It takes a lot of effort to create a successful brand.
The quantity of assets that must be updated and executed for numerous audiences in a perfectly coordinated time frame, from email notifications to social media channels to marketing material, is enough to spin your head.
Even the most complicated brand launch, with proper planning, can go ahead without a hitch.
We have created for you a detailed step-by-step guide on nailing your brand launch and leaving a remarkable impression.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
9 Simple Steps to a Seamless New Brand Launch
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a Brand Launch?
A brand launch is launching a professional services brand from scratch.
You have a unique chance to pick how you want to position your company in the marketplace, which customers you want to serve, and what services you will deliver to them since you are beginning from nothing.
It is a wonderful moment to create a convincing value offer.
Any brand launch goes through three stages as follows:
- Pre-launch:
The pre-launch stage is all about what you do before your new brand or product becomes accessible to the public.
It assists you in raising awareness of your product, creating excitement and buzz about the forthcoming launch, and generating valuable leads.
Moreover, a pre-launch campaign is an excellent approach to testing several marketing channels to determine which ones will be the most successful.
- Launch
This is when the brand or product is officially launched, and you’re actively promoting it.
This covers the actual day of release and the subsequent marketing activities to keep the hype going for several weeks afterward.
During this period, product and marketing data is gathered to help judge the launch’s success.
- Post-launch
Post-product launch is about celebrating your accomplishment; it’s also about determining how well end-users and valued clients receive your product.
As an organization, you must interact with your target audience more after the product launch to ensure their satisfaction and get your hands on valuable feedback.
You can speak with your clients on the phone, send them an email asking for feedback, or send your marketing team to find out what your audience thinks about the new product and the services you provide.
Also, you can create a page on your website where clients can leave comments and feedback so that you know where you have succeeded and where there is still room for development.
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9 Simple Steps to a Successful New Brand Launch
Businesses must carefully plan their product releases long before the anticipated launch date.
A successful product launch requires the collaborative efforts of numerous teams and departments throughout the firm, including:
- Product development
- Brand management
- Marketing
- Sales
- Customer care
- Finance
- Public relations
Let’s now read how to run your launch as smoothly as possible.
Step #1: Identify your target audience
You must keep your target audience in mind at every step of the brand launch process.
We advise you to make an effort to thoroughly comprehend your target audience.
Ask yourself what their issues and requirements are. Who are they?
If you keep user data and begin analyzing it using appropriate tools or data management platforms, it will provide you with a wealth of information on your customers’ profiles.
Furthermore, you should also carry out a product and service analysis.
Keep asking yourself what advantages you provide. Try your best to list them down.
Then consider others who have a need that your benefit satisfies; what are their ages? What do they care about? What are they seeking, and how does your product meet their requirements?
This will assist you in identifying the appropriate characteristics of your target group.
Target audiences can be subdivided into groups based on intent, geography, interests, and other factors.
Let’s look at some examples of how you can segment your target audience:
- Interests
These can assist you in creating data-driven, highly-tailored communications that help you engage with your audience in meaningful ways and generate brand loyalty.
- Intentional Purchase
Define groups of individuals seeking a particular product.
This will assist you in understanding your audience’s profiles, allowing you to generate a personalized message that meets their requirements.
- Subcultures
You can have a better grasp of who you’re attempting to connect with if you understand some of your target audience’s needs.
On a general note, to increase the chances of making the most of your advertising activities, you need to stick to your original brand message or construct a message that appeals to your target demographic.
Also, keep in mind that pre-launch advertising is intended to educate the target audience about an upcoming product release, not necessarily to sell it.
Hence, you must adapt your advertising to guide prospective consumers through their purchasing experience.
Consider the research you’ve conducted and the data to determine where your target audience interacts with your brand.
Furthermore, make the most of those channels to notify your target audience about the product launch, and add calls-to-action that will entice them to take action, resulting in a sales conversion.
Step #2: Define your brand identity
A brand’s identity covers everything you use to strengthen your market position and advertise your company, such as your new logo design, communication materials, website, and social media presence.
Learning how to build a brand identity should assist you in:
- Boosting brand recognition
- Increasing consumer loyalty to your firm
- Increasing the confidence and credibility that consumers have in your brand
- Defining your company’s distinguishing features
Once you have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of your organization, you will be able to build your visual identity.
This will entail an assessment of both your online and offline media presence.
Finally, ensure that everything created to improve your brand visually relates to the brand objective and values you defined throughout the market research phase of developing your brand identity.
Step #3: Develop an effective launch strategy
A new product launch strategy is a series of steps and actions from distinct people on the team that lead up to the product’s launch date.
Developing an effective launch strategy basically means that you need to find the optimal ways of working during the pre-launch, launch, and post-launch stages.
When it comes to a launch strategy you need to make sure that:
- Everyone involved is undertaking the right tasks (based on their position and skills)
- The deadlines set are realistic
- The goals set are clear and viable
Here are some additional things you need to think about when you plan to launch your new product:
Product development:
To have a successful product launch, you need to work on making a product that people want or need.
