Launch Party 101

Launch Party 101 - by Kori Pellman

Set a date – I’ve found that the most successful parties are on weeknight evenings and Sunday afternoons. My Friday and Saturday evening parties tend to flop.

Set a time – My most successful parties have been set for 7:00 PM in the time zone of the hostess, in the case of your launch party, you are the hostess!

Make a Facebook group – you can do this from your Facebook business page (which you’ve already set up during the period of time between the time you joined and the time your starter kit arrived, right?) Invite EVERYBODY on your friends’ list – even the men! Men need gifts for women, and who better than you to get those gifts from than you?

PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE – post on your personal page and your business page, get your guests hyped! Post pictures of what will be available at your launch party, post a countdown picture, personally message people who you think would LOVE Paparazzi.

Day of the party – Once again, make sure you have ALL the stock photos of all the pretties you have – there is a chance that your stock photos will not post to facebook, that is because if an item is really popular, the picture will be posted tens of thousands of times on facebook, when the same exact picture is posted that many times, it triggers the facebook algorithms that mark it as spam. You can get around this by creating collages of your inventory, I use Pizap.com it’s a free program that allows you to make all kinds of fun pictures, collages, facebook banners, etc. OR if you get going in your party and you have a picture that won’t post, you can open the picture in any photo editing program and quickly crop it and thereby changing the photo enough to get it past the facebook algorithm. - Either way, make sure to not crop out any of the Paparazzi logos in the stock photos.

2 hours until party time – relax!

1 hour until party time – post a “one hour to go” picture in your event, get a drink, get a snack, go to the restroom, change into your comfy clothes, listen to some music that pumps you up, double check your photos one more time, and get ready….your launch party will be the MOST stressful party you ever throw…I promise, it does get easier!

During the party – you’ll want to start out with a Roll Call….there are a BUNCH of Roll Calls that you can use and you can offer any prize you want – I do ½ price shipping at all of my parties. You can do FREE shipping or ½ price shipping or a free piece....it’s up to you! While your guests are answering the roll call question, you’ll want to post a couple of informational graphics – “How do I pay?” “Lead and Nickel Free” “Only one of each” “Why isn’t Paparazzi Hypoallergenic?” “All necklaces come with earrings” etc.

Start posting the stock photos. As your guests comment “sold”, you’ll want to like the first “sold”, if you have the time, also comment “yours, (name – tagged)”, by tagging your friends in the comments, THEIR friends will see the picture.

About 45 minutes into the party, you’ll want to pick a winner of the roll call, I use random.org to randomly pick a number. Then take a 10-15 minute break. This will give you time to catch your breath, refill your drink, and answer any questions you might have missed the first time around.

After the break, play a game, it can be anything you want – a guess the number, an iSpy, or another question/answer winner chosen by random. Prizes can be free shipping, tax free, a free piece, etc. Then, get back to posting the pictures…FYI – you can drag and drop the pictures into the party, MUCH quicker than “opening a photo”.

After you’ve posted ALL your inventory, remind your guests that you NEED their email addresses to get their invoices to them, say thank you, and close up. I was wiped out after my launch, so I closed the party the next day. To complete the party, go through the party from top to bottom, and “collect” the solds – what I do is I move the pictures from my “In Stock” photos files to each individual customer’s folder. Then go to PayPal and get your invoices out.

Your sponsor should be able to be at your launch party, if she can’t be for some reason, you can ask someone else from the team to be there to help you! Remember to have FUN! Also keep in mind that most of the people who are at your launch party will have never been to a Facebook Paparazzi Party, so if you “mess up” they won’t know it! Also, since your launch party is self-hosted, you at least have some kind of relationship with everyone there, so if you make a noticeable mistake, be honest with them, and they’ll forgive you! If you have ANY questions on your launch party, ask your sponsor, or ask in the Junkies group!