Why Your Launch Feels So Hard (And What You're Missing Before Cart Open)

The Pre-Launch Strategy That Changes Everything What if your audience was already excited to buy before you ever opened the cart? That's the dream, right? No scrambling in the final hours. No sending more emails than you planned. No pushing harder than feels good and still wondering why it's not converting. I'm sitting down with Brenna McGowan, launch strategist and creator of Anticipation Marketing®, to talk about the phase of launching most people skip over entirely. And honestly, it's the phase that makes or breaks your results. Here's what I've learned from my own launches and from watching thousands of my students do theirs: most people think they're doing the pre-launch part right. They mention what's coming in the P.S. of an email. They post about it on social and put up a waitlist. They feel like they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing. But then the cart opens and it still feels harder than it should. They're white-knuckling their way through launch week, and by the end of it, they're exhausted and wondering what went wrong. Is it the offer? Is it the audience? Is it just harder to sell right now? Usually, it's none of those things. It's the pre-launch. And that's what we're fixing today. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: You’ve built something real. Revenue, audience, offers that work. But the results still don’t match what you know you’re capable of. The Revenue Consistency Formula is a FREE Live training for six-figure female founders who are done with inconsistent results and ready to understand what’s out of sync so their messaging, offers, and lead generation can finally work together. Click here to register now. Learn More About Brenna McGowan Find Brenna McGowan on Instagram The Pre-Launch Plan Program HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: 1️⃣ A Waitlist Is Not a Pre-Launch — Posting "join the waitlist" isn't warming your audience up in the way you think it is. A real pre-launch builds belief in the problem, belief in the solution, and belief that you are the person to help them get there. When that's in place, you don't have to convince anyone when the cart opens. They're already in. 2️⃣ Sell the Process, Not the Program — During pre-launch, you shouldn’t be talking about your course or your offer. Your job is to get your audience to believe in the method behind it. Brenna calls this belief-shifting, and it's the difference between an audience that's ready to buy and one that stays on the fence. 3️⃣ Anticipation Beats Urgency — Emphasizing the countdown used to work, but not anymore. People have been burned by courses and programs that didn't deliver, and they've lost trust in others and in themselves. What works now is building genuine excitement and curiosity so your audience is leaning in and asking when they can buy instead of feeling pushed into a decision. MORE FROM ME Follow me on Instagram @amyporterfield SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps us reach more entrepreneurs who need these insights. 🎙 Thanks for tuning in to The Amy Porterfield Show! See you next week!