As the end of the year draws closer, here are some things you can do to recenter your brand. Did you like what happened with and through your brand this year? Are you aware of what ‘hit’ and what clicked or does the past year feel like a blur?

Are you ready to know?

If so, here’s some simple end of the year recentering for your brand.

1) Chances are, your brand got social this year. How did it go? Do you know which were your most successful social media posts on each platform, in terms of reach (how many people saw it) and engagement (how many people Liked, Hearted, clicked, repinned, retweeted, etc.). Once you know, you can be more conscious about creating social updates your Right People will love.

I’m by no means an analytics junkie, but I periodically go in and peek at analytics for each social media platform I use for business (Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest), so I can get a feel for what my followers are liking and responding to most. I just use each platform’s native analytics, so I’m not able to see results for more than 30 days or 3 months at a time, depending on what the platform tracks. (If you use an app that allows you to analyze a greater time span, feel free to share it in the comments.)

2) Do you know your top buyers, customers, or clients, in terms of the project that went the best, or repeat business, or both? Understanding who buys from you and why they buy is an incredible gift of clarity for you.

If you don’t already know, ask this person (or business) how they found you and what tipped them over the edge to hire you or buy from you. If this isn’t possible, or if it is but you want to take it a bit further, write down three things about this buyer/client/customer that you truly appreciated in working with them. Sharpen your own saw around your Right People profiling and your brand will click even more next year with the people who get you.

3) What FELT right this year? And why? Sometimes you don’t know the ROI of a certain technique or tactic but you just know it worked. Or you can sense it leading your brand in the right direction — you know it’s caught fire before anyone else can see the smoke. Or it woke something up inside you so deep and so real that you know it’s taking you somewhere important. Pay attention to that magic. It’s real and it showed up this year for a reason.

4) What DIDN’T feel right this year? And why? Did a certain project go completely awry? Did a client relationship fail to click the way you’d hoped? Did you launch something that never felt quite finished, and then it never earned its way in your suite of offerings? Did you implement a promising new idea that never panned out?

For each thing on your list, see if you can write your way into why it didn’t quite work. You don’t need to know for sure, you don’t need data to know, you don’t even need to interview Right People about their perceptions (unless you want to). Sometimes a hunch is enough. You’re creating your brand, after all, and if you’re not all in after a good college try, then something may need to be tweaked (or cut altogether).

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What worked for your brand this year? Why did it work, in your view? We’d love to share in your end-of-the-year reflections.

 

Image Credit