For Startups and Small to Midsized Businesses
SLICE :: For Start-ups and Small to Midsized Growth Businesses
If you have a multi-player management team or between $5 and $200 million in revenue, and need to launch or rebrand, this one’s for you.
The SLICE is a one-day branding, marketing + value-defining immersion, designed to help you and your executive team or key stakeholders answer two crucial, juicy questions: what do you offer that no one else can? And who needs what you’ve got to offer — like none other?
With those prompts as our launchpad, we’ll perform a competitive brand audit to determine where you (and your competitors) are beaming clean – and looking scruffy. We’ll perform high-level market research to give you an aerial view of how your business is showing up in the marketplace, and where your strongest story points are shining bright – and dimming out. Using your in-house data (and our own sleuthing skills), we’ll tap into ideal clients + customers, meaningful metrics and compelling pitch language, and facilitate a conversation that helps all the key players on your team arrive at a directional consensus. By the end of the day, you’ll glimpse the soul of your business — and walk away with actionable strategies to deliver that spirit straight to the market.
It’s one-part branding and marketing workshop + one-part team coaching + one-part story-shaping, with a couple of unexpected creative triggers (like a virtual Scavenger Hunt, for starters.)
We’ll come to your HQ, for a high-touch experience with your executive team. And if you’re based in Seattle, the first round of coffee’s on us.
“Maria helped us get to our core strategic conversations in a very effective Brand Workshop. This was a key first step in a very successful rebranding of our leading solutions.” – Jade Bourelle, CEO, Talent Technology
“Maria gets it. If you are an organization that is struggling to convey your value to your audience, Red Slice is your firm.”— Rob Mathewson, CEO, Geedra
“Maria’s approach to branding is well-honed and most importantly, action-oriented. Her process to develop findings and recommendations for our brand strategy provided insights that were far greater than what we could have come up with on our own.” – Steve Hartman, SVP Marketing, CubeSmart (Formerly U-Store-It)
Intrigued? Here’s the SLICE sequence, from kickstart to final sweep:
: Prior to your SLICE retreat, your team leads will collectively complete a Brand Juicer Playbook — 10 pages of prompts, prods and probing questions, designed to drill into the unique core elixir that informs how your company looks, talks and acts in the marketplace. This Playbook anchors our market research and competitive audits, so we can show up swinging, with info that’s relevant for you. It also serves to get your minds fully synchronized for the dialogue we’ll crack open, on the day of your strategic retreat.
: On the day of your SLICE retreat, we’ll stride into action with a half-hour of Irresistible Presence 101 — high-speed circuit-training for your branding muscles. Your team will (finally!) grasp the differences between your brand identity (hint: it’s more than a logo), marketing campaigns, public relations, advertising, social media + website strategies, and other buzzwords + platforms that can serve (and structure) your business. No more terminology-tension or communication potholes. When it comes to your messaging, we want everyone speaking the same language.
: After that, we’ll shift into three to four full hours of strategic team coaching — we’ll spiral closer to the soul of your business, and decide how to make it shine, in a way that resonates with your customers, clients or audience. We’ll dive into cultural findings, core benefits, authentic messaging, and package-able proof points. We’ll work towards profiling your ideal targets with precision, so you can focus your efforts, without boiling the ocean. We’ll also lead a discussion about competition and differentiators, enabling everyone to see the ‘white space’ that you can swiftly claim to break away from the pack. Throughout the workshop, consensus is the goal. After all, teams that stand together, brand together.
: We’ll take a midday strategy break, to rest our brains — but your SLICE retreat is still in full effect. We’ll give your team an (optional) juicy prompt to play with, and a series of online (and offline) Scavenger Hunt tasks to complete…you might be directed to a local vineyard to observe the lead sommelier’s customer service + sales techniques. You might get sent off to your local Starbucks, to take notes of what the baristas say, offer + upsell. You might be prescribed an hour of modern art exposure, at your local gallery. It’s a stealthy surprise — and it’s all about getting your creative juices flowing in fresh directions. We want you to actively observe the way that powerful brands create emotional experiences that influence our decisions — and then bottle that energy + bring it home to the boardroom.
: We’ll re-join towards the end of the day for a Recap + Wrap session — this is the part where we get technical, logistical, and tactical. We’ll outline 3 high-priority marketing initiatives, 3 compelling storylines to pitch to media outlets or use for your content marketing and 3 next-steps to boost your business. We’ll adhere to the 80/20 rule of decision-making, identifying the efforts that’ll deliver the biggest bang for your branding buck.
: Within a week: you’ll receive a shiny new Brand Positioning Statement plus 3 pieces of clarifying copy: an elevator pitch, company description + mission statement…along with a handful of tagline concepts. You’ll also receive a SLICE Brandscape Summary Report with ideas, recommendations and next steps, all synthesized + spelled out in (delightfully) plain English.
: You’ll also be handed a star-packed Marketing Resource Kit, personalized with road-tested freelancers + contractors (from graphic designers to coders to copywriters, and beyond) to support your upward trajectory. Campaign templates, branding tips, impactful articles, and metric-packed reports – it’s all inside, for your reading pleasure
Need a few minutes on the phone, to recap and bounce-back? You’ve got an hour of follow-up coaching, to use within 14 days of your retreat.
: And then…you take the juice, and keep it flowing. Together, you’ll know what to do.
If committing to a painstakingly slow, yearlong brand development process makes your heart sink, The SLICE is a swift + high-impact alternative.
