We help brands like yours SHINE
Welcome to SHINE Strategy, a strategic consulting company that is passionate about helping brands and the people that run them SHINE by driving profitable growth and ROI.
We help you to hear and become “the chief voice of the customer” for your brand and organization. We are experts in direct-to-consumer digital and direct marketing for multichannel brands. We use data driven insights combined with relevant brand design to drive actionable results. We are energized by solving problems and identifying new marketing opportunities to deliver incremental upside. We are obsessed with knowing the customer, mapping their journey, connecting with them and finding relevant products to meet their needs. We are passionate about staying on top of the latest technology and shopping trends. We are networking gurus that love to teach, lead, and connect with smart people.
Women in Retail Leadership Summit 2022 - Book Launch, April 27, 2022
What We Do
SHINE Strategy is a strategic consulting company focused on building direct relationships with your customers. We are Chief Marketing Officers for hire. We are experts in advising brands on how to maximize sales and profits by achieving best practices in digital marketing strategies, catalog and print contact optimization, customer data platforms, eCommerce platforms, retail store marketing, and customer journey mapping. We combine data insights with actionable marketing tactics to increase new customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.
SHINE’s clients range from small startups and mid-market ($100M to $500M) DTC retail brands to Fortune 500 organizations and brands. Verticals include retail (apparel, luxury, home décor, hard goods and sporting goods), publishing, venture capitalists, travel and hospitality. SHINE has a small team of consultants that are subject matter experts for hire. Team members are matched to brands based on needs and requirements.
Sorry About Your Diagnosis…You’re Fired!
by author Cindy Marshall
In Sorry About Your Diagnosis . . . You’re Fired!, Cindy Marshall shares the intimate details of her journey through the trials and tribulations of life. At 47, she was at the top of her game, a successful Chief Marketing Officer and sought-after board member traveling the world, until a lump in her breast turned her entire life upside down.
Cindy tells of her valiant battle with breast cancer compounded by the unthinkable—the loss of her job during chemotherapy. But wait, there’s more! She relentlessly clawed her way back in life and the business world when a near-fatal ski accident sidelined her again.
As Cindy looks in the rearview mirror 10 years later, she reflects on how these events didn’t break her spirit but made her stronger. Cindy’s strength, resolve, and positivity will be a gift for anyone needing a dose of inspiration. Her memoir is raw, funny, and heartbreaking at times, and it should be required reading for anyone who has a mother, sister, daughter, friend, or loved one battling breast cancer.
Find on Amazon
Our Specialties
Customized growth roadmaps
Media optimization & opportunity analysis
Digital performance growth & transformation
Customer acquisition, conversion & retention strategies
Creative strategy, production, & process planning for content teams
Catalog & direct mail audience targets & contact strategies
Business audits & due diligence
Customer Data Platform (CDP) selection & execution
CDP/CRM strategy, planning & measurement reporting
RFP management (digital agencies, ecommerce platforms, CRM/CDP solutions)
Organizational development & executive coaching
Leadership training & workshops
Cindy Marshall – Founder & CEO
Cindy is an experienced Chief Marketing Officer recognized for driving profitable business growth for direct-to-consumer (DTC) retail brands. Cindy is acknowledged as a transformational, visionary, and innovative leader with deep functional expertise in digital performance marketing and eCommerce UX, catalog and direct mail strategy, customer data strategy (CRM/CDPs), and customer communication. She is skilled at combining left-brain analytics and data insights with a right-brain design vision to build brand strategies that are relevant to today’s customer-centric consumer.
Cindy’s Brand Experience Includes
AnaOno, Annie Selke, Boden USA, Cabana Life, Vera Bradley, Faherty, Johnnie-O, Jofit, JANE.com, The Paper Store, Orvis, Talbots, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, M.LaHart & Company, PacSun, The Strand Bookstore, On Campus Marketing, SmartPak, Berkshire Hathaway, The Boston Globe, Merkle, Performance Bicycle, Exclusively Weddings, L.L. Bean, The Vermont Country Store, Ross-Simons, Appleseed’s, J.Jill and Inc. Magazine.
