Vandelay Management

Our disciplined approach to marketing starts and ends with your customer. We spend time talking with your current and prospective customers in order to develop a positioning statement and marketing message that connects with your target audience. We begin projects with a thorough analysis of your business situation and growth opportunities.

• Internal interviews

• External interviews (customers, prospects, distributors)

• Review of past approaches - what worked, what didn't ¨ and why

• Confirm conclusions with broader market surveys using e.g., SurveyMonkey

• Development of potential customer segments

We have strong credentials needed to help you develop your business and marketing plans. We can deliver your plan at lower cost than in-house alternatives or larger management consulting firms. Our creativity is drawn from a variety of industries and business situations. The functional expertise you need is more efficiently drawn from external sources.

Development of a Positioning Statement that connects with your customers is the most important component of an effective strategic marketing plan. The Positioning Statement is the foundation of what you are trying to communicate to your customers, as well as the rallying cry for your organization. Your Positioning must be credible and should state:

• What benefits your customers get (that are important to them)

• What makes you better than the competition

A Strategic Marketing Plan that is consistent with and reinforces your Positioning is critical for focusing your organization and delivering a clear external message. Our approach to plan development is to look specifically at where new business is going to come from and then to carefully apply the Positioning to each of these segments. In this process we answer the following questions:

• Where is new business going to come from (segmentation)?

• Which of the benefits that you offer are these segments most interested in?

• How much value will these segments see in your offering?

• Can we meet the business' financial objectives with the current Positioning?

Effective execution of the plan requires that all of the marketing mix elements be aligned with and support the Positioning Statement. Each of these individual element strategies are evaluated for consistency, as well as to ensure that they support the Positioning Statement and the Strategy Plan. When combined together, the elements need to deliver your desired results and conform to your overall budget constraints. We develop plans to address:

• Product and offering

• Traditional and web based promotion

• Sales tools

• Distribution channels

• Advertising and publicity

• Customer and technical service

• Pricing

The Positioning Statement and Strategic Plan must also be supported by the other business functional plans. Do you have the right people to execute the plan? Are R&D programs aligned with the product benefit needs? Are additional capital investments required to execute the plan? We examine the Strategic Plan from a holistic perspective to ensure that your business investments and communications (internally and externally) are aligned to reinforce the plan.

• Financial analysis of business plan

• Return on investment of marketing initiatives

• R&D impact and needs

• Analysis of investments to execute plan (capital and HR)

Contact: info@vandelaymanagement.com