Cognitive (Think): IT WORKED FOR THEM, LET’S DO IT. Cues (Signal): YOU ARE NOT THEM.In the land of branding, marketing and social media - it’s easy to watch what others are doing and to think, “IF they did it, we can do it.’ The only problem with this thinking is that ‘YOU ARE NOT THEM.’ That’s a huge issue and one that is often ignored.

In my years of being in business, I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard, “Let’s do what they’re doing” and months later, VP’s and Sales managers are scratching their heads with pink slips and low to no bonus - not understanding ‘What went wrong.’ It’s fairly simple. YOU ARE NOT THEM.

YOU need to do what is right for YOU. Not be a copycat. You need to consider your operations, geography, functional issues, budgets, profit model and do what is right for YOU. That means YOU must think. And, if you don’t have the time or the staff to think internally, hire those thinkers externally.

Now you might think - but we have no money, no budget. So let’s do what they are doing. This isn’t the right thinking because in the end - the mistakes will cost and these mistakes might be difficult to fix. It’s always better to be YOU vs. THEM. Take pride in who you are - find your unique market position - and stand apart from the crowd. And, remember - IF you try to be like THEM - they are in control and as they change - you will always be the follower, never the leader. I guess if you only want to follow, if you only want to play second fiddle - the ‘IT WORKED FOR THEM, LET’S DO IT’ strategy is OK, but I would never take that approach. Not ever. I would want to own my own destiny and be in control of my brand. The choice is yours. Make it a good one because marketing change is a difficult and a costly thing to do under the best circumstances.

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