Cindy is active in the industry as a speaker and advisor. She currently serves on the advisory board of Women in Retail Leadership Circle. She was an officer of the NEMOA board for 12 years, the retail lab leader at Content Marketing World for two years, and was named Total Retail’s Top Women in Cross-Channel Retail in 2011.
What People Are Saying
“We started working with Cindy in the summer of 2012. We were looking for someone who could help us with strategy, as well as finding new ways to drive sales and profits. Well, Cindy delivered on both fronts! Cindy's knowledge and experience really allow her to both roll up her sleeves to do analysis and look at the big picture to help with strategy. She has created new reports and helped us with RFPs for new vendors. Cindy has become a very valuable member of our team that we constantly look to for ideas and advice. If you are looking for someone to do a thorough analysis of your business and help you grow, I highly recommend Cindy!”
— Pam Higgins | Vice-President, Circulation and Marketing, National Geographic Partners
“I was referred to Cindy, and my only regret is that I didn't meet her sooner. Her analytical and modeling skills are the best of anyone I've met. She can fly both "high and low" -- helping create a compelling PowerPoint presentation with all the necessary granular thought and data behind it. My business is better and stronger because of her.”
— Michael LaHart | President, M.LaHart & Company
“Cindy and her team got in the weeds of our data and gave us tangible suggestions on how to improve the business with their marketing road map tool. She was a pleasure to work with and the output was very helpful for planning for the future. SHINE uncovered a lot of new opportunities for us.”
— Clare Berner Nash | SVP, eCommerce, Johnnie-O
“We've worked with Cindy for 8 years now and she has become an integral member in our effort to expand our brand within the US market, helping us to develop and implement new acquisition and retention strategies. Cindy always exceeds expectations, delivering exceptional thoughts and insights in a timely manner.”
— Tim Welsh | Senior Marketing Manager, Boden US
“We worked with Cindy on a year-long project to help us choose and implement a new Consumer Data Platform (CDP). Not only was Cindy a wealth of knowledge in this area, fully understanding the ever-changing landscape, but she added so much value above and beyond the project. She helped us problem-solve on a variety of marketing fronts - including introducing us to several new vendors in various marketing areas that have all been huge wins!”
— Vanessa Keefe | VP of Marketing & eCommerce, The Paper Store
Craig Waller – Partner & Strategic Advisor
Craig is a leading figure in the marketing services world, having successfully founded and led agencies on both sides of the Atlantic over a period of years. He’s a pioneer, market, and thought leader in the field of creating media and content for brands and organizations with the purpose of driving quantifiable profitable results. His experience in working closely with Fortune 500 clients across many sectors in helping them to manage their customer messaging and building their teams to drive engagement and results brings a welcome new dimension to SHINE Strategy.
Craig’s previous clients include
AAA, Argo Group, Asda, Bluetooth, Bentley Motors, British Airways, Bristol Myers Squibb, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, General Motors, Marriott, New York Presbyterian, Nikon, North Face, Southwest Airlines, Stainmaster, United Airlines, USAA, Verizon, Walmart, Wells Fargo
What People Are Saying
“Craig is a manager, a businessman, and a craftsman. He operates at a crossroads; of publishing and advertising and of analog and digital. Every brand wants to be an authentic publisher and there may be no single individual that has executed this commercially, at scale, with consistency, across platforms, categories, and geography.”
— Rob Norman | Adviser and former CEO North America of Group M
— Board Director – Knotch, Simpli.fi, Piano
“It is with great pleasure that I recommend Craig Waller. Craig has been instrumental in helping shape the strategy, direction and the future formula of the group now called Informa Engage, the largest global marketing services company in the business industry”.
— Kate Spellman | Former President, Informa Engage
“Craig has been, for years, one of the clear leaders in the content marketing space. I learned this firsthand by serving on the association board together and have watched from a distance as his agency has flourished”.
— Joe Pulizzi | Founder - Content Marketing Institute
-
Alex Chororos
Vice President, Consultant
Specializing in direct-to-consumer digital and direct marketing for multichannel brands, and e-commerce and customer experience solutions. Alex bridges technology, marketing, content and commerce to drive traffic, average order size, and conversion to achieve business goals, while delivering a top-notch, on-brand customer experience.
Get in touch!
We usually get back to you in one to two business days.