How Thomas Marketing Solutions Builds Strategy Before Spending

Thomas Marketing Solutions provides research, strategy, execution, and communication services. Its approach begins with the result that the client wants to achieve.

The company does not begin by creating a media plan. It first defines what success means for the client. It then identifies the obstacle, finds the client’s advantage, and builds a plan around that information.

This approach follows three principles:

• Strategy Before Spending: The company defines the result before recommending a media plan or assigning the budget.
• Clear Positioning: It helps the client create a message that team members and audiences can understand and repeat.
• Marketing That Wins: It measures marketing by the result that the client named, such as votes, clients, market share, or trust.

These principles help Thomas Marketing Solutions connect each activity and expense to a clear goal.

Sam Thomas founded Thomas Marketing Solutions. According to the company website, he studies, teaches, and applies strategy. His background includes strategic communication, political consulting, ministry leadership, higher education, media, and business. He also works as a strategic communication professor.

At Thomas Marketing Solutions, Thomas uses this experience to understand who matters to a client, what the audience needs to hear, and what may move people to act. The company summarizes its goal in three parts: find the advantage, build the plan, and put the plan to work.

Thomas Marketing Solutions lists eight services on its website. Each service begins with the same question: What does the work need to accomplish? A client may need one service or several services. The right combination depends on the client’s goal, audience, budget, and situation.

Strategic Marketing

Thomas Marketing Solutions builds strategic marketing plans around the client’s actual advantage. The company does not begin with a media budget and then select activities to fill it. Instead, it gives each part of the budget a defined purpose. This approach helps connect the client’s message, channels, and spending to the result identified at the start.

The need for a clear goal also applies when a company considers new tools. The American Wired guide to AI for small businesses explains why owners should define the task they need to improve before comparing products or investing in new systems.

Political Consulting

The company provides political consulting for candidates and committees. Its services cover campaign messages, audience targeting, and rapid responses. Political campaigns operate under election deadlines and may need to respond quickly to new events. Thomas Marketing Solutions develops political strategy for the pace and pressure of a campaign.

Political consulting is only one part of its work. The company also serves businesses, nonprofits, professional service firms, healthcare organizations, and other clients.

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning gives an audience a clear answer to “why you.” Thomas Marketing Solutions helps clients identify and explain the advantage that separates them from other choices. The company aims to make the position clear enough to express in one line. A simple position can help team members describe the organization consistently.

In general, clear positioning can also guide website copy, public statements, sales materials, advertisements, and other communication. These are common applications of brand positioning, but the exact materials included in a TMS engagement depend on the project.

Campaign Planning

Thomas Marketing Solutions develops sequenced timelines and budgets. The company connects each campaign activity to the result identified at the beginning of the engagement. A sequenced plan shows when the team should complete each activity and how one step supports the next. It also helps connect the current work to the larger campaign goal.

The exact activities and timeline depend on the type of campaign and the result the client wants to achieve.

Media Buying

Thomas Marketing Solutions provides media buying based on a placement’s ability to reach the intended audience. The company does not select a placement only because it shows the largest number on a rate card. It considers whether that placement can reach the right people.

A smaller audience may provide more value when it includes the people who can help produce the client’s desired result. The exact channels used in a media plan depend on the client and project.

Research

The company lists polling, opposition research, and audience insight among its research services. It uses research to understand what the audience believes instead of relying only on assumptions.

The type of research depends on the project. For example, polling can help measure opinions among a defined group. Audience insight can help a client understand the people it needs to reach. Opposition research can provide relevant information within a political campaign.

Depending on the project, research may help an organization consider questions such as:

• What does the audience already know?
• Which concerns affect its decisions?
• What prevents it from taking action?
• Which parts of the message need clarification?
• Which advantage matters most to the audience?

These questions provide general examples of how organizations may use research. Thomas Marketing Solutions determines the specific research needs for each engagement.

Communication Strategy

Thomas Marketing Solutions helps clients maintain one consistent voice across different channels. The company adjusts the message for the audience while protecting the client’s main position. A communication strategy identifies what the organization needs to say and who needs to hear it. It can also help team members communicate the same main idea. The company describes this service as a way to keep the client’s message consistent under the pressure of a news cycle.

Digital Marketing

Thomas Marketing Solutions provides web, social, and paid digital marketing. The company uses these channels to turn attention into action instead of treating impressions as the final result. The specific action depends on what the client wants to accomplish. TMS first defines that result and then connects its digital work to it.

Companies also need to protect the systems and accounts connected to their digital work. The American Wired guide to small business cybersecurity explains how account controls, updates, employee training, and vendor reviews can reduce common risks.

The Thomas Marketing Solutions website describes a six-step process. The company follows the steps in order because each one informs the next.

1. Name the Outcome

Thomas Marketing Solutions first defines what success means for the client. The company describes the outcome in specific and measurable terms before it recommends a tactic. The result will differ by project. The company gives votes, qualified leads, share of voice, retained clients, market share, and trust as examples of outcomes or measures. A defined outcome gives the company a clear basis for building the plan and measuring the work.

