Positioning is a proactive strategy for creating appropriate, effective, and consistent awareness with external stakeholders.

Positioning connects where an organization exists in the competitive market with how the organization tells its story and where it resides in the hearts and minds of external stakeholders. These decisions about focus, messaging, and behavior either amplify or undermine each other, which is why The Next Us considers all three together.

Our recent positioning clients include:

Private sector. Bankrate Insurance, CRE Income Fund, Enhancio, FullContact, Honeycomb.io, Indr Software, Leapfrog Toys, Nextag, OfferUp, Omidyar Network, Pace Capital, Remix, Synopsys Software Integrity, Terrain Data, Zazzle
Social sector. Apollo Alliance, Birmingham Talks, Community Vision, Community Youth Center of San Francisco, Coral Reef Alliance, FACES SF, Izzi Early Education, Linux Foundation Energy, Moneythink, New Tech Network, Small Magic, Too Small to Fail

“Mark is brilliant — on so many levels. He brings a deep understanding of the landscape and forces driving the many segments across the technology industry, as well as the nonprofit and government sectors, making him a strategic partner with a broad set of reference points. The project he led for me became a collaboration that transformed the strategy of the organization I represented and foretold broader movements in the industry. The work we did together continues to be a defining moment of my career.”

“Partnering with Mark has been transformative for our organization’s strategy and communications work. Not only has The Next Us done phenomenal work for us, but Mark has taught myself and our staff so much in the process. Our partnership has made a tremendous impact on both our internal operations and our impact in our community. And the cherry on top: Mark is just truly fun to work with.”

“Mark’s customer strategy and marketing expertise have been invaluable for me and my team a number of times. He led a 20+ member leadership team through a strategic planning and customer positioning workshop that resulted in significant improvements to our customer service and product alignment strategies. I have since consulted with Mark on marketing communications, web development, mission statement development, and rebranding projects. He is professional, efficient, smart and trustworthy. I feel lucky to be able to tap into his insights and recommendations.”

Agency management Campaign design Consulting CMO Creative direction Positioning and messaging Product UX design Visual brand strategy Website design

Synopsys Software Integrity

The Next Us worked with the Software Integrity business unit as an embedded team member to help the company position itself successfully in the application security market over a two-year period of rapid growth and expansion. We helped Synopsys integrate its storytelling and visual brand across all marketing and sales touch points and iteratively assimilate the assets of five major acquisitions: Coverity, Codenomicon, Protecode, Seeker, and Cigital.

During this engagement, Synopsys moved from a niche player in the application security space to one of the largest based on revenue, reputation and solution breadth. It also evolved its Software Integrity marketing approach from pure lead gen to a thoughtful mix of demand generation and brand-building at every step of the marketing funnel.

Responsibilities:

Onsite marketing lead responsible for all aspects of brand strategy and outbound marketing
Functional manager of all in-house creative resources and outside agencies
Development and management of all core Synopsys Software Integrity outbound communication tools, including platform and product positioning, messaging architectures, sales decks, tradeshow training materials, visual brand style guides and templates
Design of Software Integrity cross-channel brand campaigns
Liaison to Synopsys Corporate Marketing for the year-long redesign of the Synopsys.com corporate website, including referring the final selected design agency and representing all Software Integrity technical, marketing, visual design, and information architecture needs and requirements

Brand voice Content systems and training Messaging Positioning

OfferUp

The Next Us led positioning, messaging, brand voice development, and cross-channel content and editorial guidelines for this fast-growing, mobile-first P2P marketplace. OfferUp was named by Forbes to be one of the Top 5 Hottest Startups of 2015, and the company reached a $1B valuation in September 2016.

Brand identity design Capital campaign design and execution Consulting CMO Consulting Development and Marketing Lead Events Positioning and messaging Website redesign and evolution

Community Youth Center San Francisco

The Next Us has worked with CYC continuously since 2019 as strategic advisor and consulting Head of Development and Marketing. Over the past six years, our key responsibilities have included:

Leading the rebranding, repositioning, website redesign, and messaging development for the agency’s 50th anniversary
Leading the design and execution of the Richmond Community Hub capital campaign
Creating serial cornerstone content assets, including multiple annual reports, Executive Director and board speeches, annual gala materials, and major donor brochures
Leading the business requirements, design, and/or configuration of key development and marketing systems: Asana, WordPress, Classy, Slack, Constant Contact, Salesforce NPSP, ChatGPT, iWave

Board facilitation Content strategy Messaging Positioning UX Strategy Values WordPress development

Coral Reef Alliance

For the CORAL website relaunch, The Next Us led positioning and messaging, sitewide content development, UX strategy, and WordPress development. Long-time partner Todd Schulte Design led the gorgeous visual design work. The new website helped CORAL break its online and general giving records for the 2021 annual campaign.

Messaging Organizational evolution Positioning Strategic planning Values Vision Workshop facilitation

[Confidential]

Over the course of 2021 and 2022, The Next Us worked with one of the largest and best-known investment firms in the world on a series of inter-related efforts, including vision, strategic planning, positioning and messaging, and values.

Brand voice Consulting CMO Content systems and training Creative direction Marketing strategy Positioning and messaging Website redesign

Small Magic

The Next Us worked with Small Magic (formerly Birmingham Talks) for a 4-year engagement on positioning, marketing and communications strategy, development strategy, internal capacity development, and brand. For the renaming and relaunch of the brand in January 2024, we led the content strategy and site map for the new website and referred Todd Schulte Design and CloudCatch, who led the exceptional design and WordPress development for the new site. The Next Us also assisted Small Magic with functional management of marketing and the optimization and integration of key operational systems including Asana, Salesforce, Slack, and ChatGPT.

Scale good.