made that big, big deal out of something. You built up all of this momentum, and then didn't go anywhere with it. And that's... I mean, an enormous waste of your time. Respectfully.

Matt: Enormous is probably a strong word, but yeah, I mean.

Lauren: It depends on how much effort you put into that.

Matt: Certainly a waste of my time. Like. Cause I'm at the other end of that going okay, what’s... Alright.

Lauren: Right.

Matt: Well, I'm just going to move on because... Yeah.

Lauren: Right.

Matt: And so that's why earlier I was like, well how do, how do you do this? How do you, how do you keep somebody engaged, you know? And, and, you know, sitting on the edge of their seat, per se?

Lauren: I think there are a lot of different ways to do it. And I think that it partially relies on, or depends on, what the window of time is between announcement date and release date. You know, we see... one of the examples that I was kind of running through as I was working on this outline was Marvel, and the MCU, and teasing out content for Doomsday. They first got Robert Downey Jr up on stage in a Doom mask at Comic-Con – Which even that, like, we'll say that's the, you know. In this example, that's the announcement point. The hype of knowing Marvel has a Hall H – is it Hall H?

Matt: I don’t know.

Lauren: Whatever. Marvel has a big panel at Comic-Con this year, they're going to be announcing something. That's the buzz. That's the build up to, to the announcement or the whatever. That's the anticipation. What are they going to be announcing? Disney does this all the time too with D23 and the park panels.

Matt: Yup.

Lauren: And stuff like that. That everything leading up to it is, well what are they going to be announcing? We've heard rumors that they're going to be announcing this or this or this. And like in, in both of those examples, there's nothing –

Matt: Rumors which are often strategic leaks, by the way.

Lauren: Absolutely.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: That's – and that is where that, that's where I was saying, like, it's okay if people are speculating correctly about what it is that you're announcing. That's not a deterrent. If anything, that's like, adding more fuel to the fire.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: In the examples of some of these longer term, you know, whether it's Disney or Disney as Marvel, they've been promoting the pre-launch of some of these – like Doomsday. They've got years to span, they've got to keep people engaged. They did the thing where they did the, the live stream, where they were just putting out one by one the director's chairs that had the, the, the –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – cast names on it. People were engaged in that. Earlier this year they did a series of drops where they were releasing a 30 second teaser trailer announcing different – which they'd already done. They'd already announced the actors that were gonna be –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – in it, and then they did a second teaser announcement where they were announcing the characters. If I – I'd be lying if I said I wasn't every Friday checking... what, what new trailer? Like what new, is there anything new out? Is there – what's, what's happened? What do we, what do we have now? They show behind the scenes content. They show a little bit, there's a little bit of press, there's a little bit of this and that and the other thing starting to come out. That's how you keep people over a very, very long period of time. So, you know, maybe if you're, if you're doing this and you have a six month window of time between... you know, we've talked about the idea of writing in public.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Right? So let's say this is your, your launch point at the beginning, your, your initial announcement is I'm writing a new book now, I am – I have not finished it yet, I'm writing a new book, and I'm going to be doing it in public. And you guys are all going to participate in the experience of writing it. Or not writing it, but you're going to, you're going to be along for the journey with me as I do it. That initial announcement is the first part, and what you do over the course of time until the book is actually launch is the part where you're maintaining that engagement, that interest. Maybe you're maybe you're not necessarily posting every single day. You don't have to maintain peak level of hype every single day. But you know, just enough that if, if interest starts to dwindle a little bit, something else comes up.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Here's a – Hey I, I'm at the place where I can finally share a first look at the first chapter, or the first five pages. Or I just got back some really cool supplemental content that I've created, or like as a, a workbook or a downloadable PDF that will help you with the concepts in my book. So they won't mean much to you yet, but if you want to sneak peek at what kind of content is going to be in the book, check these out here. Things like that.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Little ways to keep people, people engaged. You brought up Justin Moore earlier. Justin Moore did the sales goal with his book.

Matt: Sales challenge, yeah.

Lauren: Yes. That is something that, you know. That’s –

Matt: Yes. Cause he, he did continually, you know –

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: – give people updates on where it was at in trying to achieve that sales goal of 10,000 copies sold. Yeah, I think there were a lot of people that were, you know, followers, fans, clients of his, people who would just read his book that were, for one reason or another, invested in him hitting that 10,000 goal. Because I think in general, people like to see other people win.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: So.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: That's always a good one.

