As an entrepreneur, you need to be hyper-aware of your business brand.

In simple terms, your business brand is your company’s reputation.

It is vital that you protect and manage your brand – after all, without a sound reputation, how can you expect your business to go anywhere?

And yet, many business owners fail to acknowledge the importance of their brand. Or else, they deal with it once (when they start their business) and then set it on auto-pilot, assuming that nothing will ever change.

This is naïve thinking.

Your business will constantly be changing and evolving – don’t worry, this is completely normal.

Change is good.

What’s important is that you don’t allow your brand to stagnate and get left behind, or to shift without your consent – that is, in the wrong direction. You want to manage your brand’s story – always.

So what can you do to ensure that your business brand – in other words, your business’s reputation – is always headed in the right direction?

A periodic brand check-up is highly advisable.

Don’t make the mistake of only checking up on your branding every few years. In fact, a lot can happen even in just one year.

Above all, don’t wait until something seems to be going wrong with your brand before acting upon it. Waiting until there is an inexplicable drop in sales, or a decrease in the quality of business leads is a mistake that can cost you dearly.

Rather, you need to be able to anticipate where your branding is headed and respond accordingly.

Always stay on top, and monitor your brand on a constant basis – every business quarter, if possible. You don’t need to make drastic changes every time you do a brand check-up, you just need to make sure you are always on point.

Doing a periodic brand check-up does not need to be arduous or complicated. You can do a simple brand check-up by asking yourself some very basic questions.

Here are some questions every entrepreneur should ask themselves when conducting a brand checkup:

What changes in the business world have you noticed?

How has the world changed since the last time you took a hard look at your branding?

Have there been innovations in technology that effect your business?

Have new trends merged? Have old trends changed? Have certain aspects of your industry become more alluring while others are left by the wayside?

Have people changed in any way? Are they more carefree or more conservative with their purchases in your industry nowadays? Any idea why that might be?

Do people make purchases the same way they used to? Are they engaging more online, or would they rather meet you in person?

These nuances – if left unexplored – may be hurting your bottom line.

You can’t stop the world from changing, but you can make sure your brand keeps up.

Are you attracting the right clients?

Have you noticed a change in the types of business leads that are coming your way?

Or, maybe you’re attracting the same audience you’ve always attracted, but they’re just not cutting it for you, one way or another.

Either way, if you are not attracting what you consider to be your ideal clients, you need to seriously consider revisiting your branding.

What do you need to be saying and providing to meet the needs of the clients you want to attract?

Does your marketing truly reflect your brand?

You may have noticed that what you have to offer as a business has changed over the last year (or few years), but when was the last time you looked at your marketing and promotional materials with “fresh” eyes?

Putting together marketing and promotional materials when you first go into business was quite likely a monumental task, and quite often an entrepreneur will shudder at the thought of having to go back to the drawing board and revisit them.

If it’s been a while, take a look at your logo, website, business card design, social media profiles, promotional flyers, and anything that represents your business. If you have a handful of objective and professional people you can turn to, ask them for an honest opinion.

Do your marketing materials reflect your brand? Perhaps they used to – do they still do their job?

Is your branding consistent across all platforms and media?

Do they still reflect what your brand is all about? Do they appeal to the right audience?