Testimonials for Maestro Strategic Marketing

From the time I started my business, all I was focused on was making more income each year. After six years, I still had no plan for future growth. Joan Wackell of Maestro Strategic Marketing helped me to define my market and to set realistic goals for establishing new client / sales relationships. She encouraged me to prioritize and to set up a plan that I could follow. One of the recommendations was to rename my business to better brand my company. I was a little nervous at first-I wasn't sure how she could know my business well enough to serve me. But Joan did her research thoroughly and got to know my industry very well. I was very pleased with her recommendations.

I look at the marketing plan now as my business template. Joan put it together in a concise, user-friendly, approachable format that I can continue to follow as my business grows. She made me realize that I have a viable business, one that I can really cultivate. It's all too easy to go along without stopping to take a look at the business. Working with Joan made me realize that my business was successful, and I had to start acting like a successful business owner.

Maestro is extremely professional. Joan kept me on track and focused on my goals and timelines. Maestro Strategic Marketing definitely meets the marketing needs of the small and growing businesses.

Tobe Gerard
Tobe Gerard Insurance

I'm on the marketing / sales side of a regional business journal publication. I've worked with Joan Wackell at Maestro Strategic Marketing for the last five years. Several of her clients have placed ads in our paper.

I've enjoyed working with Joan. She is both a dedicated professional and a staunch advocate for her clients. Joan is articulate and able to clearly state what her clients' needs and goals are. She is open minded and willing to consider my suggestions for ad placement in our publication.

Working with an agency like Maestro Strategic Marketing, and Joan in particular, guarantees professional and personable service. She provides the entire strategic marketing package, from planning and branding to advertising and public relations. I highly recommend Maestro and Joan to any advertiser who is looking for an agency to meet their marketing needs.

From my perspective, it's great to work with Joan because she's a hands-on, detail oriented person who has her clients' best interests at heart. I know my job will be that much easier when Joan's on board.

Bonnie Leroux
Worcester Business Journal

Joan Wackell of Maestro Strategic Marketing does what I don't have time to do. Her help is invaluable as I grow my business from word-of-mouth to strategically targeting new customers.

In years past, I would have fabulous ideas but they never got implemented because I didn't have the time. Joan's greatest value to me has been her ability to get the job done.

Also, I'm a salesman, not a marketing guru. Joan has the knowledge to tell me what would be the most cost effective solutions for what I'm trying to accomplish. If I tell her my budget, she lets me know what we can accomplish and what we can't. Her second strength, then, is her skill at knowing what is practical and what is not.

For example, we put together a direct mail piece to target new customers. Joan directly influenced what should go on the piece and where we should send it. It was extremely successful, with a 3% return. I gained 600 new customers from that one mailing. Our sales for that month were up 25% from the year before.

Joan has done all the legwork necessary for us to develop a marketing plan-something I've been talking about for years but never got done. Now what I have is someone kicking me to do the things I said I was going to do.

Joan can take credit for taking my business from word-of-mouth only, to the next level. She devised a public relations strategy that got my business in the newspapers and is working with us on our 60th anniversary celebration. Maetro's experience, expertise and execution are invaluable to Debsan's ongoing success.

If you want to take your business to the next level, you'll need somebody as good as Joan Wackell, because no business owner has the time to do this himself.

Ben Greenberg
Debsan the Decorating Store

Take a start up nonprofit organization, 16 different members of the board, and a small, but-talented professional staff being pulled in several directions, and you get an organization with lots of potential in desperate need of strategic focus. Joan Wackell, owner of Maestro Strategic Marketing, took a thorough look at our agency, identified its strengths and marketing challenges, and came up with a concrete plan to establish the organization as the industry leader that it could be.

Joan helped the board members face the "elephant in the room," the difficult identity issue that continually arose as an obstacle to moving the organization forward. She laid out a clear path to solidify the agency's identity, from simple organization presentation formats, to public relations advice and media placement, to high-impact measures that would stake out our agency's unique area of expertise.

The organization has grown by leaps and bounds with the help of Joan's strategic marketing analysis, and is well positioned to stand firmly on its own as it moves into its next phase of development. Joan worked thoughtfully, yet assertively, through all aspects of the plan development and presentation. I'd be happy to recommend Maestro Strategic Marketing to others.

Susan E.W. Spencer, (Former) Director
Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce
Education Foundation, Inc.
Whitinsville, MA