Brand Launch Checklist: 30 Days Before Go-Live

A brand launch is a logistics problem wearing a creative costume. The logo can be perfect and the launch still falls flat — because the favicon is missing, the Instagram bio links nowhere, and the trademark application was never filed. After launching 120+ brands, this is the 30-day checklist we run every time.

Week 4 (days 30–22): lock the foundation

• Final identity files. Logo in SVG, PNG, and print formats; color and type specs frozen. Nothing launches with "almost final" files.
• File the trademark. Application submitted before any public teaser. See how to trademark a brand name.
• Domain and handles live. .com purchased and pointing somewhere, even if it's a "coming soon" page. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X claimed with matching handles.
• Brand guidelines v1. A short brandbook — enough that a freelancer can make an on-brand asset without asking you.
• Launch story drafted. The one-paragraph "who we are and why now" that powers the press release, the About page, and your founder posts.

Week 3 (days 21–15): build the assets

• Website finished and QA'd. Every page, mobile included. Test the checkout or contact form with a real submission — not a preview.
• Social templates ready. Profile pictures, banners, and post templates in the brand system. Launch-week content scheduled, not improvised.
• Photography and product shots. You need at least 20 strong images: product, lifestyle, founder portraits. Launches with real photography convert 2–3x better than launches with mockups.
• Email infrastructure. Welcome sequence written, lists imported, test emails sent to real inboxes (check spam folders).

Week 3 is also when you brief everyone who speaks for the brand: the team, advisors, and any friendly investors who'll post about you. Give them the launch story, the links, and one image pack — so the announcement looks coordinated instead of accidental. A launch where five people post five different taglines is five launches, and none of them land.

Week 2 (days 14–8): warm up the audience

• Teaser campaign live. Countdown posts, behind-the-scenes, founder story. The launch should feel inevitable by the time it happens.
• Press list finalized. 20–40 relevant journalists and newsletter writers, each with a personalized angle — not a mass BCC blast.
• Partners briefed. Anyone co-promoting gets assets, links, and exact posting dates. See how to structure partnerships.
• Launch-day content scheduled. Homepage announcement, founder LinkedIn post, Instagram carousel, email blast — written, designed, and queued.

Week 1 (days 7–0): final checks and go-live

• Soft launch to 50 people. Friends, early customers, friendly investors. Buy something, click everything, report bugs. Fix them before the public sees it.
• Press embargoes set. Give key journalists a 48-hour head start under embargo — coverage on day one beats coverage on day three.
• Day-of run sheet. Who posts what, when, and where — hour by hour. Launches are live events; run them like one.
• Go live Tuesday–Thursday morning. Weekend launches die quietly; Monday launches drown in inbox backlog. Mid-week morning gives you maximum attention and a full team to handle issues.
• Day +1 review. Metrics, press pickups, customer feedback — captured while fresh. Feed it straight into your brand consistency checks.

After launch day: the first 30 days

The launch is day one, not the finish line. Keep the momentum with a follow-up email to everyone who signed up, a thank-you post tagging partners and press, and a second wave of founder content — the "what we learned from launch week" post reliably outperforms the launch post itself. Log every bug, every customer question, and every press mention; that file becomes your roadmap for month two. Brands that treat launch as a campaign peak and go quiet for a month lose half the audience they just earned.

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