We always begin by listening.

How We Work

We believe in close, adaptive partnerships with clients – respecting internal expertise while contributing experience and a keen objective viewpoint.

Every good client relationship begins with a strong foundation built by listening to the needs and wants of organizational stakeholders. At GKS Consulting, we begin every project by listening to members of your key audiences to develop a picture of who you are and where you want your organization to be. We identify your marketing challenges and start building smart, actionable solutions to help you grow. We believe in close, adaptive partnerships with clients and we understand that managing change is a big part of your job—and ours.

That’s why we don’t stop at execution. We bring extensive insight and experience to each project we do. We are deadline-focused and we respond thoughtfully to economic and marketing realities during what we hope will be a long and fruitful relationship over the life of your campaign, strategy or brand.

Building strong client teams

Working with GKS Consulting includes access to Gail’s considerable network of collaborators. Drawing from a diverse cadre of professionals in areas including design and writing, website development, strategic planning and data analysis, Gail will put together a team that best matches each client’s and project’s needs. And, as a client, you benefit by only engaging these additional resources as needed and only for the work they do for you.

What We Do

Our services:

Actionable market research

Qualitative and quantitative research that brings insight to essential business questions.
• Identifying optimal audiences and personas
• Determining relevant audience segments
• Distinguishing client value propositions within competitive context
• Deriving benefits from client offerings
• Understanding the effectiveness of messages and communications strategies
• Informing key business decisions

Integrating customer voice into our marketing

Articulation of brand identity and effective core messages

• Creation of consistent and coherent language that aligns organizational business objectives with audience wants and needs
• Testing messages and possible creative executions

Recognition of the complexity of organizations and audiences

Development of marketing plans and strategies

Effective marketing plans include:
• Review of organizational objectives and current situation
• Identification of strategies and tactics that can be implemented within manageable budgets and timeline
• Provide context that measures the effectiveness of each strategy

As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any old road will get you there.”

Who We Work With

Our work centers in three markets where we work independently or in partnership with agencies. They are:

Nonprofit Organizations

Whether the need is for membership development, brand platform creation or advancement initiatives, we understand the world of nonprofit organizations. We gather intelligence from target audiences to devise solutions that meet specific goals in membership, fundraising and beyond.

Insight comes from getting to know who your constituencies are, what motivates them and what they think of you. We listen to your various audiences inside and outside your organization to build perception, loyalty and support.

Our goal: To help you grow.

Education

Educational institutions face distinctive challenges that reflect their diversity and complexity. Whether the need is identifying students who fit with your mission, building loyalty and engagement among parents and alumni or creating compelling messages, we begin with a thorough understanding of your institution’s particular opportunities and challenges. The insight we gather helps us create solutions in outreach, communications and programs and services that are most appropriate to your institution.

Our experience spans an impressive range of colleges and universities with their own unique profiles and needs. We are equally at home working for independent and parochial schools. Our higher education experience covers schools of all sizes and programs that serve undergraduates, graduate students or mid-career adult learners.

Our goal: To help you build a stronger, more distinctive institution.

Service-Based Businesses

We turn reputational assets into marketing assets. We know that law firms, medical practices, accounting, architecture and insurance firms do very different things. But they all have one thing in common—no service firm survives without a close, long-term relationship with clients who are there for specific strengths. We identify those strengths, suggest new opportunities and help you keep clients old and new in the fold.

Our goal: To help you transform your reputation into a brand.