Services

Strategic Marketing Planning

It is often said that leadership can be defined as “doing the right thing” and that management can be defined as “doing things right”. If that is the case, strategy is the leadership component of the organization because it has to do with “doing the right thing”. Strategy is a function of how you deploy your organization’s time and money. Strategic marketing involves a commitment of resources to a particular course of action; once resources have been committed, it is very difficult to change direction without incurring some kind of penalty; and so a company's strategic decisions must be well thought out.

Strategic marketing decisions such as:

• How are we going to grow this company’s top-line and bottom-line?
• What environmental events will present our company with new market and/or product opportunities?
• What environmental events threaten our existing markets and/or products? How should we deploy resources in an effort to either take advantage of a new market or product opportunity?
• How should we deploy resources in an effort to alleviate/eliminate a threat to existing markets and/or products?
• Should we try to gain market-share by penetrating our existing markets?
• How are we going to increase our customer base?
• How are we going to increase our customers average purchase (add more value to their life)?
• How are we going to increase purchase frequency?
• Should we market our present products to new markets?
• Which new markets should we target with our present products?
• Are there segments of the market we could target?
• Should we develop new products for our present markets?
• Which new products should we develop?
• Should we develop new products for new market(s)?
• Which new products should we develop?
• Which new markets should we target with the new product(s)?
• How should we position our product in the marketplace?
• What personality should we give the brand?

An organization’s marketing objectives flow from the above strategic marketing decisions.

Nexus Group professionals use a combination of analytical tools and seasoned business experience to help your organization make strategic marketing decisions. After making strategic marketing decisions that guide your organization toward “doing the right things”, you can then turn your attention to “doing those things right”; to begin writing a blue print for success. Such a blue print is called a marketing plan.

Marketing Plan Development

After the strategic marketing questions have been answered, a plan of action needs to be developed and resources need to be deployed. The plan of action is called a marketing strategy; a marketing strategy in written form is called a marketing plan. The marketing plan is the blueprint for achieving the marketing objectives that flow from the strategic marketing decisions.

The marketing strategy begins with number one, a clearly defined target market; and number two, a clearly defined sustainable competitive “position” that a company would like to own in the consumers mind (both determined in the strategic marketing planning process). The positioning statement is the brand identity, or what the company wants to stand for; in the customers mind.

The brand promise, sometimes called the value proposition, is derived from the brand identity. The brand promise is a written statement and it very clearly communicates the value that a company “promises” to deliver; value that is relevant to the customer’s life, and value that is distinctively different from value that is offered by competitors.

With a clear understanding of the target market and the “position” (brand identity) that a company would like to own in the consumers mind, marketing professionals begin to create the “position” through the careful design of the product, price, place (distribution) and promotion. All of these design activities must be integrated in a manner that clearly communicates a company’s brand identity to both internal and external audiences.

Nexus Group professionals are prepared to help guide your marketing strategy design efforts; design efforts that will clearly "position" your company in the consumers mind. Moreover, we are fully prepared to write a marketing plan that clearly details your marketing strategy.

Brand Development, Management, and Protection

David Aaker states that "A company's brand is the primary source of its competitive advantage and a valuable strategic asset. Yet, too often, the brand message to customers is weak, confused, irrelevant, or, worst of all, indistinguishable from competitor offerings. The challenge for all brands is that they have a distinct, clear image that matters to customers and truly differentiates them from the rest."

Differentiate or Die!!!!! A company that does not differentiate its relevant product offering from the competition is relegated to the hard and dirty existence of the low price game; a game based on low margins and scale economies. Branding is a strategic process designed to differentiate a product or service on relevant functional attributes of the product/service, or on the emotional needs and desires of the consumer. As a result of a strengthened brand, your company strengthens the connection it has to present and future customers; a strong brand allows a company to strengthen:

• customer loyalty
• pricing power (greater margins)
• licensing opportunities
• brand extension opportunities
• trade cooperation and support
• its defense against competitive marketing actions
• consumer’s ability to make faster and less risky product choices.

Nexus Group professionals have developed, managed, and protected the brands of companies large and small. We can help guide you in the development and management of a strong brand; a brand that will strenghten your connection to the marketplace.

Advertising Plans


After the marketing strategy is designed and the marketing plan is written, it is time to develop communication objectives; a company's communication objectives flow from the company's brand identity. It is now advertising's job to creatively convert the communication objectives into a message that resonates with the target market; a message that strengthens the company's connection to the marketplace, a message that strengthens brand equity.

The message development strategy is framed within the creative alignment of the "copy", "art", and "production" elements of the message. The words (copy) a company uses in a message, need to be aligned with what the customer sees (art) in the message; and the copy and art need to be produced in a manner that is aligned with the overall message; in a manner that strengthens the message. If any one of the copy, art, or production elements is not aligned, the message will be weak and not credible; the message will erode your brand equity. Every time a current or potential customer interfaces with a company's delivered message, there is an opportunity to either strengthen or weaken the brand.

