Otternative Marketing @otternative

Develop your team. Many businesses enlist outside consultants when they want to unlock new opportunities. But the reality is that consultants and agencies aren’t any smarter than your own team. #Productivity #Manegment

Focus on one target or domain to strengthen your position. This applies if you don’t have strong market share among your core target or in your core category. Don’t dilute your focus and chase other targets or domains if your base business isn’t winning. #digitalmarketing

Look at new targets and domains for opportunities, particularly if you are in a category where you hold strong market share. If you are running out of upside growth, a new target or domain where your brand equity is relevant may be just the thing your business needs. #Marketing

Assess your brand equity by first determining what equity you currently own (via research). Then strategically decide what you want the equity to be in the future and compare it to the present. Now, what are you going to do about it? #DigitalMarketing #branding

Don’t expect consumers or customers to “love” your brand. Consumers sometimes love products, but they don’t love brands. Their loyalty is always more fickle than you think and you need to re-earn their loyalty each and every day. #Branding #digitalmarketingtrends

Find a compensating behavior. Does your target consumer/customer use your or your competitor’s product or service in unexpected ways? This often reveals an under/overmet need, presenting an opportunity for innovation in design and/or messaging. #communicationstrategy #marketing

Be realistic when it comes to behavior change. Consumers and customers rarely make significant behavioral changes easily. It’s not in our nature. But you can often get big results by focusing on small behaviors. #Productivity #SmartGoal

Focus on behavior in your communication strategy. Identify what the customer is doing today and what you want them to do tomorrow. Then think about their mindset today versus the new mindset required to change that behavior. #communicationstrategy #marketingstrategies

Attack a competitive weakness and exploit it. Find out what’s wrong with their product or service. What do they lack? Where do they disappoint? Are any of these weaknesses a strength for you? Could you design or develop new products to address the problem? #marketingstrategies

Call an expert when you need an extra boost. It could be you lack internal resources or skillsets, you're unsure how to tackle a specific challenge, or you just want to bounce your thinking around a bit. But don’t be afraid to reach out for help. #productivity

Always identify a clear objective for any strategy, project, initiative, communication execution, or even each of your regular internal meetings. Knowing the objective makes you focused, efficient, respectful, and more effective. Who doesn’t want that? #Productivity #Manegment

Sponsor an event... or create your own! #EventSponsorship #Marketing

Do not fall in love with any of your ideas or executions. You will have lots of them, but you need to be OK with some or even most of them hitting the cutting room floor. It’s all part of the process and the most important thing is to make choices. #Productivity #Manegment

Learn how to give good feedback to agencies and consulting partners. If you are unsure, ask someone you trust to observe you providing feedback. Or ask an agency or consultant you trust (but don’t expect them to bite the hand that feeds them). #DigitalMarketing #advertising

Construct a benefit ladder and fill in your functional product and customer benefits as well as your emotional benefit. Now do the same for your competitors. Is yours unique? Meaningful? True? #Productivity #Manegment

If you're small, you're using digital as your primary and maybe only method of connecting with your potential customers. Yes, you may not be able to afford big TV budgets. So can partner with organizations that are already connected to your audience. #DigitalMarkeing #Marketing

Leverage digital. While this is all the rage for most companies, there are still some businesses that do not use digital (especially B2B). Do not falsely believe that in your industry, digital doesn’t matter or is less effective. #DigitalMarkeing #Marketing

Update your media mix to reflect your target audience. Many brands default to a traditional mix of TV, radio, print and digital. But great brands get data as to which medium the specific target consumes versus gen pop. #Marketing #Adverstising

Create a manual of your key foundational documents and information. It can be digital or in a physical binder and should include information you will use daily and that you should always have easy access to. #Productivity #Manegment

Lawyers don't make business decisions. A lawyer’s job is to assess risk and communicate that risk. Lawyers will protect the business by starting from a “no” position. But it’s your job as the business leader to uncover what it will take to get a yes and/or make the final call.