Are you ready to launch your new brand? It can be an exciting time. You have spent the previous months researching your audience, developing personas, building your values, and creating the perfect style guide. Your logo looks epic, and your new website is ready to go. So, how do you make the launch work in your favour?

A strong rebrand launch can be the perfect opportunity to reach out and connect with more people. It gives you something to talk about and something for your fans to share with friends. If you get a brand launch right you can see a huge uptick in interest in your business and with it, an increase in sales.

Here are 10 steps you should follow to create the perfect brand launch.

1. Set a launch day

The first thing you need is a launch day. A defined launch day allows you to identify when you will flick the switch and turn on your new brand. Everything can be scheduled to line up for this launch day, including your signage, business cards, forms, brochures, emails, and much more.

So how do you determine the best launch day? Consider the following:

• Give yourself at least 60 days in the future in order to get everything ready on time.
• Avoid any holidays or weekends.
• Review your website traffic data and determine what 48 hour period tends to have the highest amount of traffic.
• Consider aligning your launch date with a big conference of event to increase awareness and make a big splash at the event.

2. Build a schedule

Now you have your launch day it is time to get your schedule together. Reverse engineer the steps you need for a successful brand launch and map out when you will need to work on them. Your schedule will also act as a checklist, so make sure you include every single item where your brand is visible, no matter how small, including internal items. It will also act as your plan on how to update these items.

Your schedule may be quite long and will likely fill up your marketing team for a couple of months prior to launch. The schedule gives the launch direction and solidifies your brand messaging well in advance of the launch date.

3. Develop brand launch messaging

A rebrand is a major change for both your company and your customers. So, you will need to let your customers know why this change is happening. This is your moment to explain your new brand and its meaning, turning this change into something positive.

There is always a story behind a rebrand. So, take that story, humanise it, and tell your audience. People love a story. They will remember your new brand, the story, and its meaning. It’s great for increasing the loyalty of your existing customers.

4. Develop your new brand assets

You may have built an extensive library of assets for your customers to download and use. These will likely have your old branding on them so will need to be updated. You may also wish to create new assets that better suit your brand. This is a great time to do this too. Scan your website for these assets. They may include:

• Calls to action
• eBooks
• Whitepapers
• Tipsheets
• Email templates
• Landing pages

By developing these before launch you can simply switch them over on launch day. Keep a list of which assets need updating, and which ones need to be added come launch day.

5. Build an explainer page

What better way to help your existing and new customers connect with your new brand and its story than an explainer page on your website. This should include the previously created branding message. The page is your opportunity to show off this story and connect with your customers.

Include a prominent link to it above the fold on your home page which is active from day one of your rebrand. The page should then remain active for a few months post rebrand. Make sure the page has value for prospects and a path to conversion. So downloadable brochures and contact forms are a great idea for the page.  

6. Plan your social media transition

Social media platforms can sometimes make it complicated to change your brand. So, it is important that you look up each platform’s individual rules so the change can be as smooth as possible. By checking you can anticipate what is needed as a part of the change and schedule that potential time delay.

If some of the platforms don’t allow a name change then you may need to create a new company profile. Check with the support on the platform as they may be able to transfer your existing audience. Before you begin the process, check with the platform’s requirements as some may require specific paperwork corroborating these changes.

7. Launch your brand internally first

An internal launch is a perfect time to get your team on board with the branding changes, what they mean, and iron out any kinks. In an internal launch, you will explain the brand story, your brand values, and your mission and vision to your team. This will help them best represent your brand.

A few things you should consider for an internal launch:

• Hold the internal launch 4-6 weeks before your full public launch
• Explain what you have done and why. Discuss why you rebranded and the problems you solved with the rebrand.
• Throw a special internal event to celebrate the soft launch.
• Give the creative team the floor to discuss the process behind creating the new brand.
• Encourage feedback and questions.
• Let your team know where style guides and other brand assets live.

8. Make your brand launch an exciting event

When the big day comes it’s time to launch with a lot of fanfare. Make the day an event across all your marketing channels. Release your press announcements, blogs, newsletters, and some promotional videos. Create content designed for each platform so that you can maximise the performance of your brand unveiling.

You can hold launch parties, contests, and more to encourage hype around your new brand. The more people you have talking about your rebrand the more attention you will get.

9. Consider a paid advertising campaign

If you want to make the most of your rebrand look at creating a paid advertising campaign. Paid ads platforms like Facebook and Instagram Ads are perfect for raising brand awareness and generating buzz around your rebrand. As well as this, Google Ads is an incredible platform for driving leads to your website and encouraging them to experience your new brand (and hopefully increase your conversions).

If you have changed your name it is especially important to bid through Google Ads on searches of your old name. Create copy that lets your customers know you have changed your name and encourages them to check out your new website. Run this ad for at least 6 months post launch date.

10. Define your goals and report back after 30 days

It is important to set goals before commencing on a rebrand to measure the success of the exercise. These goals should be related to the rebrand itself. Why did you choose to rebrand in the first place?

Once you have figured out what your goals are, work out how to measure them. There may be a wide range of metrics used in conjunction with each other to measure the success of a rebrand. These could be time visitors spend on the website, average daily traffic, average conversion rate, and more.

After figuring out your metrics, use these to judge the performance of the rebrand and the launch campaign. Watch these metrics and report back after 30 days have passed to see how the process has gone.

Conclusion

A rebrand is a big deal for your business. It isn’t something you do every day, and so, should be treated as a big moment in your company’s history. Getting a brand launch right can allow your business to receive unprecedented attention, and allow you to gain new customers, and bring back existing customers. Done wrong, it could fizzle out, and you could even lose customers in a worst-case scenario.

If you want to rebrand your business and get it right, you need an expert branding team. Reach out to Link Pixel for a chat about your brand.