The Pre-Launch Runway

Here’s a principle that changed how I think about launches: the duration of your pre-launch teasing matters more than the strength of your sales pitches.

Two weeks of casual hints and behind-the-scenes mentions will outsell two days of the hardest pitch you can write. Because desire builds over time. You can’t manufacture it in 48 hours.

The pre-launch runway is everything you do before cart opens to build anticipation, warm your audience, and make them genuinely excited about what’s coming.

How Early Should You Start?

Earlier than you think.

As soon as you’re committed to creating a course — even if it’s just an idea — start talking about it. Drop hints. Ask questions. Share your process. You don’t need a finished course or a launch date to start building desire.

Here’s what the runway looks like:

3–4 Weeks Before Cart Open

Keep doing what you’re already doing — your regular emails, social posts, content — but start weaving in course-related content.

• Ask your audience: “What’s your biggest struggle with [topic]?”
• Share that you’re working on something: “I’ve been building a resource that addresses exactly this.”
• Polls and questions: “Would you rather learn this through video, text, or live sessions?”

Don’t sell. Don’t announce a date. Just start the conversation.

1–2 Weeks Before Cart Open

Increase the frequency and specificity.

• Share behind-the-scenes of the course creation process: module outlines, lesson drafts, worksheet previews
• Tease the transformation: “What if you could [specific result] in [specific timeframe]?”
• Build a waitlist or early notification list: “Want to be the first to know when this launches?”
• Hint at bonuses or early bird pricing: “I’m thinking about including [bonus] for the first people who enroll”

If you have a launch partner — another course creator in a non-competing niche — coordinate cross-promotion now. This “launch bestie” arrangement gives you social proof from an outside voice, which carries more weight than your own marketing.

1–3 Days Before Cart Open

Direct “coming soon” messaging.

• Announce the date: “Mark your calendar — [Course Name] opens next Tuesday.”
• Preview the offer: price, modules, bonuses
• Share one last piece of value related to the course topic — a mini-lesson, a checklist, a framework
• Remind your waitlist they’ll get first access

Cultivate While You Create

There’s a strategy that beats every pre-launch checklist: start sharing before the course is finished.

I don’t mean teasing. I mean genuinely sharing your process — the messy middle of course creation. The outline you’re debating. The module you rewrote three times. The moment you realized your original structure was wrong.

This works because it does three things simultaneously:

It builds an audience of invested followers. When people watch you create something, they become invested in the outcome. They’re not just prospects anymore — they’re witnesses to your process. That creates a different kind of relationship than showing up with a finished product.

It surfaces real questions. Every time you share a snippet of your course, your audience will ask questions. “What about X?” “How does this apply to Y?” Those questions are free market research. They tell you exactly what your course needs to address.

It creates natural anticipation. When you’ve been documenting your course creation for weeks, the launch doesn’t feel like a pitch. It feels like a conclusion. “Here’s that thing I’ve been telling you about — it’s finally ready.”

The format doesn’t matter much. Email, social media posts, short videos, a podcast — use whatever channel you’re already comfortable with. What matters is consistency. Share something about your course creation process at least once a week, starting from the moment you commit to building it.

Some specific things to share:

• Your course outline (and your reasoning behind it)
• A lesson draft or script excerpt
• Behind-the-scenes of recording: your setup, your mistakes, your bloopers
• Decisions you’re wrestling with (“Should this be a 4-week or 6-week course?”)
• Small wins: finishing a module, getting a beta student result
• Honest struggles: lessons that needed complete rewrites, topics that were harder to explain than expected

Authenticity outperforms polish here. People trust creators who show the real work, not just the highlight reel.

The Three C’s

Three words to keep in mind throughout your pre-launch runway:

Consistency. Show up regularly. Don’t go silent for three weeks and then blast your list with launch emails. The people who build anticipation over time outperform the ones who launch cold.

Community. Engage with your audience during the runway. Reply to emails. Answer DMs. Go live and take questions. The more interaction before the launch, the more trust you’ve built by cart-open day.

Conversions. The runway isn’t just about warm feelings. It’s also the time to grow your email list. Run a lead magnet promotion. Host a free workshop. Do a podcast interview. Every new subscriber during the runway is someone who might buy during the launch.

Pre-Launch Checklist

Before cart-open day, make sure these are done:

• Sales page live and tested — visit it yourself, click every button, test the checkout on your phone
• Payment processing confirmed — process a test transaction with your own card, then refund it
• Launch email sequence drafted — at least outlines for every email (we’ll build these in lesson 05)
• Social media content batched — pre-write or pre-record the posts you’ll need during launch week so you can focus on engagement
• Testimonials gathered — even beta testimonials count. Three specific results beat “great course!” any day.
• Affiliate or cross-promotion partners confirmed — if you’re working with a launch partner, agree on dates, assets, and expectations
• Calendar cleared — launching is all-consuming for the 2 weeks surrounding cart open. Don’t plan a vacation, a product launch, or a major life event during this window.

Don’t Wait Until You’re “Ready”

The most common pre-launch mistake is waiting too long to start talking about your course. You don’t need a finished product. You don’t need a launch date. You don’t need perfect slides.

Start the conversation now. Build desire over weeks, not hours. By the time cart opens, your audience should feel like they’ve been waiting for this — not like it came out of nowhere.

The runway sets the tone. Now let’s talk about what happens on the day itself.