Anticipation Marketing: Crushing Your Next Launch Without Being Salesy

Are you tired of feeling like you're constantly chasing customers? Wondering how to get people lining up to buy from you instead?

In this article, you'll discover a multi-step strategy to naturally create demand and create a sense of urgency without relying on pushy tactics.

What Is Anticipation Marketing?

Marketers face many challenges, not the least of which is building genuine interest and demand for products and services without being perceived as too salesy and running flash sales. Launch strategist Brenna McGowan has developed a powerful solution to this dilemma: anticipation marketing.

In an environment where trust in marketing can be low and people are hesitant to spend, anticipation marketing provides a framework for building genuine connections and creating a natural desire for your offers.

McGowan's path to becoming a launch strategist began after writing launch copy for a client, which resulted in disappointing sales. She questioned her abilities and whether she should charge for her services. This moment of crisis led to a crucial insight: the issue wasn't with the copy itself but the lack of proper audience preparation.

This realization prompted her to develop a systematic approach to building anticipation before launches. 

When she tested the strategy with a client, the results were a 50% increase in sales compared to previous launches, fewer required sales calls, and, most importantly, better-qualified clients who were truly ready to engage with the offer.

The Psychology of Anticipation Marketing

McGowan explains the power of anticipation marketing through the prime example of movie marketing. Hollywood's approach to film promotion provides a master class in building anticipation. Studios don't simply announce a movie on its release date – they begin creating excitement up to 120 days in advance through carefully orchestrated trailers and teasers.

Leveraging anticipation building strategies works because it leverages two fundamental psychological principles. 

First, humans naturally want what they can't immediately have. When something is just out of reach but attainable, it creates a stronger desire than if it were immediately available. In fact, research shows that people who anticipate something experience levels of dopamine release similar to those when they do receive it.

Second, movie marketing expertly creates open loops – unresolved narratives that keep people engaged and curious. Watching a movie trailer gives you enough information to become interested but not enough to feel satisfied. This experience creates a psychological need for closure that can only be fulfilled by seeing the movie.

When watching trailers, people often decide, “I want to see that movie. ” They make a mental commitment to purchase tickets long before the release date. Viewers become buyers before spending any money.

This psychological positioning also works for launch marketing.

How Does Anticipation Marketing Address Consumers' Decision-Making Processes

The benefits of anticipation marketing extend far beyond simple sales increases. McGowan has observed several significant advantages. Most notably, it reverses the typical sales dynamic – customers begin actively seeking out the business instead of businesses chasing customers.

Anticipation marketing is effective because it addresses a crucial aspect of consumer behavior that many marketing strategies overlook. 

According to DISC personality assessments, approximately half of all people are slow decision-makers. Traditional marketing and sales tactics typically cater to fast decision-makers, those who make quick purchasing decisions.

However, slower decision-makers – like McGowan herself, who describes her own purchasing process as involving multiple steps of consideration, discussion with others, and potential mind changes – often need more time and information before committing.

Anticipation marketing creates a longer runway that accommodates both quick and deliberate decision-makers. This inclusive strategy ensures you're not leaving money on the table by failing to engage with a significant portion of your potential market. The result is higher conversion rates and better-qualified leads who have had time to understand your offer fully and are ready to buy into it.

How to Prepare for Anticipation Marketing Campaigns: Market Research and Buyer Beliefs

Before implementing anticipation marketing, you need to conduct thorough market research. 

While this might seem like an unsexy starting point, it's essential for understanding your audience's actual needs, fears, and desires. 

Pro Tip: When conducting customer research, ask open-ended questions that allow respondents to express themselves freely. This way, you capture your audience's exact language and phrasing when describing their challenges and desires. You can use this natural language to create marketing messages that resonate with your target audience.

She recommends multiple research approaches to gather comprehensive insights.

Voice of Customer (VOC) Research

Voice of customer research should be done through two distinct types of interviews:

1. Conversations with current customers who have already purchased and experienced your solution
2. Discussions with prospects who haven't yet bought but are in your target market

These conversations can happen through various channels. While traditional Zoom calls work well, McGowan has found particular success using Voxer, a walkie-talkie app. The asynchronous nature of Voxer often leads to more thoughtful, honest responses because people don't feel pressured to answer immediately while looking at you on screen.

Social Media Research

Social media platforms offer valuable opportunities for gathering customer insights. McGowan recommends:

• Engaging with Instagram story responses
• Having conversations through direct messages
• Monitoring comments on posts
• Analyzing frequently asked questions in your community

Leveraging AI for Research

McGowan has developed a strategic approach to using AI for research. Rather than letting AI pull random information from the internet, she recommends providing it with specific direction based on her initial findings. She uses AI to expand upon and verify insights gained from direct customer interaction, not as a replacement for actual customer research. She recommends:

• Asking AI to generate dialogue that reveals the internal thought processes of your target audience
• Requesting analysis of hidden objections in your market
• Using AI to identify patterns in customer feedback
• Having AI generate various scenarios of how customers might describe their challenges

The Five-Week Anticipation Marketing Framework

This carefully structured plan transforms traditional launch preparation into a 5-week strategic journey that naturally leads to your offer.

