As entrepreneurs, especially those of us that run our businesses solo, it can be easy to get caught up in the routine of it all. 

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From projects, client management, marketing, and networking day in and day out. It can be hard to take a step back and do a check in with ourselves and the overall state of our businesses. 

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These check-ins are crucial and don't have to be (and really shouldn’t be) focused solely on financials. Those sorts of checks should be done separately so they can be the sole focus and ideally be done with a professional!

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The sort of check in described in this post is focused on the health of your brand ecosystem as a whole. It’s going to give you time to think back about your year so far so you can assess and analyze what’s working, what isn’t, what you can change right now, and what you may need help with changing. 

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There are a few categories you can explore in your check ins, and don’t think all of this needs to be done in one sitting! 

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Break this up over a week or two if needed and decide how many times a year you’re going to do it. Keep your notes and ideas in a digital or physical format that you can easily reference as well. 

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As you read the list, you may realize that some of these checks happen naturally in the day to day operations of the business - making tracking the health of your brand ecosystem easier to maintain if you’re keeping an open mind to what’s happening. 

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Quick term to know: Outputs

Throughout this post, you’ll see the term outputs. Outputs are the physical and digital things that your brand is putting out into the world to represent it. So that includes your instagram posts, website design and copy, email marketing, blog posts, youtube videos, Facebook ADs, etc. 

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1) Overall Brand Alignment:

• Think about your messaging in your marketing and what it’s saying implicitly and explicitly about your brand. Do they align with your values? 
• Are your outputs helping you achieve your overall vision for your brand and your goals for the year? some text
  • If not, identify which output isn’t serving you and think about what has to happen for it to become realigned.
• Are there any inconsistencies between your values and the types of content you’re creating, your offers, your online presence, etc?
• Is your messaging consistently reflecting your brand positioning?

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2) Audience Feedback and Engagement:

• What are your clients or customers saying when they mention or recommend you online?
• In the comments of your posts, what are people saying? Are they agreeing with the message or asking questions? What kind of questions? some text
  • That’s not to say if you don’t receive comments online from clients or customers that your brand is misaligned or your brand isn’t successful! Conversations happen offline outside of us all of the time. If you’re getting steady referrals from past clients or others - you can ask what that person said when they referred you.
• Look at the quality of engagement on your content rather than just quantity. Are people interacting in ways that show they understand and resonate with your content?
• Did you send out any surveys to your audience within the last months? What can you do with that data?

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3) Internal Organization:

• How well are team members articulating the brand's mission, values, and positioning in the brand's content and communications?
• Evaluate decision-making processes. Are choices being made that are in line with the brand's values?
• Are there any new systems or organizational practices that you’ve wanted to implement or that would benefit your team that you should explore?
• Think of your client experience, project processes, and internal processes. Are there any bottlenecks you can get rid of? Any simplifications or any gaps that need to be filled?
• Should any changes to the tech that you and your team are using be made that would make everyone’s lives easier?some text
  • This can be a difficult one to work through and may take the most time to sort out. The major key is to make sure that you’re changing your tech based on what you actually need NOT based on trends or what apps are popular right now.
    
    You have to make the best decision for you and sometimes that means not making a decision to change or move at all and staying put. And that’s ok!

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4) Consistency Across Touchpoints:

Review all brand touchpoints (website, social media, customer service, etc.) for consistency in tone, messaging, and visual identity.

• How aligned with your brand strategy have your communications and marketing been since your last check in? What can be improved or what went really well that you should keep doing?
• Are you repeating the same core key messages in different ways to fit whichever platform you’re using?
• Is your tone of voice one consistent from platform to platform?

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5) Content Resonance:

• Analyze which types of content perform best in terms of engagement and conversions.some text
  • Depending on the platform, there are so many variables that go into this, so take certain statistics with a grain of salt. Also remember that what works for you, won’t work for the next person and vice versa.
• How did making that content feel for you and your team? Did it feel like it was impactful or really aligned with the brand’s overall message?

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6) Customer Loyalty and Retention:

• Look at repeat business, referrals, and long-term customer relationships. Are the same clients referring you to different people? some text
  • And those people that they refer, why are they referring them? And are those people a good fit for your brand?
  • Many clients refer because they genuinely like you and want to help the person that they’re referring, so don’t take this to much to heart. However, if a past client continuously refers work to you that is very much misaligned with your brand - you have a potential perception problem that you may want to sit down and think about.
    
    

7) Competitive Positioning:

• Take a very quick look at your lateral, aspirational, and peer competitors. See what’s worked for them, what hasn’t, and where they’re positioning themselves now in relation to you. some text
  • It’s always great to continue to understand the boundaries that are separating you from your competitors, and the point of doing this isn't to spend time comparing yourself to them. Use it to shore up or reaffirm your positioning and your messaging and make sure that it’s as clear as possible going forward.
    
    

8) Growth and Evolution:

• Are your aspirations for your brand and what it can be being matched by your outputs? some text
  • If not, what can be done to refine, revamp, and realign those outputs to better align with your vision, mission, and purpose?
• Can you introduce new offerings or enter new markets without losing your core audience or straying away from your positioning, values, mission and vision?

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Remember this: 

The categories and the questions above don’t have to be answered perfectly or all at the same time. As long as you’re taking the time every few months to take a step back and audit your business as objectively as possible, you can make sure that you’re moving in the right direction that aligns with your yearly goals as well as your overall vision for your business. 

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