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Some early-stage startups have all the components necessary to succeed: a clear and compelling vision, innovative technology, a unique value proposition, funding and a strong, capable team. They just need help pulling it all together into a strong and cohesive foundation for go-to-market success.
That was the case for FilterLabs, a data fusion company founded to provide companies and organizations with hyperlocal data from hard-to-access regions around the world. After spending nearly five years meticulously developing its technology infrastructure and cultivating a select client base, FilterLabs was ready to begin building its brand. The founding team engaged JONES for our comprehensive early-stage program—Startup Essentials— designed to help B2B tech startups build a strong marketing foundation.
Our goal was to elevate FilterLabs' brand to capture the attention of potential buyers while inspiring confidence in the company and its innovative technology. But there was a catch: we had to roll out messaging and positioning, branding and a completely revamped website in only 10 weeks!
Here’s how we did it.
Comprehensive Research
We began FilterLabs’ Startup Essentials program with a focus on comprehensive research. We held a series of six Insights Sessions with Founder and CEO Jonathan Teubner and CTO David Smith. While time constraints prevented us from conducting full ICP focus groups and consumer surveys, we adapted our process to gather critical insights through these intensive sessions and a key client interview.
We listened and asked clarifying questions as the FilterLabs team described their vision, ICP, competitors and technology, and presented their sales pitch. These intake meetings are always a valuable opportunity to get a sense for what matters to the key players in the organization so we can bring those priorities and values into everything we do.
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We also talked with a FilterLabs client to hear why he chose to work with the startup, what he finds particularly valuable in the company's technology solution and what messaging he believes would resonate with others in his industry. This approach allowed us to quickly understand FilterLabs’ unique value proposition and target audience needs.
Key Research Takeaways
Altogether, the meetings were highly productive and left us with a few key takeaways:
1. FilterLabs has a firm grasp on who their customers are—and who they are not. Namely, they want to target three ICPs:
- Financial analysts who want hyperlocal data ingested directly into their bespoke analytics tools.
- Strategic communications professionals, who want up-to-date insights from locations of interest.
- Journalists looking for local sources of information for their investigative reporting.
2. FilterLabs needed help clarifying their differentiators and unifying their messaging to communicate how their technology solves their ICPs major pain points.
“I was very impressed at how thorough JONES was in its information-gathering,” Teubner said. “Not only did this assure us that JONES would produce a fantastic and authentic brand identity, but it gave our team a valuable opportunity to align and fine-tune our own messaging.”
Competitor Analysis
As part of our Startup Essentials program focus on comprehensive research, we also conducted a competitor analysis, which involved looking closely at each competitor’s products, services and market positioning—even down to what colors, visual effects and phrases they use on their website.
Our goal was to gain insight into industry trends and best practices, as well as identify gaps in the market. From this, we created a unique value proposition and developed key differentiators for FilterLabs.
In FilterLabs’ case, the audit revealed that most competitors were largely focused on marketing their data collection and analysis to military and national security audiences. Their branding incorporated military-style graphics; dark, ominous backgrounds; and the use of words like “threat,” “intelligence,” “risks,” “protect,” “attacks” and “fog of war.”
Another competitor took a more corporate tone to target “executives, insiders and influencers” who use data to make decisions. Yet another used bright, engaging photos of people in foreign locales to illustrate how it gathers hyperlocal data through surveying local communities.
“As I pulled together screenshots, color palettes, notable phrases and general observations from these companies’ websites, I could start to see common patterns and themes, as well as understand where FilterLabs could distinguish itself,” said Scott Muff, Co-Founder and President at JONES.
The JONES team determined that FilterLabs’ value proposition was unique in that it:
1) Collects data from unique, high-quality, hyperlocal sources that go beyond only news media and social media
2) Fuses both conversational and behavioral data for holistic insights on a local community
3) Provides clients with a continuous stream of current data, rather than only surveys or expansive data reports that are more narrow in scope and take much longer to produce.
Now it was time to take all the knowledge we had gathered and turn it into messaging and positioning that was clear, memorable and, most of all, effective.
Messaging and Positioning
Developing clear, compelling messaging and positioning is a core component of our Startup Essentials program. For FilterLabs, we crafted a messaging framework that included their mission, vision, positioning statement, unique value proposition and key differentiators. This process was crucial in helping FilterLabs articulate its complex technology in a way that resonates with its target audience and sets the company apart in the market.
JONES considers messaging and positioning the basis for all marketing and sales strategies. It gives the organization language to communicate why it exists, who the company serves and what distinguishes its product or service from others in the market. That’s why startups like FilterLabs need to work with a full-service, integrated agency to create consistent messaging that will carry across all marketing content and channels.
“This integrated approach was a definite selling point for partnering with JONES. We knew their multi-disciplinary team of experts and comprehensive approach would give us everything we needed to launch our brand and website and begin building brand awareness,” Teubner said.
When we began working with FilterLabs, the company had developed some messaging for its website and sales pitch, but it needed to be refined and expanded upon now that the Talisman product had launched. JONES developed a comprehensive document that included the company's vision, mission and positioning statements, as well as its value proposition, elevator pitch, key messages and differentiators. This language can be seen all across the company’s new website:
FilterLabs was especially thrilled with having elevator pitches in three versions (3-minute, 1-minute and 30-second lengths).
Because FilterLabs is seeking distinction in the competitive data technology market, JONES also developed an extensive section of the document titled, “What Makes FilterLabs Stand Out?” which included the overarching theme, three key messages and eight differentiators that bring value to FilterLabs' clients.
“Having our key differentiators at our fingertips gives us incredible confidence in being able to communicate what we offer and how it’s unique. It’s not that we didn’t inherently know these points before, but now we can articulate them more clearly,” Teubner said.
