I’m a big sports fan — living and dying with each of the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Cubs.

I was at the Bulls playoff game last night against the Philadelphia 76s. It was an emotional night as our best player, Derrick Rose, had severely injured his knee at the end of the last game — the first game of the entire playoffs. With Chicago mourning its championship hopes and aspirations for this year, the Bulls came out for Game 2 without their superstar.

They were leading by eight at half-time, exhibiting above-average, if not spectacular, play.

Then the third quarter started. The 76ers outscored the Bulls by 22 points in the third quarter, a massive margin.

What happened?

One team adjusted at halftime, the other did not.

One team executed its adjustments effectively, the other team stopped executing.

Business is like that too, especially marketing.

Interestingly, though, we get halftime pretty much every day. We don’t have to wait for half of the game to pass before we can make improvements for the better. The key is awareness — knowing what to improve — and then execution — implementation.

So, when it comes to your…

• market understanding
• consumer insights
• language
• platforms
• public relations
• channel strategy
• support

…what adjustments do you have to make? Where are the opportunities for improvement? Where is the low hanging fruit?

What adjustments to your marketing strategy can you make and execute today?