The best way to develop your product and figure out who your ideal customer is is to gather customer feedback and look at your competitors.
Research and testing:
Your research will help you say the right thing when you launch your product. The first thing you should do is let a few people try your product.
Then, ask for their feedback to see how you’re progressing.
Furthermore, testing can show you what changes you need to make and help you keep working on the product.
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Step #4: Put together a detailed brand launch timeline
A product launch timeline includes all of the events that must occur for a successful product launch.
Consider it a visual roadmap of every stage in the launch process, from the planning phase through to the debut date; in some instances, it may also encompass the post-launch period.
To be more specific, a product launch timeline includes:
- Activities that take place during the pre-launch period
- Activities that take place during the launch stage
- Actions that take place during the post-launch stage
We’ll go over the most crucial aspects of a product launch timeline:
1. Tasks and timelines for the pre-launch stage:
The pre-launch stage is critical to the success of a new product.
It comprises all the activities conducted in the months or weeks leading up to the launch to create a breeding environment for developing anticipation, boosting awareness, and improving product features.
To give you an idea, some of the items you should consider at the pre-launch stage are as follows:
- Devising a marketing strategy
- Identifying your ideal personalities
- Creating an email list
- Constructing digital marketing campaigns
- Increasing awareness of your value proposition
- Developing landing pages
- Making a price decision
- Announcing the product’s debut date
We are now moving on to the next step.
2. Tasks and timelines for the launch stage:
As you may be aware, the launch stage follows immediately after the pre-launch stage.
This relates to the actual launch of your product and many other factors that must be considered, such as putting all of your plans into action and publicly announcing the launch.
Furthermore, you must continue to promote your product via email marketing campaigns, content marketing initiatives, and other marketing activities.
This ensures that as many new clients as possible discover your product once released.
3. Post-launch activities and deadlines
You have successfully launched your new product into the market.
Congratulations!?
What’s vital to remember is that you shouldn’t stop working hard after the launch since the post-launch stage is crucial.
This includes acts such as:
- Results evaluation
- Obtaining feedback
- Product refinement
- Promotion
All of this will guarantee that your product does not stagnate but that you continue to optimize it based on customer input and promote it so that more people hear about it.
Overall, these three phases and their associated responsibilities are essential components of every product launch timeline.
Step #5: Define specific launch activities and communicate them to all stakeholders
To start with, having a defined schedule and ensuring that everyone involved is aware of it is especially critical for larger and remote teams.
A well-planned calendar with well-phrased communication around each milestone is part of a solid internal communication plan.
Moreover, before the new brand is revealed to the public, it is vital that all internal stakeholders, from leadership to workers to board members, have been briefed.
After all, your staff is your brand’s most critical representative, they are the brand’s front-line storytellers; thus, they must embrace its new chapter.
Only by completely comprehending the essence of the new brand will they be able to create an authentic and captivating tale.
In addition, an internal brand introduction is an excellent way for a CEO to inspire the troops by passionately describing the future.
This ideal method is to communicate the structure and direction of the new brand to introduce workers to new core messaging, such as the brand’s purpose, mission, vision, and values.
Step #6: Create your branding assets
We’ve already talked about defining brand identity.
Now, it’s time to start creating those significant branding assets.
Brand assets, including logos, typography, and taglines, make it easier to identify a company, help it stand out from rivals, and prompt consumer associations.
The following aspects can be included in a brand’s assets:
- Name of the company
- Logo color scheme
- Packaging
- Taglines or slogans
- Music or sounds
- Branding principles
- Typography
- Elements of design
- Tone and voice
- Videos
To illustrate, well-designed brand assets can help you create a consistent, unified experience and keep your company top of your consumers’ thoughts.
However, it should never be confused with a competitor’s brand.
Instead, you want every aspect to represent your firm so that it is instantly identifiable.
Your assets will function nicely together to create your own brand identity.
Moreover, every business has various demands and, as a result, diverse assets.
For example, a mascot can be more significant to some than packaging.
However, to differentiate themselves from the competition, all firms must have a few fundamental branding assets.
Typically, your logo will be the most crucial aspect of your brand asset.
A logo is your opportunity to communicate the meaning of your business in a single visual, whether you utilize images, icons, or text.
Your logo selection should serve to guide other parts of building a brand identity, such as your color palette and font selection.
Focus on keeping the following factors in mind:
Colors:
When studying how to develop a brand identity, you should realize that colors are critical.
Your color choice can influence your reputation and affect how people see your business.
This is due to our psychological reactions to various hues.
For example, orange represents confidence, blue represents professionalism, and so on.
Therefore, choose colors that symbolize the most important aspects of your brand.
Fonts:
Typography is a robust brand tool.
Fonts, like colors, can elicit a variety of emotional reactions.
Sans-serif typefaces, for example, are often seen as more “informal.”
