You may have heard the news, but Facebook has recently changed its algorithm which is having a BIG effect on businesses.

It is more important now than ever that your content is relevant and engaging. The more comments, the more likely Facebook will share your posts. But don’t ask for them! Facebook penalizes those that ask for shares and comments.

Click to learn more about these new changes to the Facebook algorithm.

Thanks to many of you for your emails, texts and phone calls during Hurricane Harvey.  Thankfully, my family and I are doing fine!

Many of you have asked how you could help, and people from all over the country are interested in connecting with a specific family.  So, if you are interested, please keep reading:

Langham Creek Basketball Coach and FCA Leader Charles Ament and his family were hit hard by Hurricane Harvey as their house was flooded by several inches of rain water.  Like many Houstonians that don’t live in the flood plain, the Aments don’t have flood insurance.  So, they need your help!

Coach Ament is so much more than the basketball coach and FCA leader at Langham Creek High School.  He’s a man that cares deeply about people, which is why the support and help over the last few days has been so amazing, humbling and genuine.

A remediation team is already working on their house and discussions have been had with several potential contractors.  The estimate to get everything back in order (remediation, walls, cabinets, flooring, appliances, furniture, storage unit rental, and eventually food and other necessities as a result of the displacement) is $50,000.

Click Here to help make this happen for the Ament family.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Matt Register and Jay Curry of Texas Business Radio for a Marketing Best Practices show!

It airs this Saturday at 8am on KPRC AM950 and is also available on the iHeart App for your computer, tablet or phone.  So, if you’re out running around tomorrow morning, tune in to KPRC AM950 at 8am.

A big thanks to Matt and Jay for the opportunity and for making the experience fun and super easy!

We are very excited to announce Willis Johnson & Associates updated website. I encourage you to Click Here to experience their fresh new look, user-friendly navigation and a thorough description of the Houston based wealth management firm that specializes in helping corporate professionals with their financial planning needs.

https://www.yournextlevel.cc/707/

https://www.yournextlevel.cc/who-did-your-website/

We are excited to announce our newly created website. We are now using a responsive design, which means that you’ll see essentially the same information optimized for your smart phone, tablet and desktop. We encourage you to Click Here to experience our fresh new look, user-friendly navigation and a description of our Houston based strategic marketing firm through the eyes of our clients.

Our new website, aside from being artistically pleasing, is more agile, interactive, and easier to navigate, enabling you to quickly find what you need. Just as importantly, our key messages and value proposition are evident and clear.

Enjoy!https://www.yournextlevel.cc/its-herenew-nextlevel-thinking-website/

NextLevel Thinking, a Houston based strategic marketing firm, has created a brand new secondary logo! “Our primary logo has been in the market for some time and is well recognized, so it seems like a great time to introduce a secondary logo that places an emphasis on thinking,” says Eric Poerschke, NextLevel Thinking’s Managing Partner and Chief Strategic Officer.

The secondary logo will be used on shirts and other promotional items, as well as in certain social media applications.

By David Edelman, McKinsey Partner – Digital Marketing Strategy Practice

CEOs and executives have understood for a long time that a company’s brand is important and goes way beyond just a logo and tagline. But questions about the actual value of the brand have often relegated this vital asset to a fuzzy, feel-good, slightly nebulous item that rarely gets the executive attention it deserves.

It turns out that companies can determine how much a brand is worth. We’ve seen this most recently in the bidding war breaking out for Steinway, which is a brand that transcends time and technology. It has legendary cache, in a way that fabled brands like Kodak or Polaroid did not. We know that strong brands with good reputations have 31% better total return to shareholders than the MSCI World average. I love this quote from Kasper Ulf Nielsen, an executive partner at the Reputation Institute, on this topic: “People’s willingness to buy, recommend, work for and invest in a company is driven 60% by their perceptions of the company, and only 40% by their perceptions of their products.”

