I do not think there is one single correct way to build a brand or launch a product.
The strategy that made millions for one can produce zero for the next. A stepped launch, a direct launch, a soft reveal.
All of them can work but what rarely works is launching cold into a room of people who have no idea who you are or why they should care.
Some approaches are more engaging and intriguing than others, but the question worth asking before anything else is: how do you want your audience to feel at every touchpoint along the journey, before and after the launch?
Which is something I have been thinking about a lot while building my lifestyle x gastro brand Unelma from scratch.
One of the best and inspiring examples of getting this right is Merit.
Before anyone knew what the product was they created a visual brand world on Instagram under a handle literally called Mood. No product, no announcement, just a carefully curated aesthetic that communicated the energy, the values, and the feeling they were after.
By the time they revealed what they were actually selling they had already built a significant following of people who were primed to buy before the first drop, which is the kind of launch that actually means something.
And it is the approach I have chosen for Unelma.
So for now the strategy is simple. Build something people resonate with before they even know what they are signing up for, and reveal the rest when the time is right.
Here is the full four step strategy of how I am planning to do it going forward.
Every Sunday I publish an episode of The Build, a series following my journey of building from scratch and more than anything trying and learning. In the previous episodes I shared the story of how I got to entrepreneurship, what the reality of running a side business alongside a full time job actually looks like, how the failures are an inevitable part of the journey, and how the first months of building Unelma have been. In this one I share the brand strategy behind Unelma before the launch. How I am building the world around the brand before revealing what it actually is, and why I chose this approach over just launching cold.
On Wednesdays, I write about creating your path - style, mindset and career wise. I would love to have you follow along!