Profile: Deep Discovery
Uncover your unfair advantage before you spend another dollar on tactics.
Most businesses start in the wrong place. They jump straight into execution, chasing the latest channel trends or tactical hacks without first diagnosing the fundamental constraints holding them back. Profile is designed to stop the cycle of wasted spend and misaligned effort.
We contrast the "tactics first" approach of traditional agencies and the "documents on shelves" model of high level consultancies. Profile produces tangible strategy artefacts and a definitive brief for Phase 2: Plan. We uncover the leverage points that others miss, ensuring your growth is built on evidence, not opinions.
This is the fastest way to remove guesswork from your growth engine. We combine stakeholder intelligence, competitive mapping, and deep customer insight to identify the blue ocean opportunities your competitors are ignoring.
For Founders:
Get absolute clarity on your positioning and stop making wrong bets on unproven tactics. Focus your energy where it creates the most enterprise value.
For Marketing Leaders:
Create internal alignment with a defensible, evidence based strategy. Move from being a cost centre to a growth driver with a prioritised roadmap.
For Operators:
Identify conversion bottlenecks and build a predictable pipeline. Reduce friction in the buyer journey by matching your message to their awareness level.
Profile at a glance
Timeline
4 weeks
Indicative investment
$8K to $12K
Best for
Teams that want clarity before scaling spend
Core Outcomes:
- Positioning summary and narrative
- Competitive landscape mapping
- ICP and customer insight definition
- Opportunity map and prioritisation
- Strategic constraints audit
- Detailed brief for Phase 2: Plan
What Profile Is
Profile is a structured discovery phase designed to surface what actually drives growth for your business. We combine stakeholder interviews, competitive intelligence, and customer insight to define your positioning, uncover market gaps, and identify the few moves that will create the biggest impact.
In today's market reality, attention costs are skyrocketing and tactics are becoming commoditised. AI content noise and rising paid costs mean you cannot simply outspend the competition. You must out think them. Profile is the "why now" solution for businesses facing shrinking patience from buyers and rising CAC.
Diagnose before prescribing
We never suggest a tactic until we understand the constraint.
Advantage before channels
Your unique value must be clear before we pick where to say it.
Evidence over opinion
Decisions are driven by market data and customer reality, not gut feel.
Conversion before scale
Fix the leaky bucket before you pour more traffic into it.
Accountability through method
A systematic process ensures nothing is left to chance.
Clarity
Know exactly what makes you different and why buyers should care. This clarity reduces internal friction and speeds up decision making across the entire organisation.
Leverage
Focus your effort on the opportunities that will move revenue, not vanity metrics. We find the 20% of actions that drive 80% of your commercial growth.
Confidence
Make channel and budget decisions based on evidence, not guesses. Stop the cycle of "trying things" and start building a predictable, scalable growth engine.
Common signs you need Profile
- !Marketing feels like a series of disconnected experiments
- !Rising traffic is not translating into rising revenue
- !Sales and Marketing are using different language to describe value
- !You're struggling to articulate why you're better than cheaper competitors
- !Customer acquisition costs are trending up without a clear reason
- !Internal teams are debating tactics instead of focusing on strategy
- !You've tried several agencies and none have delivered sustainable growth
- !The brand feels "me too" in a crowded market landscape
- !You have plenty of data but very little actionable insight
- !Decision makers are feeling fatigue from too many tactical choices
The Contrast
Profile is NOT:
- A generic discovery call
- A standard audit of accounts
- A fluff strategy document
- A list of "best practices"
- A sales pitch for execution
Profile IS:
- Deep business diagnosis
- Competitive intelligence
- Market gap identification
- positioning architecture
- A brief for Plan & Perform
Ready to find your leverage?
Book a session to see if Profile is the right fit for your current stage.
What You Get From Profile
This is not a lightweight discovery call. Profile produces real strategy artefacts your team can use immediately to fix positioning, clarify messaging, and refocus effort.
We treat Profile as a productised diagnostic investment. By doing this work upfront, we dramatically reduce rework and improve every decision made in the Plan and Perform phases. It is the foundation of the entire 3P Digital growth system.
What we analyse
Category dynamics
Competitor positioning
Offer architecture
Buyer motivation
Objection mapping
Proof points
Conversion friction
Trust gaps
Channel fit
Commercial constraints
Included in Profile
- Business deep dive and stakeholder interviews
- Competitive intelligence and market analysis
- SWOT and opportunity mapping
- Customer research and ICP development
- Brand positioning and differentiation strategy
- Audit of existing data and attribution setups
- Identification of current commercial bottlenecks
- Market awareness assessment of current traffic
Delivered outputs
- Positioning summary and differentiation narrative
- Competitive landscape and opportunity map
- ICP definition and customer insights
- Strategic constraints and growth assumptions
- Prioritised roadmap for the Plan phase
- Gap analysis of required assets and tracking
- Executive summary for internal stakeholder buy in
For Founders:
Use the outputs to get total clarity on your spend priorities. No more guessing which hires or agencies to bring on first.
For Marketing Leads:
Immediate messaging direction and campaign focus. Get the evidence you need to secure budget and alignment from the board.
For Operators:
Identify exactly where the funnel is breaking. Start improving lead quality by fixing the disconnect between traffic and offer.
What we need from you
We aim for high leverage, low friction. We'll need 2 to 3 hours of your time for stakeholder interviews, access to your existing analytics and CRM, and a clear view of your current commercial goals. We do the heavy lifting from there.
