Building in Public: How These Brands Turned Transparency Into Strategy
You might have seen this trend on your radar recently: building in public. This is where brands that haven't launched yet take their audience along with them on the journey of starting their brand from concept to the finish line.
We are use to seeing brands wait until they are fully ready to purchase before starting their page, but this new strategy is great for generating buzz before your launch, creating brand recogition before your product even hits the shelves, and showcase the real behind the scenes of building a business that your audience can connect with.
Let's take a look at a few examples of this before jumping into why this is working.
Building in Public: How These Brands Turned Transparency Into Strategy
On our podcast, Hashtag Managed, we interviewed Samantha and Sarah of Wishing Well, a laundry detergent created with mindful ingredients. They have been sharing their journey as best friends, quitting their corporate jobs and starting this business from the ground up.
Your Home Page
If you live in the Tampa Bay area, like half our team, you likely have heard of our home girl, Carter Long. She's a local realtor who has gone viral for her home tours on her page @findingfloridians. She has added a new focus on AI-powered links connecting real estate social media content.
Tote
Kat has been building her AI-powered wardrobe company on TikTok and Instagram. This is an AI-powered app that allows you to track your wardrobe and get personalized recommendations on how to wear items. Kat has documented her founder's journey on her social media to share all the pieces that went into building an app and being a female founder.
Lil Sweet Treat
This is such a sweet (pun intended) example of building in public. Elly built her candy business for all eyes on Instagram to see. The results? Hundreds of people lined up at her grand opening.
Think Nuuly, but for table decor. This company allows you to rent tablescapes for the most on-theme dinner parties, events, or just for mixing up your aesthetic a bit. Instead of building, they re-built in public. They entered a new era of their brand and took their loyal fans along with them!
Amoureux Beauty
Jeanine launched her skincare line while we were all tagging along. From the start, to the launch, and even beyond with post-launch updates, she has been taking her audience along for the ride on her journey to create a sensitive skincare product line.
Why Building in Public Is Effective
Storytelling
We hear founders' stories a lot on socials, and there's no doubt we love to see them. But experiencing with them is different. Your audience becomes involved in the story. Updating while you go makes the storytelling that much easier because you're documenting each step of your journey while it happens. It gives you more time to share your process and showcase all those little pieces of your story, and keep them hooked on the process.
Connection
Entrepreneurship is a challenge! It's a rollercoaster of amazing wins and rough realities, and people want to see all parts of the journey. They want to see the effort that's behind the brand because it makes it even more meaningful. There are some brands that take years and years to build, and we only get a 30-second recap of the highlights most times. Instead, building in public allows for the brand to showcase all parts of that journey in real time and establish that trust.
Feedback
Social media is like a giant focus group for your brand. You can lean on them for inspiration and feedback during the process, instead of waiting until the end to see how it goes. It takes the guesswork out because you're hearing from them as you're building.
Showcase
We've said it a million times, but this is a showcase for your brand! It allows you to build your audience, but you can also take that and share it with stores, investors, and beyond to help you secure more funds and space for your brand by being already established by the time you're ready for the add to cart step.
Buzz
The earlier you start the buzz around your brand, the easier your launch can go! You establish your brand's presence before it's even fully created, and that's powerful. It generates anticipation and builds the excitement so your brand can become a popular name, before you're even ready.
Accountabilty
Have you ever procrastinated on something? Or, have you ever overthought your work because you want every detail to be perfect? This business is about to be your baby, so of course it's going to be difficult to (1) keep yourself accountable as your own boss and (2) not overthink everything. You want it to be perfect for your customers from the start, but it's not possible! Building in public allows you to drop the overthinking piece and hold you accountable, because you have a sea of people waiting for you to share the next part and get it live!
Are you launching a brand? This might be your new launch strategy. Let us help you plan it all!
