What Does a Marketing Consultant Do?

I’m often asked to explain what I do. As a strategic marketing consultant, the work isn’t something I can display as easily as, say, an agency which creates advertisements. Here’s the best explanation I can offer; I help businesses find vision, clarity and direction, backed by solid plans for success. I ask really tough questions, force really tough decisions, and develop a roadmap for success. Here are the questions I ask and the answers I develop with business owners and managers:

What Is Your Best Market Opportunity?

The world is full of opportunity! The challenge is discovering current and future market needs which aren’t already being met. If someone else is already meeting the need, then how are you different? Can you do it faster, better, or cheaper? If not, we’ll explore better opportunities or discuss how you can differentiate yourself to compete.

What Do You Know About the Opportunity?

You have a great idea, and that’s a great place to start! Now, it’s time to be honest about what you know about the market and opportunity. This is your situational analysis, and it’s a lot of work. During this phase, we dig into market research and explore all of the things which impact your potential success. We look at your company structure and capabilities, your potential collaborators, your potential customers, your competition, and the context – or the world – in which you’ll need to do business. The context includes political, legal, social and economic factors which can impact how you do business.

What Does It All Mean?

Once we’ve uncovered the necessary information, we conduct careful analysis. It’s a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. There’s a lot of data laying in front of us. We figure out how to piece it together to create a logical picture and make sound business decisions.

Where Do You Go From Here?

This is the fun part! Once you have a clear picture of the best market opportunity, we develop a strategic plan. This plan becomes your roadmap to success. In the plan, we clearly define the following:

·         Vision and Mission

·         Situational Analysis

·         Market Segmentation

·         Objectives and Goals

·         Positioning

·         Business Model Strategy

·         Product or Service Offers

·         Price Strategy

·         Place Strategy (how your offer goes to market)

·         Promotional Strategy

·         Key Risk Factors and Control Plan

·         Budget and Forecast

·         Success Metrics

How Do You Get It Done?

Implementing your plan is hard work. I’ll work with you to ensure you have the business processes, organization and key contacts necessary to successfully implement you plan.

If you have more questions about what we do, or just want to bounce some marketing questions off from me, visit www.marketingflexibility.com or email me at kris@marketingflexibility.com.