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New Market Entry Analysis & Strategy

The Challenge

A premiere independent think tank with a gold-plated brand for providing objective analysis, primarily for federal government departments and agencies, wanted to assess its market potential as a management consultant to the private sector and develop a positioning and marketing strategy for entry.

The Approach

  1. ViaNovo conducted approximately 20 internal in-depth interviews with the think tank's senior leaders to understand its organizational structure, culture, capabilities and potential service offerings for private sector clients.
  2. Our team then conducted approximately 25 external in-depth interviews with Fortune 500 C-level executives and consulting industry thought leaders to assess the private sector market for analytical consulting services; potential clients' perceptions of the think tank and of other competitors; and corporate internal decision-making processes and external sources of influence as they related to the procurement of analytical consulting services.
  3. We also performed extensive secondary research of the private consulting space to develop a complete picture of the situation facing the think tank - this included a competitive benchmark analysis and best practices marketing study.
  4. Our team then analyzed the research and identified key insights, including critical challenges the think tank would need to overcome, capabilities it would need to build and strengths it could leverage to enter the market. One of the key insights was that marketing consulting services to the private sector is not a matter of traditional "advertising" or "outreach" nor is having smart people a differentiator.
  5. Finally, we put together a realistic five-step go-forward plan for market entry, including key considerations for each step.

The Outcome

ViaNovo concluded the engagement by presenting our research findings, insights and recommendations to the think tank's CEO and leadership team. Our analysis led them to re-think their strategy and timing for entering the management consulting market and instead focus their resources on other revenue opportunities.