What you need to launch your brand new biz
We know a thing or two about starting a new business–I mean we’ve done it for ourselves and helped a few of our clients do the same. We also absolutely love the excitement of planning for something new and helping someone’s entrepreneurial dreams come to fruition. So today we will share some of our collected wisdom (and excitement) about the main tools and systems you need to launch your brand new biz!
Brand STory & Brand Kit
One of the first things we always recommend to our clients is to establish your brand story and create a brand kit. A brand story is essential for your business as it is a roadmap for your brand that you can reference at any point to be reminded of the most important elements of your business. A brand story describes your ideal client, your brand philosophy, and your brand goals etc. Consider it your brand’s guide!
A brand kit, on the other hand, is a visual set of tools that dictate your brand’s aesthetic. We think that brand kits are so important for a business, that we even wrote an entire blog about it. You can read it here. Essentially, according to Microsoft.com a brand kit is “a set of assets or toolbox that contains all the aspects of your brand's visual identity—logos, templates, colour palette, font, and other graphics.” We think establishing a brand story and a brand kit is important for several reasons, but mostly both are imperative because that they allow you to be consistent in your brand’s visuals and messaging.
Photography
Obviously, we think that photography is of vital importance for your brand (Kat is a professional photographer after all!) Having strong, professional, and original visuals for your brand not only elevates your business aesthetically but also showcases your professionalism and commitment to your brand. We always suggest having professional photos taken of you, your team, and some ‘stock photos’ that showcase your brand colours, themes, logo, etc. Flatlays are a great way to capture elements of your brand kit in a visually beautiful way and these photos can be used in a number of different ways. For example, on your website, in socials, and in your e-newsletter. There is no shortage of how photos can be used to make your new business shine!
Website
Since the beginning of the Interwebs, websites have been the main landing point for any businesses. It is no different today. Although a lot of businesses now rely on social media for the majority of their messaging, websites are still of vital importance to make your business legitimate. A website is an important tool for your business because it is where all your important information is housed and from which you can make the majority of your sales. It is also a space that can showcase your creativity via your blog and/or portfolio. Having a website is also vital for your SEO–Google still be loving those websites!
Did you know that we help our clients create simple websites using Squarespace? Yup! We can help you design and manage your website – we can also help make it very pretty (because we like pretty things–no shame!) For more on our website services, get in touch!
Social Media Strategy
Establishing a social media strategy for your business is critical because it gives you focus and allows you to set goals that are measurable and attainable. Without a strategy, it’s almost impossible to achieve your projected objectives. What’s more, establishing a strategy helps you to understand the steps necessary to achieve your goals and figure out the support you will need to do so. For example, a strategy will help guide your content, pick the right tools to optimize your content for your target audience, and to select appropriate engagement strategies.
Establishing a strategy is largely dependent on what it is that you want to accomplish in your social media marketing. In a previous blog we describe five social media goals that can drive your strategy. They are:
Goals for Raising Brand Awareness
Goals for Managing Brand Reputation
Goals for Raising Engagement
Goals for Raising Conversions and Sales
Goals for Generating Leads
To learn more about these goals and why establishing a social media strategy is critical to launching your business, read our blog here. Or get in touch and we can help you out!
E-mail Newsletter
We cannot stress enough the importance of having an e-mail newsletter for your biz, especially when you are starting out! E-newsletters are important because they directly connect your brand to your most loyal and interested audience. They are an amazing tool for introducing your business, staying in touch with your clients, notifying your audiences of up-coming events, and of course, they are a great way to drive direct sales.
At TLC, we help our clients set-up, create, and manage e-newsletters. We work exclusively with Flodesk for the set-up and creation portion, but can also work with other software programs in the management department. If you want to see some examples of our own newsletter, click here to sign up for your monthly dose of TLC!
There you have it – our go-to list of tools and systems needed to launch your brand new biz! We love to help new businesses launch and even more, we love to watch them thrive! So if you need a little help and a little TLC, get in touch and we can make some magic happen!
