The Clarity Shift: Repositioning for Credibility, Confidence, and Conversion
How three consultancies found the confidence to show up clearly and client-ready
Overview
After two years in business, each of us – Elevate EPA, The NICOLE Foundation, and LJE Marketing – found ourselves at the same crossroads:
We’d grown. Evolved. Clarified what we stood for.
But our market positioning no longer reflected the work we were doing – or the value we were creating. What we were saying on our websites, and in our conversations no longer matched who we had become.
It was time for a shift – one rooted in clarity, credibility, and commercial focus.
The Problem
The issue wasn’t capability. It was communication.
Our offers were too broad, our messaging vague, and our positioning a little generic. Clients didn’t ‘see themselves’ in our language. And that meant diluted impact and missed opportunities.
Our experience mirrors what industry research shows: as consultancies move beyond their early years, the mismatch between what they do and what they say tends to grow.
According research from Hinge, many professional services firms struggle to differentiate – especially when their messaging hasn’t kept pace with the evolution of their offer.
That misalignment creates a credibility gap – and in a competitive, trust‑driven industry, that gap costs you work.
The Discovery Phase
If your clients can’t tell what you do, who you’re for, or why it matters – they’ll move on. That’s exactly what the Discovery Phase is designed to fix.
Through the Discovery Phase, I worked with each team (and on my own brand) to unpack three key questions:
Who are we really serving – and why?
What makes us different – and credible?
How do we express that in clear, commercial language?
The process included:
Structured discovery interviews
Audience clarity and competitor mapping
Messaging strategy and value proposition refinement
Positioning development, including straplines and tone of voice
Full website rewrites and design
The Discovery Phase culminates in a Strategic Content Pack – a tailored suite of tools that includes messaging, audience clarity, competitor positioning, tone of voice, and everything your consultancy needs to present credibly and consistently.
It wasn’t just about writing better copy – it was about refining the offer, focusing the value, and finding the language that creates instant recognition and trust.
The messaging shifts
Here’s a snapshot of how our positioning evolved:
LJE Marketing
Then: ‘Where deep industry insights meet creative marketing to position your brand for success.’
Now: ‘Marketing that makes your consultancy credible, competitive and client-ready.’
Core message: I help engineering and environmental consultancies win more work by turning technical expertise into clear, credible marketing.
Elevate EPA
Then: ‘Enable. Trust. Succeed.’
‘Enabling apprentices with a seamless, supportive EPA experience…’
Now: ‘We make Assessment feel better. Because it should.’
Core message: Excellence in Professional Assessment starts here. We partner with training providers and employers to deliver high-quality assessments that support your learners, elevate your programme, and bring confidence to every outcome.
The NICOLE Foundation
Then: ‘We help communities manage legacy contamination.’
Now: ‘Solutions when polluters can’t pay.’
Core message: Partnering to restore ecosystems, safeguard lives, and solve pollution problems – when no one else can.
The Impact
Across each project, the result was the same: clarity.
✅ Websites that now reflect who we are
✅ Messaging that communicates authority without fluff
✅ Niches that feel focused, credible, and confident
✅ Teams who are now proud – and ready – to pitch, publish, and promote
Clients described the process as transformative – not just in terms of their marketing, but in how they see themselves as businesses.
‘Marketing used to feel overwhelming – and potentially expensive if I got it wrong. Lisa helped me slow down, learn the process, and realise it’s not magic – it’s method. That insight was a game-changer.’ – Mel Feek, Founder and CEO, Elevate EPA
‘Working with Lisa gave us the clarity to reposition ourselves. We moved from a narrow focus on contaminated land to a wider mission: solving systemic pollution problems. That shift has transformed how we talk about our work - and who we’re here to help.’ – Johan De Fraye, Executive Director, The NICOLE Foundation
For me personally, it redefined the kind of work I want to do.
I’ve learned a lot about who I am as a marketer – and who I’m best placed to support. I don’t want to be everything to everyone. I want to focus where I can make the greatest impact.
With deep experience in engineering and environmental sectors, I specialise in helping technical consultancies turn their expertise into clear, credible marketing that wins work. That said, I occasionally partner with mission-driven teams outside this niche – like Elevate – where the fit is right and the impact is real.
And my clients said the same. Elevate EPA refined their offer as a specialist Assessment provider. The NICOLE Foundation clarified their message to better serve their mission.
The Takeaway
If your brand has grown – but your messaging hasn’t – this is your invitation to shift.
The Discovery Phase helps you:
Clarify your positioning
Refocus your audience
Align your marketing with your commercial priorities
No more fuzzy straplines. No more confusing websites. Just clear, credible, client-ready messaging that earns trust, shortens sales cycles, and elevates your brand.
Let’s clarify your value.
If your consultancy has outgrown its messaging – and you're ready to show up with clarity, credibility, and confidence – let’s talk.