1. Introduction

In modern market conditions, in order to be competitive in the market, any enterprise must not only produce goods or provide services based on the current state of affairs, but also pay due attention to the strategic side of the company’s development.

Today, strategic planning is closely integrated with strategic marketing, which allows not only to plan the company’s activities, but also to predict market trends and strive for the desired role of the company in it in the future [1].

The relevance of analyzing the company’s marketing activities in the context of strategic management lies in the ability to focus on the future needs of customers and their satisfaction, as well as gaining a number of advantages over competitors.

The work can be useful for professional self-realization in the consulting services market, for students studying this problem, and for a wide range of people interested in the specifics of the functioning of consulting companies in Russia [2].

2. Material and methods

In 1980, Harvard University Professor Peter Drucker scientifically substantiated the need for proper responses to changes in the external environment for the effective operation of the organization [1]. Since strategic planning is focused on the external environment of the organization, strategic marketing becomes the main tool of strategic planning. Strategic marketing and strategic management emerged as a reaction of companies to a changed environment. The prerequisites for the emergence of strategic marketing were the following factors: the fickleness and variability of the external environment; increasing consumer demands for product quality, which is associated with an increase in household incomes; a variety of consumer desires; scientific and technological progress; consumer protection; rapid growth of competition. Strategic marketing is aimed at long-term planning of a company’s relationship with all aspects of the external environment: consumers, competitors, and others, in order to determine its future place in a particular market. Today, strategic marketing is defined not as a physical, but as a social process [2]. Strategic marketing is a kind of set of fundamentals that are used to achieve the goals set by the company’s management. The elements of developing a marketing strategy, according to J.J. Lamben, are: market analysis and its needs; market segmentation; market development potential; competitor analysis; analyzing your own advantages; choosing a development strategy [3]. Obviously, based on the specifics of the company’s activities, the above basic list can be expanded. Today, strategic marketing is a kind of «pivot» in the development of a company’s activities and strategies. Because, in modern conditions, the autonomous existence of a company is impossible without an analysis and reaction of environmental factors. Strategic marketing and strategic management in the modern world are inseparable from each other. The role of both is, first of all, to ensure the effective operation of the company through strategic influence on the external and internal environment, based on the trends and needs of society [4]. The marketing of enterprises operating in the consulting services market has a pronounced specificity in comparison with other sectors of the economy. Consulting itself originated in the early twentieth century in the USA, as a reaction to the industrial progress of society. The origin of management was originally precisely recommendations to enterprises on how to conduct business. In 1914, the first, and at that time the only, consulting company in the world, Booz Allen Hamilton, appeared [5].

However, we can talk about consulting directly as an industry since the 30s of the twentieth century, when a sufficient number of participants appeared on the market, some of which are still successfully operating as the world’s largest companies. Consulting came to Russia in the 90s together with the development of private business, the appearance of investors and international companies on the Russian markets. However, in the conditions of the 90s, Russian companies in most cases did not use the services of consulting specialists due to a lack of understanding of its role in business [6]. The exception was tax consulting, which was usually aimed only at reducing the tax base. With the development of the Russian economy and its integration with the global economy, the role of consulting has become significant, especially for large businesses and the state, and has continued to increase [7].

The need for consulting services and the growth or decline of the consulting market are not related to short-term trends or consumer demands, but directly to the economy of the country as a whole. The main factors are [8]:

• The economic situation in the country

The favorable economic situation allows companies to develop, look for new sales markets, enter the international level, differentiate their activities, and so on. In this situation, the company has both free funds for consulting services and capital for the development of the enterprise.

• Development orientation.

Based on the first thesis, in a favorable economic situation, it is important to what extent companies are focused on their own development and efficiency improvement [9].

• International and local investments.

The improvement of the investment climate, the increase in the popularity of investments and the growing number of potential investors affect the appeal of companies to consulting specialists. This is especially important for the preparation of documentation and analysis of the company’s activities to attract foreign investors [10].

• International markets.

