03 December 2024

Four Strategies to Engage Your Audience Before a Promotional Period

1Frameworks

5Insights

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Frameworks in this episode

Marketing7 steps

The Pre-Promotion Engagement System

Warm your audience with four connection plays before you ever ask for the sale

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take0:00:55

Everyone blasts direct promos at the holidays. Show up differently.

Around big holidays audiences get buried under direct promotions and heavy asks. Jasmine argues that building a long-tail relationship strategy instead of piling on more asks is what makes a business stand out and get bigger results.

Big-holiday feeds are full of direct promotions and businesses asking a lot from followers
A long-tail engagement strategy lets you stick out from the promotional noise
Connecting before you ask produces bigger promotion results

“But what if you showed up differently? What if you built a long tail strategy for your business to stick out and get big results?”
Jasmine Star · 0:00:55

#marketing#launch strategy#differentiation

Hot Take0:06:51

She hated the word 'gamify' until it worked

Jasmine admits she resisted 'gamify' for a long time, finding it a cringey 'tech bro' term. She changed her mind after seeing how powerfully contests, challenges, and rewards drove participation and excitement in her pop-up community.

Jargon aversion kept her from a tactic that turned out to work
Gamifying incentivizes the exact actions you want members to take
Rewards need not be expensive to drive participation

“Now, I hate the word gamify. I never did it.”
Jasmine Star · 0:06:51

#mindset#gamification#marketing

Story· 1

Story0:07:40

The loaded Starbucks card that flooded her DMs with coffee photos

For a live class in her Revenue Boot Camp, Jasmine loaded a few hundred dollars onto a single digital Starbucks card and dropped the barcode in the group, telling members to caffeinate before the 9am training. Members scanned it for their coffees, posted photos, and tagged her across Instagram stories, driving engagement and morale far beyond the small cost.

A shared digital gift card is a cheap, high-morale community reward
Members organically posted and tagged her, amplifying the community on social
Small, unexpected gestures generate outsized engagement before a launch

“I was getting hundreds of Instagram stories of people saying, Jasmine, thanks for the coffee before our live class.”
Jasmine Star · 0:07:40

#community#engagement#tactics

Tool· 1

Tool0:09:39

Boot Camp Bingo: a bingo card that turns members into doers

Jasmine built a bingo card where each square was an action step (attend class one, attend the masterclass, share on social, find an accountability partner). Members dropped an emoji on completed squares, and a blackout made them eligible for a giveaway. Members publicly shared their cards, which pulled in more participants and their friends.

Each bingo square is an action you want members to take
Completion is marked with an emoji; a blackout unlocks a giveaway entry
Public sharing of cards created a domino effect of new participants

“We essentially created action steps for them to do within the community. And then every time they did it, they were able to put an…”
Jasmine Star · 0:09:39

#gamification#community#engagement

Takeaway· 1

Takeaway0:15:38

Lock 90% of your launch content before launch week

Jasmine writes, records, and schedules the bulk of her promotional content a month or two ahead so that during the launch her attention is free for engagement and last-minute details. She still monitors performance, amplifying what resonates and quickly pivoting what doesn't, but roughly 90% is done in advance.

Pre-record videos and schedule posts and emails before the promo begins
Advance planning frees launch-week time for real conversations
Monitor performance only to amplify winners and pivot what isn't working

“By having your content ready a month or two in advance, it gives you more time to focus on engaging with your audience and handling…”
Jasmine Star · 0:15:38

#content strategy#launch#productivity