Consistency:
Building a successful brand will always need consistency.
The more you repeat a given phrase or visual picture, the more it becomes known to your audience.
So make a “style guide”, outlining the principles for developing a brand identity that everyone in your organization should follow.
This guide needs to contain information about your color scheme, fonts, photos, size, and other aspects.
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Step #7: Start spreading the word
Prospective clients must be able to see your brand or new product for you to sell it.
The most challenging part is figuring out how to accomplish it.
The following channels will give you a hand:
- Social media
Over the last few years, social media has evolved into a marketing force.
Regardless of how huge your social media following is, make sure you spread the word about your product on all of the social media platforms where you are active.
In addition, a teaser launch campaign can be a handy method to get users intrigued.
For instance, Haus Labs, Lady Gaga’s beauty brand, released many small teaser videos on Instagram to showcase their new clean makeup beauty line scheduled for release in May.
It’s an excellent technique for capturing attention and building anticipation.
We advise you to find the platforms that will be valuable for your product and be active on them for this to work.
- Press releases
A press release is another excellent technique to inform your target market about your new product; you just need to write 500 words and post it on press release websites.
In 2016, Adidas released a press release showcasing their new shoe made of Biosteel fiber, as you can see in the above screenshot.
The material had a unique mix of performance features, such as being 15% lighter in weight than traditional synthetic fibers and having the potential to be the most robust natural material available.
- Promotional items
People like promotional products because they get to keep thoughtful and valuable items, and companies love them because they help them spread the word about their brand.
You can give out samples of your physical products as a taste of what you offer.
Step #8: Set up advertising campaigns
One of the most critical steps in the brand launch process is to set up your advertising campaigns.
When you establish your target market at the start of the launch process, you undoubtedly gain valuable knowledge about where your target audience spends most of their time on social media and other platforms.
This is where you can put that information to use and promote your upcoming launch on the appropriate platforms.
Consider your new website as a starting point.
Make sure it’s attractive, simple to use, and has enough information for customers to learn all they can about your product rapidly.
If you’ve found that your target audience spends significant time on social media, you need to focus your advertising activities on that.
Social media platforms provide several options to communicate directly with your target audience, collaborate with influencers, and attract new prospective clients.
Many social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a very user-friendly advertising system that allows you to select exact objectives, ensuring that you only reach the population you want to attract.
Consider, for example, Later, an Instagram marketing tool.
Later understood it could target its current Instagram following when it released a new product feature (first comment scheduling), as you can see in the below screenshot.
The platform created an instructional video to show how the new product works, and it was released on Instagram, where their target consumers are.
Step #9: Keep track of pre-launch, launch, and post-launch activities, and optimize whenever necessary
Even while all materials must be prepared ahead of time, you can always do necessary edits when needed and just take it easy, not letting the nerves get the best of you.
For instance, you don’t want to muddy the “big reveal” by coming out publicly with a new email signature or modifying your social media sites too soon.
Allow ample time for the final inspection, and don’t risk exposing the new brand to the public before the formal debut.
Don’t let geography dampen the effect of your internal launch; consider arranging a series of lunch-and-learn sessions following the formal launch if you have numerous offices.
This will not only assist workers in remote areas feel more connected to the brand rollout, but it will also strengthen the whole team’s grasp of the branding, allowing them to share the narrative even more effectively.
Moreover, if you are changing your brand name as part of a rebranding process, you may need to have a marketing plan for phasing out the previous name, such as referring to it as “formerly” for a short time after the brand launch.
An overnight transition is frequently the finest and most memorable, but in some instances, such as a change of ownership, it is preferable to make the shift gradually.
The best approach to guarantee you’re getting the most out of your new brand identity is to keep track of your activities, measure the results, and optimize.
Now Over to You
A brand launch is an excellent opportunity to establish your company or practice on a path to long-term success.
At this point, you have the most freedom and the benefit of being unique and intriguing.
The essential thing to remember is to focus on developing a practical approach and conducting thorough research.
Everything else is more straightforward if you can give a compelling value offering to a grateful set of target customers.
To help you create a long-lasting impression for your business and audience, feel free to contact us anytime for further questions and tailored promo items advice that can take your launch to the next level.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. What are the benefits of a successful brand launch?
The benefits of a successful brand launch are:
- Opening up new income sources for you that you haven’t considered previously
- Helping your new products compete more effectively in the market
- Establishing more robust channels of collaboration and communication among staff
Q2. What is the difference between a brand launch and an introduction?
The main difference between a brand launch and an introduction is that a brand launch includes several elements to position your new brand and services to the market, one of them being the brand introduction.
On the other hand, a brand introduction presents your brand values and communicates expectations to your audience.
Q3. ??What is the purpose of a brand launch?
A brand launch aims to:
- Help businesses develop anticipation for a brand
- Receive vital input from early consumers
- Gain momentum
- Get industry recognition
Featured image by Andy Hermawan on Unsplash