Helping a tech startup hone its positioning and messaging

Kiplot helps enterprises manage change and become more agile. The founders came to us looking for help to evolve their startup brand and achieve a more grown-up (but still fresh) B2B feel.

They also wanted to swap their product-focused marketing style for a more content-driven approach that would cater to the interests of their target audience: the change-makers in charge of project portfolios at mid-sized enterprises.

But it soon became clear that what was needed first and foremost was a solid foundation of brand positioning and messaging.

We can’t show you the strategy iceberg beneath the surface. But we can tell you that during our intensive input process – which featured interviews with the Kiplot team, customers and investors – we were able to refine key elements of their story including:

• Kiplot’s positioning in terms of category (as well as the differentiators that set it apart from competitive alternatives)
• Capturing a moment of change in the audience’s world then setting out how Kiplot is the best (the only) solution to help them manage this change and succeed
• A value proposition and other messaging outputs like elevator pitch and tagline
• Developing new themes, concepts and copy
• Brand personality and tone of voice
• Other insights and nuggets we unearthed and polished along the way

The Kiplot team had a nice way of describing the kind of look they were aiming for visually – “fresh B2B”. They wanted to reflect their transition from young startup to serious player supporting major fintechs and financial services organisations.

So our design team helped by applying existing brand elements to new content in a more restrained, mature way – without losing any of the Kiplot feel.

The great thing about working with a company that deals in agility and lean management is that ideas are tested and validated (or discarded) quickly. From one catchup to the next, the team would tell us they’d road-tested some messaging in a meeting and here’s what worked and what didn’t.

Pretty soon, we had a really strong story we could roll out across all the usual destinations: on the website, in presentation decks, and in other sales, marketing and events collateral.