We are frequently asked, “Are the people who work at SwanDog consultants?” We prefer to think of ourselves as marketers who consult, rather than the other way around.

Our specialty is in business-to-business and intermediary marketing consulting. We serve only the financial services industry because that’s where our passion lies and our experience resonates. Because we believe strongly that the right solution is the one that best fits with your firm culture, everything we do is customized. No one size fits all approach here. Further, we believe that if nothing changes as a result of our involvement, you’ve just wasted your money—so we try to measure everything.

"SwanDog successfully helped our firm rethink our strategic approach to managing the numerous and highly duplicative product-driven roles across our organization. Dave came in with an innovative approach backed by best practices utilized both inside and outside the financial services industry.  With SwanDog's guidance and facilitation, we created a fully integrated, channel agnostic product organization, allowing us to effectively and consistently communicate and drive product creativity and innovation throughout our company."    

Robin Beery, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Janus Capital Group

While our consulting engagements run the gamut, they tend to fall into one of the following broad categories:

• New Business or Market Entry Strategy & Execution
• Strategic Marketing Planning including Digital Strategy Planning
• Marketing Organization Development
• Consensus Facilitation (what we call “controlled chaos”)

With our depth of experience in both marketing and senior management, we’re able to help advance even the most nuanced financial business issue toward an actionable marketing plan. And while we don’t create sales collateral, we are able to support you through our sister company, Cygnet Marketing & Communications, where you gain access to some of the best talent in the industry.

Has your marketing organization failed to keep pace with your growth? Trying to figure out how to turn six marketing plans into one? Trying to get sales and marketing on the same page? Call us for our perspective.

Brand Strategy
If only it were possible to stay #1 forever, life would be so much easier. With few exceptions however, building a competitive advantage on the back of stellar investment results simply isn’t sustainable. So how do you differentiate yourself?

We think we know. Your Brand.

Marketers have known the power of brand for more than 100 years.The biggest problem with branding is that it is too often confused with advertising and a graphic standards manual. Your brand isn’t any of those things. Your brand is who your customers (and prospects) believe you to be—the mental shorthand on which your relationship with them is built.

We help firms “discover” themselves (and their brand).

It all starts with your brand essence. Who are you? What are your beliefs? What do you do better than the next guy? Brand essence can be difficult to pinpoint because it is often so deeply ingrained in your culture that you take it for granted. Our understanding of the industry combined with our brand experience means we’re able to see nuance and subtlety that is brand defining but might be lost on a traditional agency. Then we help build a plan for bringing it to life.

We connect your Brand through value-added program execution.

Millions of dollars are spent each year developing value-added programs. Our research makes clear that these programs are highly valued, offering “access and opportunity” for your sales force. We’ve seen, however, that most of these programs fail to have any connection to the firm’s brand. Those programs that deliver the greatest impact are those that feed off the firm’s brand message and subject matter expertise.

Who are you? Who...Who...Who, Who? Do you really want to know? Call us.

In homage to one of our favorite bands, The Who. (Of course!)