Remember how excited you’d get counting down the days until your birthday, first day of school or some other upcoming event that promised to be a thrill? That’s what the prelaunch campaign does.

It generates that same anticipation and excitement before your company’s launch of something new.

In its simplest form, a prelaunch consists of:

• An enticing landing page
• A streamlined email signup option
• A system to capture and manage email addresses
• An actual launch date (although you don’t have to name it just yet)

All elements work together

All elements are equally important. Without an enticing landing page, no one is going to sign up in eager anticipation. Without a streamlined email system, your email addresses will be tough to save, maneuver and actually use for follow-up.

And without a launch date, you’re just perpetually teasing people. If you fail deliver on your promise of the great thing “coming soon” – you’re going to disappoint.

You’re going to lose trust. And you’re going to become one of those brands where people see your name and say “Yeah, whatever.”

Mind you, the launch date must be on your calendar – and background activities must be underway, working toward that date. You’re allowed to use the phrase “Coming Soon” without naming the specific date, as long as your definition of soon means within the next four weeks or so.

What counts as something new worth a prelaunch?

Something new could be:

• A new brand
• A brand revamp with a new look
• New product or service
• Any other substantial change or development that deserves excitement and attention

Keep in mind that the prelaunch is designed to capture new email addresses. You can certainly promote the same update to your existing email list, but in a different way.

Existing email subscribers will get annoyed if you send them to a landing page that asks for their email. It will come across as if you don’t know what you’re doing, which is another surefire way to rapidly lose trust.

What does a prelaunch campaign look like?

Here’s an example of a prelaunch campaign we here at Laughing Wolf created to launch a modern, online version of a brand that’s been meeting with offline success for years.

We recently partnered with the brand to handle the launch and online marketing of its new self – and I’ll keep sharing updates as we move along (Yaay!).

The brand is starting with NO email list, as all previous customers purchased the product in person from brick-and-mortar shops – way before all this online marketing stuff even existed.

Part of the strategy is to keep it a big secret (shhh!). Nope, no mention of what the brand is, does or the products coming your way.

Top of landing page: Promise of what’s coming, easy email signup

Bottom of landing page: Additional enticement, button to bring you back to easy email signup

• Is it effective?
• Does it pique your curiosity?
• Do you want to learn more?

Then go ahead and sign on up!

You’ll get a front row seat to the rebirth of a brand, with all marketing emails delivered to your inbox. In short, a real-time series of lessons you can adapt for your own killer online marketing strategy.

Oh yeah, and you’ll also get first dibs on a New Kind of Tingle.