How Profile Works
Profile runs over four weeks with a clear, predictable rhythm. You will know exactly what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what happens next. No black box strategy, no endless cycles of meetings.
We work as your strategist and advisor. Our goal is to synthesize complex market signals into a simple, actionable advantage. You stay informed, we do the heavy lifting.
Discovery
Understand the business context and stakeholder goals.
We dive into the commercial realities of your business. Stakeholder interviews reveal the internal ambition and the practical constraints we must design around.
- Stakeholder interviews and business context
- Goals, constraints, and commercial realities
- Existing data review and access setup
Competitive Intelligence
Identify gaps and differentiators in the market landscape.
We map your competitors not just by what they sell, but by how they position. We observe their funnels to find the blue ocean opportunities they've missed.
- Competitor mapping and positioning review
- Offer and funnel observation
- Opportunity gaps and differentiators
Customer and ICP Insight
Define the buyer motivation and messaging themes.
We look beyond demographics to understand triggers and objections. This week defines the 'who' and 'why' that informs every piece of content and every campaign.
- ICP development and segment clarity
- Buyer pains, triggers, and objections
- Messaging themes and proof points
Advantage Synthesis
Create the definitive brief for the Plan phase.
We pull all intelligence into a narrative. This is the 'unfair advantage' you'll build your growth on. It's the prioritised bridge to your Strategic Blueprint.
- Positioning narrative and differentiation summary
- Opportunity map and priorities
- Recommendations for the Plan phase
Touchpoints & Collaboration
- •Kickoff: 60 min alignment
- •Interviews: 2 to 3 stakeholders
- •Review: Weekly check in (optional)
- •Delivery: 90 min workshop
What if you already have data?
If your analytics are messy, we don't wait for perfection. We use triangulation from customer interviews and market signals to proceed. If your data is strong, we move faster and go deeper into attribution and efficiency audits.
Our Responsibility
We handle the research, the mapping, the audit, and the synthesis. You stay informed and provide the business context. We keep it efficient. You stay informed. We do the heavy lifting.
What We Hand Over
At the end of Profile, you receive a clear set of artefacts that inform the entire growth system. These are not just summaries; they are actionable directives for your team.
Positioning and differentiation
A clear narrative for what makes you different, who you are for, and why buyers should choose you. This eliminates offer confusion and sets the tone for all future messaging.
Competitive landscape map
A view of how competitors position, what they lead with, and where the gaps are. We find the 'blue ocean' space where you can win without competing on price alone.
ICP and customer insight
Defined segments, pains, triggers, objections, and what motivates action. This goes beyond demographics into the psychographics that drive conversion.
Opportunity map
High leverage moves, quick wins, and long-term plays prioritised by commercial impact. Know exactly what to fix first to stop wasting spend.
Strategic constraints
The realities we must design around, including resourcing, budget, sales capacity, and delivery. We don't propose strategies you cannot execute.
Plan readiness
A clear brief for building the Strategic Blueprint, including assumptions and focus areas. This makes the transition to the Plan phase seamless and efficient.
Marketing
Immediate direction for ad copy, content themes, and channel prioritisation. Stop guessing what will resonate.
Sales
Clear objection handling and differentiation points to use in high stakes conversations. Improve lead to close ratios.
Leadership
Confidence in budget allocation. A defensible framework for why you are investing in specific growth areas.
How Profile reduces wasted spend
Targeting Mismatch
Spending money on traffic that is fundamentally misaligned with your offer. Profile defines your ICP so every dollar finds a real prospect.
Offer Confusion
A complicated or weak offer kills conversion. Profile architectures your offer so the value is immediate and obvious.
Competitor Parity
Being "just as good" makes paid media expensive. Profile finds the differentiation that makes you the only logical choice.
Trust Gaps
Traffic bounces when trust is missing. Profile identifies the proof points and trust signals required to keep buyers on the page.
Next step after Profile
Profile feeds directly into Plan, where we turn intelligence into a blueprint tied to KPIs.
In the Plan phase, we add the Messaging Framework, Offer Architecture, Channel Strategy, and a 90 day roadmap. We also map out the full Awareness Journey (Unaware to Most Aware).
Timeline and Investment
Profile is a fixed scope discovery phase designed to create clarity quickly. After Profile, we can scope Plan and Perform with total accuracy.
We charge a fixed fee for Profile because it is a defined product with clear outputs. This protects you from scope creep and ensures we are focused on intelligence, not billing hours.
Profile
- Timeline: 4 weeks
- Indicative investment: $8K to $12K
- Delivered outputs: positioning, ICPs, competitive map, opportunity priorities
- Senior strategist led research and workshops
What happens after
Once Profile is complete, we move to Plan and then Perform. These phases are scoped based on the findings of Profile, ensuring you only pay for what you actually need.
- Plan: 4 to 8 weeks, blueprint tied to KPIs
- Perform: ongoing execution with a KPI linked retainer
- Fees can flex up or down against agreed KPIs
- Ongoing strategic advice and market monitoring
Why $8K to $12K?
The range depends on the complexity of your market, the number of competitors we need to map, and the number of stakeholders involved. Regardless of where you sit in that range, Profile pays for itself through reduced rework and better strategic decisions. The cost of the wrong strategy is months of execution in the wrong direction.
The "Value Lens"
"The cost of the wrong strategy is months of execution in the wrong direction."
Built for measurable outcomes
Example outcomes from past engagements.
Want to explore the system in detail?
Our Growth Guides and Industries hub show how the framework applies to strategy, positioning, and your category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Profile.