May is International Business Image Improvement Month. If you’ve been in business a while, chances are your brand could use a refresh—even if just a light one. So to help you out, here’s a simple checklist to give your brand a bit of a “gut check” this month.
You can have the best product, the best service, the best intentions… but if your brand isn’t saying the right things on your behalf, none of it matters.
As Jeff Bezos famously said,
“Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.”
And whether we like it or not, people are talking.
So the question is: are you intentionally shaping that conversation? Or letting it shape itself?
Branding Isn’t Just a Logo
Let’s get this out of the way: branding isn’t just a fancy logo or a trendy colour palette. It’s the gut feeling someone gets when they come across your business, for the first time or the fiftieth. It’s how they describe you to someone else. It’s the reputation you build when you show up consistently and clearly.
For over 40 years, I’ve seen businesses flourish because of a strong brand—and I’ve seen just as many struggle because their image doesn’t match their reality. That disconnect? It’s where sales stall, opportunities get missed, and growth flatlines.
And yes, it happens more often than you think—even to the best of us.
Brand Confusion = Missed Connections
Here’s the thing: if your brand isn’t clear, your customers aren’t going to stick around to figure it out. They’ll scroll past, click away, and find someone else who does know what they stand for.
This is exactly why branding is one of the six core pillars of our Foundational 6 Architecture (F6A). Because until you know who you are, who you serve, and how you serve them—none of your marketing, sales, or operations will stick.
It’s also why branding shows up again and again in our Business Accelerator Advisory Board (BAAB) sessions. Business owners often don’t realize how muddled their messaging has become until someone else points it out. And once they fix it? The difference is incredible.
Time for a Gut Check
If you’ve been in business a while, chances are your brand could use a refresh—even if just a light one. So to help you out, here’s a simple checklist to give your brand a bit of a “gut check” this month:
Brand Review Tips for May
✔️ Can you explain your brand in one sentence?
If not, chances are your audience can’t either.
✔️ Is your visual identity consistent everywhere?
Social, website, business cards, signage, documents—it all counts.
✔️ Do your website and marketing materials reflect where your business is today… or five years ago?
✔️ Are you showing up in the spaces your ideal customers hang out?
Online and offline.
✔️ Is your messaging focused on you or your customer’s problem?
(Spoiler: it should be about them.) Read the Story Brand
✔️ Ask a friend or colleague to describe your business after looking at your website/social for 30 seconds.
What they say = what your brand is currently projecting.
✔️ Does your brand reflect your values, your voice, and your goals?
This one is critical. A brand that misrepresents you will never be sustainable.
This month is a great time to reflect. Your brand should be pulling people in, not pushing them away. If you're unsure, it’s okay—that’s what strategy is for.
