BE KNOWN FOR GOOD

A sense of purpose. A plan for profit.

Marketing that Matters partners with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that are helping our world—whether it’s their singular mission or secondary endeavor.

We believe a worthwhile purpose can yield great results AND have powerful impact, and we work to maximize both in everything we do.

Marketing that Matters builds enduring brands by wrapping impactful creative around smart strategy. At the same time, we help you envision, build, manage, live, and protect your brand—your most valuable asset. So you turn a profit. Change the world. Or both.

Branding

• Brand Strategy & Development
• Rebranding
• Positioning, Brand Narrative & Messaging
• Naming & Taglines
• Brand Identities – Logo & Visual Identity
• Brand Implementation
• Living the Brand Workshops & Training

Strategy

• Communications & Marketing Audits
• Customer/Stakeholder & Market Research
• Communications Strategy & Plans
• Marketing Strategy & Plans
• Content Marketing Strategy
• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Event Marketing & Planning
• New Product or Service Launch
• PR Strategy and Media Outreach

YOUR BRAND CHAMPION

Marketing that Matters is both the consultancy of Founder and CEO Lori Schaefer and a “virtual” agency. We gather teams of top talent uniquely suited to address your integrate communications or marketing challenges. Then our team becomes your strategic and creative partner…your brand champion.

What unites us is that we all seek to use our talents for good. We’re entrepreneurial and enthusiastic in our approach. We know resources are tight and we pride ourselves on giving you plenty of bang for your buck. Our work is strategic first, then creative and impactful. We believe in purpose and profit. We’re relationship ready and results obsessed.

It’s in our nature to think BIG and outside the box, to innovate and create, but we do so with specific goals and outcomes in mind and we don’t stop until we get results.

• Brickyard Creek Development Group
• Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts
• Bluefin Bay on Lake Superior
• Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce
• Business Resources Collaborative (Ready for Rail)
• Central Corridor Funders Collaborative
• Children’s Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota
• College Possible (Admission Possible)
• Cook County Visitors Bureau
• District Councils Collaborative of Saint Paul & Minneapolis
• Fitness North
• Friends of Acadia, Acadia National Park
• Gettin By

• Hill-Murray School
• Institute for Ag & Trade Policy
• Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers
• Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities
• Northside Funders Group
• Maine Children’s Home
• Minnesota Education Corps
• Minnesota Reading Corps
• Minnesota Math Corps
• ServeMinnesota
• Surfside on Lake Superior
• Temperance Landing
• The AmericInn of Tofte
• The Minneapolis Foundation

“Through the combination of strategic vision, marketing leadership, and impressive creative talent, Lori Schaefer and the team at Marketing that Matters helped us revitalize the Bluefin Bay brand, create strong brands for two new resorts and a destination spa, and transform our company into a marketing-centered organization. The overall quality of work Lori Schaefer and her team provide — both strategic and tactical — is unmatched. We’ve considered Lori a true strategic partner in our business for more than 13 years. She has operated as our Chief Marketing Officer by helping us achieve a competitive edge and continue to grow our revenue, as well as our loyal customer base. Lori knows hospitality, travel/tourism and destination marketing and helps keep us abreast of the latest technologies and industry trends in an extremely fast-paced and ever-changing landscape. Her expertise and experience are invaluable.”
—Dennis Rysdahl, Owner & CEO, Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts 

“Marketing that Matters was both a key strategic and creative partner in successfully branding and marketing Visit Cook County as a one-of-a kind tourism destination. Central to that success was Lori’s vision, marketing skills, leadership, and true passion for the area and the work. She became an expert, consultant, and guide-to-the side as we navigated tricky political landscape and worked to position Visit Cook County in a way that appealed to visitors, as well as internal stakeholders. Lori’s top notch creative team matched her same level of talent and expertise.”
—Sally Nankivell, former Executive Director of the Cook County Visitors Bureau

