How One Branding Workshop Can Do What Six Strategy Decks Can’t

Ciara Meagher

All of our content is researched and written by human writers. No robots here!

There comes a point in every founder’s life where the brand they built with so much conviction…suddenly stops feeling like them.

The words on the website sound a bit stiff. Team members are explaining the business in ways that make you question if they’re even an employee. Even long-standing customers are asking things you thought your messaging answered years ago.

This is usually the moment I say: You don’t need another strategy deck. You need a branding workshop.

If you’re finding it hard to put what makes your company special into words, feel stretched way too thin between teams and deadlines, or feel too close to everything to see the gaps, keep reading.

By the end of this blog, you’ll understand exactly what a branding workshop is, who it’s for, what you get out of it, and why it works so unbelievably well for busy founders and thought leaders.

So…what is a branding workshop, really?

Forget the awkward brainstorms you’ve been traumatised by in previous jobs.

A real branding workshop is a structured, one-on-one exploration designed to create the foundations of a successful brand – the kind that sounds like you, scales with you, and actually communicates what you’re trying to do in the world.

We ask questions you didn’t realise needed answering.

You say things you didn’t realise mattered.

And somewhere between the laughs, the rants, the epiphanies, and the “God, I’ve never actually said that out loud,” your brand finally becomes clear enough to use.

Here’s what we define together:

Your purpose

This is your north star; the reason your brand exists beyond “we make money doing X.” Most founders feel their purpose but really struggle to put it into words.

Your brand’s values

Core values can be meaningful or meaningless depending on how they’re created. Yours aren’t the poster-on-the-wall kind. They reflect how you actually behave, what you reward, and the standards you protect when no one’s watching.

Your brand’s mission

This one gets butchered on most websites. We salvage it by writing something short, specific, and rooted in your actual direction. Your brand’s mission should guide the team without needing an oxygen tank to read.

Your positioning

If your message feels off, it’s usually because your positioning is. Through competitor insights, customer patterns, and your own instincts, we find the exact spot your brand can own.

Your brand personality

Every brand has a personality, but sometimes leaders describe theirs like it’s a tax return: generic, vague, and spiritually draining. “We’re trustworthy, innovative, forward-thinking…”

Okay. So is everyone else.

We use brand archetypes to get to the real deal. And not just the usual 12 you’ve seen in every branding book, but our own 35-archetype framework built for founders, thought leaders, and modern brands.

These give your brand voice actual shape. Actual direction. Actual personality your audience can feel (and your writers can replicate).

Are you the Caring Grandpa in the Shed? The Unapologetic Eccentric?

Get our free guide covering all 35 brand archetypes below to find out.

Your value proposition

Founders often bury their biggest strengths under too many words. We pull out the one line that explains what your company delivers, who it’s for, and why the person reading should care.

Your target audience

Not fictional avatars with names like “Marketing Mary.” We identify real humans – their goals, frustrations, objections, and priorities – so your content can speak directly to the people you want to reach.

Who benefits most from a branding workshop?

Here are the groups who see the biggest transformation:

Start-ups that want to do things properly from day one

If you’re trying to create a brand identity with nothing but gut feelings and a few notes in your phone, you’re setting your future self up for a long year. Start-ups who invest in clarity early can save themselves years of confusion, rewrites, and “does anyone know why we wrote this?” Slacks.

Businesses that grew fast but left their messaging behind

A sudden growth spurt with new offers, bigger clients, and more cooks in the kitchen often creates a disconnect. Your audience has evolved, but your message hasn’t. One workshop pulls everything back into alignment.

Marketing or creative teams sick of rewriting each other’s content

When design, copy, brand, and leadership teams aren’t working from the same foundations, you feel it immediately. A branding workshop gets everyone back on the same page and creates a single source of truth your entire team can refer back to.

Anyone feeling stuck, stale, or not sure what the next chapter should sound like

Sometimes founders simply outgrow their own story. The brand stops reflecting the person behind it. A workshop brings new energy, fresh ideas, and a deep understanding of what’s next.

What actually happens inside the workshop?

This is the part people worry about, but it’s genuinely the easiest part of the whole process.

You talk, we extract the gold

We guide you through questions designed to pull out your experience, instincts, patterns, and ideas. If you’ve ever tried to create your brand alone and felt weirdly blocked, this is the antidote.

You get clarity in real time

You’ll have someone to reflect things back to you, rephrase them, challenge them, and refine them until they actually match who you are as a founder.

You work through creative exercises (the non-cringey kind)

We use exercises that help you identify tone, voice, and brand personality without feeling like you’re at a corporate retreat doing trust falls. We’ll help you identify, explore, describe, and communicate what your brand actually is.

You walk away with clear direction, not a pile of “maybes”

The output becomes a brand messaging foundation document your whole team can use. A practical, plug-and-play guide that keeps everyone on-voice, on-brand, and on the same page.

It includes:

Mission
Vision
Core values
Positioning statement
Value proposition
Buyer personas
Brand personality (incl. archetype)
Tone-of-voice guidelines
Sample content
Tagline options
Long and short company story
Key messaging pillars
and more!

What changes after the workshop? (A lot.)

Once you’ve done the workshop, things start clicking into place: the message finally makes sense, you stop rewriting everyone else’s work, and your team actually knows how to talk about the brand without summoning you into every conversation.

A brand identity that feels like you

Your brand should feel like slipping into your favourite jumper, not a pair of 2000’s skinny jeans you can’t breathe in. When your message, tone, and visuals finally feel like the real you (not the “safe” or “professionalised” version), people connect so. much. quicker.

Consistency everywhere your brand shows up

Right now, your content probably ranges from polished to “did someone write this at 11pm during a breakdown?” A brand workshop keeps your content consistent. Suddenly, your website, socials, emails, and sales calls sound like they’re coming from one brain. A very smart, very cohesive, and deliciously-on-brand brain.

A team that’s energised, aligned, and confident

Once everyone knows what the brand stands for (and how to express it), the quality of the work lifts and the content buck stops ending with you. Give them a brand messaging bible, and suddenly they speed up, collaborate better, and stop producing work that makes you want to die inside.

A stronger brand that actually connects

Trying to “stand out” is exhausting. Being clear, specific, and confidently yourself? Way easier. A well-defined brand does most of the hard work for you. People recognise your perspective, feel drawn in, and stick around because it finally feels like someone is speaking directly to them.

If your brand could talk, would it ask for this workshop?

Every founder hits a point where the brand in their head stops matching the brand in the wild. If you’re there, you’re not early and you’re not late: you’re right on time.

If you want to make your brand easier to explain, easier to scale, and easier for your audience to instantly understand, let’s talk about running a brand messaging foundation workshop together.