Before the Launch with Brenna McGowan

I have a confession: I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to host another season of Behind the Launch.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this event. But after six seasons of bringing together industry experts to talk about what's actually working in their launches, I was tired. And I started wondering whether I was continuing to host it because it was genuinely moving my business forward or simply because it was something I'd always done.

In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on why I questioned continuing Behind the Launch, what ultimately changed my mind, and how you can make better decisions when you're feeling stuck between quitting something and doubling down.

In this episode, we're talking about:

• Why even successful business activities can leave you questioning whether they're worth the effort
• How to balance your gut instinct with actual business data
• Why getting outside perspectives can help you make a clearer decision
• What happened when I finally committed to another season and started taking action
• Why momentum sometimes shows up AFTER you make the decision, not before.

If you've been questioning whether to keep doing something in your business, this episode is for you.

Listen now and find out why the numbers might be telling a different story than your exhaustion.

And mark your calendar! The next season of Behind the Launch is coming January 25–29, 2027.

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

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Is Your High-Ticket Offer Really the Problem?

You launched your $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 offer, and the sales didn't come in the way you hoped. So naturally, your brain starts suggesting a solution: "Maybe I should create something cheaper."

But what if your price isn't the problem?

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• Why selling a $500 offer isn't necessarily easier than selling a $4,000 offer.
• The three elements I look at before deciding an offer needs to change.
• How lower-priced offers can complicate your marketing strategy.
• Why having enough people in your audience doesn't always mean you have enough ready-to-buy people.
• What I noticed about affiliate traffic during my own launch.
• The role pre-launch messaging plays in helping buyers feel ready.

Before you spend weeks creating something new, let's make sure you're solving the right problem.

Listen now to find out what to examine before changing your offer.

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

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In this episode, I'm replaying a conversation from Emily Reagan’s podcast where we pull back the curtain on how I landed my interview on The Amy Porterfield Show. We're talking about the original pitch (which, according to Emily, was pretty terrible), the strategy that made the final version stand out, and the absolutely mortifying typo I made in the subject line.

But more importantly, we're talking about why getting a big yes usually has a whole lot more to do with what you've done before you ask.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why I waited years before finally pitching Amy Porterfield
• The mistake I made in my original pitch that was actually hurting my credibility.
• How we found a timely angle that made the conversation relevant NOW
• What years of relationship-building and smaller opportunities had to do with landing this one
• Why the work you do before making an ask can make all the difference
• The subject line typo that still makes me cringe

If you've been dreaming about pitching a bigger podcast, speaking on a stage, or putting yourself out there in a new way, I think you'll love this conversation.

Listen now!

And to hire Emily or one of her unicorns, go here. 

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

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Launching is changing… but maybe not in the way you think.

In this episode, I’m talking about the difference between changing your entire launch strategy and refining what’s already working. Because if you’re an experienced business owner, chances are you’re not making one giant marketing mistake. You might already be 80% of the way there. 

It’s that last 20%—the messaging, specificity, intention, and nuance—that can be surprisingly hard to see on your own.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What has actually changed about launching—and what hasn’t
• Why I’m recommending live launch events more strongly than I did a few years ago
• The difference between “doing it” and then there’s doing it really well
• What experienced business owners should be refining instead of overhauling
• Why A-level marketing matters more in today’s skeptical market
• How AI can accidentally take your marketing in the wrong direction (even when you’ve trained it well)
• How small messaging refinements helped one experienced business owner have a huge launch

If you’re realizing your launch doesn’t need another shiny tactic—it needs more intention and refinement—this episode is for you.

Listen now.

Ready to refine your own pre-launch?

The Fall Implementation Experience of the Pre-Launch Plan Program is open through September 30th. To join click here: https://brennamcgowan.co/ppp/

Also, here’s where you can listen to Steph Crowder’s episode that I mentioned in the episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/211-from-6-to-41-how-i-turned-around-a-failing-launch/id1193065784?i=1000790978289

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

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In this episode, I’m sharing 3 things I’d tell you about your launch if I wasn’t afraid to hurt your feelings. And warning: these aren’t beginner mistakes. They’re blind spots I see with smart, experienced business owners who know their audience, know marketing, and have launched before. Sometimes that experience is exactly what makes these things harder to spot.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why knowing the ingredients of a pre-launch doesn’t mean you’re using them strategically
• The question to ask about every piece of content you create before a launch
• Why experience can create blind spots in your marketing
• How one business owner did less marketing and saw a 214% increase in sales
• Why “I need to do more” may be the wrong response when sales slow down
• The part of your launch you may need to analyze before obsessing over click-through rates and webinar attendance
• Why your launch may simply be revealing a problem that started weeks earlier

I also share the story of Annemarie and what happened when she stopped doing Instagram for two months and focused on what was actually moving the needle. You can hear more of that story in last week’s episode: https://brennamcgowan.co/episode65

And if you’re wondering what you should be doing before your next launch, join me for my September 23 masterclass, where I’m teaching the three pre-launch moves that build demand, pre-sell spots, and take pressure off your launch:

https://brennemcgowan.co/masterclass-2026

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

⭐Hit the “follow” button! This keeps you in the loop, and you’ll be the first to get notified when the next episode drops!