So how did Steinway develop such a valuable brand? Well, it starts with an excellent product. But to build a valuable brand, the company’s value and story must go beyond a single technology or product at a point in time. Coke, Nike, Starbucks all have this. There is an emotional resonance that justifies a premium. With the growth of aspirational high income households in developing markets, legendary brands like Steinway have staying potential — if the story can be extended and brought to life in new markets.

I actually believe that a company’s brand is becoming more important in today’s digital economy. There are so many choices that customers need to make today – products, services, upgrades, channels, etc. The digital revolution has led to a proliferation of touchpoints with brands. It can be overwhelming, so a company’s brand is a critical and reassuring reference point for a customer.

It’s also important to bear in mind that this isn’t just a B2C story. The power of brands for B2B companies is critical as well. B2B companies with strong brands outperform weak ones by 20 percent, according to an analysis my colleagues did recently.

I play the saxophone, but I know the power of a Steinway. And now at least a few investment companies do too.

So, how do you know how much your brand is worth?

To learn more about brand building, Click Here to go to our site!

There is a very good article in the Harvard Business Review titled If You Want to Raise Prices, Tell a Better Story. It is written by Ty Montague.

Click Here to Read…

HOUSTON, TX (May 16, 2013) – One of NextLevel Thinking’s clients, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center has won the TV Public Service Announcement Category for the 2013 Daniel Eberts Radio, TV and Film Awards for it’s 2012 holiday season awareness ad. The award was presented on May 16 at the Association of Donor Recruitment Professionals 2013 Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona

For more than 20 years, ADRP’s Daniel Eberts Radio, TV and Film Awards have recognized outstanding public service announcements that dispel misconceptions and increase awareness about donating blood.

The Blood Center’s award-winning awareness ad features Commit for Life donor and volunteer Shelley and her children, Trinity and Trey, a blood recipient. Trey was diagnosed with cancer at just 5 weeks old and received multiple transfusions as an infant throughout his treatment. Today, Trey is a healthy pre-teen, and his entire family is grateful.

NextLevel Thinking
is a proud sponsor and logo developer of
The National Business Development Association
(NBDA), which was launched today in Houston, Texas by Founder and President Christine Spray. Christine recognized, in her business development and board experience, the need for a national trade association to provide best practices to those individuals whose primary responsibility is developing business for their organization.

Spray strongly believes that in order to be a great developer of business, you must focus on others and their needs before focusing on yourself. It’s about building relationships and trust before building your business.

The well attended event featured a panel of business development experts who fielded a range of growth oriented questions from Houston’s own Emmy Award-winning journalist Linda Lorelle. The panelists were Bill Arend, a regional manager for Redwood City, Calif.-based software manufacturer Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL); Jeff Henningsen, executive vice president for Kansas City, Mo.-based insurance broker Lockton Inc.; and Jim Langsdale, director of business development at Chicago-based accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 8th from 7:30 am to 9:00 am at The Junior League of Houston.

NextLevel Thinking, a marketing strategy firm headquartered in Houston, Texas, has launched a networking group made up primarily of trusted advisers such as accountants, lawyers, money managers, etc.

The groups name is Growth Advocates and they meet on the first and third Wednesday of each month at The Tasting Room – Uptown Park.

“I visited a bunch of networking groups trying to find a good fit for my business and just couldn’t find one with the quality of individuals that I was looking for, so I started my own!”, says Eric Poerschke, Managing Partner of NextLevel Thinking.

Founding Members Include:

Diana Greenwood, Aspire Executive Coaching
Daren Dahmer, Merrill Lynch
Ted Leitch, Expense Reduction Analysts
David Martin, Choice Exploration

Only one person from each professional classification is permitted to join the group. The group, which officially started at the beginning of 2013, had a set number of classifications and has already grown to 19 members.

The responsibility of each member is to understand each other’s business in such a way that they can successfully advocate for each other. The meetings are run in such a way that this will happen over time. Ultimately, this will allow members to pass qualified leads to each other.

For more information, contact Eric Poerschke ([email protected]) or Daren Dahmer ([email protected]).