We won the Inc. Power Partner Award! We’ll be celebrating this for a while – prepare yourselves. To be named on Inc. Magazine’s Power Partner List is no small feat, and we have our wonderful clients to thank for it! We were among thousands of applicants, most of which were undoubtedly worthy of making the list, and it was our clients who stuck out their necks and proclaimed, “OTM deserves the Inc. Power Partner Award!”
Thank you, truly, to everyone who cast their votes. It’s been an honor to serve you.
So, what does this mean? One thing’s for sure, it affirms that we’re doing something right over here at OTM. There’s a curious commitment to growth that runs deep for our team and that’s present in every project we take on. It’s with that unified frame of mind that we partner with our clients in telling their unique stories, and we tell those unique stories through our Path to Growth™ process.
The logical end for this discussion is then our Path to Growth™ process, and believe us, we’ll get there. First, let’s celebrate a bit more about winning the Inc. Power Partner Award.
About the Inc. Power Partner Award
Inc. Magazine’s 2022 Power Partner List is an inaugural list of B2B companies that go the extra mile to provide game-changing support for small businesses. We were 1 of only 252 companies throughout the country to be recognized for this award. We’re humbled.
Further, there are more than 87,710 marketing agencies in the United States. Of that astounding number, only 66 in the Advertising & Marketing category made the list. Again, humbled.
We love working with our clients at OTM, and we consider ourselves a partner in their businesses, and they a partner in ours. Our focus is and has always been on the growth of our clients, our partners, and our community.
Those partnerships that we’ve made with our clients run deep. Most of our clients come to us for help managing their customer journey, but one way or another we end up touching almost every part of their business. Much of that depth is achieved through our Path to Growth™ process.
When we applied for the Inc. Power Partner Award, it was our Path to Growth™ process that truly set us apart. This process is the fuel that empowers us to go above and beyond for our clients. It’s what allows us to provide creative strategy and second-order thinking to help our clients succeed and grow their businesses.
With that, let’s get into it. Here’s an overview of the process that won us the Inc. Power Partner Award.
A Look at Our Path to Growth™ Process
Our Path to Growth™ is the repeatable strategic framework that we use to get to know new clients and uncover the most valuable path forward. This process uses collaborative exercises that guide us in discovering and understanding how a client’s business operates, how their products and services fit into the marketplace, and what the trends are in that marketplace.
We use the findings from each exercise and the exercise’s corresponding deliverables to develop unique and effective market positioning. The market positioning is brought to life through the Brand Story and activated through a full-funnel marketing strategy, recommended campaigns, and special projects.
That was a lot, but it boils down to this – we invite new clients into tough conversations and exercises whose outcomes allow us to provide the tools and strategies necessary for growth and success.
It’s a proven process, and it’s what earned us the Inc. Power Partner Award.
This 8-week process is broken down into 5 parts. Each part serves unique purposes that ultimately culminate to form a thorough understanding of the client’s market and where in it they fit, the client’s ideal customer and how to provide value for them, and the strategies that will best lead our clients to success. Let’s have a closer look at those 5 parts.
Step One: Discovery
The first step is foundational for the rest of the Path to Growth™ exercises and creates shared alignment around the needs of our clients. We start with some research of our own and follow that up with a 90-minute discovery meeting between our team and the client’s stakeholders.
Our clients come to us with needs they believe they have but there’s nearly always more than meets the eye. Our commitment to growth empowers us to put in the work upfront and build a solid foundation from which to grow.
Step Two: Market Position Analysis
By way of extensive research and a hefty dose of grit, we seek to expand on our situational assessment conducted in step one. We accomplish this with a market position analysis in which we conduct a comprehensive competitive evaluation alongside an in-depth examination of overall markets.
We’ve learned that valuable insight is only found through the asking of right questions, and the questions that lead to valuable insight aren’t always easily conjured. Our curious commitment to growth spurs us steadily on to the next question and allows us to unveil a greater understanding of the problems at hand.
Step Three: Brand Story Development
Next, we lead our clients through our Brand Story exercise where we join them in uncovering the key to providing value for their customers. We’ve found that there’s often a shallow understanding of what our clients’ customers are looking for. Through curious investigation, we flip the script of the traditional marketing approach to hone in on true value.
The results from step three provide a new frame of mind that enables our clients to fit more seamlessly into the stories of their customers. That frame of mind, then, is what informs the remainder of our strategies.
Step Four: Consumer Behavior Model
Nearing the end of the process, we have our consumer behavior model. In this model, we traverse the deepest depths of who our client’s customers truly are and what makes them tick. With this information, we can further pinpoint where our client is underdelivering and develop finely tailored strategies for growth and success.
Step Five: Go-To-Market Strategy
Lastly, the go-to-market strategy. We take all we’ve learned about our clients, their competitors, their market, and about their current and potential customers, and prescribe a full-funnel marketing strategy with next steps and resource allocation recommendations. Once everyone is on the same page, we wrap it up and get to work.
Getting through the Path to Growth™ process takes a lot of work. There are many times when clients may want to skip one or more of the steps for one reason or another. We’re committed to and believe in this process, however, even when our clients don’t see its value, because it’s proven itself time and time again.
Our commitment to our Path to Growth™ process, in many ways, informs who we do and do not work with. Many inbound leads don’t want to go through the process at all. In fact, we turn down 80% of inbound leads because of it. No, it’s not always easy. And no, it doesn’t always win clients. But we crafted this process with the intention of being the best partner we can be, and we’ll settle for nothing less.
We’re Your Inc. Power Partner Award Winner
There you have it. With the combination of our loyal clients and our innovative Path to Growth™ process, we’ve earned ourselves a shiny new badge of honor. As your Inc. Power Partner Award winner, we’ll continue to provide innovative solutions and partner with our clients on their journeys to success.
Interested in learning more about our Path to Growth™ process? Schedule a free consultation and we’ll walk you through it.