Narrative strategy and brand building for talentsconnect

In summer 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Cologne-based HR software company talentsconnect made a game-changing strategic call: shift the company’s energy from custom enterprise solutions to one central SaaS product.

The transformation from custom software provider for corporations to product company, with software for companies of every size, changes more than internal processes, thinking and structures.

The core company narratives, from growth strategy to product vision, have to be rewritten too, so the new direction is tangible for investors and actionable for employees.

Christian's hands-on advice was a huge help in putting our growth story into clear words and turning it into effective communication. With his help, we got much clearer and much faster on our most important strategic topics. And that drove our success.

From November 2020 to June 2022, I worked with talentsconnect CEO Robin Sudermann and his leadership team to write their company narratives for the next growth phase, get them into the team and turn them into effective stakeholder and external communication.

First, we worked out the product story and product vision for their new career site product, JobShop. The key is to draw a sharp line between what the product does today and what it will do in the future.

The product story tells the here and now. It speaks to current buyers and makes the product’s immediate benefit tangible. This lead narrative sets the guardrails for storytelling on the website, in sales and in performance marketing. It makes sure every team understands the product the same way and tells one consistent story about it. The product story also led to a refresh of the brand identity and the next version of the website.

The product vision, on the other hand, sets the direction the product is heading. It makes future growth potential clear to internal stakeholders and investors. The product vision, current growth and the business case behind it laid the foundation for the next important story: the equity story shows investors the company’s growing value. It became the basis for the pitch deck talentsconnect used to secure a seven-figure growth round in spring 2021.

Alongside these stories, I helped the marketing team own a B2B topic in the market and create its own frame for using the product:

The brand narrative “Direct-to-Talent” positions JobShop as the tech platform for a new recruiting strategy. Instead of relying on job boards, headhunters and other middlemen, companies market their jobs directly on their own platforms. The idea: take the direct-to-consumer model and apply it to hiring.

We first established the narrative in an in-depth white paper I created with Svenja Pokora and Magnus Fischer.

Direct-to-Talent is also the theme of Robin Sudermann’s podcast. The approach is taught in the talentsconnect Academy, on the talentsconnect blog and at conferences. And in summer 2022, the company hosted the first Direct to Talent Festival.

Beyond the product and brand narratives, I also helped the leadership team write talentsconnect’s mission and vision. We clarified both in joint workshops, then I boiled them down into short statements and aligned them with management and the supervisory board.

With fresh clarity about its company stories, talentsconnect entered its next growth phase. The reach and impact of its narratives grew noticeably while we were still working together. The team is now fully focused on putting the new narratives to work and building on them.