6 Steps to Creating a Business or Brand Tune-Up

We tend to think about New Years as the time to make resolutions for our personal and professional lives. It is a time to reexamine past successes and failures. A time to reevaluate goals. A time to put new plans into action.

This week marks the half-way point of the year. And this year, perhaps more than any other in recent history, we are all faced with a world that is bares little resemblance years past. After an incredible past eighteen months, perhaps it makes sense to take this half-way point in the year to review, re-evaluate, and if necessary, course correct business and professional goals and behaviors.

#1 Review the Mission Statement

The day-to-day events that effect our business make us all reactionary. Rapid growth, downsizing, personnel changes, advances in technology, crisis, unexpected successes/failures, and of course lockdowns have all altered our plans. It can be easy to be blown completely off course. This can be a bad thing, resulting in a loss of passion for our brand, a lack of direction, and damage to our business. It can also be a good thing, we may grow in ways that we never considered, our brand evolving, our business changing to meet new challenges. But without review, it can be difficult to assess the changes and either update our mission statement and continue on the new direction or course correct to get back on track. Does your original mission statement still match your reality or goals?

#2 Review Your Daily Activities

A lot of our day is spent on unproductive, even bad, habits. As we start to emerge from COVID and the associated lockdowns, this is a great time to consider how we spend our day and eliminate and/or replace the activities that aren't beneficial or enjoyable.

In my mind, my daily schedule is efficient, minimal, and practical. The reality though is that I get distracted, bogged down with the minutia, and sometimes feel like I'm behind before my day even starts. So, its a good idea to occasionally sit down and make a list of how I actually spend my day. Then I can cut out wasted activities, better prioritize, and reorder my schedule for efficiency.

#3 Review Your Finances

Business success typically depends on the fiscal health of the company. But, especially for solo brands and small businesses, personal and business finances can become entwined making your finances murky. Businesses of all sizes might struggle with evaluating advertising and marketing returns on the investment. And of course, what you charge customers and clients can change dramatically with advances in technology, access to larger markets, and changing tastes. Are you wasting money in some areas? Have your marketing efforts been effective? Are you charging too much or to little for your services or products?

This is also a great time start better book keeping. There are a lot of different programs, QuikBooks, Wave, etc. that make accounting simple. If you don't currently have a great system, its time to take control over your finances.

#4 Review Your Role in Employee and Freelancer Relationships

Annual reviews of employees should be a part of your corporate policy. It allows you to have frank discussions with staff that can lead to better working relationships and clarification of expectations. But with many people either returning to work after working remotely or others transitioning to stay at home permanently, it is a great time to review your changing expectation as well as your role in employee relationships.

Would members of staff be better prepared for the changing economy if they had additional training or education? Would more flexible working hours be beneficial for productivity? Could your company benefit from some of the programs that subsidize the hiring of veterans, special needs people, the elderly, or those post incarceration? Reviewing employees is important, but reviewing what you, as an employer, as an executive, or as a business owner offer to employees is equally important.

Accounting, graphics, web design, public relations, IT services, legal, even sales; many companies outsource certain aspects of their business. If you are currently outsourcing, you should occasionally review both the quality of the work and the financial realities. If you aren't outsourcing, hiring freelancers to handle some aspects of your business can help you to expand and grow. By the same token, you can outgrow freelancing and consider taking some of those roles in house by hiring new employees or training existing employees for larger roles.

A lot of people fall into the "better the devil you know" frame of mind trap, keeping unsatisfactory employees or freelancers because it seems easier then confronting the situation, terminating the relationship, and searching for someone new. But this is a terrific time to really think about the people with whom you essentially entrust your business and financial future.

#5 Review Your Policies

This has been a year of revelations. Bullying, harassment, and sexual abuse, perpetrated by those in power against their underlings, co-workers, and staff have dominated the news with high profile executives, personalities, and politicians finding their behavior under scrutiny. Aside from the unacceptable and illegal behavior, one of the chief revelations has been just how few companies have effective (or existent) policies to protect their employees.

Companies should review their employee manual and add or update their policies to include reporting procedures for bullying, harassment, abuse, and any other objectionable behavior. Employees feel safer (and are more productive) when there is a clear, step-by-step procedure to reporting and an understanding of how their employer is going to protect them.

If you don't have a policy or if your current policy doesn't address what happens after reporting harassment, you should understand that failing to protect and assist an employee who is being victimized can result in a law suit against you and the company.

#6 Review Your Public Interactions and Perceptions

This is a great time to think about how you have represented your brand over the past six months and how you want to be perceived in the future. Have you promoted yourself effectively through the media? Has your social media been consistent, targeted, and engaging? Have you created a CPC (Content Promotion Channel) blog, vlog, podcast, TikTok, or YouTube channel, that provides information and value to readers? Have you linked positive press and videos to your website so that 3rd party info about your brand is easy to find? If you haven't promoted yourself well over the pandemic, now is the time to start.

You should also review your social media and remove posts, photos, and videos that aren't in keeping with your brand. Political, sexual, religious, or otherwise objectionable material should also be removed. Generally speaking these types of posts, unless your brand is directly related to politics, sex, etc. should be avoided. No matter how passionate you are in your personal life, those types of posts are problematic for a brand, make you look unprofessional, and can result in charges of a hostile work environment.

If your business involves dealing with the general public, this might be a great time to review your interaction protocol. Do you have a script or set of rules for staff dealing with unhappy customers? If not, it's a great time to create a script. With bad interactions, especially chat interactions going viral quickly, it simply isn't smart to leave employees without instruction for these types of situations. This can be extremely damaging to the public's perception of your brand.

Many of us are contemplating how a return to the work place looks over the next few months. This is a great time to evaluate the past and meet the new challenges and opportunities from a position of strength.

by Alexandrea Merrell