With football season gearing up, I was drawn to an article titled, “Colts spurn conventional wisdom to win over fans.” The article discusses how the Indianapolis Colts continue to move the marker on their march to making themselves a model NFL franchise.

The team has grown its sponsor count to 240—up 20 from last year and well above the league average of 190—and has a season-ticket waiting list of 17,000—up from 11,000 last year. And, they did it all in an unconventional way.

So, how did they get there?

In 2000, the team abandoned its traditional television, print and radio marketing campaign and opted to invest in more personal community visits from team representatives. Turns out, this unconventional path has been a real success for the team over time.

This same theory or approach can be applied to B2B public relations and marketing. Sometimes, the best way to grow your customer base, increase sales, raise awareness or drive interest isn’t through traditional marketing tactics. Sometimes, the best way to reach your marketing goals is to ditch some of the traditional tactics and really figure out what motivates your customers and prospects. It’s time to start thinking outside of the box and put new marketing tactics in the game.