Almost nothing is worse to me than entering a room full of strangers.

You look around and see a bunch of people you don’t know… and you think, “Great, I don’t know anyone…now what?”

On that first scan – the room can feel pretty cold…

Then – on your second slower round through the mass, you notice there’s someone you DO know…(well kind of).

What do you do?

You walk towards that person that you kinda sorta know…

Right?

Just like you naturally walk to the person you know first – you need to find a natural and easy way to leak your launch… so one drip causes a ripple effect and spreads…without you going around a roomful of strangers, handing out your card and shaking everyone’s hands.

Launch leaking is pretty simple – and exactly what it sounds like.  It’s leaking the news that you’re launching something soon.

It’s the same when you decide to tell people what you’re up to…and that yes, you’ve got this THING coming up and would they pretty please pay attention.

But let’s back up + dive in.

Why NOT just make a splash with your launch?

I like to look at an average launch timeline like a piece of music, you might hear there’s a ramp up and crescendo — from those initial bars leaking or seeding of your launch through the pre-launch content to the opening of your product, blog or service, to the final notes, wrap up and close of your launch song.

Just like a song – a launch doesn’t stay at the same volume and intensity for 3 months straight.

If it did – your readers, your friends, and even your partners would go a little bit insane and get bored.

And worse – stop listening, hit unsubscribe, and then delete!

That’s why you need a good strategy in place to leak the right way.

The No-Fail Launch Leak Formula

The goals of my “Launch Leaking Strategy” are simple:

-Give people hints about what you’re up to
-Get people aware of you and what you do
-Get them excited about the possibility of learning more from you
-Get others talking about what you’re doing
-Build your launch interest list

The following 2 common questions – tell you everything you need to know about how to start talking about your upcoming launch.

#1 When do you start leaking your launch?

Plan your launch leaking to start at least 1 month BEFORE your launch or relaunch of any product, program, or even your blog.

Maybe you’d rather fly by the seat of your pants…

That’s fine if you have a general idea of what you’re doing, but having as much planned in advance will ensure you don’t miss an opportunity to share what you’re up to.

You can always add things (by the seat of your pants) but have the core elements of your leaking outlined.

#2 How exactly do I start leaking? What’s considered a leak?

You start with really simple mentions of your upcoming “thing”. Then, over a month period (roughly) you can slowly ramp up how often and where you mention what you’re doing.

Think of slowly mingling with different groups of people in that room full of strangers.  Mention what you do to people who seem interested–and just like you would if you were having a conversation, don’t just blurt out– “hey I have a launch coming up.”

The rules of the game are simple – be genuine, excited, and passionate about what you’re doing.  If you can’t muster excitement, you might not be quite ready to launch – this is when it counts…you gotta get people curious about what you’re doing!

Here’s a partial list of where to leak for maximum effect but minimum bugging of people:

1. p.s. in your newsletters
2. mentions during interviews and on guest posts
3. social media messages
4. changing your social media profiles to include links to your interest optin
5. having friends or partners tweeting for you  – be specific and tell them when you need it most!
6. starting conversations in Facebook groups about your topic
7. allowing people to sign up for the interest list via a survey
8. bumper at the end of your videos

Summary: 4 steps to leaking your launch successfully

Plan It –
Write out your leaking strategy for at least 1 month PRIOR to your actual launch or pre-launch content.

Schedule It –
Schedule leaks that happen in different places – don’t just blast one communication funnel.

Send people somewhere –
Set up a basic interest list optin page and form to send people to – if they are interested in what you’re leaking!  Before you start leaking… make sure you have this page up, so every leak goes to this page and allows people to sign up as soon as they hear about it!

Ramp-up –
You might start with a p.s., mentioning it to your close friends, answering a question in an interview, putting up a guest post with your author byline leading back to your optin page…then, you might work up to having an optin graphic for your launch interest list on your sidebar…

Note: I know some people don’t mind hitting their readers over the head with their message, but I like using a natural, conversational style in everything I do – it’s because the people like you who are reading this don’t like to be hard sold too.  Plus – I honestly hate the song and dance of selling.

I’ve learned from my days of selling pilates packages to people, that most people already know what they want, so selling is actually never even necessary!!

And… BTW, I always had the most “sales” in any given week – and I NEVER SOLD… I just gave people a good experience, taught them something about themselves, and got them excited about the possibility of learning more…

Now it’s your turn

Use the comments section below to brainstorm specific ways you’ll start leaking your launch OR if you’re already leaking your launch – tell us what’s working and what’s not!

As always – if you know someone who could benefit from this article – share it with your friends.