Does this sound like you?
 I work with marketing managers and executives who actively set marketing strategy for their product, service, or corporate brands.
My clients are from a range of industries — for-profit and non-profit, consumer goods, technology, real estate, healthcare, human services, and others. Most are mid-size organizations with revenues between $10MM and $500MM. I have also helped start-up organizations with experienced management. My clients operate in intensely competitive industries or rapidly changing markets.
You might be experiencing these problems, if you’re similar to my typical clients:
• You’re a marketing manager in a feisty consumer products company. You built your business on a loyal customer niche. Except lately that loyalty is looking less than rock-solid. The marketing tactics you used in the past don’t seem to be as effective as they once were, and some of your staff are pushing for price promotions to get quick sales. That just doesn’t feel like the right answer, but you aren’t sure what else to do.
• You're caught between your management and your market. Your technology product must get more profitable. Yet your brand is attacked on all sides while your sales goals keep going up. Competitors are coming out with more innovative products, bigger marketing budgets, and lower prices. And you aren't sure what your newest customers really expect. What must you offer and what is simply 'nice to have'? How can you make your product a customer magnet?
• Looking over your marketing materials from the past few years, you realize you’ve changed directions with every change in brand manager. You aren’t sure what your product or brand stands for anymore, and you wonder if your customers ever knew.
What’s more, you have a sinking feeling that if you asked your executive team why your customer buys your products, you’d get different answers from everyone. How can you connect with your customers when your team members aren't even talking the same language?
Clients are likely to be successful working with me if they are…
• Willing to consider new ways of looking at and acting in their business in order to get results.
• Passionate about contributing to the success of their organization.
• Seeking partners in the growth of their business, not an expert to provide a short-term fix and without any effort on their part.
Several beliefs underpin my work and contribute to sustainable solutions. I infuse these into every project:
The best answer is one that you’re ready and able to implement — an answer that fits your knowledge of your market, your staff’s skills and abilities, and your budget. There is no one-size-fits-all solution that works for everybody.
You must build sustainability into every action plan from the beginning.
Too many teams lose steam after a great beginning. All team members must be engaged with your market, your customer, and your environment to be able to adjust actions and stay on track.
I believe in:
• Fostering team member involvement from the first steps of the project
• Building our clients’ skills in diagnosing and marketing their businesses.
Creating solutions, not simple answers. My clients have found that quick, easy answers have failed to deliver long-term solutions. I help you develop action plans that address your marketing and organization issues while preparing your company to solve future issues on your own.
Cogentis Mini-Case Studies
Results I've helped my clients achieve...
Bio-Technology Firm
 A bio-technology firm was struggling with too many opportunities to apply their proprietary technologies.
And, as a young organization, they had too few resources to pursue all of their ideas. Senior executives had no consistent basis for voting “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on new ideas suggested by company scientists. As a result, the company’s early products were scattered across diverse industries.
We designed and launched a systematic approach for identifying, screening, and developing new opportunities. The new system, now in development, will:
• Focus the company’s resources on products with the best ROI and attractiveness to investors.
• Reduce unproductive time now spent pursuing
ideas that are not aligned with the company’s goals.
• Reduce the time, effort, and resources required to take an idea to market launch.
• Develop a consistent, fact-based approach
for evaluating and selecting market opportunities to pursue.
If you’re struggling with too many opportunities and not enough resources, I can help you build a systematic approach to make sure new opportunities for growth and profits are not slipping through your fingers.
Non-Profit
 A non-profit that creates connections between cultures through travel was struggling to reach a new level of impact.
At the same time, the group was choked by limited resources. And even more challenging, nearly half of the Board members were new. The group lacked a common picture of the organization’s goals and priorities. The staff and board needed to promote their organization more effectively, and decide where to focus their efforts for the biggest impact.
Here’s what we did:
• I worked with the founders to consolidate their goals.
• Interviewed board members for background
perspective.
• In a 1 1/2 day workshop, created a brand
identity for the organization that reflects their vision and
values. The brand identity also spelled out their key audiences
and how the organization is uniquely different from their competition.
• Made an action plan to help them align
their brand with their clients’ needs and desires. With this
alignment, they are able to refine the positioning and message
for all external communications.
