How to Set Marketing Objectives for Your Business
If you run a small or mid-sized business, chances are you’ve sat down to plan your marketing and typed “increase brand awareness” or “grow social media” into a document, closed the laptop, and never looked at it again. That’s not a personal failing; it’s what happens when marketing objectives get written before anyone answers the […]
How Branding and Positioning Work Together in Houston
Houston businesses regularly invest in a logo refresh, a new website, or a sharper tagline, and expect the market to respond. Sometimes it does. Often it doesn’t, and the reason usually traces back to a mix-up between two things that feel similar but aren’t: branding and positioning. The short version: positioning is the decision about […]
The Human Core of a Virtual Firm
When NextLevel Thinking was created, we established a core competency that remains steadfast after 25 years: combining the disciplines of marketing strategy and creative thinking. But what is the true secret behind our ability to sustain this high-level thinking through two and a half decades of relentless change? There is no question in our […]
Marketing Retainer vs. One-Time Project: Which Engagement Model Fits Your Business?
When a business starts talking to a marketing strategy firm, one of the first decisions on the table has nothing to do with the work itself. It’s about structure. Do you need a defined, one-time project with a clear finish line, or do you need an ongoing marketing agency retainer that keeps a strategic partner […]
The Philosophy Driving Our Intern Program
At NextLevel Thinking, our hiring philosophy remains wonderfully simple, yet profoundly powerful, after 25 years. We have a deep desire to bless those who come to work with us, and a hope for them to bless us in unexpected ways. With that unique expectation, it’s amazing to see the growth that happens for the […]
What Houston Marketing Consultants Actually Do for Businesses
If you have ever Googled “marketing consultant” and come away more confused than when you started, you are not alone. The term gets used to describe everything from brand strategists to social media managers to freelance copywriters. That confusion costs Houston business owners real money, because they end up hiring the wrong type of help […]
Our Four-Phase Methodology for Brand Building
NextLevel Thinking has built its 25-year legacy on a tried-and-true brand building methodology that produces a successful marketing strategy and a step-by-step approach for executing that strategic blueprint. We do it by getting to know your business—from the inside out—learning what makes you tick and what will help you grow and prosper for the next […]
Why Your Marketing Plan and Marketing Strategy Aren’t Working
You have a marketing strategy document. You have a marketing plan with campaigns, deadlines, and channels laid out. And yet, the results are inconsistent, the pipeline quality is frustrating, and you can’t quite point to where it’s breaking down. This is one of the most common and least-discussed problems in business marketing, and it almost […]