“I have worked with numerous consultants in my 30 years in Consumer Product Goods and Lori Schaefer is at the top of my list! What makes Lori different, is her passion for your business.  Her insatiable curiosity to seek and understand allows her to identify the underlying issues or opportunities, connect the dots and quickly develop effective strategies that impact your business.  What I also appreciate about Lori is her willingness to go the extra mile for her clients.  I always felt that she truly cared about my business and my team.  She was always there when we needed her; you don’t find that very often in today’s transactional world.”
—Tim Bratland, VP/GM Post Consumer Brands & Hill Murray Catholic High School Board of Trustees – Executive Committee

“After going through a merger and strategic planning process, we worked with Marketing that Matters on positioning and brand development. Lori helped us navigate a complicated challenge — engaging our board and a diverse set of stakeholders in the rebranding process. She helped unlock the magic of our story and develop a strong positioning for us in the community. Lori’s skills at navigating organizational politics and bringing people together were extremely valuable. On top of that, she was mindful of the resourcefulness and pragmatism you need as a nonprofit making smart choices. She helped us focus on the right things and set us up for long-term success with our new branding and communications strategy and plan.

Lori and her team brought the powerful combination of effective stakeholder engagement, smart strategy, and strong facilitation, as well as expert branding leadership, mixed with just the right amount of passion and creativity! We couldn’t be happier.”
—Trisha Reinwald, VP of Member Advancement, Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities

“The Central Corridor Funders Collaborative worked with Lori Schaefer and Marketing that Matters from its inception to our planned sunset (2008-2016). The communications strategy that Lori developed held up for the nearly 10 years of operations! It guided more than just our communications, it guided how we worked in the community. Each year, we partnered with Marketing that Matters on specific marketing communications tactics, events, and civic engagement projects to help us share our results and learning.

These events, videos and reports were well-planned, creative, engaging, and beautifully designed. From strategy to content, from events to design, from websites to videos to white papers – Lori Schaefer and the Marketing that Matters team handled it all and far beyond expectations!”
–Mary Kay Bailey, Former Director of the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative

“The Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has worked with Lori Schaefer and Marketing that Matters for the past two years. Lori has provided our organization and board of directors with valuable guidance, including our member small businesses. Whether leading a seminar on marketing strategies for area businesses and organizations, or consulting with our board on large promotions and events, Lori brings experience and fact-based expertise to the table to steer us in the right direction.

Recently, we held a major board of directors retreat with Lori’s planning and facilitation help. She kept us on track and challenged us to dig deeper on big issues. Our board members remarked that they had never felt so connected to our work or had as clear an idea of where we’re heading. We cannot recommend Lori Schaefer highly enough. When you hire her, you’re not just paying for a skilled consultant to help address your marketing needs, you’re gaining a valuable and strategic new member of your team.”
–Chrissy Beardsley Allen, President, Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

“We’ve worked with big marketing firms and with Lori Schaefer and Marketing that Matters, and we definitely prefer working with Lori. Not only does she do outstanding work, but she is a true strategic partner. Her energy, creativity, passion and enthusiasm, and personal attention was unmatched by any other consultant I have ever worked with, and we’ll be reaping the positive benefits of her work for years to come.”
—Jim McCorkell, Founder and CEO of College Possible

“Lori Schaefer is a gifted communicator and marketer. She is smart and warm and genuinely thrives on large and complex challenges. If Lori and Marketing that Matters take on a client assignment, trust me – it will get done! Lori has the ability to bring people together. She is a natural coalition builder. Through her work she has focused on civic engagement and community building projects in the most complex of settings. Lori doesn’t do anything half way. She is passionate about her work, and her ability to contribute to a shared outcome is highly valued.”
—Chris Mahai, Owner and Managing Partner, Aveus, LLC

“We worked with Lori and the Marketing that Matters team for four years.  Her unique ability to clarify our strategic message and communicate it effectively to our audience was critical to the success of our work at the Business Resources Collaborative. We look forward to working with Lori and her creative team again and regularly recommend her to others.”
—Chris Ferguson, Chair of the Business Resources Collaborative, & President and CEO, Bywater Business Solutions