DMW, Inc.

Daft McCune Walker (DMW), a multidisciplinary land development consulting firm, has been providing services throughout the Baltimore/Washington market since 1970. In 2007, DMW recognized the need to expand its leadership to help create stability, to address resource and staffing issues, to solidify ownership succession plans, and to position the firm as a leader in the region’s land development consulting market. By adding a Managing Director position, the firm created an opportunity to strategically generate greater visibility and, over time, communicate their extended vision for growth.

Ensuring a Smooth Transition

Our initial work with DMW centered on engaging internal staff in the growth plans of the organization and establishing an integrated communications strategy that reaffirmed the DMW brand among staff and throughout the marketplace. We facilitated discussions with internal leadership and staff to help them recommit to the firm’s brand vision and guiding principles, and to ensure alignment among owners’ and managers’ expectations and efforts. In addition, we reviewed existing market and industry research and established a brand framework that would guide future communications, including the integration of new talent and two regional acquisitions. Working with DMW, we created a communications strategy that mapped messages to specific target segments and effectively communicated the changes at DMW, leveraging the new Managing Director’s reputation and expertise as enhancements to the DMW brand. We created talking points and a framework to help leaders within the firm share these messages with key clients, partners and other stakeholders. And, we helped execute an internal communications effort that created buy-in among staff around anticipated internal restructuring.

Subsequent Consultation and Guidance

MarketPoint has subsequently worked in a consultative role with DMW, guiding ongoing communications and brand building efforts. We developed and facilitated the firm’s annual senior leadership planning retreats in 2007, 2008 and 2009, helping the team establish annual goals, identify and process critical issues, address leadership development issues, and implement initiatives for process improvement. Additionally, we worked with senior leadership to develop a process for business unit teams to take ownership of building annual marketing and business development plans, and established the metrics for ongoing measurement and refinement. Most recently, we managed a public relations campaign to announce the promotion of Lisa Gobrecht to President of the firm.