Business Strategy & Brand Consulting for NZ Business Owners.
Opportunity or challenge? Develop your direction before you invest.
When facing critical business decisions, your brand strategy determines your commercial advantage.
I work alongside you to shape your strategic thinking that aligns your business decisions, offer, and market positioning.
Understand where your business may have strategic gaps.
A short assessment of your business, your offer and your customers.
★★★★★
30 years. 300+ businesses. Practical commercial methodology.
✔ Understand what your customers value and why they choose.
✔ Develop an offer that gives a reason to choose your business.
✔ Make informed strategic decisions about your business.
Specialist strategic consulting.
Drawing on more than 30 years of commercial experience, specialist knowledge of brand strategy and the Strategy. Brand. Asset. methodology.
You may already be working with a business consultant, coach or marketing adviser. Their work may address many aspects of your business, but your particular challenge may also require specialist brand strategy knowledge.
I help you develop and test the decisions your business needs, so you understand the direction and can use it to progress your business planning. You retain ownership of the decisions and how they are applied.
The aim is to have the strategic thinking in place before decisions are passed to marketing, design or creative suppliers.
The strategic role of your brand
Your brand influences how customers understand your business, the value you offer and why they should choose you.
These are important business considerations. They affect your market position, your offer and the experience customers have with your business.
Brand strategy provides a framework for examining these relationships and understanding how they influence your business decisions.
Start with Strategic Insight
Understand the gap between what you believe your customers experience and what they may actually experience.
As a business owner, you have a view of what your business offers, who it serves and what customers receive from it. How closely does that view match your customer’s experience?
Complimentary Strategic Insight is a short diagnostic that asks questions about your business, your offer and your customers. Your answers help identify potential gaps between your assumptions and what your customers may actually be experiencing and understanding.
This is an initial examination, not a complete business diagnosis. It helps identify where further strategic examination may be worthwhile.
If you decide to engage Flying Lizard for consulting, Strategic Insight is the starting point for that process.
Take Your Strategic Insight.
Answer a short series of questions about your business. Your report will identify potential gaps and indicate where further strategic examination could help.
Meet Dayne Smith
Business consultant, specialising in strategic brand thinking.
I‘m the founder of Flying Lizard. With more than 35 years’ experience across New Zealand and London. My specialty is strategic brand thinking.
Today, I work directly with business owners, applying commercial experience, specialist knowledge and professional judgement to the questions and decisions they need to address.
A career helping enterprise to individuals:
Ogivly One · EDS · Abbey National · Cato · Harrods Marketing · Mainland Poultry · NHNZ · Waitaki Tourisim · University of Otago · Tai Chi Chuan School · Angow Motors · Rainbow Confectionery · Diamond Fusion · Snowlo
What clients & third-party endorsements say about the work
Clearer direction. Stronger positioning. A better basis for decisions.
★★★★★
Exceptional strategic results that brought innovation and direction
“The results have been exceptional. Dayne brings innovation and clarity to every project.”
Michael Greenslade, Trade Commissioner, NZ Pacific.
★★★★★
Understanding a new business position
“It was a good experience, and the excitement of starting a business becomes even more so, once you see your company brand come to life.“
Liz Williams, Co-Founder, The Pod Rental Company, NZ.
★★★★★
Bringing strategic discipline to the work
“I have worked with Dayne for many years, in my opinion, regardless of size or scope of project, the work is unparalleled.”
Jason Gaskill, Business Advisor, United States.
The examples of work and client feedback provide an indication of the experience, judgement and practical contribution behind the consulting. Each engagement responds to the particular circumstances and questions of that business. The work and outcomes are not assumed to be identical.
Strategy in practice
Strategic thinking applied to business.
My work has involved businesses across tourism, manufacturing, retail, property, technology and professional services. See how strategic thinking has been applied to different business circumstances, including the questions, work and outcomes involved.
Just some of the strategic work from New Zealand, Australia and the UK, click a logo and review.
FAQs, questions business owners often ask
Relevant answers to help you take the next step.
What does Flying Lizard do?
Flying Lizard provides specialist business consulting, with brand strategy as its area of expertise. Dayne Smith works with business owners to examine important business questions involving their customers, their offer and the direction of their business. Using more than 30 years of commercial experience and the Strategy. Brand. Asset. methodology, he guides owners through the strategic thinking needed to make informed business decisions.
What kind of business problems can you help me work through?
Dayne helps business owners examine questions about who their business needs to serve, what customers understand about their products or services, how their offer meets customer needs and whether their current business and marketing decisions are strategically justified. This includes identifying gaps between what an owner believes their customers experience and what customers are likely to experience.
What will I be able to do after working with Flying Lizard?
You will have the understanding needed to make informed strategic decisions about your customers, your offer and the direction of your business. You will be better equipped to identify which customers you need to reach, what they need to understand about your offer and what business and marketing activities are justified by those decisions.
How do I know when the consulting work is complete?
The work is complete when you have examined the relevant issues, tested the assumptions behind possible decisions and developed an informed decision about how to address the original business question or strategic gap. Your decisions and the thinking behind them are captured in an originating working document that provides a lasting reference for future business planning and implementation.
Do you make the strategic decisions for me?
No. Your business decisions remain yours. Dayne provides specialist knowledge, commercial experience, professional judgement and structured questioning to help you examine the issues, challenge assumptions and understand the implications of possible decisions. You develop the understanding needed to decide what is right for your business.
What do I receive from a consulting engagement?
You receive direct strategic guidance throughout the consulting process and an originating working document containing the examination, supporting information and strategic decisions developed during the engagement. This document provides an enduring reference for your business and gives employees and external suppliers the strategic direction they need to carry out subsequent work.
Do I need to understand brand strategy before engaging?
No. You need a business question, challenge or opportunity that deserves attention. Dayne applies his specialist brand strategy knowledge through the Strategy. Brand. Asset. methodology and explains the relevant principles as they apply to your business. You do not need prior knowledge of brand strategy to participate.
What is the first step?
Begin with complimentary Strategic Insight. It is a short diagnostic that examines the relationship between what you believe your business offers and what your customers are likely to understand and experience. Your responses generate a report identifying potential gaps and indicating where specialist consulting could help. If you decide to proceed, the next step is to engage the consulting service.
Flying Lizard | Dayne Smith | Wellington & online worldwide.