As a rule, when entering the global market, a company acquires consulting services not only to prepare documentation, but also to improve the effectiveness of marketing activities and other things. In recent decades, the consulting services market in Russia has been in a state of perfect competition. This means that new players enter the market almost seamlessly and old ones leave, but the most important factor is that prices for consulting services are not set by the market leader. Despite all the difficulties, the consulting market has been growing by 20-25% annually since 2021 [4]. The consulting market in Russia is represented by independent consulting companies as well as subsidiaries of large manufacturing enterprises, which in turn specialize in specialized technology services. In addition, large banks have recently begun to provide consulting services. Previously, banks provided services only in the context of tax consulting, but now they also offer strategic consulting. The so-called «Big Four» held the main market share until March 2022. These are global consulting companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG.  These four companies accounted for about 75% of the revenue share in the industry. The remaining market share, about 18%, belonged to the 20 largest Russian companies. A small market share of 7% of industry revenue was accounted for by small Russian consulting companies and consulting services provided by banks. Under the conditions of sanctions pressure, especially starting in 2022, a lot of Western companies were forced to leave Russia. This has also affected the consulting business. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst &Young, KPMG officially left the Russian market, however, their Russian divisions, while retaining their staff and range of services, began to operate under other names, respectively, Trust Technologies (TeDo), Business Solutions and Technologies (DRT), B1 and Capt JSC [4, 5].

The departure of foreign professionals in the general trend of import substitution forces domestic specialists to get back on their feet. However, in general, the harsh conditions of the economic crisis (primarily a reduction in demand due to high refinancing rates, the closure of small businesses due to rising taxes, and falling real incomes of consumers) cannot but affect the services market as a whole. In today’s conditions, consulting companies need to develop and implement new marketing strategies aimed at increasing competitiveness and customer satisfaction. It is important to note the geographical factor of concentration of consulting companies typical for Russia. 40% of companies and 80% of their clients are located in Moscow. Most of the other companies are focused on the St. Petersburg market.

The government itself, represented by ministries and other departments, is also a major consumer of consulting services. Clients of consulting companies are usually representatives of large businesses. However, consulting services have recently become more popular among small and medium-sized businesses. In any case, the consulting specialist cooperates with the top management of the company, acting as a salesperson himself. Since the services are offered to professionals in their field, the consulting specialist must have excellent knowledge of his competence. As practice shows, the relationship between a specialist and a customer often becomes so close that an employee moves to work for a consulting company. Consulting services are not a primary necessity for any company. As a rule, a fairly insignificant part of the organization’s budget is allocated for payment for services. Most often, the services of consulting specialists are used by companies that are at the stage of growth or maturity.

According to statistics, most clients either contact the consulting company again for repeat services, or they turned to reviews and recommendations. External advertising does not play a very significant role. It is worth noting that when choosing a consultant for a client, reputation plays a leading role, since the reputation and certain actions of a consulting company are reflected not only on the customer and herself, but also on the market as a whole. This is true if we are talking about multinational corporations or major organizations at the level of a country’s economy or even a global region. Negotiations between the customer and the consulting company usually last from six months to a year, and only after that work on the project begins. Despite the fact that the services provided by consulting companies are the same, the service delivery process is absolutely unique. Because it depends directly on the quality of the work of the specialist himself or a group of specialists.

3. Results and discussions

During the research:

1) the theory and practice of strategic marketing has been considered on the example of the consulting services market in Russia;

2) the interrelation of strategic management, strategic marketing and consulting has been traced. the history of consulting development in Russia.

4. Conclusion

To date, the most promising areas are considered to be the provision of consulting services in personnel management and outsourcing.

In Russia, companies most often need consulting services when dealing with the following issues: entering international stock markets; attracting investors; establishing contacts with new contractors; participation in public tenders; entering new sales markets.

 The reasons for contacting consulting specialists, as a rule, are: obtaining an objective assessment of the problem and ways to solve it; the versatility of consultants’ experience in solving specific tasks; improving the company’s image and reputation.

As a result of the analysis of sources on this topic, it can be stated that in modern conditions it is clearly insufficient to take into account the impact on the market, and, in particular, on the consulting services market, mainly economic factors and the influence of the state as a mega-regulator. In the context of the worsening international situation and the growing global crisis, it is equally important to take into account the political factor, in particular, in the form of international sanctions. The severance of international economic ties with developed countries in many areas and the reorientation to the East require consideration of new institutional factors, primarily political, legal and cultural.