01 Groundwork
You know what you're good at. Your product team knows what they're building. Sales knows what closes. The trouble is that these are three different stories, and the market hears all of them.
We work through the business with the people who run it, decide the position, write it down, and hand over communication guidelines, so the same story comes out of a sales deck, a job ad and a post on LinkedIn.
For a lot of companies, it turns out to be the only thing that was ever missing.
This is for you if
- Two people in your company describe it two different ways.
- The business direction and brand promise stopped matching.
- You have a logo you can live with and a story you can’t.
- You need everyone aligned before anything else gets designed
Highlights of value
Shorten the sales conversation.
When the company explains itself the same way everywhere, buyers spend less time working out what you do and more time deciding.
Stop paying twice for the same explanation.
Marketing, sales and hiring stop producing competing versions of the story, and the work stops being redone every quarter.
Get new people up to speed in a day
New hires, new agencies and new partners understand the business from a single source of truth, instead of absorbing it over a quarter.
How it runs
Immersion
We analyse the way the company relates to all its stakeholders, from customers to owners
- Brand Touchpoint Audit. We look at everything the brand currently puts into the world.
- Stakeholder workshops. The people who run the business, in one room, deciding out loud instead of over email.
- Audience interviews. The people who buy, in their own words, with nobody selling to them.
Strategic assets
Five things, built in that order. Everything the company says afterwards answers to them.
- Purpose, mission and vision. Why the company exists, what it’s taking on, and where it’s going. Written down, not implied.
- Positioning. One sentence, argued and tested against what the business can actually deliver.
- Differentiation. What you have that the alternatives don’t, and can’t quickly acquire.
- Messaging. The same position, said differently to each audience that matters.
- Communication guidelines. Voice, tone, and the rules for what gets said first, so it holds together across teams.
What you leave with
A clear read on the brand as it stands today, naming what stays and what goes.
Purpose, mission and vision, agreed by the people who decide.
A written position your leadership has actually signed off on.
Messaging for the three audiences that decide.
Differentiators that survive a hard question.
Communication guidelines your teams can write from, with examples rather than adjectives.
At a glance
Best for:
Companies moving through growth, new leadership or a new market, where the business has outpaced the story told about it.
Who we need:
The founder or a C-level decision-maker in the room. Not a delegate.
Runs:
About six weeks.
Investment:
Based on scope.
The
outcomes
So our core people found a new drive, and carried that back into their own teams. Projects that came after the workshops started with much more momentum and engagement.
We gained further confidence in ourselves and in our people.
Mihaela Sofronea
CMO, Green Group
The whole process was a mirror held up in front of us. It also showed us what we actually do for the community, how much we have in common as a team, weaknesses we could work on. To me the process is the valuable part, beyond the final result.
Claudia Abrudan
Executive Director Fundația Comunitară Oradea
Defining and structuring our company values made it simple to put expectations into words, for the team and for clients, and it became clear who fits with them and who doesn't. To my own surprise it has brought clarity in how I look at our team and company culture. Those of us who stayed, we stick better together.
Istvan Barta
CEO Tracknamic
What really impressed me was the thinking process behind every design decision. Nothing was accidental or unintended. Every element had a reasoning behind it, and most important of all, it all fit together.
Eric Ralls
CEO and Founder, Earth.com
So our core people found a new drive, and carried that back into their own teams. Projects that came after the workshops started with much more momentum and engagement.
We gained further confidence in ourselves and in our people.
Mihaela Sofronea
CMO, Green Group
The whole process was a mirror held up in front of us. It also showed us what we actually do for the community, how much we have in common as a team, weaknesses we could work on. To me the process is the valuable part, beyond the final result.
Claudia Abrudan
Executive Director Fundația Comunitară Oradea
Defining and structuring our company values made it simple to put expectations into words, for the team and for clients, and it became clear who fits with them and who doesn't. To my own surprise it has brought clarity in how I look at our team and company culture. Those of us who stayed, we stick better together.
Istvan Barta
CEO Tracknamic
What really impressed me was the thinking process behind every design decision. Nothing was accidental or unintended. Every element had a reasoning behind it, and most important of all, it all fit together.
Eric Ralls
CEO and Founder, Earth.com
One company. One story.
If two people in your business describe it two different ways, that's the problem Groundwork solves. Tell us where the story splits, and we'll help you close the gap in about six weeks.