Welcome to Synergy, a leader in Marketing Strategy and Research

"An organization’s brand reputation is a sacred trust with its stakeholders. Our job is to help our clients to establish, maintain, and leverage that trust in a way that creates maximum value for their customers, employees, and shareholders."
- Dr. Rachel Y. Talton, CEO of Synergy Marketing Strategy and Research, Inc.

Do You Have Synergy?

By definition, "synergy" occurs when two or more agents act together to create an effect greater than what was expected of each on its own.

Synergy Marketing Strategy and Research, Inc, an award-winning Northeast Ohio strategic marketing firm, and DecisionPoint Marketing, a leading marketing research firm in Summit County, have developed such an effect by joining forces. Together known as Synergy, our experienced team works with your company to produce unprecedented results in Stakeholder Relationship Management (SRM). We are proud to be a market leader in the stakeholder approach to strategic management.

SRM is a strategic management process with all stakeholders at the core. Our firm helps create loyal and profitable relationships with all corporate stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, strategic partners. and the community at large. Our market research targets areas that can positively impact your business. Our experts offer results-oriented advice on community relations, supplier relations, supplier diversity, training/development and much more. Synergy conducts employee surveys, focus groups, team-buiding sessions and other services to strengthen your business and your business relationships.

Synergy's new focus group facility in Fairlawn, Ohio, is a 3,600-square-foot, state-of-the-art space featuring elegant and comfortable furnishings for client viewing, wireless Internet, double-glass participant rooms and discussion rooms. Combine Synergy's SRM expertise with this top-notch facility, and you'll find all of the tools you need to ensure stakeholder satisfaction that will ultimately improve your bottom line.

At Synergy, we don't just tell others about the importance of being committed to stakeholders; we live out that belief everyday in our business relationships. Our employees and partners are part of the Synergy family. Our customers trust our commitment to the highest levels of service and quality in every project and every interaction. Our community recognizes Synergy's commitment because we give back through pro-bono work, volunteerism and investing a percentage of profits every year into local activities and organizations.

Are you ready for synergy? Learn about our talented team; hear what clients have to say about us; and discover what Synergy can do for you.

"Synergy played a key role in our brand packaging development by designing and executing a consumer research project, giving us insight into our design concept, competitive benchmarks and consumer wants and needs."

John Trenta
Product Manager
Akzo Nobel Decorative Paints, USA

Latest News

Cleveland’s New I-90 Innerbelt Bridge: ODOT Makes History With Estimated $67.5 Million in Subcontracting Opportunities for Northeast Ohio Disadvantaged Businesses

July 20, 2010

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is providing opportunities to disadvantaged businesses in Northeast Ohio for nearly $67.5 million in construction, supplies, trucking and professional services contracts. The work is for the new I-90 Innerbelt Bridge project. These business opportunities reflect a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goal of 15 percent of the estimated $450 million design-build project. In an extraordinary move, ODOT has set the aspirational DBE participation goal to $90 million, or 20 percent of the project.

Synergy CEO Recognized as One of NAWBO's Top 10 Women Business Owners in Northeast Ohio

May 10, 2010

Dr. Rachel Talton has been named a recipient of one of the Top 10 Women Business Owners of Northeast Ohio awards by the Cleveland chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).

Synergy Senior Consultant Highlight: Dr. Beth Fitz Gibbon

May 4, 2010

Dr. Beth Fitz Gibbon, a Senior Consultant with Synergy, is a practitioner in strategy, research, marketing, new business and new product development. She has consulted with and held senior management positions at Fortune 500 corporations, small and medium enterprises, and non-profits. Fitz Gibbon earned her doctorate in Business Management at Case Western Reserve University, where her research focused on the strategic outsourcing of innovation and its implications for long term competitiveness. She holds an MBA in International Marketing from Emory University and a BA in English and Psychology from Rutgers University.

Social Media: Swimming in new Marketing Waters

May 4, 2010

Social media has forever changed the way businesses market goods and services. The use of blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, video-sharing sites, Facebook, and other social networking tools is growing exponentially, with interested parties both contributing and voraciously consuming content.

With Trust as the Foundation, Here are Six Steps to Effective Collaboration

March 3, 2010

TRUST is the critical component many organizations miss when designing corporate strategy. It's one of those things we think we understand - yet we continually take it for granted. Toyota's recent woes are an important case study in the significance of building, driving, and maintaining trust in order to maintain profits. Collaborative engagement is one of the many positive deliverables gained from building trusted stakeholder relationships. One of our partners in TRUST, Christine Zust, found this piece today. Although the authors use a limited definition of trust (herein defined as "integrity," not the scientific definition of trust: i.e. competence, benevolence AND integrity), we hope you find article and the study valuable!