The Minnesota Independent School Forum, a consortium of 37 of Minnesota's finest private schools, has retained McVey Marketing Inc. to provide communications and public affairs consulting services. The firm is assisting MISF and a new organization, Coalition for Kids, with creating a brand and visual identity, as well as providing strategic communications and public affairs counsel and services. The Coalition for Kids represents more than a dozen member organizations, including MISF, the Minnesota Business Partnership, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota Catholic Conference and other supporters of K-12 education.

The Minnesota Independent School Forum represents many of Minnesota's largest private, parochial and independent schools, including Cretin-Derham Hall, Minnehaha Academy and Hill-Murray. McVey Marketing Inc. is proud to be working with these new clients in building their brands and developing communications strategies and tactics that support the improvement of K-12 education in Minnesota.

McVey Marketing Inc. recently completed a consulting engagement with Minneapolis Community and Technical College, one of Minnesota's largest and most diverse two-year colleges. The firm's work for the college included completing a comprehensive marketing and communications audit, as well as developing strategic recommendations for the future. A testimonial from MCTC Director of Marketing and Public Relations Ann Freeman about the college's work with McVey Marketing is now available on the firm's web site.

How to select a marketing consultant
So you think your organization may need the assistance of an outside consultant to position and build its brand, or perhaps to freshen or reposition its brand within a changing marketplace. How do you decide which firm is the best fit for your needs? Some consulting firms will start by asking, "What's your budget?" And that's the lens they will use to begin viewing and evaluating your needs. McVey Marketing Inc. believes the best starting point is an open, candid conversation about how your organization is currently positioned in the marketplace, where it wants to be positioned in the future, barriers to achieving that stronger brand position, and the key steps that must occur to make it happen. Sure, at some point, we'll want to talk about budget, but that comes later. And when we do, we'll talk more about investments and returns rather than costs. For example, what would be the return on investment for your organization if it was able to increase name recognition by 20 percent, raise market share by 10 percent, or boost customer retention by 15 percent? Then we really have something to talk about.

Other issues to consider when selecting a marketing and brand consultant: Do you want to work with a small firm or do you need the services of a larger, one-stop-shop? Do you want to work with someone on a one-time project basis, or would you prefer more of an ongoing relationship based on a monthly or annual retainer? What type of experience does the consulting firm have, what value do they offer, and how will we know if the engagement has been successful?

Don't confuse strategy and tactics
It's not unusual to sit across from a client and hear them say that they want to hire a consultant to help improve their marketing strategy by developing a new direct marketing campaign, logo, brochure, media relations campaign, etc. These marketing activities are examples of marketing tactics, not strategies. Marketing strategies are a set of planned objectives to achieve marketing and business goals, and that effectively deploy marketing tactics and resources to achieve results. Marketing strategies should align with and support broader organizational goals. McVey Marketing Inc. believes there are five key components to a well-defined marketing strategy: scope, goals and objectives, resource allocation, identification of a key competitive advantage, and synergy with the organization and its other products or services. To improve an organization's marketing effectiveness and brand, it's best to first focus on strategies. After all, if your strategies aren't right, even the best award-winning tactics won't achieve the desired result. It's like the old saying: Ready, Aim, Fire is always better than Ready, Fire, Aim.

How to profit from brand proliferation
A recent issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, published by McKinsey and Company, included a helpful article about how marketers can profit from proliferation: that is, the explosion of new customer segments, sales and service channels, media, marketing tactics, and brands. To succeed in this environment, the article's authors stress the importance of becoming more sophisticated at prioritizing opportunities and allocating resources while increasing the consistency and coordination of marketing execution. And the need for profound changes in marketing strategy and execution also calls for new roles, responsibilities and capabilities inside organizations and their marketing operations.