Launch Schedule:

Having a launch schedule helps make your brand launch more manageable and provides clarity for your organisation. Launch schedules help maintain alignment of all the elements of introducing your brand to the market. You will want to plan for the months in front of you, and how you will fit all of your pre-launch strategy into that time. It is important to ensure your
messaging is consistent throughout, and tailored to your brand’s identity. You will need a launch date, and a strategy for content creation to help tell the story of your brand.

Setting Launch Goals:

What do you want to achieve when your brand finally goes to launch? You need to select which metrics you will measure the success of your brand launch by. These are your key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics might include reach, engagement, conversion, revenue or retention. Once you have the metrics by which you will measure success, you can begin to set goals around your launch to deliver the best results. These goals should have a deadline or timeframe for completion, as well as being specific and measurable. Once you have set your goals, it is important to track their progress and compare the results to the expectations you had. Goals can be adjusted accordingly if you feel they have been set with too high an expectation.

Managing Pre-Launch:

Pre-launch relates to the marketing process before the official introduction of your brand. This is important as it allows you to raise awareness of your brand, develop excitement and generate essential leads. You are able to establish feedback on your brand and test the market to see if any changes need to be made before launch. Activities relating to pre-launch include having a creative website landing page, creating teaser content, creating
a strong social media presence, collaborating with influencers, hosting events to showcase prototypes and utilising email marketing.

Organising a Press Launch:

This can be the ultimate stage for unveiling your new brand. Press launches are an opportunity to create excitement and buzz around your new brand. Inviting journalists and influencers to an event can give your brand good exposure with your target audience. It is important to carefully consider your guest list and what message you want to convey to your attendees. You must also consider the venue, and ensure that it is both easily accessible for your guests, but also that it helps communicate your brand’s image and the atmosphere you want to create. Your press launch should include an interesting program, helping to showcase your brand. This might include presentations, demonstrations and panel discussions with high-profile speakers. It is also important to engage with guests after the event, encouraging them to share photos and reviews of your brand to keep the momentum behind your brand high.

Writing and Publishing a Press Release:

Writing a press release can help your brand garner media attention and promote your brand awareness. This is a great way to get the word out about your brand and help build that all important buzz. You can convey your brand’s voice and personality through your press release and help shape the way your brand is viewed by the media and potential customers. Your press release must have a captivating headline, the date and your brand’s location, your contact details and context surrounding what your brand is and what it stands for. Formatting and style of your press release is important, you need to ensure your document looks both professional and in line with your brand’s styling. A network of journalists and relevant publications is useful when publishing your press release.

Social Media Launch:

This has become an integral part of launching a new brand in recent times. Using social media to create a teaser campaign can be extremely valuable. Teaser campaigns are designed to offer a glance at your brand and its products, and build excitement and anticipation for its launch. The use of hashtags on social media help to categorise your brand and attach it to conversations within the same space. This helps spread the word of your brand online and gets your products in front of more people. You may want to run giveaways and contests through social media to create excitement around your launch. This is a great way to get people sharing your brand on their pages and amongst your target market. Running a countdown on your social media pages will help remind your potential customers that your launch day is upcoming. This is a great way to get your brand in front of people each day, reminding them to be excited about the launch. You could also involve influencers in this, having them re-post your teasers and reminders. Consistency across all social platforms is imperative. You want your brand’s content to appear the same across each platform so that consumers understand the messaging and styling. Post consistency is also something to consider. Ensure you have a steady stream of posts prior to launch so that your brand is in front of potential customers consistently, so they can’t forget you. It can also be effective to include calls to action in your posts. This is encouraging followers to share your posts, engage in online activations or competitions and thus, help build your brand’s exposure.

Pop Up Shops:

Pop up shops are short-term, set up in a physical location and can be a great way to introduce your new brand to potential customers. They are a good opportunity for customers to see your brand in person and purchase items from you on the spot. Pop up shops are also a good opportunity to meet your customers and understand what they are looking for, and how your brand might be able to meet their needs in the future. This is a great way to create visibility for your brand, with the opportunity to create a lot of hype and excitement around the limited-time nature of the physical shop. Pop up shops are also fairly low-cost, but it is important to consider location and the length of time you will be open.

Activations:

Brand activations are interactive events and experiences that help you connect to your target audience. This is a good way to endear your audience to your brand and captures their attention in a different way to a regular marketing campaign. A well-executed activation can help build hype around your brand through customers sharing their experiences on social media, helping improve your brand’s reach. Activations can take different shapes, including running online interactive contests and challenges, or developing a virtual reality experience. However, activations can also be physical activities, showcasing the brand in action or a specific element of your product that you want to promote.

Attending Trade Shows:

Trade shows allow you to network and build relationships with key people within your brand’s industry. You want to ensure your attendance is worthwhile, so it is important to go in with an idea of how you can best promote yourself and your brand to your industry peers. Make sure you are ready to connect with new and existing contacts, and ensure you make a good first impression! You will need a short, concise pitch to outline what your brand is about, as well as an engaging presentation for people to look at. Make sure you follow up with those that you connect with at the show.

What can Blue Associates Sportswear do for you?

We look to provide entrepreneurs with the right tools and knowledge to develop and launch their own sportswear brand. Blue Associates Sportswear can help you with all or some of the components of launching your brand! We understand what it takes to manage a successful brand launch.

If you would like to enquire about our brand launch management services, please fill out the Questionnaire and receive a FREE quote regarding the services we can provide.