Finally, it’s Spring! Open the windows and doors, swap your boots for flip flops, and give the house a good, deep clean. And hey! It’s also a perfect time to do a brand inventory.

“Sounds painful,” you say, “complicated.” Complicated, no.  Painful…? Well, it depends on what you find and if you’ve been managing your brand. But once you’re done, you’ll be glad you flexed your inventory muscle in just a few steps and you’ll have a much better sense of keeping it under control moving forward.

So, what’s brand inventory? Simply put, it’s looking at anything and everything your business uses and has in circulation, internally and externally, that has your business name and/or image on it. This includes:

• Business cards
• Email signature
• Website
• Social Media channels
• Brochures
• Signs
• Letterhead
• Envelopes
• Apparel (shirts, hats, etc.)
• Postcards
• Publication advertising
• Promotional items (pens, cups, tote bags, etc.)
• Business documents and templates (invoices, power point presentations, etc.)
• Etc., etc., etc.

You get the picture: absolutely everything with some form of business identification stamped, embroidered, printed or in any way marked on it. That’s Step 1.

Step 2 might be the most painful part…compare everything and ask yourself some questions:

• Am I/Are we being consistent with our brand identity?
• Is the logo being used consistently?
• Is there consistency regarding font use?
• What about logo placement…is it in the same place every time or all over?
• What about color? Is it randomly used when the mood strikes? Does it go with the logo or clash?
• Are we being consistent?
• Do we have a brand?

Sensing a pattern? Consistency is key in maintaining your brand and absolutely critical in showing your customers, stakeholders and the world that you and your business are professional and worthy of consideration for hire.

I’m not saying you have to have a logo or your name embroidered on a golf shirt that wicks away perspiration or a magnetic sign on your car. The point is this: be consistent in the way you use the elements that make up your brand identity, whatever it may be. It doesn’t matter if it’s just you working out of your basement office or nine people renting a space in a office park, how you present your business to the outside world and how it perceives you makes a big difference in your success.

So Step 3 is this: If you’ve pulled everything together and need some help in creating your brand, cleaning it up or have questions, shoot me an email or call me to see how we can whip your brand identity (and inventory) into shape!