The first thing that comes to mind when we reflect on the Posh Palma Styles brand launch is YES, WE DID IT! As a self-funded Latina-owned business, it has taken a lot of sweat, blood, and tears to launch our online boutique and lifestyle clothing brand successfully.

Posh Palma Styles originated less than two months ago, and with limited resources, it required creativity and thinking outside the box to ensure that our VISION came to life. As a brand, we knew what we wanted to accomplish and never doubted our purpose or what we aspired to achieve with our business.

And as you know, the pandemic has impacted many small businesses; therefore, the primary objective was to ensure that we maximized our resources and exhausted our network to boost our launch. Consequently, now more than ever, it is the critical time to take a step back and re-strategize and re-vitalize your brand!

Here are a few essential tips to supercharge your brand during these unpredictable times.

step 1. Re-visit your social strategy 

The world is different from six months ago; what used to work is likely not as useful these days. People's routines and lives have been affected due to the pandemic; therefore, you must re-visit how you promote your business across your social platforms and re-examine your marketing strategy. It may sound tedious, but it has helped us to continue building our brand.

So, take the time to re-analyze your brand and think about how you can connect with your audience.

• What type of content can you provide that is relatable and personal?

• What aspects of your business need restructuring to ensure that you continue to connect with your audience? 

 Pro Tip: Ask your audience about the type of content they would like to see. Consider doing polls via IG stories, ask questions via your feed and IG story. The more personal you can be - the better!

step 2. Establish a pre and post-campaign 

For Posh Palma Styles, we created a pre and post-launch campaign. Each campaign consisted of different goals, content, and marketing strategies. 

In our case, our pre-campaign consisted of two primary things: 

1) Gaining Subscribers 

2) Building Awareness 

Once we were clear with our objectives, we kicked off the campaign that was deliberate and driven by our goals. 

For example, to increase the number of subscribers, we did numerous things; we conducted a GIVEAWAY, and participants had to subscribe to our site. We also did a series of email marketing campaigns that included styling tips that allowed us to build a personalized connection with our loyal following. The campaign consisted of keeping our current subscribers engaged while also gaining new followers.

What I find to be the most challenging portion of strategizing is thinking ahead. For our post-campaign, we wanted to maintain audience engagement and not have our efforts fizzle out and die off; therefore, it was imperative to continue connecting and increase awareness of our brand DNA and increase traffic to our site. To achieve this, we partnered with various local brands to kickoff another GIVEAWAY series in mid-August. However, this time around, the giveaways are collaboratively led by the partnering brands that have a robust online presence. 

And remember, once you outlined your post-campaign, make sure to leave some room for changes. As I have said before, we live in a world that shifts very quickly, so it is essential to be open and adaptable. 

Pro Tip: A tool that we did not use enough but is helpful is ASANA. This tool is excellent for dividing tasks and staying on track of projects. Additionally, the Preview and Later apps are fantastic for reviewing your content before posting and ensure that it has that specific look and feel of your brand. These apps HELPED us so throughout our brand launch.

step 3. Community over everything

Your community is everything; it is the soul and core of your business. Throughout our experience, we realized that the most successful brands are thriving today because they started as small communities; seeds were planted. Your community is more than an "audience," it is your tribe that will support you on your journey. 

Start creating a sense of community, whether it is with the establishment of a private FB group, brand hashtag, or IG live chats. Community is vital in conveying a sense of confidence towards your Brand, and to allow your community and newcomers alike, to connect on a deeper and more personal level. 

To find our community, we created a fictional “persona” and included specific characteristics to identify our target market segment. For instance, our persona's name is "Lolita," which represents the Posh Palma Styles community we are looking to build.

Personas help answer the following questions:

• What type of content will our community respond to?

• What problems are we helping to solve, and how does our business provide a solution?

Plus, to continue expanding our community growth, we kicked off a video series via IG, asking our community to participate by submitting a video to us explaining, “what does serving jefa vibes mean to you.” This initiative allowed our community to be part of what we are creating in a more personal way. Your community wants to feel that they are part of something greater and that they hold space. 

These initiatives are low cost and have a significant impact on your engagement. For instance, these videos get re-posted by our audience, leading to more exposure, engagement, and visibility.

step 4. Build Brand Partnerships

I cannot emphasize this enough! Make a list of the right partners, individuals, platforms, and networks and reach out. I know that it might sound scary at first, but in reality, what is the worst thing that can happen? Right. 

Make sure you resonate with the brands you are connecting with and that they're aligned with your core beliefs. Put together a Media Kit and a Press Release for a touch of professionalism and start connecting. It does NOT matter what stage in your business you are in; the goal is to grow and show up as the best version of yourself. 

Once you begin connecting, be clear about the following:

1. Why you would like to build a partnership 

   1. Explain how a partnership will be mutually beneficial and bring value to your community

2. The different type of ways to collaborate

   1. Be ready with some initial ideas to showcase that you are prepared and have done your research 

At Posh Palma Styles, we've highlighted growing our network and strengthening our PR efforts, and so far, it has paid off tremendously. We have expanded our community of like-minded businesses, and it has been phenomenal to discover brands that understand the power of COMMUNITY.

Pro Tip: Find ways to offer freebies to cross-promote. Free goodies are much appreciated and cost-efficient. After all, who doesn't like free stuff?

step 5. Diversify your content  

This is one of my favorites steps and what we value at Posh Palma Styles. We work carefully on creating exciting content for our audience; therefore, leveraging our platforms is a MUST! Your content should cater to your distribution channels so that you can reach a higher number of people.

When we diversify our content, our goal is to ensure that Posh Palma Styles is seen by enough people and, of course, the right people.

For this exercise, what we do is:

1. Brainstorm content that will resonate with our audience

2. Plan a roadmap that outlines how we will distribute our content to the various media channels 

This allows us to maximize our audience, engagement, and expand the reach of our content.  

We at Posh Palma Styles have learned many valuable lessons during our recent brand launch. It has taught us to be robust, consistent, and, most importantly, to be present. During difficult times, it may seem more natural to hide, but you got this!

These recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much you can do to level up your brand. One thing to remember is your business has its own DNA, which makes it unique and special. So, focus on implementing a new strategy, adding that special recipe of love and hard work, and the rest is history.

We put together a mini-guide with more in-depth steps and some of the resources we utilized to launch our Brand. Con Mucho Amor, Posh Palma Styles. Enjoy!

About the Author: Valerie Diaz is an afrolatina digital media strategist and women’s advocate. Born in Providence, RI, and raised in the beautiful Island of the Dominican Republic, Valerie is the co-founder of Posh Palma Styles, primarily focused on the brand's digital growth. She is also the founder of Raices Media, a marketing boutique that helps entrepreneurs launch and grow their digital brands. She has her BA in International Relations & Marketing and was offered a Fullbright Scholarship to serve as a Binational Fellow in Mexico City, to work towards her MBA. 

MORE ON POSH PALMA STYLES