As a result, board members felt they had new clarity on the non-profit’s brand and on what they deliver of most value to their clients. The non-profit is now honing their messaging with research among their different client groups.
Would all of your team members give you the same answer if you asked them to describe your brand or your business objectives? Most likely not.
Lack of deep clarity and consistency in communicating your brand can mean the difference between rowing a dinghy toward your sales objectives or having the team pull together in a racing shell.
National Specialty Hospital
A national specialty hospital was struggling to reach new consumers within its region. The hospital had been a leader in its specialty for decades. Its doctors conducted leading-edge research. The hospital was recognized worldwide.
 Yet research showed that patients and their families didn’t care about those decades of experience or the innovative research. In fact, the images themselves - not information - best described the patients’ desires.
Pictures of open air and active participation in life touched what every patient wanted – control over the health condition and freedom to enjoy life.
The hospital not only used this new understanding to overhaul their marketing, but also to re-examine how they fulfilled their service promise. Over the next five years, patient volume grew 69% from the local region.
For over 20 years, I have helped companies build deep knowledge about their customers, then tap this understanding to fuse their brands to their customers. Brands that are deeply relevant are purchased – over and over again.
Real Estate Development Company
A large real estate development company was searching for ways to make their properties stand out — and stand for something — in the minds of their leasing customers and shoppers.
 They faced two challenges; find the intersection of their company values and the desires of their leasing and retail customers, and then create the experience for their customers that best delivered that touchpoint.
The company examined trends, explored their own values, conducted customer research, and distilled their thinking. In the process, they gained a set of standards for evaluating new ways to design and merchandise their property.
The company wrapped this perspective into their advertising and promotion, and increased awareness of their brand name 3-fold in nine months.
Most managers today are data-rich and insight-poor. If you have ever wondered why all of the information you’ve mined — and bought — is not having the impact you expect, your team may benefit from a systematic approach for turning data into action plans.
Executive Team for a National Non-Profit Foundation
The executive team for a national non-profit foundation felt confident about the foundation's identity. They knew what mattered to their donors. But the foundation was struggling to gain the funds they needed to accomplish their mission.
 The
executives discovered that they disagreed on almost everything.
Their customer, their competitors, their mission, and why people
donate. Their marketing messages were mixed. Should we focus
on the miserable conditions the foundation was trying to relieve?
Or emphasize how the situation would look different when the
mission was accomplished?
We helped the client explore their donor’s motivations, and drew the learning into an executive workshop to help the team define their core brand identity.
Through research, the team learned that focusing on bad conditions was only effective if they offered a powerful solution at the same time. And, donors wouldn't even look at a fundraiser's literature that repeatedly used bleak imagery. The foundation used the results to make their marketing more effective at lower cost.
Sometimes effective marketing can be counter-intuitive. If your marketing has not been producing the results you expect, review the problems and solutions listed on the services page.
Consumer Packaged Goods Company
 A consumer packaged goods company wanted to extend a strong food brand name into a new category. The company needed to learn whether the brand name fit the new category and, if so, what products would drive consumer purchases.
We took these steps:
• Profiled the new category using existing and new information.
• Conducted research to explore customer needs and preferences.
• Identified the most preferred flavors to launch, and determined the size of the opportunity.
The company developed and launched
the product successfully, and later added more flavors to the
line. The addition of a new product line increased the presence
and visibility of the parent brand in the grocery store.
New products can be fresh water for your brand. If you would like to discuss how you can identify new opportunities, contact me.
Technology Company
A technology company was developing a new software tool. They believe that their customers made decisions based on product features, ease of implementation, technical specifications, etc.
 We explored the world of the information technology (IT) manager in depth, including probing his or her experiences with new software implementation.
The IT directors described many tough issues they face when selecting new technology for the company. But contrary to the client’s expectations, IT managers’ first concerns weren't about the features or price of the product.
They worried that a poor choice could crush their reputation among their peers. They dreaded feeling incompetent after a bad selection.
The company shifted their advertising and promotional materials to reflect their customer’s technical interests and deep motivations.
Give Linda a call today at 425.688.1125 to discuss how she might help take your company to a new level of success.
Next >> See the specific services I offer to help companies like yours reach their marketing goals…
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