Here at ARTEMIA’s headquarters in San Francisco, spring is in the air. For most people, this season brings a renewed energy and (hopefully) a revived motivation to improve and revitalize one’s business endeavors.  We are experts at enhancing and positioning brands and businesses, so we thought we’d put together a short “spring cleaning” business-refresher guide to help your business stay at the top of its game.

Examine Neglected Areas

It’s time to stop stepping over the dust that’s been swept under the rug, and start confronting your business’s shortcomings. To start, take a deep and honest look at your organization, and review the areas that have been neglected due to lack of resources, time, staffing, or overload of projects. Do a thorough audit of all of your operational processes for effectiveness, and analyze your business activities for gaps and/or processes that have become stale or idle and no longer add value to your organization.

Following a thorough analysis, meet with your team to craft and incorporate a plan that will capture your proposed improvements. Remember to focus on decisions, not discussions, and create measurable ways to track your business’s progress throughout the remainder of the year.

Dust Off That Mission Statement

Take the time to evaluate whether your mission and vision still match your company’s strategic goals, given all of the changes that are consistently taking place in today’s market. Do you need to re-orient your business plan? Has your target market changed? Are aspects of your goals still relevant?

Now is a great time to re-assess and make sure that your business and marketing plans are oriented towards your company’s ultimate mission. Entrepreneur recommends evaluating whether your mission and vision still match your company’s strategic, goals given how much the markets have changed. If things have shifted, fret not. Refinement is a never-ending process, and will make for a more targeted brand in the long run.

Revamp Your Logo

Your logo encapsulates your company’s persona, and visually represents your value to your customers when they encounter you. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your look, consider making a change. Changing your logo does not necessitate an entire overhaul of your prior design. In fact, depending on your industry, it’s often best to make small, tasteful updates to refresh your logo and make it more contemporary. For information on design services, please feel free to reach out.

Sharpen (and Organize) Your Tool Kit

If you have not already done so, do some investigation into digitally automated platforms that can make manual, time-consuming process more time-effective. With advances in automated technology at an all-time high, take an inventory of every aspect of your current business technologies – from customer support and bookkeeping to manufacturing and marketing – to see if there are operations that can be streamlined. Consider taking a few demos of automated services, and be open to utilizing new methods that you may be overlooking.

As an additional counter-point, make sure that you unsubscribe from any unnecessary  services that you don’t use or that don’t provide value. It’s easy to fall into the trap of having an over-abundance of services, or worse yet, recurring payment fees for unused services.

Refresh Your Website

Your website is your digital calling card, and (when executed properly) it can also help grow your brand. According to Square, spring is a great time to spiff up your website. Consider making some changes to your site to improve functionality, navigation, and user-experience. Be sure to take customer reviews and opinions into account, and consider putting together a survey to ask customers how their experience could be improved. Additionally, make sure all of the bases that maximize traffic and funnel leads to your site are covered (including SEO, blogging, etc).

Should you have any questions, or if you would like information about our brand positioning services, please reach out!