Overview
What to expect during each stage of the program.
-
A series of coordinated work sessions that document and pressure test all areas of an emerging business. From brand positioning to product-market-fit to operations management, the Outsider Advantage program lets the leadership validate and augment a business concept or approach to market prior to over investing in the build of a new direction.
-
Several elements within the strategic documentation produce deliverables that can be immediately deployed by your team. Examples of this would be sales messaging that can be copied directly from the communications platform into sales and marketing collateral, or production design assets that can be adopted by your product or brand team.
-
The Outsider Advantage workstreams integrate very well within other programs like EOS and Traction. Much of the market validated documentation created during the program can be directly transferred into complimentary workflows such as weekly leadership agendas and the Traction VTO template.
Discovery Kickoff
In-depth understanding
Chad Hancock will meet with your founder or leadership team for an in-depth discovery conversation. The goal is to ground us deeply in your business model and goals. A second meeting with a wider team may be required to get all the cross-disciplinary input we need.
What you’ll see
This session is casual and exploratory. We listen. We ask questions. We learn about the organization today and your vision for the future.
Action needed
This is the moment to share key background and documentation: pitch decks, business plans, customer and competitive insights, or anything else that can sharpen our understanding.
2
Brand Architecture
The Brand Architecture defines the foundation on which your company’s culture is built. We craft a series of elements that unite the business and brand in a human-centered form you can execute in market. Think of it as your company’s OS, a basis for decision-making and action that helps anyone understand what the company stands for.
What you’ll see
A concise articulation of your brand culture: why you need to exist, your day-to-day purpose and long-term aspiration, your driving motivations and underlying business values.
Action needed
We edit together and identify places to sharpen and improve. Your in-person feedback helps us refine and prepares us for creative and operational development.
3
Product Journey
Operations Dialogue / Product Lifecycle
With the greater brand in focus, we turn our attention to the company’s present-day logistics, product and experience. Together we map out the journey customers take when engaging with the company today, insights which form the basis for the product roadmap.
What you’ll see
In this work session we’ll review and document each step of your current product journey, talking through all touch-points in the customer experience.
Action needed
During or after this session, please share any input that can help us fill holes, fix inaccuracies, or deepen understanding.
Optional
Naming
A name can be one of your most valuable assets, helping you attract customers, showcase your value and experience, and stand out in a crowded market. If you haven’t established an ownable name that checks all these boxes, our team will explore the opportunities with you.
What you’ll see
We’ll ground our conversation in name types and elements of your brand that can inspire a name. Then we’ll share 8-10 recommendations with ownability cautions.
Action needed
Together we’ll share likes, dislikes and navigate to 1-3 top name contenders or variations we want to move into trademark review. Your team is responsible for final legal ownability, unless otherwise agreed.
4
Herding Patterns of
the Market
The Brand Architecture is created as if you exist in a vacuum. Now we expose that foundation to the wider market. In this phase we look at up to 100 companies in your competitive space to explore the herding patterns their marketing inevitably falls into. Then we analytically map out possibilities for your own differentiated brand in the market.
What you’ll see
We’ll walk you through the dominant market trends we need to avoid and the whitespace we see where your brand can stand out. Based on that analysis, we share strategic creative boards that capture market-differentiated visual directions for the brand.
Action needed
This is your opportunity to help steer brand creative early on. Which elements make you happy? Which make you nervous? Which direction should we build on?
5
Product Roadmap 1
Customer Extremes
The Product Journey session gives us a baseline for how you engage the market today. Now we consider the mindsets, expectations, and journeys of different customers we need to reach. We’ll bring forward 2 extremely different personas that allow us to examine your impact on different customers stage by stage, from early awareness to strong affinity.
What you’ll see
Together we chart the “customer extremes” against your current product journey, analyzing where the experience does and does not serve them and identifying opportunities to better align.
Action needed
In this interactive session, we’ll fuse your knowledge of customers’ needs and perspective with our own research to help meet customers where they are at each phase.
6
Product Roadmap 2
Visualization
We pressure-test the roadmap from the last meeting against the market to identify a variety of operational advantages. Now in this session, we’ll share a tactical plan of attack. Using pictures and stories, we propose how to leverage new and current operations to uniquely position and grow your business—from product enhancement to experience development to marketing.
What you’ll see
A complete Product Design Roadmap highlighting the unique operational advantages that will position you as a market leader. You’ll see the customer extremes matched with key actions and engagement goals for each phase.
Action needed
Together we prioritize how to move forward with the opportunities we’ve identified.
7
Creative Blueprint
Here we craft the visual world of the brand, from identity to applications. Flowing out of the Market Positioning and final mood board, this comprehensive design plan aligns your brand’s visual identity with your company’s new strategic positioning. It contains channel-by-channel executions of your brand strategy along with concepts of new product offerings.
What you’ll see
In the first review, we share two complete brand identity directions that are strategically aligned to the market saturation analysis. Each includes logo, product concept, and a handful of relevant applications, such as signage, digital and collateral. Your feedback will bring us to a second review, which includes refined creative and a more specific set of applications.
Action needed
Your input is necessary to align us around a single direction, which we will build out for the Brand Toolkit.
8
Communication Platform
Concurrent with the creative blueprint, we create a written introduction to your company and brand with messaging tailored to different audience targets. Messaging will be based on the Brand Architecture and interviews with you and your staff. Roughly 600 to 1,000 words depending on the need, this document helps you deliver the right message to the right person across executions—digital and physical, internal and external.
What you’ll see
A set of messages that help you earn the understanding and trust of customers, employees, and business partners. Includes a general approach and specific messages for up to four audience groups.
Action needed
Your input, please. Read through and note what’s wrong, what needs clarification, or pieces we might be missing.
8
Brand Toolkit
We’ve come to the final deliverable—all the work wrapped up for your team’s use. All your brand assets will be delivered in a password-protected resource site that can be updated with new elements as they’re created.
What you’ll see
A web-based toolkit including all the visual and written assets your team and other future partners will need to build out consistent communications.
Action needed
Your brand is in your hands. Let’s go to town.
It’s an exciting journey to be part of.
I look forward to diving into your mission and helping you create a meaningful impact in the communities we will reach together.