by Clay Ostrom | Feb 28, 2019 | Branding, Core Purpose, Marketing, Strategy
< Back to The Campfire The idea of being the best in the world at something sparks a complex set of feelings. It’s exciting and motivating to aspire to a crazy high level of potential. At the same time, it’s such a high goal that it can almost feel arrogant or even...
by Clay Ostrom | Feb 8, 2019 | Branding, Strategy
< Back to The Campfire I chatted recently with a good friend and fellow brand strategist, Gil Nevo, and he brought up the color palette for my company, Map & Fire. In a very friendly tone he suggested I take a fresh look at the colors because they felt a little...
by Clay Ostrom | Sep 11, 2018 | Customers, Marketing, Psychology, Startups, Strategy
< Back to The Campfire Whether you’re a startup or you’ve been around for years, talking to your customers is a critical practice. It provides a level of insight into your business that you can’t get through surveys and analytics alone. I recently worked on a...
by Clay Ostrom | Jul 18, 2018 | 10X Teardown, Elements of Value, Jobs To Be Done, Marketing, Psychology, Startups, Strategy
< Back to The Campfire The 10X Rule for innovation sets a bar that’s simple to understand but very difficult to achieve. The rule roughly states that in order for customers to switch from a current behavior, they need a new option that’s 10X better. The value of...
by Clay Ostrom | May 16, 2018 | Marketing, Psychology, Startups, Strategy
< Back to The Campfire As business owners, we all make assumptions about how our customers think and feel. But when those assumptions are wrong, customers will struggle to see the value of our offering. To validate our assumptions, we do things like: Talk to...
by Clay Ostrom | Feb 13, 2018 | Branding, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Psychology, Startups, Strategy
< Back to The Campfire Why it’s critical to understand who your business is competing against. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to provide mentorship to college students at USC through the school’s entrepreneurship program. As I work with these students...