Once the message has been creatively developed, it now has to be communicated to current and potential customers. As a result of an increasingly fragmented “media space”, delivering a company’s message to current or potential customers is becoming progressively more challenging. It is advertising’s job to communicate the brand message through the appropriate communication vehicle; a vehicle that will be seen, heard, or read by the target market. Integrating the brand message through all of a company’s communication vehicles is critical to strengthening the brand.

Here are a few communication vehicles that companies use to communicate a message to their target market:

Delivering an effective message to a target market is becoming increasingly more challenging; particularly in a "media scape" that is fragmenting at a rapid rate. Nexus advertising professionals are prepared to develop an effective message that breaks through the clutter and delivers your company's message to the people that have raised their hands, the people that have a need for your product, your target market.

Public Relations Programs

Public Relations is an excellent tool that organizations can use to carry their message.

Package Design

Package design applies to the packaging of either a good or a service. When designing a package for a good, the designer must consider both the protection capability of the package and the selling capability of the package. A package for a good must be designed with just the right amount of product protection built in; too much or too little protection is very costly to an organization.

The package design must also have the ability to “sell” itself”. Packaging is the brand’s key communication tool and there is a growing need for marketers to create innovative, breakthrough packaging. A package’s appearance can drive brand recognition and strengthen its image. Compared to the often large expense of advertising, a relatively lower investment in packaging can drive significant growth in revenue and profit. The redesign of the Heath candy bar wrapper boosted sales by 25 percent and Rice-A-Roni’s sales jumped by 20 percent within a year of the packaging change.

The package should clearly communicate the brand identity, it should convey descriptive information in a very persuasive manner, it should facilitate a safe journey through the supply chain, and it should aid home storage and product usage.

The design of packaging for a service organization revolves around creating an ambiance that conforms to the brand personality. The incorrect packaging of a service can lead to the erosion of the brand. The ambiance of a service organization such as a restaurant or dentists office should clearly “fit” with the brand personality developed by marketing professionals.

Nexus package designers have worked with fortune 500 companies in designing high performance packages that provide the appropriate level of protection and the optimal level of selling ability; protection and selling ability at both the trade-level and the consumer-level.

Graphic Design

One of the strongest associations consumers have with the brand relates to the visual equity of the corporate image and the branded products. Visual design is the process and art of combining graphics and text to communicate the brand identity across all forms of internal and external company communication. For example logos, business cards, letter head, envelopes, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication. The words and graphics in your message have to be congruent; in other words, the words in your message have to mesh with the graphics and they both have to communicate the brand identity that the company is trying to project to the target market. The visual design of a message can drive brand recognition and build its image. For instance, colors cue image associations, which can differ across markets. While in Japan and Korea, the color purple connotes ‘premiumness’, it has strong associations with inexpensive brands in the US.

Nexus graphic designers use a proprietary process that insurers that your company’s brand identity is integrated throughout all of your marketing communications vehicles. All of your company’s marketing communications will speak with one focused voice, while congruently combining text and graphics. This process insures that your brand identity gets integrated and communicated at every customer touch point; and across every communication vehicle that your firm uses to communicate its brand promise.

Product Development

In most organizations, approximately 80 percent of the cost of a product is committed during the development stage of a product’s lifecycle. Company revenue and growth is highly dependent on product innovation. Equally important is attaining cost targets and hitting product launch dates to take advantage of market opportunities. Without effective innovation and product development, product parity will exist. Product parity erodes the brand and pricing which adversely affects the top-line and bottom-line of your company.

The pace and quantity of new product introductions are creating new challenges companies of all sizes, across multiple industries.

Typical issues that exist in the product development process include:

• Identifying and incorporating ideas that have high market potential
• Determining and prioritizing both accurate and complete customer requirements
• Pulling together organizations and getting them to work together in a highly productive manner eg., marketing, engineering, procurement, quality, production and finance. Often times these organizations are in different geographic locations.
• Making intelligent trade-offs between cost, quality and functionality
• Inability to leverage and reuse previous designs and knowledge
• Managing changes and revisions
• Selecting suppliers and developing productive supply relationships
• Scaling manufacturing, distribution and suppliers to provide continuous flow of material
• Inability to track and manage program investments and meeting target costs
• Mapping designs and tests to customer requirements
• Ensuring enough work is performed and decisions are made prior to proceeding with costly downstream activities (stage gate management)
• Meeting product launch schedules

Specific business processes and functions that we cover in our scope of services include:

• Project management
  • Resource planning
  • Scheduling
  • Budgeting
  • Reporting and control
  • Stage gate control
• Need identification
  • Defining, analyzing and prioritizing customer requirements
• Ideation and Concept development
  • Conceptual design
  • Functional analysis
  • Specification development
  • Value analysis
  • Target costing
  • Process development
  • Make vs. buy analysis
  • RFI, RFP, RFQ
• Product Design and Development
  • Detail design
  • Design review
  • Design approval
  • Process development
  • Supplier selection and negotiation
  • Logistics and supply chain design
• Prototype and Testing
  • Product test and certification
  • Process test and certification
  • Supplier selection and certification
• Product Launch and Scale to Demand
  • Capacity planning and management
  • Material planning and management
  • Hiring and training
  • Information systems
  • Plant, tooling and infrastructure design and implementation

Nexus deeply skilled product development professionals are able to review and develop capabilities to design and launch products to maximize revenue and minimize cost. Specific business drivers that we impact include: revenue, target product costs, launch schedules, product quality, process capability, supplier capability, and after market sales and service.

Supply Chain Management

Leading companies understand that financial returns and competitive advantage is highly dependent on the effectiveness of their supply chains. An overwhelming majority of businesses recognize that supply chains are critical to their success. If you look at industry leaders (Dell, Wal-Mart, Toyota, P&G, PepsiCo), they all have highly efficient and connected supply chains compared to the laggards (IBM, K-Mart, GM, Kimberly Clark, Sara Lee). In fact, IBM was forced to sell its PC business to the Chinese because they could not compete with the lean supply chains of Dell and HP. K-Mart entered Chapter 11 and repeatedly disappointed investors due to underperforming supply chain operations when compared to Wal-Mart. GM loses market share at a rate of approximately 1% per year while Toyota is poised to overtake GM as the world’s largest car manufacture in the next year or two. Supply chain management is a core business strategy for each industry leader.

Your company can also perform like the Dell’s, Toyota’s and Wal-Mart’s of the world. There is no secret sauce for the leaders. They simply focus on a few key fundamentals, namely:

• Design supply chains into their business strategies
• Keep customer satisfaction and differentiation at the forefront of supply chain operations
• Relentless focus on reducing lead time and improving flexibility (order processing, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, warehouse operations and logistics) by using process integration, lean manufacturing techniques, postponement, information technology, best practices, performance measures and supplier programs
• Integrate processes, organizations and information across the supply chain network to eliminate disconnects
  Outsource selective business and supply chain processes to obtain improved service levels and minimize invested capital
• Develop suppliers and hold them accountable for cost, quality and delivery performance
• Create a culture that embraces change, innovation, best practices, and continuous improvement
• Execute flawlessly

World class supply chains become productized and are emulated. The “Dell Model” and “Toyota Production System” have become the gold standard for lean supply chains. Many small companies have adopted and utilize these same techniques. The techniques are not sophisticated or costly to implement. The successful small companies have simply not publicized the results and do not receive the same accolades as Toyota, Dell and Wal-Mart. Therefore, with the right leadership, knowledge and focus, any size company can develop differentiated supply chain capabilities.

Nexus deeply experienced supply chain professionals can assist your company develop a leading supply chain to dramatically improve business performance. We specialize in reviewing, developing and implementing capabilities in the following areas:

• Supply chain review to determine and prioritize high-payback areas of opportunity
• Supply chain strategy and process design
• Linkage with customers
• Supply chain planning (sales, inventory, and operations forecasts and plans)
• Inbound and outbound transportation
• Order fulfillment
• Lean manufacturing
• Plant start-up
• Warehouse/Distribution center location and operations
• Inventory management
• Procurement and sourcing
• Supplier development programs
• Supply chain performance measures
• After sale service and spare parts
• Reverse logistics (warranty and returns)
• Make versus buy and insource versus outsource decisions
• Six sigma

The benefits of implementing supply chain capabilities can be significant. We have experience delivering substantial value. Typical results include:

• Revenue enhancement of 10 to 20 percent
• Cost reduction of 10 to 25 percent
• Lead time reduction of 75 to 90 percent
• Quality improvement of 50 to 75 percent
• Order fill rate improvement of 70 to 90 percent
• Reduction of inventory by 50 to 75 percent

Sales Force Development

“Value is ultimately created or destroyed at the boundary between the company and its customers. Whether you call the personnel who manage this boundary “salespeople”, agents, or associates, their customer contact activities are fundamental to business success.” (Author unknown)

The hiring, training, and retaining of a high quality, highly motivated sales force can provide a company with a distinctive and highly sustainable competitive advantage. The development of a high performance sales force begins with the quality targeting, recruiting, and hiring of highly competent individuals that conform and will be true to a company’s brand promise. Training the quality new hires to properly prospect, qualify, present, and close is the next stage of developing a high performance sales force. Once you have “hired” quality individuals and you have then “trained” them to perform at optimal levels, it is critical that your organization “retains” such a high performance sales force.

