Serving the Christian Market Since 1968

14732 Middle Point Road Van Wert, Ohio 45891 - 419.238.4082

Does Your Marketing Strategy Fit Today’s

Christian Market Channel?

Formal strategic planning, including marketing strategies, became popular first with big companies in the 1960s, after a decade characterized by stable interest rates, predictable (and primarily domestic) competition, long product life cycles, and, relative to today, slow rates of change in most industries. Traditional strategic planning was probably appropriate in that environment.

But today, traditional strategic planning and marketing may sometimes cost companies more than it contributes. More importantly, they often get in the way of real work -- especially in small to midsize businesses, where quick adaptation is the key to survival.

That kind of strategic planning and marketing may be dead, but strategy has never been more important!

Objective: Increase your profits through insuring your marketing strategies are ideally suited to the product and its primary and secondary target audiences.

Core Strategy: In 2005 marketing strategy needs to better reflect the realities of today's volatile and hypercompetitive markets, dizzying product life cycles, and increased globalization. In conducting a Marketing Strategy Audit I will review and evaluate all key components of each selected product or product line and related marketing plans, publicity, sales and marketing resources to determine if they are effectively accomplishing the above objective.

Scope of Service:

1. Physically review each qualifying product and all related sales, marketing, promotional and publicity efforts and/or plans to date.

2. Meet with every staff decision maker who has a stake in the creative marketing process.

3. Create a Marketing Strategy Task Force comprised of the people most capable of contributing to the strategy of a new initiative. Include some promising people from the middle of the enterprise -- sales people, product-development folks, financial analysts -- and the discussions get interesting. And usually, out-of-the-box thinking increases.

4. Conduct a Marketing Strategy Retreat with the task force (typically 1 to 3 days in an away-from-the-office environment).

5. The goal of the retreat is to come away with a full-blown marketing strategy that is already ‘owned’ by the key people who will be handling the actual implementation. An added plus is increased harmony and team-spirit among the task force members.

Strategic Marketing Plan: I will take away all my observations and our mutual meeting notes and deliver a written detailed summary within 12 to 18 days. It will literally serve as a blueprint for successfully and cost effectively marketing the selected product and/or product line.

Subsequent follow-up meetings to make fine-tuning adjustments to the plan and to monitor and measure results may be recommended, but if feasible, these aspects can be adequately handled via phone and e-mail.

Cost & Terms: Typically an on-site meeting, task force retreat and  the subsequent summary plan as described above will require 45-80 hours @ $150 per hour plus expenses. I’ll be happy to provide you a specific project proposal upon request. With a Marketing Strategy Audit agreement, I am willing to reduce my hourly rate to $125 per hour plus expenses for subsequent ongoing future or follow-up counsel—logged in tenth hour increments. Invoices are issued at the end of the month for all time and expenses incurred that month and are payable upon receipt.

Unless something unforeseen arises, I am also willing to commit to not exceeding a 60 hours billing amount for the assessment and analysis, even if the actual time required is more. If it is less than 60 hours, I will only invoice you for the actual time involved.

I look forward to the possibility of serving Him through serving you!

Gary D. Foster Consulting

Helping Christian ministries & product companies discover new revenue streams and to better leverage existing ones.