3 Strategies for Launching Your Brand in 2023

At Little Ghost, I help clients roll out their brands and build presence in the market. But to do so effectively, determining a strategy is key. There’s multiple approaches you can take when rolling out a brand. But the right method is dependent on your business objectives, timelines and priorities. A brand launch shouldn’t be treated as another task you check off the to-do list. It’s a strategic step in the branding process.

The 4 Benefits of a Strategic Brand Launch:

1. You Won’t Miss Anything

If you have a clear roadmap for your launch you’ll be sure to address all brand touchpoints. It’s easy to remember the big ticket items like your website and signage, but easy to forget the small items, like branded stationery and brochures. However, consistency is so important when it comes to building an impactful brand. A strategy will ensure you won’t miss a thing.

2. You’ll Nurture Brand Awareness

Building brand awareness helps build buzz around your product or service while also generating and capturing demand. It's an important step in the customer journey, and will help you convert customers into loyal brand ambassadors. Following a brand launch strategy helps as you can determine what brand touchpoints are most important for awareness and prioritize those first.

3. Everything is Scheduled

Organization is a must when you're launching a brand (workback schedule, anyone?). With a good strategy in place, you’ll be able to map out every step of your launch. This ensures there’s no surprises along the way, resulting in less stress.

4. You Can Create Hype Around the Launch

With a brand launch strategy in place,  you can work toward your big launch date with key milestones along the way. Whether this looks like a campaign, giveaway or event — your launch strategy will guide all actions leading up to launch day.

Without further ado, here’s my three go-to strategies for ensuring your brand launch this year is a success.

For more insight on prioritizing brand touchpoints, check out Little Ghost’s conscious brand launch checklist on my Instagram.

Strategy 1: The Full Flip

In this launch strategy, I’ll work with you to launch every one of your brand’s touchpoints at once. Yes, all at once….hence why it’s called the Full Flip!

This strategy requires extensive coordination and behind-the-scenes work. But it’s worth it. For existing brands who are launching a rebrand, it means you won’t have any old branded items floating around that could confuse your audience. And for new brands being introduced to the market, it means every brand touchpoint will be consistent from day one.

To start, we’ll determine a brand launch date and work back from it. We’ll work together to make note of all brand touchpoints that require updating. Then, we prioritize what items to begin with (usually higher impact items like website and signage, which also take longer to design) and what items can quickly be flipped closer to your launch date.

The Full Flip brand launch strategy certainly takes the longest. It requires more planning and design work before your brand is in the market. However it will do wonders for your brand awareness. It’s also a strategy you can use to build hype around your brand launch. For example, a few weeks before launch you can announce a giveaway or launch event. Alternatively, you can share sneak peeks of the new brand and give your audience a count down for when they can expect to see it unveiled. The Full Flip is a great for generating buzz.‍

My Two Cents: Perform what I call a “brand audit.” This is where you build a master spreadsheet of every brand asset your organization uses. Organize the information with links to existing branded items (if they exist) and give each one a priority level from highest to lowest. When it comes time to brand or rebrand each item, you can go through the list and ensure nothing is missed.

Strategy 2: A Phased Approach

In this launch strategy, we’ll work together to phase out your brand launch into smaller sections that will be unveiled over time. Your brand will gradually be introduced to your audience as we work to update each brand touchpoint. It’s a strategy that allows us to work in tandem — getting your brand in market while also continuing to flip brand touchpoints.

This is an effective strategy I often use for clients who are rebranding, like the work I did as the Art Director for SkipTheDishes National Rebrand in 2017. We redesigned over 100 brand assets over a two month period, unveiling them in phases. This included everything from the food delivery app, to swag items like t-shirts, to wrapped delivery vehicles.

The Phased Approach strategy is also great if you have pressure from stakeholders or your team members to get your new brand in market quickly. It doesn’t require any waiting period while design work is getting done. Instead, we can launch high priority items first and continue working on smaller brand touchpoints to launch later.

Here’s What a Phased Approach Might Look Like:

Phase 1 (1st Priority) = Key Customer-Facing Assets:

• The most important for growing the business and building brand awareness
• Examples = website/app, signage, packaging.
  

Phase 2 (2nd Priority) = Additional Customer-Facing Assets:

• Items that customers engage with yet aren’t front and centre of your brand’s touchpoints
• Examples = stationary, brochures/print marketing materials, swag items
  

Phase 3 (3rd Priority) = Internal / Employee Facing Assets:

• Items that employees use. Updating them will ensure your team is aligned with your new brand values. They should feel at home with the new brand.
• Examples = ERP/CRM systems, official letterheads, swipe cards

Strategy 3: Piece by Piece

In this launch strategy, we’ll work together to launch specific brand materials at a time, over time. This is a slower-paced strategy that is often used for smaller, new brands entering the market for the first time.

It’s an effective strategy if budget is a concern. You’ll have control over what brand touchpoints you want to invest in. I think of it as the slow and steady approach to a brand launch. However, know that this approach will also take the longest as only one item is getting flipped at a time.

I do advise clients that if you’re choosing the Piece By Piece launch strategy, it could negatively affect brand awareness. As you're flipping items, especially if you’re rebranding, you will have a mix of new and old branded pieces in the world. Alternatively, if you’re launching a new brand, having fewer brand touchpoints in the world at once can also limit the amount of exposure and awareness your brand initially receives.

If choosing this strategy, be sure to be diligent in communicating with your audience that you’re unveiling a new brand. Add a statement to the homepage of your website or create an explainer video, showcasing a sneak peek of the new brand and when they can expect to see it fully in-market. Transparent communication can help eliminate any questions or concerns your audience might have, in turn building more loyalty and trust with customers.  

My Two Cents: When organizing your brand rollout, categorize your brand touchpoints into the following sections so you can easily identify when each category needs to be launched.

• Stationery & Printed Media
• Website & Digital
• Sales & Marketing
• Social Media & Branded Content
• Signage, Wayfinding & Interior Design
• Packaging
• Photos, Video & Animation
• Experiential (how you answer the phones, customer experience)
• Other (vehicles, schwag)

Those were my 3 methods for a successful brand launch

Launching a brand takes patience, planning and collaboration. Starting by choosing one of my three launch strategies will help your brand’s transition into the market smooth and effective.

Is your brand waiting to meet the world? Tell me what’s going on behind-the-scenes. Let me help bring your vision to life.