Lauren: Absolutely. And I think that there's – again, to make this point, there is something really, really motivating about getting people to feel like they're a part of –

Matt: Your journey, yeah.

Lauren: – whatever it is that you're doing here. Whether it's, you know, I, I can only buy one copy of your book, but I'm excited to say that I was one of the 10,000 people or 10,000 copies, I've contributed to the success of this here. Or I'm just personally invested in watching this happen and see where you go. That makes a difference. That that absolutely does. And I think there's a lot of great ways that you can do that depending on what it is that you're trying to do here.

Matt: Yeah.

[37:56] – Spreading That Excitement to Reach New Audiences

Lauren: So I think the real... I think the real answer to your, your earlier question of how do you really kind of extend this, prolong this excitement, prolong this engagement, is to treat it like a campaign where these are all kind of stages of one larger campaign. So back to the book launch. Maybe you're doing hey, I'm writing a book, really excited about it or I've written a book, I'm really excited about it. You've got the, you've got the teaser content. You're like okay, something, something big's coming. It's coming, we're really excited. Oh my gosh, new book is here. So excited to tell you more about it. Make sure that you're following my page here so that when I do the cover reveal next week, you'll be able to see the cover. And then next week you do the cover reveal, the title reveal, and the cover copy. And when you do that, you say: everything's here, I'm so excited to share this with you guys. If this sounds interesting to you, you can preorder it now. You can go on Goodreads and add it to your TBR. If you don't want to do either one of those things but you want to stay in the loop, sign up for my mailing list. I'll be sending more exclusive content and first looks there. And then, you know, a month down the road, you say the preorder is live now. Or whatever. Like, whatever it is, you do it in stages and don't think of them as individual... like, like you're maintaining hype from each individual thing. Think of it as a long term, we're just getting to the next –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – the next peak over and over again. There are a lot of things that I'm trying really hard not to say right now. Cause all of the examples – I'm too focused on, like all I can think of right now is different examples of Taylor Swift doing this, of Disney doing this, of the Lost Bros doing this. My Chemical Romance is terrible about this. They'll, they'll like – which is so weird. They like, tease content on Instagram and they're the kind of band that everyone is like, it's been 20 years, but any day now there's going to be a new album. And so they'll go and they'll, they'll tease something's coming. And then 24 hours later, it's like... We've, we've posted a new video. Like, that's – they were teasing a new video. So don't do that. Don't, don't do that, but.

Matt: You know who sadly did not do a good job of this was Stranger Things –

Lauren: Ugh.

Matt: – for that last season. So much time had elapsed that you would have thought there would have been more content, more teasers, more, you know, ways that they tried to engage with the massive following they had built for the previous seasons. Especially if they knew there was going to be such a large gap, you know? Which they did. So.

Lauren: I mean, which was their first mistake

Matt: They didn’t, I don’t think they did it –

Lauren: No.

Matt: – did it very well.

Lauren: What a, what a prime example of building up all the momentum in the world and then just... I, I don't even want to say that they like, tripped at the starting line. Like, I'm pretty sure they just like, laid down and took a nap mid race.

Matt: Yeah. I think everybody who was a Stranger Things fan was pretty, was pretty taken aback by how that unfolded and how there really wasn't much done. Now, right before the season finally launched yes, they started doing –

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: – but I mean, there was quite a bit of time that would elapse before you would hear anything from that camp at all. And, you know, to the point where there were lots of rumors going around that they had just stopped production or things were – you know what I mean? Like, and nothing was, was coming out. So.

Lauren: Yeah. For season two of Stranger Things. Season, season two of Stranger Things they... they dropped the first thirty second teaser trailer for it during the Super Bowl. I watched the Super Bowl for like four years after that just in case. I'm not kidding. I eventually got to a point in my life where I had friends that were also invested in the Super Bowl, so I started watching it for other reasons. But like literally like three or four years after that one specific one, I would watch it just in case there were any big announcements. That's all it took was like one time of like, hey, we're, we're building hype –

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: – in this way.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: And they never did it again. They never did another TV spot during the Super Bowl, but that one worked on me. And there are different ways that you can, can kind of capture your audience. And even in that situation, the only reason I was watching the Super Bowl at all that time around was because that was when Lady Gaga was the halftime show. So.

