We believe that research is the rock on which all successful strategic planning activities must be firmly anchored. Without reliable research, you will find yourself making decisions based on educated guesswork rather than real knowledge.

Balfour Consulting will analyse the current levels of information within your organisation and develop a research program appropriate to your needs and your budget. Balfour Consulting uses computer-based survey systems combined with sophisticated analysis programs to extract and analyse data. We also have extensive experience in conducting focus groups and undertaking one-on-one interviews. We provide experience and analytical skills, along with input from associates as required, to consistently deliver the best available information and advice to form the basis of your planning processes. Remember, the cost of good research is never as expensive as the cost of bad decisions.

For an organisation to work effectively with a particular community, it must have carefully developed consultation and communication strategy. This will ensure increased understanding of community needs and aspirations, effective communications and feedback, identification of the key influencers within that community, possible objections or antagonists towards the organisation or the projects it seeks to implement and possible protagonists who will provide support and access.

Too often projects get bogged down in conflicts that could have been avoided - or at least managed - had proper consultation and effective communication being undertaken before and during implementation of the project. The aim should be to ensure effective communication and participation that leads to outcomes that satisfy the majority of stakeholders.

Balfour Consulting has received both national and international recognition for its community consultation skills and activities, working with private and public sector organisations to implement projects within communities. Mary Balfour is also a member of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2).

So many organisations know what they want to say and to whom they want to say it, yet fail in attempting to bring the two together. At an organisational level, effective communications are based on properly developed strategies aimed at achieving clearly defined objectives. At a marketing level, communications are part of the news, not the commercial, and are therefore a critical part of the marketing mix as they lend third-party credibility to your message.

Balfour Consulting will develop a communications program based on your organisational objectives and tailored to meet your specific needs, from a single product launch to an ongoing program of community relations or issues management. We believe a good communications program is an invaluable tool in reinforcing and communicating your key messages, organisational image or product benefits in the marketplace.

The marketplace may include the media, the public, special interest groups, your employees, partner organisations, government or other identified target audiences. Balfour Consulting will ensure that your communications program works in concert with your advertising/marketing program to increase the impact and increase the benefits.

Communications planning is an essential part of awareness campaigns, attitudinal programs, community consultation and crisis management, as well as government, employee and media relations programs. Balfour Consulting has extensive hands-on experience in these areas, as well as in community and stakeholder consultation.

A brand is the sum of the tangible and intangible benefits provided by a product or service and encompasses the entire customer experience. Brands are thus pivotal to the relationship between companies and their customers. A successful brand has both a unique point of differentiation from the competition, and values that the customer segment really wants.

Brands offer customers a strong promise of authenticity and consistency. Without these, customer decision-making becomes at best a lottery and at worst a nightmare of choice. This promise is more than an aid to decision making because it actually creates value in its own right, by enhancing the experience of owning or using the product or service

In developing a brand strategy, Balfour Consulting will undertake an in-depth analysis of your brand, its core attributes and the benefits it delivers to your customers. From this we will clearly define the values that underpin your brand internally and externally, how should be positioned in the marketplace and the key messages to support that position.

Balfour Consulting develops marketing planning processes to define a set of core strategies that will apply your brand strategy across all areas of your business to achieve business and organisational objectives. The strategic approach is supplemented with implementation planning to ensure all marketing activities are undertaken in a timely and effective manner with all outcomes carefully measured against pre-set targets.

All marketing activities must be measured against pre-set criteria to ensure you are achieving the results you want and spending your marketing budget effectively.