Key marketing materials your business needs before launch
Many new businesses find themselves overwhelmed by the pressure leading up to launch day, allowing execution to falter when it matters most.
Branding and marketing, an integral contributor to early success, is often one of the first to be ignored, spelling disaster for early-days trust and visibility.
Without a keen familiarity with what’s needed, the process can become even more complex, with important operational marketing pieces becoming lost.
Here are five key areas that businesses must be careful to execute on in their infancy.
Branding & Identity
Businesses should be prepared with a full visual identity, including logo, colour palette, typography and brand direction. These assets will tell a story about your business and will define how you are recognised and remembered from here on out.
But a brand’s identity doesn’t stop there; ideally, businesses will also have a clear, intentional tone of voice. Businesses should be ready to launch knowing not only what they’ll be saying, but how they’ll be saying it.
Is your brand confident and professional? Casual and playful? Premium and timeless? Each of these voices will sound unique, and brands should have an idea of how they want to communicate who they are and what they value.
Your brand should tell the story of your business and set you apart from your competitors
Website Design & Build
The modern world lives online—your brand needs to stake its claim to its own little corner. A website is non-negotiable, and should be thoughtfully branded, intentionally optimised and designed to perform.
Special consideration should be given to usability and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). By keeping these in mind early, it sets a solid foundation that will pay dividends in the form of exposure down the line.
Ideally, at a minimum, your website will tell the story of who you are and what you do, carefully optimised for conversion.
This will help to ensure that your website is not only a landing page for prospective customers, but be built specifically to build trust, generate leads and convert interest into action.
Copywriting & Content
Similar to your brand kit writ large, your brand’s voice is everything; it’s how people will see and interact with you from here on out. Don’t leave it to chance.
Once you have a clear brand tone of voice, ensure that you have all your key written materials ready—think tagline, professional bios, a launch press release and website copy.
You don’t want to go live with areas of your website still plastered with, “Coming soon.” You want considered and thoughtful copy that works to explain your business and persuade visitors to act.
No filler, but no blank spots either.
Marketing Setup
There are countless channels and platforms for your business to show up in, from social media sites to local papers.
Before launch, businesses need to think about these strategically and intentionally, and select where they would like to target their time and budget beforehand.
A professional services brand, such as an accountancy or solicitor, may find that LinkedIn, email marketing and local publications are the best platforms for return. This is a decision that should be made and seen out before launch—not after.
That way, content can be crafted in advance, you know where to funnel your customers, and budgets can be optimised for the highest ROI marketing spend.
Operational Systems
Sooner or later, your business will need a suite of tools to support your growth, business operations and marketing.
These include a CRM, scheduling tools, email marketing tool and more.
You must have an idea of which tools you’ll need and how to keep them tidy from day one.
Do the research, think holistically about what marketing systems you’ll need in place, and get an idea of what tools you’ll need to implement them. That way, you’ll not only have a clearer idea of budget, but you’ll be able to keep systems clean from day one.
Your Full-service Launch System
Preparing for launch is filled with moving parts, with each playing an important role in your business’ success. Though it’s easy for marketing to fall by the wayside, it can make or break your business going forward. Be careful not to leave it to chance.
With the Edward & James Foundry Suite, you don’t need to worry about any important materials falling through the cracks; you can be confident that you’ll be walking away with a fully realised and organised brand that communicates the heart of your business and a fully functional operational setup from the beginning.