When you make assumptions about who your audience is or what they want, you almost always miss big marketing opportunities. For example, you might assume that technology is moving in a certain direction, yet vinyl records, retro video games, and paperback books are seeing a Renaissance. For some of the businesses we have talked to, that’s meant several million dollars of revenue and new ways to engage their target audiences.

As your brand grows, you will likely engage a variety of experts, whether you hire them as agency teams or build a team of experts internally. That means that you will have a mix of opinions on what the brand should do next, and it’s critical that you have a process for taking in these ideas, synthesizing them, and then deploying them in a way that is consistent and impactful for the brand. All too often we see brands with separate teams for social media and PR, for example, representing the brand in different ways. That’s confusing for the customer and will hurt your marketing in the long run.

Video is the current king of content on nearly every social media platform. If your brand is using video (and it should be), you might be missing out on key best practices for making that video more impactful and more friendly to social algorithms. For example, you should check your aspect ratio and use captions. Read my new article in Social Media Examiner to learn more.

Most businesses understand that innovation is a natural part of competition. If you can do something your competitors are not doing, you may build a unique advantage. This is just as true in marketing as it is in product development, but how do you consistently innovate? Borrow from industries beyond your own to start. For example, if you like how Jeep ties its brand to community, what can you learn from how they find success that could apply to your own community building?