Nexus sales managers have VP sales force management experience with fortune 1000 companies. Our professionals will assist you in the development and management of a high quality sales force; from the design of sale force territories, to the development of high performance hiring, training, and retention systems.

Trade Show Development

Consumer/trade shows can play a very significant role in an organization’s integrated marketing program. Shows provide companies with an opportunity to showcase their product offering in front of current and potential new customers. For a show to be successful, an innovative, integrated show strategy needs to be developed and executed. The show plan needs to reflect and strengthen a company’s brand identity. Show strategy planning revolves around the following three areas:

Pre-show plan

• Developing show objectives
• Developing a show budget
• Clarifying the target market
• Developing the show “theme”, or message
• Developing an irresistible, compelling “offer”
• Developing an integrated communication plan
• Developing a public relations plan

Show Plan

• Develop a booth design that “fits” with theme and message
• Select and train the appropriate show staff
• Develop a high impact sales presentation
• Develop a high impact lead generation system
• Develop a competitive assessment plan

Post-show plan

• Develop a show debriefing plan
• Develop a post-show communication plan
• Develop a lead follow-up plan
• Quantify show results (Return on Marketing Investment ROMI)

Nexus Group’s professional team of show planners will assist you in the development and execution of a highly effective and efficient show plan; a plan that significantly improves your show’s “return on marketing investment”. Our show planners have show development experience with fortune 500 companies; they are the best in the business.

Direct Mail Programs

A well designed direct mail/email program can be powerful in its ability to target current and potential customers with a compelling offer that either generates an immediate customer buy response, or at least opens the door for a future buy. Used in conjunction with other communication vehicles such as advertising, sales, and public relations, direct mail/email can strengthen an organization’s marketing program. More importantly, the effectiveness of a direct mail/email campaign can be tracked and monitored. By testing alternative lists, offers, packages, or other elements, you can make incremental improvements in the customer response rate. An effective direct mail/email marketing piece can range from a simple post card to an elaborate package containing product samples or other promotional materials; however sophisticated, a highly-effective direct mail/email program begins with:

• Setting specific, clearly defined objectives for a highly effective direct mail program
• Clearly identifying the target audience
• Acquiring “clean” mailing lists
• Aligning direct mail strategy with brand identity
• Developing a highly relevant, differentiated, and compelling message
• Creating a powerfully stimulating package
• Developing a tracking and testing system
• Integrating the direct mail/email program with current and potential communication vehicles

Nexus direct mail/email professionals approach every campaign from a results-oriented perspective. Our professionals are prepared to listen to your needs and then develop an effective direct mail/email program that achieves your company’s marketing objectives.

E-Commerce Marketing

A company’s website can be used solely as an online web store, and/or it can be used as an information hub for current and potential customers. Fortune 500 companies are now using their websites as the central driver behind a powerfully integrated marketing program. Many questions need to be addressed before a company begins the design of an effective website; questions such as:

• Do you have a specific, clearly defined set of objectives for your website?
• Do you understand the target audience that will be viewing your website?
• Will you use font styles, colors, and designs that reinforce your brand identity?
• Will your website be scalable, can you add-on as your website grows?
• Will your website be maintained internally, or will an agency be required?
• Will your website work with dominant web browsers?
• What are the up-front and on-going costs of a powerful website?
• What level of security do you need to protect your company and customers?
• Will customers be able to easily navigate through your website?
• Will you have an on-line merchandising strategy that drives revenue?
• Will your website be search friendly?
• Will you use strategic alliances to market your website?
• Will you be able to successfully drive current and/or potential customers to your website?
• Will your website have optimal search engine positions?

Nexus Group E-commerce professionals will guide you through these questions and design a powerfully effective website for your company. More importantly, we will integrate your website with your current media communication vehicles; such an interface will strengthen your company’s message and drive traffic to your website

International Marketing

Global markets offer your organization an opportunity to grow its business exponentially.

Marketing Research

Marketing Research is the systematic and objective process of generating information to aid marketing managers make value-adding marketing decisions. Marketing research covers a wide range of phenomena that takes place in the marketing environment. Information gained from the marketing environment is used to identify and define threats, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses as they relate to growing an organization’s top-line and bottom-line. Most marketing research revolves around questions that relate to the 4C’s; the company, the customer, the competitor, the collaborators (Suppliers and Distributors); and the 4P’s: product, price, place, and promotion.

Depending on the type of information that an organization needs to generate, Nexus Group professionals may use a variety of research techniques such as focus group interviews, online surveys, mail surveys, phone surveys, and personal interviews.

Nexus Group research professionals will assist your organization in; the process of determining what marketing information is required; designing the method for collecting information; managing and implementing the collection of data; analyzing the results; and communicating the findings and their implications.