Annemarie, an experienced business, came into the Pre-Launch Plan Program frustrated with her membership sales. After revisiting her messaging, looking closely at where her sales were actually coming from, and becoming more intentional about her pre-launch, saw a 214% increase in sales — while stepping away from Instagram and Facebook.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why struggling sales don’t automatically mean you need to do more marketing
• The messaging question I want you to ask before changing your entire strategy
• Why your ideal client — and the way you talk to them — may need another look
• What Annemarie discovered when she stopped assuming social media was necessary
• Why buyer psychology matters more than a “post this Tuesday, post that Thursday” content plan
• How a strategic four-to-six-week pre-launch can take some of the pressure off cart-open week
• What happened when Annemarie focused on the channels that were actually producing leads and sales

If your launches have felt heavier lately, this episode will give you a different place to look before you decide you need to burn the whole thing down.

Listen now.

Ready to rethink what happens before your next launch?

Join me for The New Launch Model for 2026, where I’ll show you three pre-launch moves designed to build demand, pre-sell spots, and take some of the pressure off cart week:

https://brennamcgowan.co/masterclass-2026/

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

⭐Hit the “follow” button! This keeps you in the loop, and you’ll be the first to get notified when the next episode drops!

What if the actual launch isn’t where most of the selling should happen?

In this episode, I’m sharing why I think launching can be a little boring. And that’s actually a good thing. By the time you open the doors to your offer, your audience should have already made a series of smaller decisions that make the final “yes” feel like the natural next step. 

I’m breaking down what this means for your pre-launch content, why urgency can’t manufacture demand that doesn’t exist, and how helping buyers shift their beliefs before cart open can create more internally motivated customers.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why your launch period might be more of a formality than the real sales period
• The small decisions your buyers are making before they ever see your sales page
• Why I have more room for storytelling during pre-launch than during cart open
• What urgency and scarcity isn’t enough in 2026
• Why internally motivated buyers can become some of your best customers and testimonials
• How to think about your pre-launch as your audience’s “consideration time”

This conversation builds on what I shared last week, so if you haven’t listened yet, catch Episode 63 here: https://brennamcgowan.co/episode63.

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

⭐Hit the “follow” button! This keeps you in the loop, and you’ll be the first to get notified when the next episode drops!

You’re sending emails. You’re nurturing your audience. You’ve got a waitlist. Maybe you’re inviting people to a webinar or talking about your upcoming offer.

So… you’re pre-launching, right?

Maybe. But maybe not.

In this episode, I’m breaking down one of the biggest misconceptions I see around pre-launch marketing — and why simply “doing the things” before your launch doesn’t mean those things are actually preparing people to buy.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why “nurturing your audience” and pre-launching aren’t necessarily the same thing
• The question I want you to ask about every piece of content you publish in the 4–6 weeks before your launch
• The invisible gap between an ideal client knowing you and actually being ready to buy
• How belief shifts and micro-commitments can make the actual sales period feel a whole lot easier
• Why good messaging is imperative this year for your launch 
• How to think about creating a repeatable pre-launch system instead of reinventing your content every time

If your pre-launch currently looks like “post more, nurture more, mention the waitlist, and hope people are ready when the doors open,” this episode will give you a different way to think about what happens BEFORE you sell.

Listen now and ask yourself: Is my content actually moving people toward a buying decision?

Also, if you’d like to see if you’re a good fit for the Pre-Launch Plan Program, head over to https://bot.brennamcgowan.co. 

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

⭐Hit the “follow” button! This keeps you in the loop, and you’ll be the first to get notified when the next episode drops!

I actually had a completely different podcast episode recorded for today…and then I scrapped it.

Why? Because I keep hearing a few misconceptions about pre-launch that are driving me a little crazy! 

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why thinking “they were going to buy anyway” about a pre-launch misses a huge part of buyer psychology
• The 3 beliefs your audience needs before they're ready to buy
• Why having a problem isn't the same as making that problem a priority
• How pre-launch content can do the heavy lifting before your sales period begins
• The hidden opportunity cost of saying, “I'll do it next time”
• What I mean when I say, “You're not selling your offer—you're selling your process”
• The client result that showed a 214% increase in sales after implementing a pre-launch process
• Why trying to figure everything out yourself might cost more than getting support

And I’m saving misconception #4—the one that really gets me going—for next week.

Listen now and rethink what your pre-launch content is actually supposed to do.

Also, if you’d like to see if you’re a good fit for the Pre-Launch Plan Program, head over to https://bot.brennamcgowan.co. 

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

⭐Hit the “follow” button! This keeps you in the loop, and you’ll be the first to get notified when the next episode drops!

Ever feel like you’re putting more work into your launches only to get the same—or worse—results?

I see this with both newer businesses and million-dollar businesses. When the strategies that used to work stop producing the same results, the instinct is often to do more. But what if you don’t need to work harder? What if you need to check whether you’re still heading in the right direction?

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why working harder on your launch doesn’t automatically produce better results
• The question to ask when strategies that used to work suddenly aren’t working anymore
• How shifting market conditions can quietly affect your messaging
• Why experienced business owners can fall into the “I should know this already” trap
• The difference between creating more pre-launch content and creating the right content

If your launch feels like you’re paddling against the wind, this episode will help you look at what might actually need to change for your next launch.

Listen now.

Follow me on Instagram @BrennaMcGowanCo

Your Next Steps:

Want to plan your next launch in seconds? Grab my free AI Launch Calendar

🔹 Let’s work together! Book a strategy call

🔹 Join the Behind the Launch Facebook Group

🔹 Connect on Instagram

Thanks for Listening!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us share it by:

⭐Hit the “follow” button! This keeps you in the loop, and you’ll be the first to get notified when the next episode drops!