Headforwards

Empowering and engaging the whole team to promote this technology business.

Headforwards is an outsource software development company based in Cornwall.

One of the region’s fastest growing technology companies, it grew to over 100 employees in just seven years. Looking to continue this growth, in 2018 Co-founders Craig Girvan and Toby Parkins set the company ambitious growth targets.

We were invited in to meet the new business team to see if we could help.

In talking to Headforwards it was clear that its rapid growth combined with a need to recruit new developers and attract new business had contributed to a mix of marketing messages that was potentially confusing.

We believe that all marketing is most effective when it is based on a strong and clearly defined brand positioning and so we took Headforwards through a Marketing Audit and Brand Management process to truly understand what made the company special.

In workshops, meetings and conversations we came to realise that although it worked at the cutting edge of technology, Headforwards was first and foremost a people business. Its core strength and core values were based around building strong internal teams of trusted and respected individuals and building strong and lasting relationships with its clients based on shared values.

These insights allowed us to develop a Marketing Strategy positioning them in a clearly differentiated way and addressing both corporate and recruitment goals.

People and Post-it notes. What a software development business really looks like.

We produced a website that focuses on the people who work at Headforwards and gives them a voice to tell the company’s story in the their own words. Reportage photography of busy desks and the ubiquitous yellow sticky note make every page of the website ring true to anyone who knows this industry.

Developers who have real knowledge and experience write articles on all aspects of the business and employees are encouraged to cascade these articles through their own LinkedIn profiles and other social channels relevant to the tech community.

Previously the recruitment and corporate sites were separate. Now combined into one it really shows that what makes Headforwards distinct from other businesses in the software industry are qualities that both clients and recruits can appreciate and see a benefit in.