The scope of our work
The Refinery is the heart of our service and where our clients usually start.
It is where we independently evaluate company messages to assess whether they:
We then work with your chosen senior participants to overcome any limitations discovered in this first sweep. Just as in our other message workshops, we know that outcomes improve when everyone collaborates and enjoys this highly-focused and iterative process.
IBM introduced outsider David Tebbutt to insider David Topping almost 30 years ago in order to blend their complementary and overlapping skills to get good and realistic messages out to the market.
As a prominent tech editor and journalist, Tebbutt was relentlessly focused on reader-interest. As a company marketing insider, Topping knew what IBM needed to communicate. They were on opposite sides of the fence but, between them, they would push at each others' boundaries to find messages that would work for all concerned.
Since then they have done exactly that for every company Topping has run marketing for, while Tebbutt has done it for over 200 major tech companies as part of his media skills training courses.
In recent years, they've also teamed up to create sponsored (and compact) guide books for business people that explained the benefits, the risks and the actions they need to take regarding modern technology (Cyber Security and Critical National Infrastructure). They also helped create and ghost-write several associated issue-led corporate blog posts for their clients.
Unlike many, they don't seek dependent or retainer-based relationships. They like nothing better than seeing their clients become self-sufficient.
“Nothing gives me more pleasure than helping others, whether it’s through writing, training, editing or creating and publishing useful software. I’ve been very fortunate to have had multiple and, frequently, parallel careers in all of these areas. The Messagery represents a wonderful opportunity to blend all of this experience to help others make the most of the stories they have to tell. To me, and you, the audience is everything.” Full profile pdf
"One of the things I have most enjoyed in 40 years working in tech, is the benefit that good technology can bring to its users. I still find it immensely satisfying. The thing that I've enjoyed least is when it's been badly explained. I've spent my whole career creating or identifying the features that benefit people most and then explaining them clearly. The Messagery is quite simply where I get the chance to do this for more people!" Full profile pdf
We specialise in helping you create foundational core messages that will influence your target audiences whoever they are – prospects, investors, internal staff, service partners, journalists, analysts, and so on. To succeed, your messages have to be heard above the noise and chatter of the marketplace. This means they must be clearly written, attention-grabbing and set you apart from your competitors.
We offer a tried and tested methodology and skill set that, working together, will help you sell your stories.
It’s a bit cheeky but someone once told us we helped them clean up their mess(ages).
Let's take a look, from different perspectives of you using our services:
Whether you are an English-speaking organisation or a subsidiary of an international company (that needs to localise its messages), our services help you to:
Investors at any stage; angel, venture, IPO or exit, can:
If you’re a company looking for investors, you may have a great business plan, but do your prospective investors:
You would make the work of these advisors easier and more successful with messages that were:
For time or budget reasons, you may prefer us to do the groundwork needed for a contextual understanding of your competitive marketplace. This provides the foundation for your core company messages
Contextual Research and Analysis pdf
Your core company messages encapsulate your company ‘personality’ and give clear guidance to others as they develop and propel your story. We believe you are best placed to do this, but we could help (and include our Refinery function).
Practical and enjoyable message creation guidance with insightful feedback gives product specialists the inside track on the value proposition development process. It also raises awareness of how outside audiences need to hear the stories.
Our workshops enable attendees to identify target customers and service partners and their key issues and opportunities. This leads the delegates to create issue-led messages that leave them informed, empowered and able to stand on their own two feet.