Matt: That tracks.

Lauren: Absolutely it does. But I think that kind of, the last point, and kind of the importance of all of this is that, you know, like I said earlier, a lot of this is a way for you to share and, and generate excitement with your audience. With your existing audience, your existing fans, the people that are already primed to be invested in you at least a little bit. But one of the things that is really, really useful on the internet. One of the things that I as much as I sometimes I'm like, oh my God, we all spend way too much time on the internet. One of the things that I love about it is that it kind of generates excitement on behalf of excitement itself. And there are so many times where I will see something, it's not a creator that I know, or it's not an author or a movie franchise or whatever that I've heard of before. But when I see other people being really excited about it. Whether it's my friends or creators that I follow, or just people whose opinions I respect or whatever.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: If I see – the more that I see other people being really excited about something, the more that I go oh, I want, I want to know what they're excited about. I want to be excited too. And I think that that is kind of invaluable leverage when it comes to generating interest in anything that you are doing as a creator, as a brand owner, as a business owner. And this is how – all of this stuff is how you generate that excitement within your fans in a way that they are now publicly excited, and that spreads throughout their content into other people's feeds. And that's how you get new audiences from this.

Matt: Yeah. I think that's probably one of the most important pieces.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah. I think some of this stuff is naturally part of a pre-launch and launch campaign outline, some of it not so much. A lot of it just doesn't get executed well. But the last piece, I think, is really important because most, most people are building campaign assets and writing copy and doing everything that they do to address an audience they already have. Because they don't know how to get a newer audience based off of something like the release of a second book in a series. Like they just don't know how to find new audiences for that, so they really just speak to their existing. But if you can find ways to, like you said, maybe leverage your existing audience to reach a new audience or do other things that would, in essence, amplify that content out to a new audience... Like that's the, that's the crux of growth.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: So.

Lauren: And growth to a qualified audience.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Because if it's –

Matt: Well, yeah.

Lauren: – an audience that's one step removed from your existing one, they've got some overlap. At least.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah that's true.

Lauren: Plus it's fun. You worked really hard on something and you're bringing it out into the world.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: You should get to celebrate it. And, and this is how you – not only do you get to celebrate it and make a big deal out of it, but you get to benefit from that big deal and that excitement and enthusiasm and support from others.

Matt: Yeah, I think you should make a bigger deal about, you know, a new book or a book launch than you should about like a gender reveal for pregnancy or something like.

Lauren: Oh my gosh, absolutely.

Matt: Who cares if you're bringing another terrible human being into the world? But if you're bringing another good book on the world, I definitely want to know about it.

Lauren: That's true.

Matt: Yeah.

[46:58] – Episode Wrap Up

Lauren: So do what you can to, you know, share your excitement. Get, get your audience to participate in that excitement, enthusiastically. Make sure that you have something for them to do as the next step of that. You know don't, don't squander that excitement. Don't let it fizzle out without you ever actually getting them to sign up for your mailing list, or sign up for your community, or to at least like, you know, interact with your book in some way. Save it, pre-save it, preorder it, whatever it is. And make sure that you are maintaining enough enthusiasm, or enough interest, or giving people enough of a reason to be interested in it until that launch day comes that you're not, you're not losing that, that goodwill and that excitement and that fun.

Matt: Exciting.

Lauren: Thrilling. Alright. That's all I got.

Matt: It's good.

Lauren: Great.

Matt: Maybe we'll see some really good book launch announcements in the next couple of weeks or months.

Lauren: Yeah. You got any?

Matt: Nope.

Lauren: Me either.

Matt: No comment.

Lauren: I appreciate that.

Matt: Hit the like button.

Lauren: Please.

Matt: Do all the things. Send us an email, if you want. Or don't. It's up to you. Leave us a review, if you want. Or don't.

Lauren: Let us know what big news you're teasing.

Matt: Sure.

Lauren: But, like, tease it.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah, you know? Don't, don't just tell us what it is.

Matt: Yep. Podcast@lulu.com.

Lauren: Yep. And... I'm going to go clean up some... some confetti.

Matt: Some confetti?

Lauren: But until then, we'll be back next week with another new episode. And thanks for listening.

Matt: Later.