In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave Corlett sits down with Justin Ballantine, Associate Creative Director of Messaging at Shaped By, to discuss a critical inflection point for high-growth B2B tech businesses, and how it affects their verbal communication.
As startups grow into scale-ups, they often dilute (or even lose altogether) one of the things that customers bought into during those early days: their brand voice.
Dave and Justin explore how firms navigating this stage can keep that voice strong and relevant, as they transition from a founder-led brand to a more mature market-driven one.
In the process, they unpack:
- Voice versus tone: your voice is who you are, but your tone is how you read the room
- The "brand drift" danger: staying alert to the edges of your business where your brand identity usually starts to fray
- Principles over guidelines: how "27 pages of rules" kill creativity, and why three guiding principles are all you actually need.
- The human connection: how enterprise audiences are still humans who want to feel something powerful when you speak to them
Don’t miss this deep dive into the verbal side of branding, from a true master of the craft.
Follow Justin on LinkedIn.
🎧 Listen now
Timestamps
00:00 - The scale-up inflection point.
02:45 - The Founder's dilemma: transitioning from personality to brand.
05:39 - Brand voice is just brand strategy given breath.
07:54 - Spotting "Brand Drift" on the edges of your business.
12:00 - Voice vs. Tone: how to flex without losing yourself.
16:45 - "Brand Principles" over "Brand Guidelines"
20:49 - Finding the sweet spot in storytelling.
26:45 - Do you really need to be "buttoned up"?
32:25 - Being the zero when everyone else is an X.
35:57 - One tip for CMOs: evolution, not revolution.
Send us a message if you enjoyed this episode
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.
👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration
And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!
✌️
