Brand Launch Checklist: Eight Must-Haves for Your Brand

Whether you’re in full start-up mode, launching a new product, or simply giving your brand a refresh, it’s important to make sure you have all your ducks in a row prior to launch. It's not uncommon for a business owner to wear many hats—anything from product designer to marketing expert, and maybe you've even put a feather or two in your cap for small website design elements. With all of these different hats, it's easy to quickly lose focus on all of the elements it takes for a successful launch.

To make sure you’ve ironed out all the wrinkles in your branch launch, here is a list of 8 must-haves for a successful brand launch. Grab your pencil, and start checking items off or making a plan! As we always say…success is all about having the right strategy…and that strategy starts with a PLAN.

Cohesive Brand Story: Finding Your WHY

It should come as no surprise that the future of content marketing is through brand storytelling. BUT it only works if you keep it consistent. A great way to keep your message consistent is to first identify your WHY. Every company shares WHAT it does with its consumers: products, industry trends, competitors. The key to successful storytelling is sharing WHY you do WHAT you do: What is your purpose? What makes you tick?

As German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche once said, “He who has a why can endure any how.” Your WHY is your anchor. Most importantly, in a sea of WHAT and saturated marketplaces, your brand story can be 22x more memorable than facts, separating you from everyone else.

Related: Click here to see how we can help you when it comes to brand story, no matter what stage you’re in.

Brand Identity + Creative Guidelines: Photo, Design, + Branding Assets

When it comes to establishing a message and bringing that idea to life, brand identity and creative guidelines–photo, design, and your overall branding–are where brands getting ready to launch should spend some extra care and thought.

Simple design choices you may not even consciously notice can make all the difference and increase visibility for your brand.. Consider the psychology of graphic design that weighs shapes, typeface, colors, and more as it relates to the subconscious choices of consumers. In the same way you put together a clear brand story, you want to be intentional with the aforementioned elements. It’s very possible that when it comes to creating a product, you shine, but branding may be outside of your comfort zone. To make sure the world gets the clearest vision of your brand, hire a brand specialist. A brand specialist will be able to help you put together a roadmap to easily identify your look and feel.

Digital Footprint: Easily Identifiable Digital Handles + URL

Before making a purchase, 85% of consumers do their homework searching for reviews across the web or on social media. When your brand has an easy-to-access (and remember) handle and website URL, it makes communicating with consumers much easier. Thereby allowing new users and consumers to find those converting reviews that may lead to a purchase. Quite simply put: the easier you are to find, the easier you are to convert, and the cheaper your ROI (return on investment) or COA (cost of acquisition) becomes.

But it doesn't stop there: A cohesive brand identity that works across your website and social media handles generates more brand impressions, allows for cleaner design on marketing materials, and makes your brand feel more reputable. We all love a witty handle, but there is a fine line between wit and overly complicated. Make sure your social handles and URL check the following boxes:

• Consistent

• Easy to spell

• Short

• Branded

Before you launch, start by checking availability across platforms for your proposed name. If you’re struggling to come up with a great name, consider this business name generator to give you some ideas and a good starting point. It’s possible that doing something as simple as adding “the” to your URL will do the job. If it once worked for “thefacebook,” it too can work for you.

Know Your Community + Ideal Follower or Customer (Target Demographic Avatars)

Understanding who your target demographic or ideal follower is is an important foundational piece to your business. While your product and brand may have a large appeal, narrowing in on your most loyal customer is the best way to focus your marketing dollars and brand messaging. Here are some things to consider when identifying your target demographic:

• Age

• Occupation

• Income Level

• Interest

• Education Level

• Lifestyle

• Values

While we didn’t separate them above, it’s also important to understand the difference between psychographics vs. demographics because both are important. Unlike demographics (age occupation, income level, etc), psychographics are buyer’s attitude, habits, and behaviors. This information can be used to understand more deeply how someone will respond to your marketing and help guide your marketing choices. Data points now give us a better idea of who our followers are in terms of their lifestyle, interests, and values.

When it comes to these demographics and psychographics, the same rule applies for influencer marketing. Ask yourself who are the influencers that fit your target demographic avatar? Do the followers of the influencer match your target demographic as well? Utilizing influencers into your overall strategy is a great way to expand your network and build your online perception.

Bonus: In the age of information, your online perception matters. Consider the fact that 91% of people trust what they see and read in search engine results. The more visibility you get for an influencer network, the more organic search you will also get, and the more search engine visibility you get as well. That’s a win, win, win. Partner that 91% onto the 85% of consumers who read reviews, and the data would suggest, with the right planning, you’re in for a successful brand launch.

Marketing Plan + Strategic Roadmap

You know what they say: When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This applies to marketing as well. Once you’ve put together your target demographics and the creative assets—brand story, creative guidelines, photography, etc., you’ll need to make sure you have a strategic roadmap and marketing plan in place that allows your message to reach your customers. Here are some things to consider when putting your plan forward:

• Identify the social media platforms that allow you to reach your customer avatar

• Consider how content marketing—like blogging and newsletters—works for your SEO + brand message

• Put together a checklist of tasks + a timeline

You may also want to consider what drives your target demographic to make a purchase. Does the marketing plan you’re putting lead your target demographic further down the traffic funnel? If not, remember that a marketing plan can always be changed. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the process, hiring a marketing specialist to help build your strategic roadmap is a surefire way to elevate your marketing game.

Launch Goals (But Make Them S.M.A.R.T.)

If you’ve got the vision–and we know you do– to create a brand, you’ve clearly got the vision to create big goals. But it’s important to remember you need to walk before you can run. The key to successfully achieving your “reach for the sky dreams'' is to actually baby step your way there. For your launch, make sure your goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Instead of saying, “I will launch my brand,” use the following as a guideline:

• Specific: I will launch x brand on my website

• Measurable: Increase visits on my website by 10%

• Attainable: Putting forward a strategic roadmap

• Relevant: By using social media Ads

• Time-Based: Q1

Your pie in the sky launch goal now becomes S.M.A.R.T.: I will launch x brand on my website with the goal of increasing visits by 10% in Q1 by using a strategic marketing roadmap that includes social media Ads.

Grab a pencil and write down this list for yourself. What is your specific goal? How can you make it measurable? What do you need to do to make it attainable? Is it really relevant? Now add time-based elements (think, days, months, quarters, or years).

Note: A business really should look at year-over-year data because consumer behavior trends change throughout the year. But, when you’re first launching a brand, reviewing your measurable metrics month-over-month is an ok way to press forward so long as you contextualize the data with consumer behavioral trends. In other words, most consumer brands will do better in December than January when it comes to sales due to the holidays. That said, a January vs. December comparison will always seem like your traffic and sales are down, but that’s just a general market trend and nothing to be alarmed about. These are external elements you will want to consider when creating your goals. Set yourself up for success by making your goals S.M.A.R.T.

Post-Launch Review + Management Tools

Before you even launch, you'll want to think about post-launch. If you’re thinking why? Hear us out: Do you have all of the analytic tools you need to measure the success of your launch? Make sure you have Google Analytics and/or whatever analytics suite you feel comfortable with installed on your website. After launch, you'll need to evaluate how on point your customer profiles were, the success rate of your marketing plan, and how your KPIs matched up to your actual data points.

While it might seem overwhelming, it’s important to take a deep breath and congratulate yourself that you’ve gotten this far! You’re so much closer and determined than you think. The best way to put your best foot forward? Hire a specialist or agency that can help you shine. As it happens, that’s just what we do. Click here to contact us and take your brand launch to the next level.