Launching a brand can be intimidating, especially if you’re someone like me who doesn’t like to stick with just one design concept. When I first started my company, Be A Light, I knew I wanted bright colors—but that was about it. And because I didn’t fully plan before I created the Facebook group (the first entity of the business), the result was a mess of flashy yellow logos and funky text. Fun, yes—but not a brand I wanted to keep.
Over the next year, I developed a stronger sense of ‘style’ I wanted for the company. Around August of 2018 I did a release of the new design, and upon finishing the website at the start of 2019, I’m now looking to do another brand launch to showcase how the company has grown and changed over the last year (plus is now officially ready)!
All this is to say, figuring out the unique brand of your company or social media pages can be difficult. But (a) you’re not stuck to one design or concept, (b) you’re always welcome to change things up when you don’t feel they’re right (with proper communication, of course), and (c) creating hype around your brand launch isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Here’s how:
1. First start with your planning.
If you’re going to create hype around your brand launch, the first step (before posting ANYTHING!) is to plan. Make sure you know the exact designs, color schemes, logos, and concepts you’ll be using. It’s also valuable to think about the language and overall message, too, so that everything is consistent.
2. Use a scheduling service.
After planning, you’ll want to create a posting schedule. If you post everything all at once, your audience will get overwhelmed. However, if you take too long to release new info, people will forget and the design shift will come as a surprise. As you create your schedule (Tip: I use Excel and create a makeshift ‘calendar’ with notes about what I’m posting when), remember to balance your release with other things you regularly post. You want to be conscious of what your audience comes to your page(s) for, and make sure that you’re still sharing what they want, too.
Aim for about 2+ posts a week at different times. It’s also valuable to look up the location of your audience, too, to see what times are best for them and when they’ll most likely be online. I’d argue for a month-long release, but if that’s not feasible, use at least two weeks to slowly integrate your new brand to your pages and sites.
3. Use words that captivate attention.
You want to get people excited about what you’ve created and changed. You can do this by paying attention to wording. Say things like ‘sneak peek,’ ‘first look,’ or ‘do X to learn more.’ These are enticing phrases and they also serve as a call to action—people will be compelled to look or click/sign up etc. to find out more.
4. Make something exclusive (if possible).
Something that really gets people interested is when there’s something in it for them. For example, can you offer a behind-the-scenes preview to your new website (with a passcode, etc.) for the first X people that sign up for your newsletter? Or can you give a free bonus resource to the people who fill out X survey about what they’d like to see in your new brand?
These are just examples, but implement them! If people know they’re getting something out of what you’re offering, they’re more apt to be engaged and responsive.
5. Be slow and patient.
Trust me, I get it. You’re excited and so you want your clients/audience to see what you have to share right away. As much as you want to release the whole entire thing at once, don’t. Instead, practice patience. Release one section at a time, share ‘preview’ images, put a ‘behind-the-scenes’ video series together, etc.
This patience will pay off because it will make you and your audience more excited about the official thing.
6. Use a countdown.
This is an excellent strategy to help you create hype around your brand launch. You can start this as early as you want to entice people for the event or change coming down the road and then share segments as reminders. When you get really close to the actual date, do a day by day countdown.
Example: Share a quote, clip, or picture every day for the last ten days with the numbers as the focus. This will engage your present audience, as well as tell newcomers that something big is coming soon!
7. Stay consistent.
You don’t have to stick with the same brand design forever, but if you’ve been working on a big launch, don’t change anything before you’ve fully released! Try to stay consistent to your new brand (even if you change your mind) because that consistency will be valuable to people who have been following along.
And above all, have fun with it!
Featured Image Credit: Andrea Vehige