Modern Brand Identity
Creating a modern, professional brand identity is a key priority in our Startup Essentials program because it helps startups like FilterLabs establish credibility and stand out in their industry. We developed a visual identity that not only captured FilterLabs' innovative spirit but also communicated the nature of its data fusion technology.
Wendy Biernbaum, JONES’ partner in charge of creative services, used information from the Founder Insights Sessions, along with the competitor analysis, to create a clean, fresh and eye-catching visual identity that reflected FilterLabs’ mission and personality.
“FilterLabs has a diverse customer base so we wanted to get away from the dark, combat-video-game feel and convey a sense of innovation and discovery that makes FilterLabs' data unique,” Biernbaum explained.
Let's break down the key elements of this new brand identity:
Bright watercolor graphics reflect the fluidity of more than 150 million conversational data sources and the vivid insights FilterLabs delivers.
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Black and white geometric shapes represent the precision and accuracy of more than 10,000 behavioral data sets, including stats like employment, economy, consumer price index, sales and travel data.
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When these images converge, it communicates that FilterLabs fuses conversational and behavioral data to provide clients with a cohesive picture of what hyperlocal communities say and do.
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The final touch was a new logo that represents FilterLabs’ vision of providing continuously streamed, high-quality data from hard-to-reach places. The concentric circles with arrows convey the live stream of data that comes out of the chaos. In the center, the red circle represents FilterLabs’ ability to navigate the complex maze of information to discover important, relevant data points.
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JONES' inspiration behind the logo and brand identity, along with the other elements of the FilterLabs launch, are explained in the Brand Launch Video.
Professional Website
A professional website is often a startup's first (and lasting) impression on potential clients. As part of our Startup Essentials program, we prioritize creating a well-designed, user-friendly website for our clients. This involves developing a logical site structure, creating compelling copy and implementing a design that aligns with the new brand identity. For FilterLabs, the result was a website that effectively showcases its offerings and converts visitors into leads.
Because JONES has an in-house website design and development team, and the ability to build sites directly on the Hubspot CMS platform, we were able to pull all the elements together without missing a beat.
First, we developed a site map and page structure that accommodated pages for each of FilterLabs’ three ICPs, as well as a robust product page to promote Talisman. The map also included a resources section to direct readers to the company’s existing Insights Reports and support future assets still to come, such as webinars, product tutorials, case studies and more.
“I like to think of the site map as an architectural drawing that shows what will be visible on the site immediately, along with the elements that will be built but hidden until phase 2 and 3," Muff said. "If you plan for those next-stage web pages, it’s very easy to activate them when it’s time—versus having to jerry-rig something together after the fact. We want the website to be able to grow and evolve alongside our clients."
The JONES team brought the site map to life with copy and visuals based on the Messaging and Positioning and Brand Identity documents. On the product pages, we illustrated the insights the Talisman platform provides by including screenshots of charts and graphs. Another highlight was carousels on each of the customer pages, describing specific use cases for how Talisman can meet a need or address a pain point.
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The About Us page included another carousel with the company’s story broken into a scrolling timeline. We also explained the meaning behind the name FilterLabs and—with a nod to their academic and journalist audiences—spelled out their guidelines for using “data” versus “datum.”
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“The website JONES designed and built has everything we need. It’s visually exciting, easy to navigate and effective in the way it communicates what we do and who we serve,” Teubner said. “We’re proud to share this with our clients and prospects, and their feedback has been unanimously positive.”
Building Brand Awareness
The first marketing channel was LinkedIn, where paid and organic social drove more than 40% of total website sessions during the second half of July (623 website sessions from social) and 35% of website sessions in August (1,306 sessions from social), the majority of that traffic was to a promoted blog post which received 1,827 views in less than two months. Additionally, in the first 45 days, we had a total of 10 inbound demo requests with 1 demo converting to a customer.
FilterLabs' transformation through our Startup Essentials program demonstrates the power of a comprehensive, strategic approach. In just 10 weeks, we helped FilterLabs develop a strong brand identity, clear messaging and a new website.
As depicted in the above “before and after” image, the dramatic shift in visual identity encompasses every aspect of FilterLabs' brand, from its logo and website design to its presentation materials and social media graphics.
The JONES Advantage for Early-Stage Startups
Are you an early-stage B2B tech startup looking to build a strong foundation for growth? Explore JONES' Startup Essentials program or reach out for a conversation to see how we can help you achieve results like FilterLabs is experiencing.
At JONES, we've successfully implemented our Startup Essentials program for numerous B2B tech startups, helping them build strong foundations for growth. Our work with FilterLabs follows a proven approach we've used to transform brands like Viiz, a network communications company, and Psych Hub, a mental health education platform.
In each case, we've applied our comprehensive strategy, encompassing research, messaging and positioning, brand identity development, website creation and ongoing brand building. This integrated approach has consistently helped our clients establish credibility, attract customers and differentiate themselves in competitive markets.
Our integrated team of marketing and public relations experts brings a wealth of specialized skills to the table, extending beyond foundational marketing elements. We offer advanced capabilities such as podcast and video production, organic and paid social media strategies, SEO, SEM, public relations expertise, journalists-turned JONES writers, as well as GTM specialists. This comprehensive skill set enables us to not only build a strong marketing foundation but also to execute sophisticated, multi-channel campaigns that drive tangible business results.
By choosing a full-service agency like JONES, startups benefit from a seamless, cohesive marketing strategy that evolves with their growth—from initial brand development through to complex, data-driven marketing initiatives.
Let’s start with a conversation to see if it’s a fit. Schedule a Zoom meeting by accessing my calendar here.