While McGowan presents this framework in five weeks for clarity, its content doesn't need to be consumed linearly. The key is ensuring all elements are present in your prelaunch period before you offer your product or service. 

This timeline might seem long to some marketers, but you're already creating content – this framework simply makes that content more strategic and purposeful.

If you typically post on social media three times per week, you can structure those posts to align with whichever phase of the anticipation framework you're in.

This strategy is sustainable and manageable, even for busy business owners.

Content Development and Distribution

Anticipation marketing content can be delivered through various channels – email, social media, podcasts, or blog posts – while maintaining consistency in message. The goal is to create multiple touchpoints that reinforce your message while accommodating different content consumption preferences.

For example, a single story might be:

• Shared as a complete narrative in an email
• Broken down into a series of social media posts
• Discussed in detail on a podcast episode
• Expanded into a blog post with additional context

Just be sure you maintain consistency in the core message while adapting the delivery method to suit each platform.

Week 1: Tell Stories That Help Your Audience Identify With You

The first week focuses entirely on strategic storytelling. The stories you tell must be intentionally framed through the lens of your offer and your audience's needs.

First, you need to identify at least three distinct reasons why you do what you do, then use them to form the basis for different story angles.

McGowan's first story angle focuses on her desire for flexibility that allows her to be present for her children. Another centers on her quest to find authentic sales methods that don't rely on pressure tactics. A third revolves around her mission to help others make their content more profitable. Each angle resonates with different audience segments while supporting her overall message.

Michelle Pollack, provides an excellent example of effective story implementation. As an executive coach helping female business owners find career fulfillment, Pollock shares her journey from working in Hollywood and on Broadway to discovering that even these “dream jobs” left her feeling unfulfilled. This story resonates deeply with her target audience because it mirrors their experiences with outward success masking inner dissatisfaction.

Week 2: Address Pain Points

The second week is dedicated to demonstrating a deep understanding of your audience's challenges–without providing a solution. This approach might feel counterintuitive, especially for those trained to provide immediate value, but it works.

The goal during this phase is twofold: making prospects feel truly seen and understood while reminding them of the cost of not addressing their challenges. This reminder isn't about creating artificial pressure but rather about helping people recognize the impact of their current situation.

Susan Reoch, a UX copywriter, works with website copywriters who handle large-scale projects. She could easily fall into the trap of immediately offering solutions for managing complex projects. Instead, she shares stories about the overwhelming feeling of staring at a blank page while juggling client expectations, research requirements, and presentation preparation.

Week 3: Challenge Myths and Misconceptions

The third week addresses common misconceptions that prevent potential clients from taking action. Myths are often deeply held beliefs based on personal experiences or industry assumptions that may no longer serve people well.

Julie Cabezas, who works with high-ticket service providers, discovered that many potential clients believed charging premium prices would make them appear greedy.

Rather than directly confronting this belief, she shares personal stories about her journey to becoming a high-ticket mentor, demonstrating how premium pricing often leads to better client results and more sustainable businesses.

Week 4: Address Objections

The fourth week tackles objections.

Objections often run deeper than surface-level concerns about time or money. 

For example, she had yet to sign up for TSA PreCheck despite knowing the cost was minimal and it would save her time. Even when faced with a long security line that could make her miss her flight, she hesitated when offered a chance to skip ahead by stepping out of line to sign up for Clear. 

Her objection, in that moment, wasn't about money. It was seated in a worry that she would leave the line and possibly have to return to it and start her wait all over again. She didn't trust Clear's rep's promise to get her through the line.

Emily Reagan, who teaches digital marketing for PR, has to address an objection shared by many of her potential customers: “Will I get enough clients by taking the course?” Her posts must demonstrate that clients are available and that her students attract them effectively.

Week 5: Paint the Transformation

The final week focuses on helping prospects envision their future after working with you or using your product. To do this, you need to activate three critical belief components for your customers:

1. Belief in you or your brand as the right solution provider
2. Belief in your specific solution as the right option
3. Belief in themselves and their ability to achieve the promised results

Pro Tip: McGowan developed an AI-powered launch calendar tool that helps create customized launch plans based on these principles. The tool takes inputs about your specific situation and generates a tailored plan that aligns with the anticipation marketing framework.

Other Notes From This Episode

• Connect with Michael Stelzner @Stelzner on Instagram and @Mike_Stelzner on X.
• Watch this interview and other exclusive content from Social Media Examiner on YouTube.

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✋🏽 If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to Apple Podcasts, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe.

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