2. Find the Obstacle

The company identifies what stands between the client and the desired result. It looks beyond the symptoms that the client has already noticed. For example, an organization may know that its current marketing is not producing enough results. The strategy process must identify the reason before the team selects a solution. Thomas Marketing Solutions uses this step to define the problem that the plan needs to address.

3. Find the Advantage

The company states that every client has an advantage. It identifies that advantage and makes it central to the strategy. An advantage gives the audience a reason to pay attention, trust the message, or choose the client. The specific advantage depends on the client and its situation. Thomas Marketing Solutions does not treat the advantage as a minor detail. It uses it to guide the client’s position and plan.

4. Build the Plan

Thomas Marketing Solutions creates a sequenced and budgeted plan. The plan connects each channel and expense to the outcome defined during the first step. This connection helps the client understand why the company recommends each activity. It also gives the team a clear order for the work. The plan depends on the findings from the first three steps. Thomas Marketing Solutions does not skip directly to tactics.

5. Put the Plan to Work

We carry out the approved plan according to the schedule, message, and budget. The work during this step depends on the services included in the engagement. It may involve research, communication, media, digital marketing, or other approved activities. The company states that it applies the same discipline to execution that it used during planning.

6. Learn and Adjust

We track work against the results that matter to the client. The company can adjust the plan while the project is active instead of waiting until the end. A change may involve the message, timing, channel, or another part of the plan. This final step keeps the work connected to current information and the outcome defined at the start.

The company says the first step for a potential client is a conversation, not a sales pitch. This conversation covers what the client wants to accomplish and whether Thomas Marketing Solutions is the right company to help.

The project scope depends on the outcome and the work required to support it. Thomas Marketing Solutions works with organizations at different scales, from growing local businesses to statewide political campaigns. The company does not publish one fixed minimum budget. It first defines what the desired result requires and then explains the cost.

Project length also depends on the type of work:

• A political campaign follows an election calendar.
• A brand-positioning project may take six to eight weeks.
• An ongoing marketing service may continue as long as it provides enough value to justify its place.

Based on the company’s published process, an engagement focuses on defining the result, identifying the obstacle, finding the advantage, building the plan, carrying out the work, and adjusting it when needed. The website does not publish one standard package or timeline for every client.

Thomas Marketing Solutions serves several industries. The company states that the right message for one industry may not work for another. It changes its strategy based on the needs of the client’s category.

Political Campaigns

We provide message discipline and rapid response for candidates and committees working under election deadlines.

Nonprofits and Advocacy Organizations

The company provides positioning and outreach for organizations that want to affect public opinion or policy.

Professional Services

Thomas Marketing Solutions works with legal, financial, consulting, and other professional service firms. These organizations often depend on trust when they present their services to potential clients.

Healthcare and Wellness

The company provides clear communication for healthcare and wellness organizations that serve patients directly. Trust and clarity play an important role in this field.

Real Estate

Thomas Marketing Solutions lists real estate among the industries it serves. The specific strategy depends on the client, intended audience, market, and desired result.

Financial Services

The company also works with financial service organizations. The website does not publish a standard plan for the industry, so services and theprocess depend on each engagement.

Higher Education

Higher education is another industry listed by Thomas Marketing Solutions. The company can adjust its strategy based on the institution’s audience and goal.

Consumer Brands

Thomas Marketing Solutions also works with consumer brands. The specific research, positioning, media, or digital services depend on what the brand needs to accomplish.

Thomas Marketing Solutions measures its work against the outcome defined at the start of the engagement.

The company does not use the same measure for every project. The right measure depends on the client and its goal.

The company gives these examples:

• Votes
• Qualified leads
• Share of voice
• Retained clients
• Market share
• Trust

Clicks, impressions, and website visits may help a team understand how people respond to a campaign. However, Thomas Marketing Solutions focuses on whether the work supports the result that the client identified.

The company defines the measures at the beginning instead of selecting them after the work ends.

A potential client can begin by identifying what the organization needs to accomplish. Thomas Marketing Solutions may be a suitable option when a client needs help connecting a goal with research, positioning, planning, communication, media, or digital marketing.

Before contacting the company, you may consider these questions:

• What result does your organization need?
• Who does your organization need to reach?
• What prevents that audience from acting?
• What makes your organization different?
• Which marketing activities has your team already tried?
• What timeline and budget can your organization support?
• Does your team need strategy, execution, or both?
• How will your organization measure the result?

These are general questions that can help you prepare for a marketing consultation. They are not presented as an official TMS intake form.

You do not need to have every answer before the first conversation. However, clear information about your goal and current challenge can help both parties decide whether the company’s approach fits your needs.

American Wired provides more coverage of technology, artificial intelligence, and business for organizations evaluating new tools, services, and industry changes.

Thomas Marketing Solutions helps clients define the result before they choose marketing activities or assign a budget. Its services bring research, positioning, planning, communication, media, and digital marketing together to achieve that result.

Visit the Thomas Marketing Solutions website to review its services, industries, and six-step process. You can also contact the company to discuss your goal and determine whether its strategy-first approach fits your needs.

Written by

American Wired Editorial Team

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The American Wired Editorial Team delivers trusted coverage of technology, business, AI, and innovation with a commitment to accuracy, insight, and relevance.