How we can help

Experience tells us that, even in the depths of the coming economic downturn, there will be work — important, complex and premium work — there just won’t be enough of it. That’s where branding and marketing step up.

You can’t control the overall market size, but you most definitely can control — or at least positively influence — how you face into that market and your overall conversion rate.

However, from our conversations with leaders of professional service firms, we know that they face a dilemma in doing this — how to make impactful changes without distracting their frontline teams who are working around the clock to serve their clients?

In response, we’ve created ‘Boosts’ a range of practical tools, methodologies and content designed to help CMOs move fast and make significant changes with the minimum of disruption.

The 3 Boosts below — the Proposition Blueprint, the People Primer and the Content Roadmap — can be done separately or in an integrated way depending on what’s already in place and what’s most urgent.

Boost #1

10 days to boost your propositions

Sharp, compelling, distinctive. In 10 days, we’ll help you rethink your proposition blueprint by bringing market insight, deep experience and external objectivity to the table.

Propositions can vary in size and shape from those for the entire firm (for specialists, large and small) to those for individual groups within an overall firm (e.g. sector group, practice group, technology group). Multiple propositions can be developed simultaneously within the 10-day timetable.

In 10 days we can help you by:

  • Taking a deep-dive into the available market data, audience insights and stakeholder perspectives that you have, as well as what we can bring from our sources and market knowledge.
  • Guiding you through a process of developing hypotheses and debating them, quickly narrowing the options down to a clear recommendation. (This is probably where our deep experience and objectivity come in most useful).
  • Socialising and refining the recommendations with key stakeholders, documenting the proposition blueprint, including the core proposition, key messages, proof points, best example cases.

Beyond the 10 days, we can also help you by:

  • Building a messaging framework to communicate your propositions to your key audiences.
  • Innovating and developing new propositions that meet unique needs thrown up by the crisis.
  • Reviewing your brand architecture to reflect new thinking on your propositions and new acquisitions.

> Here’s more that we’ve written about brand propositions

> Get in touch at enquiries@principiaconsultants.com to learn more about how we can help.

Boost #2

10 days to boost your people

Engaging, motivating, involving. In 10 days we’ll help you refresh your people primer, turning more of your teams into brand advocates, able to tell your story with conviction and passion.

In all professional service firms, your people make up a big part of the brand experience, the closer it gets to conversion, the more significant that role is. In the firms with the strongest brands, client-facing people are as articulate about propositions as the marketing team.

In 10 days we can help you by:

  • Developing a simple toolkit of content designed to bring all teams connected to each proposition up to speed with the new thinking.
  • Delivering this content via a series of online sessions (e.g. Zoom calls) with your teams and facilitating Q&A sessions to engage and inspire them to use it.
  • Following up with key individuals with specific responsibilities for delivering the brand proposition (e.g. proposals team, BD team) in one-to-one sessions.

Beyond the 10 days, we can also help you by:

> Here’s more that we’ve written about brand engagement.

> Get in touch at enquiries@principiaconsultants.com to learn more about how we can help.

Boost # 3

10 days to boost your content

Urgent, persuasive, authentic. In 10 days, we’ll help you reinvent your ‘go-to-market’ content roadmap, getting more people noticing your firm and raising your pitch conversion rate.

Content is the bridge between your propositions and your prospects. These days many channels to reach them are controllable and free to use, but getting noticed demands strong content. From broadcast content (thought-leadership) to narrowcast (pitch talking-points), the challenge is to weave together your messages with impactful delivery.

In 10 days we can help you by:

  • Reviewing your existing content and prioritising it by impact and reach to your core audiences.
  • Drawing up, debating and refining a new content roadmap that builds on the best of what you have already and introduces new ideas and applications that you are underplaying or not using yet at all.
  • Recommending and documenting a new content roadmap that covers the next 6-12 months of activity.

Beyond the 10 days, we can also help you by:

> Here’s more that we’ve written about brand content.

> Get in touch at enquiries@principiaconsultants.com to learn more about how we can help.


Ian Stephens

CEO and Founder of Principia, Ian is the trusted advisor on branding to leaders of many of the world’s most prestigious international professional service firms and knowledge-intensive B2B businesses across a range of sectors including law, consulting, strategy, technology, engineering, and innovation.